Thread: Calendars for your shed/workshop - Makita Girls

Originally Posted by Ausworkshop

Well this is good, I think I've been called a moron, knuckledragger, and now I'm degrading my wife.
In my opinion I don't really like using the term missus either, I probably shouldn't have now that I think about it. In fact it's interesting that I never used to until I participated in forums like this, in fact most of the language I use in posts is from this particular forum and I've learned these things from other members here, not passing blame just an interesting thing to point out.

For example, I'd never even heard of the SWMBO reference until I read it on here probably over 10 years ago now. I know it was on here because I remember clearly looking it up because I didn't know what it meant, plus this is the forum I read the most because it's in my view the best forum in the world, not just because it's woodworking related either.. Anyway I guess the point I'm trying to make is we all tend to change our language and opinions ever so slightly with what we see read and hear in everyday life, over time these change, this has happened to me with the use of the term missus. I used that because I find it less degrading than SWMBO in some way, I know you view that as more tongue in cheek but I view it as the other way around. I used to hear guys use the term missus when I was at Tech school or Tafe, probably the first time I heard it used for a guys partner, most who used it were a little on the bogan side, I guess I started using it around the same time as a way to 'fit in' I think.

I've always struggled with where do draw the line at what is viewed as an Australian term or use of language and where it becomes bogan or more feral so to speak. I might use words I wouldn't normally use in order to fit in with the crowd I'm in at the time for example. Or at least this is what I thought the crowd would use.

Speaking of which, although I haven't posted that many times on here over the years compared to some, I do read a lot on here and have been around since the early days before I even became a member. I've noticed a slight change in the 'crowd' opinion and tones, attitudes whatever. I don't want to say all this because I'm trying to change it and perhaps it's been a change for the good in most cases but without sounding too much like a knuckle dragging moron I rekon it was better in the good old days. Sorry, but maybe I'm a bogan, maybe I like that about an Australian forum, maybe I don't like the way that's all changed as well. But who is gonna care? Or do anything to change that? I don't expect anyone to, but I don't have to like it. I think some people need to take their head out of the clouds, stop looking to America so much for answers to any discussion. Hold on to our 'bogan' ways if that's what they are and learn where to draw the line between what is proudly Aussie and what we should leave behind in the dark ages and move on from.

That's what I want this post to be about, please don't get too much off topic, but I do enjoy reading it all and thanks again.
I just think we need to identify and perhaps hold on to some of these things in Australia, don't throw everything away just because we assume it's looked down upon or viewed as being too moronic or bogan in this modern world.

Let's face it, Australia, especially rural areas are full of Bogans and what some would call Morons, it's one of the things I like about this country, it makes me feel Australian I guess and it's what I think separates us from the rest of the world. You don't have to like them or agree with their ideas but just remember without them, hard working Aussies, ANZAC's, and other larrikins from our history, this country would be very different.

I think you will find there are far more Bogans and Morons in our large cities than in rural areas. The city cares for them. In the bush they would starve. I dont think too many of the rioters at Cronulla came from the country.

Originally Posted by elanjacobs

Really? You've never come across "How are the boys/girls/kids?"
Of course you're entitled to your opinion, but I think it may be somewhat unfounded in this case.

Nah Elan, you know what I mean. If you asked me "How's the wife" it is completely different and you know it. And if you did ask me that, my response would be likely (with a strong emphasis on "my") "My wife is well".

If I have to spell it out it is the plural that justifies the use of "the" in the example you cited (although "the" could still be substituted by our, your, my, his, her, their). How many times have you heard "how is the girl" rather than "how is your daughter"? Somewhere between never and not too many, I'll wager. Just the same as I would not expect anyone to say "how is the son" because son is more personalised than boy.

Referring to your partner as "the anything" is only one step away from referring to them as "it", in my view. Thankfully I haven't heard that reference in quite some time, as attitudes evolve.

Using plural probably wasn't the best idea to illustrate it. "How's the little boy/girl" for young kids I don't think is that uncommon, I would even say "how's the boy/lad" is common enough.

Either way, I still don't think anyone actually uses "The XXXXX" as an intentionally derogatory term, it's a colloquialism that has become part of normal language.

Oh man, just when I thought there was some light falling....

Originally Posted by Ausworkshop

I wouldn't introduce my wife at a dinner party and refer to her as the missus (not that I ever go to dinner parties)
But if I was down the local pub and said I better get going, the missus is waiting to borrow the car to go do some shopping, then I don't see a problem with that either and I'd like to think most Australians wouldn't.

The Boss is a title, your wife is a person. Get it?

So assuming that you still have your "pair", what do you think would happen to them if you did introduce your wife, at a dinner party, as "the wife"? Even if you slipped her personal label in there like "This is the wife, Anna". Go on, I triple dare ya to!

My point being that if it is not good enough to do in front of her, then it is not acceptable in any situation. Would you expect to get a razz from the pub boys for substituting "my wife" for "the missus"? They wouldn't even notice.

Don't be afraid to show respect (especially for women) in front of those who may not. It's actually a VERY manly thing to do.

Originally Posted by elanjacobs

Either way, I still don't think anyone actually uses "The XXXXX" as an intentionally derogatory term, it's a colloquialism that has become part of normal language.

Ah well this I think strikes at the very core of the problem. Goebbels used to say that if you repeat the lie often enough it becomes truth. That is to say that I agree that it is not intentionally derogatory but it has become normalised and that is a bad thing.

Crikey, I know a guy that introduced his fourth wife to us as his "current wife". Humorous it may be to us, but how did it really make her feel (even though she smiled at this same old tired old joke).

And I get into trouble for digressions .

However, since council for the prosecution has introduced the subject I do have a friend who maintains he introduces his other half by saying "Have you met my first wife?" Which he maintains is to keep her on her toes, but I have not heard this first hand.

Talking of halves, it has been explained to me, primarily by women, that my wife may lean more towards five eighths which leaves me at three......Ummm... Moving on to the SWMBO moniker, SWMBO absolutely hates that term, but I have always seen it as an accolade to the veteran Aussie actor Leo McKern who portrayed the demon lawyer "Rumpole." Rumpole was a man who made seasoned QCs quake in their boots in the courtroom, but at home his wife was king, emperor and dictator all rolled into one. Interestingly we never met her. Perhaps she was too much for audiences of the day.

Ok, lunch break is over, my foray into the digression is over and a stack of rough timber awaits my undivided attention. And one more thing, if you are interested in my back saws in the Marketplace, you're too late. Theys gorne.

Regards
Paul

edit:
PS. I have just seen FF's reference to a fourth wife which significantly detracts from my "first wife" story. I must learn to type faster. However, in a feeble attempt to regain some standing, I did once meet a guy who had been married seven times. That was impressive, but I was floored when he told me three of them was to the same woman!!! He added that she was on at him to get married for a fourth time to her. I suppose this just gives weight to the old maxim that some people never learn.

Ummm..... to potentially answer the OPs question, maybe they don't make the calendars anymore because the cost to produce outweighed the benefit as a form of advertising??? Or that with the technology available today, the need for calendars has waned significantly? I remember Mum used to get one from the butcher, the fruit shop and the bakery.... all the photos were usually generic cityscape photos of Sydney (no scantily clad men or women) but she doesn't get them anymore... most people use their phone... if you don't like using your phone, thats totally fine, but you market to the majority of your customer base to keep advertising costs down... ergo, no more physical calendars, and more annoying internet pop up ads...

I don't want to go down the rabbit hole with the whole feminism, Modern Feminism, how i introduce my wife/the wife/the missus... then answer might really just be a simple one whether it supports or opposes your view on the world...

This is the reason I would never take my wife to a dinner party today. I wouldn't know how to act in this modern world of stuck up snobs and would be afraid to get pulled aside and served a lecture about the correct way a friggin woodworker should act in Australia today.

Yet another reason why I love being my own boss, and if I ever do have a dinner party I'll scroll back through here before deciding to invite from this forum I wouldn't want people to see my calendar and spend the whole night discussing the correct way woodworkers should evolve in to real men. I'd rather they had some fun at my dinner party instead of arguing. These days it's getting harder and harder to do.

The Boss is a title, your wife is a person. Get it?

I think so, but obviously you think I'm a thick moron who doesn't understand. And who feels the need to talk down to me and educate me about the correct way to introduce my wife. But this is all good, I'm not having a go at you personally, this is all just confirming what I had thought. You can't bring up topics like this anymore without people ending up putting them selves above others, talking down to them, assuming they are uneducated etc, acting like we all have to live up to their standards. Even acting like we have to live up to the standards of this forum, like it's some high and mighty religion to be a woodworker in society today and we all have to fall in to line.

It's not just in woodworking it's everywhere. Have a look at some of the Off-Grid facebook pages with people breaking out in arguments for example about whether or not your way of living is truly 'off-grid' in their eyes. It's like you have to earn the right to use the word or something, and you have to earn that right from THEM and THEM only because all other opinions are wrong and it's now my job to educate you about the correct way of thinking..
I think I might stop calling myself a woodworker.
I wouldn't want to embarrass you all and create a stereotype that we are all living in the dark ages and refuse to change. And we all disrespect our women because we don't understand how to use the word 'The' or we make a funny joke that really should no longer be made according to them.

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

.... It doesn't just "have to be spent" - that only happens guvmint departments.

It happens in all areas where you are allocated a budget. If you don't spend it this year you won't get it next year!

I think Dibbers makes a good point with the cost of producing a calendar. They are very expensive unless you go with the generic pictures. In our backwoods QLD town we get calendars from the local businesses. I eagerly examine them for glamorous models, but normally it is merely a single picture of a pastoral scene or a well muscled cow for the whole year with advertisers surrounding the main picture. There probably are many more beneficial ways of spending your advertising dollar today than a calendar.

I was wondering if calendars are a little like ladies' (and probably men's) fashions in that they arrive, go out of fashion (within twelve months in the case of female fashions) and then return as originally featured but slightly differently packaged.

Here is a Simonds (Simonds Manufacturing) calendar from 1887. Well I get all excited because it is a Simonds artifact, but to the uninitiated I can quite see it is as boring as bat sh*t.

Simonds calandar 1887.jpg

Then in 1948 Simonds, that had now become Simonds saw and Steel, also decided that the old factual style of calendar was more suited to the drying time of the paint manufacturers and produced this calendar.

Simonds 1948 calendar.jpg

Well to my primitive and primeval mind that was a definite improvement. Like the Makita catalogue in question it had very little to do with saws or steel but presumeably did appeal to their customers. From there it was just a natural and exponential rise to the anatomical calendars ubiquitous from the sixties onwards. It was educational. There were parts of the body of which I was completely unaware (then at any rate).

Sorry (actually luckily) I don't have any of those calendars. What was the old slogan? Sex sells.

Incidentally, we get the word calendar from the latin word Kalends. In Roman times the month was split into three sections: The Ides (we all know of the Ides of March which was so unfortunate a time for Julie baby), The Nones and the Kalends. See, I did pay attention at school, or at least that day I did.

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

Ah well this I think strikes at the very core of the problem. Goebbels used to say that if you repeat the lie often enough it becomes truth. That is to say that I agree that it is not intentionally derogatory but it has become normalised and that is a bad thing.

Repeating a lie until it becomes accepted as truth and the evolution of language are very separate things.

I'm quite sure that if any one of us went back a century or two and started speaking the way we do now we'd be branded as rude, uneducated and uncouth. The phrases "long time, no see" and "no can do" originated as mimicking foreigners who spoke poor English. The word "bugger" would have landed you in all sorts or trouble a hundred years ago (and in some places it still might), but it's now used to mean all sorts of totally non-offensive things like "that poor bugger" or "bugger, I forgot to get milk". The c-word has now got a double meaning in some places; it's both an insult and friendly banter.

Language is constantly changing, now faster than ever before, words lose old meanings and gain new ones. As words become "normalised" or more accepted socially, their punch diminishes.

As entertaining as this thread has been. I'm still not sure if I should be ashamed of liking looking at girls or not. Perhaps I should start to concentrate on guys. Hello Sailor. I'll be waiting for the hairy armpit brigade to enlighten me.

And now I'm also concerned that my sometime appreciative pet name (interestingly ONLY used on this website) for my Partner is now considered bad taste because it starts with an Article instead of a Pronoun. Please, just don't start on how degrading using the term pet name is.

Originally Posted by Fuzzie

Hello Sailor.

You need to practice that a bit more. "Well, Hell-oooo Sailor" is more like it.