European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 11, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse About and nattering William Safire on language he columnist Richard Cohen writing about that unabashed advocate of traditional Virtues William Bennett noted few members of what the brits Call the chattering class Hail from conservative Christian evidently a need exists for a phrase that columnists pundits commentators and other a rang tangs can use to flagellate themselves and one another. Pundit Cracy a 1988 coinage of Eric alter Man and medi Cracy blending Media bureaucracy with mediocrity Are too intellectual. Talking Heads is limited to television and lacks zing. Besides with the Rise of the radio talk shows Chat shows in England As Well As the televised food for thought fights commentary today has be come More Oral than written to characterize the participants in this panel nation of opinion Mon Gering americans have seized on this British ism spirt Agnew battered against the nabobs. Which has become the most important contribution of the Mother country to the Lingo we Call Merkin since not to worry and spot on. Its first appearance Over Here political commentators and supposed insiders Joseph Lelyveld a re Porter with an Uncertain future at the new York times wrote from Blackpool England in 1986, sometimes referred to in Britain As the chatter ing classes ""./". -. Recently Susan Estrich who managed Michael Dukakis Campaign wrote in Usa today that the press has been Savage in its criticism of president Clinton the turn against him by the chattering classes has been much " the columnist Charles Krauthammer noted that a decade ago the notion that Ronald Reagan had his Finger on the Button was enough to Send the chattering classes into a nuclear North Korea he added May be developing a bomb yet this time the chattering classes appear rather Calm about the in the san Francisco chronicles Jerry Carroll used the phrase to derogate liberals in recounting the backlash against High taxation keep this thumbnail history in mind next time you hear the chattering classes Bash proposition 13." from these usages we can determine that classes has triumphed Over class and the thrust of the phrase is directed by the populist set against liberals intellectuals and others of that ilk who do go on. Who coined the much needed phrase on the analogy of working classes in a nov. 25,1989, piece in the guardian Alan Watkins of the observer attributed coinage to a journalist Frank Johnson in a conversation in the late 70sr eafly"80s, when the two lived in neighbouring apartments. How does chattering differ from nattering while barnstorming with Spiro Agnew in 1970,1 churned out the nattering nabobs of negativism to a literati vely eviscerate the pack of professional pessimists in an updating of Adlai Stevenson s prophets of gloom and doom. Stewart Alsop a longtime student of British English and the Best political columnist Ever was on the Campaign plane and argued that Natter ing meant Only chattering with no connotation of complaint. Yeah but i needed a word beginning with / " ". New York times left cold by hot sounding sex books by Kevin Cowherd the Baltimore Sua if your summer Reading list did not include hot monogamy which purports to detail Essen tial Steps to More passionate intimate love making you May Well be the selfish unmotivated Jerk everyone always suspected you were. On the other hand it could mean you re far too Well adjusted to be trolling the self help Section with the rest of the neurotic Riffraff. Or you May Sim ply Felt uncomfortable breaking put a self help Book at the Beach in front of that 80-year-old accordion playing Grandfather of yours especially if the Book deals with All manner of sweaty coupling As does hot monogamy by the aptly named or. Patricia love and to Robinson Button. Anyway son one s Reading this stuff. Publishers weekly lists four self help titles among its top 10 paperback Best Sellers. At the huge Borders Bookstore in Towson md., just outside Baltimore of the 150,000 books on display there Are some 2,600 self help titles that Deal with everything from How to ditch that Alley cat Boyfriend of yours to How would confucius ask for a raise by Carol Orsborn mor Row which boasts one Hundred enlightened solutions for Tough business they re very steady Sellers for us no matter the season says Borders Community relations coordinator Chris Brenchley. The same audience watching to talk shows like Oprah Winfrey is buying the self help books this of course is a frightening thought the idea that the person next to you browsing through a Book on one s inner child was stuffing his fat Orange stained fingers in a cheetos bag hours earlier while watching a panel of disgruntled transsexuals Bicker on Geraldo As for exactly what s out there on the self help shelves the dominant themes seem to be improving your sex life striking it Rich repairing damaged relationships improving your sex life shoring up your self esteem and improving your sex life for openers let s examine a few books that Deal with of improving your sex life. Assuming you got past hot monogamy without popping any major blood vessels in your forehead there s How to drive your woman wild in bed by Graham Masterton Signet which promises to divulge among other secrets "7 Yummy rules of Good v "10 great All time "5 head to toc kissing excursions you never thought of before the sexiest sex of All by Alexandra Penney Ftp boasts of arousing but comfortable new positions which judging by the athleticism involved would eventually land the average person on a Hospi Tal Gurney. There s also Light his fire by Ellen Kriedman delay with this dubious chapter baby talk and pet names come but of the i Don t know. Do alot of Guys really get revved up when they re called Pooh Bear relationships Are also very big in the self help Book genre. Singh again dating and meeting new friends the second time around by George Blaker a publishers includes this intriguing Section meeting on cruises in supermarkets and in the idea apparently being that hey whether you re poolside on the qe2, pawing a Rump roast at the giant or working up a sweat with a Little cloth ing free volleyball or. Or is. Right could be right around the Corner. Ain t love grand Stop you re driving me crazy by or. George Bach and Berkley reads like a manual for dealing with schizophrenics As it advises on such burning topics As your Girlfriend gets you excited then tells you she s gone off the your husband stirs up a screaming fight then wants to make passionate while some people might whack the offending clod with a 2-by-4, Bach and Deutsch wimp out and insist on finding ways to Yawn defuse the situation. For those women who Don t already feel bad about themselves there s ten stupid things women do to mess up their lives by or. Laura Schles Singer Villard. If nothing else the Book wins the award for the longest chapter heading in history Ohhi a huh we re breathing hard. It must be love. You have sex too Spon too romantically and set yourself up to be burned sways to find a loverly Sharyn Wolf Bob Adams inc begins a promisingly with the first chapter carry a conversation piece i kept envisioning a Man working a singles bar with one of those Pine tree air fresheners dangling from hisneck.," 1001ways to be romantic by Gregory . Godek Casablanca goes hum drum in a hurry tip no. 99 hire a pianist to play during dinner at and quickly Bottoms out before the Midway Point no. 320 mail him a pack of matches. Attach a note i m hot for you " i d Send a note Back you need professional there Are also countless How to guides for jacking up ones self esteem. / could do anything if Only i knew what it was is the confusing title of Barbara Sher s Book delacorte. Which left at least one Reader this one thinking i would read this if i Only knew what the Heck they were talking Healing your a oneness finding love and wholeness through your inner child is the equally turgid title of a Book by Erika Chopich and Margaret Paul Harper Collin which both me and my inner child found mystifying. Then there is handbook to higher consciousness by Ken Keyes or. Love line. The Back cover notes that Ken Keyes or. Is the founder of the science of happiness and the Ken Keyes there is no mention of where the Ken Keyes col lege is or How the football team did last season. When my inner child finishes High school maybe111 Send him there. Tony Kornheiser is on vacation Page 24 sunday september 11, 1994
