Time to scrub out my mind. Must share.

[elfs]

I was flipping through the dial this morning on the way into work when I stumbled past Air America, you know, the left-wing radio feed, and I heard this from Stephanie Miller:

I'm pretty sure in Bill O'Reilly and Geraldo Rivera's sex dungeon the safeword is "mizrahi."

The image is disturbing, but it's a heck of a giggle that Ms. Miller expects her audience to have a grasp on the idea of a safeword.

Comments

[shunra.livejournal.com]

Oh. Ohhhhhh. Ewwww.

Now I finally understand the whole "falafel sex" references.

So the Hebrew word "Mizrahi" (literally "Eastern") traveled from Israel, where it was a euphemism for Arab Jews (because the idea of Arab Jews was untenable) and it now describes the food traditionally eaten in Arab countries (which was brought to Israel by these same Arab Jews and then brought from Israel to LA by the Israeli descendants of those Arab Jews). And the preponderance of Israelis in and around LA led to the euphemism being adopted in English. Neat etymological story, there.

Thanks for the explanation!