About
«You Keep Using That Word, I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means» is a phrase used to call out someone else’s incorrect use of a word or phrase during online conversations. It is typically iterated as an image macro series featuring the fictional character Inigo Montoya from the 1987 romantic comedy film The Princess Bride.
Origin
The quote “You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means” was said by American actor Mandy Patinkin[2] who portrayed the swordsman Inigo Montoya[3] in the 1987 romantic comedy The Princess Bride.[1] Throughout the movie, Sicilian boss Vizzini (portrayed by Wallace Shawn[4]) repeatedly describes the unfolding events as “inconceivable.” After Vizzini attempts to cut a rope the Dread Pirate Roberts is climbing up, he yells out that it was inconceivable that the pirate did not fall. To this, Montoya replied with the quote:
The clip of the scene from Princess Bride was uploaded via YouTube channel Bagheadclips on February 4th, 2007. Since its upload, the video has been used in the comments of Reddit posts as early as since January 2008[20] and has gained more than 644,000 views as of July 2012.
Spread
Though the quote had been used to refute posters on 4chan[17] as early as March 2010, the first advice animal style image macro with the quote over a still photo of Mandy Patinkin as the character was shared on the advice animals subreddit[8] on June 18th, 2011. The caption used the word “decimate” as the example of what was being misused. While the word is defined as “to kill, destroy, or remove a large percentage of”[9], it was originally used in the Roman era[10] to refer to a punishment in which 1 in 10 men were killed. The misuse of the word to mean anything more than ten percent has been blogged about on Listverse[11], personal blog World Wide Words[12] and WikiHow.[13]
More instances of the image macro have appeared on other subreddits including /r/RonPaul[14] and /r/Anarcho_Capitalism.[15] As of July 2012, the Quickmeme[5] page has 640 submissions and the Memegenerator[6]page has more than 1800 submissions. Additional instances are posted on Memebase[18], Reddit[16] and Tumblr[7]with the tag “I do not think it means what you think it means.”
Notable Examples
Search Interest
External References
Related Entries
3
total
Recent Videos
2 total
Recent Images
38 total
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
+ Add a Comment
Go to funny
r/funny
r/funny
Welcome to r/Funny, Reddit’s largest humour depository.
Members
Online
by
sentry07
That word you keep using, I do not think it means what you think it means.
Archived post. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast.
«You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.»
— Inigo Montoya (on Vizzini’s use of the word «inconceivable»), The Princess Bride
People sometimes misuse words. If another person in the work corrects this misuse, then it tells the audience that something is wrong with the way the first character uses words in general.
The character doing the correcting might range from doing so out of habit, to seeking clarification on the other person’s meaning, or maybe they just don’t like their native language being abused.
The character making the mistake can do so for many reasons. A non-exhaustive list includes hyperbole, an inflated estimation of their own vocabulary, trouble with idiomatic vocabulary, or is speaking a foreign language.
Compare Personal Dictionary, where either character has a different opinion on what a word might mean, and Insistent Terminology, when a character insists on using a particular term and corrects others. Contrast Buffy Speak (the character doesn’t know the «right» words, so they just jam similar-enough words together in hopes the other character understands), Have a Gay Old Time (where the meaning of words shift over time), Neologism (the meaning is unclear because the word is new), and Perfectly Cromulent Word (a word is unfamiliar, but used correctly). For a list of words that tend to cause this reaction, see Commonly Misused Words. In regards to this wiki, see Square Peg, Round Trope.
Examples:
open/close all folders
Comedy
- The premise of the title track on Bill Engvall’s Now That’s Awesome album is how the word «awesome» should be restored to its original meaning of leaving someone in awe and wonder. He goes on to cite several examples, such as «winning the lottery twice», women discovering that men can now experience childbirth, or meeting Shania Twain Naked in Mink «holding a note from my wife that said ‘Have a good time.'»
Bill: It ain’t gonna happen. But that would be awesome.
Comic Books
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IDW): Howard Lillja is extremely fond of the word «obtruse.» While it is a legitimate English word, he’s constantly using it in the wrong form. Neither Donatello nor Angel ever seem able to convince him that he’s using it wrong.
- X-Factor (2006): Valeria Richards would like you to know that the Invisible Woman vanishing is not ironic. It’s whimsical, at best.
Comic Strips
- Candorville: Lemont will frequently interrupt strangers’ conversations to correct their grammar, much to their displeasure, or miss the point of something entirely because of one misused word. A flashback shows that he’s done this since childhood, ignoring An Aesop because of his mom’s poor grammar. Currently he’s got enough foresight to NOT correct his college crush’s grammar, but not the judge overseeing his custody case (he thinks knowing law lingo is endearing).
Fan Works
- Neither a Bird nor a Plane, it’s Deku!: While playing the part of a Villain, Tenya shouts «Inconceivable!» so many times that Uraraka wonders if he knows what it actually means.
- In The New Adventures of Invader Zim, Norlock calls Slab Rankle out on his repeated usage of the word «punk».
- Peeking Through the Fourth Wall:
- In episode 17 («Luck»), the fic’s constant insistence on referring to Luna as Lincoln’s «guardian» wears on the quartet of authors until That Engineer finally snaps towards the end.
- In «Diary of Luan Loud», the Louds point out that Fic!Luan is described as «psycho», when «evil» would be a better word.
- In «The Diary of a Loud», Luan wonders if the author even knows what a joke is after Fic!Lynn says, «I don’t get the joke» as a response to Fic!Lucy saying something that wasn’t a joke, and Fic!Lola laughs at her own nonexistent joke.
- Familiar Evil: Dr. Kenner proclaims that his insane experiments are all to create a vaccine to cure the zombie outbreak, leading Saito to angrily point out that vaccines don’t work like that. As it turns out, Kenner does know that the correct term is «viral suppressant», but he doesn’t really care about getting the terminology right since most people don’t know the difference.
Films — Live-Action
- The Princess Bride is the Trope Namer. Vizzini repeatedly thunders «Inconceivable!» whenever his plan goes awry, making Inigo confused. Inigo might be splitting hairs about how the events transpiring are technically able to be conceived of. However, Inigo might instead interpret that Vizzini is using the word as a curse, which would conflict with the thick-accented Spaniard’s understanding of its definition.
- Played for Laughs in Spider-Man when Peter chastises J. Jonah Jameson for writing a trashy article about Spider-Man that slanders ol’ Web Head as some kind of menace:
Peter: Spider-Man wasn’t trying to attack the city, he was trying to save it. That’s slander.
J.J.: It is not. I resent that. Slander is spoken. In print, it’s libel.
Live-Action TV
- In Arrested Development, it quickly becomes clear to the Bluth family that Michael is the only one with enough intelligence and sense to run the family business, and so they invite him over for an «intervention»:
Michael: I’m sorry, what exactly is this intervention for?
[a moment of awkward silence]
Lucille: We need you to come back and run the business!
Michael: Oh, okay. Well, then, so, technically it’s not really an «intervention». It’s a little bit more of an imposition, if you think about it.
Lindsay: Oh, whatever you wanna call it!
Michael: I’d love to call it an «imposition». - Subverted in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Mac keeps calling everyone a jabroni.
Charlie: You keep using that word…
Mac: And?
Charlie: It’s awesome! - In the first episode of The Boys, Butcher criticizes Translucent’s superhero name:
Butcher: «Translucent» doesn’t even mean «invisible.» It means «semi-transparent.»
- Hell’s Kitchen:
- During the «make your own menu» dinner service, Season 5’s Ben insisted on making some potato dish he called «pomme fondant». At service, Gordon pointed out that pommes fondant is a French dish consisting of mashed potatoes cooked in butter, which Ben’s dish was not. Later on he invoked this kind of reaction by repeatedly getting a «plain salad» wrong, causing Gordon to turn to Sous Chef Scott to make sure that the term means the same thing in America that it does in Britain.
- Worse was Season 3’s Brad, who during the same challenge suggested they make fancy macaroni and cheese and call it cassoulet; the other men pointed out, to his face, that that’s not what a cassoulet is note , and he replied, «Well, let’s just call it that.»
- In season 17, Michelle was strongly encouraged to refer to her dish for an Italian food challenge as a tortellini rather than a dumpling or a pot sticker. Her teammates caught her referring to it as a dumpling multiple times while cooking and corrected her. Thankfully, by the time she was presenting her food, she had corrected that error and not only had one of the top scoring dishes of the challenge, but had her dish on the menu for the next dinner service.
- The New Adventures of Old Christine: When old Christine kept bringing up how she thought she was racist she was told not to use the word until she learns what it means.
- Real Time with Bill Maher: Maher’s editorial of October 30, 2021 was a rant against people from his own side (i.e. leftwingers) continually redefining words such as «hate», «victim», «hero», «shame», «violence», «survivor», «phobic», and «white supremacy» in an attempt to rewrite reality.
Maher: Word inflation is a problem. You can try to change reality by changing the words, but you can’t. It just stops you from dealing with it.
- When Gia made her entrance in Season 6 of of RuPaul’s Drag Race, she called herself «fresh tilapia.» As Sharon Needles pointed out in the season recap episode (and Bianca would later point out), that’s normally the cheapest fish in the store, so it was hardly the Badass Boast she was going for.
- On the game show Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, one of the questions was about what a prime number is. The children in the «classroom» wrote down their answers and then the adult contestant started answering that prime number is the rate which forms the basis of the amount a lending institution uses to set the interest rate for a loan. The children, after some confused looks, started laughing in their seats. The contestant had confused «prime number» with «prime lending rate.»
Literature
- Discworld: After Annagramma Hawkin spends her entire presence in A Hat Full of Sky using the word «literally» figuratively, Tiffany pleads her to learn what it means.
Theatre
- The Lieutenant of Inishmore:
Davey: Them facts are only circumstantial.
Padraic: These guns are only circumstantial, so, and so too your brains’ll be only circumstantial as they leave your heads and go skidding up the wall.
Video Games
- Fire Emblem: Awakening: In Brady’s support with Owain, Owain points out that Brady keeps using the word «sentimental» without really knowing what it means.
- The term «port» tends to be misused in gaming circles, often conflating it to refer to versions which do not share the same code and/or assets with the original platform release.
- Most everything Riddler does in the Batman: Arkham Series.
- He keeps calling his various challenges «riddles», but very few of them qualify, even by a very generous definition of the word. While he does ask actual riddles in each game, the majority of the challenges he sets to Batman are tests of physicality, puzzle-solving, death traps, and scavenger hunts to find Riddler trophies. This is treated as in-universe Motive Decay in Arkham Knight, where his challenges are car races; while a few of them do have a small element of puzzle-solving and quick-thinking, they’re certainly not riddles, and it’s unclear how Batman’s inability to complete them would prove the Riddler is intellectually superior to him. Even his final boss battle is a pure physical task, where Batman fights waves of robots and the Riddler in a mech suit. He claims that the fact he built and programmed these devices to kill Batman would make it an «intellectual victory above all else», but that isn’t a riddle either. Catwoman calls him out on it in the last of her challenges, after avoiding sweeping sawblades:
Catwoman: Damn him! How is that a riddle, Eddie? Seriously?!
Batman: You get used to it.
[a little later]
Catwoman: It’s still not a riddle, Eddie!- Batman’s Joker hallucination lampshades it as well.
«You know, Riddler’s trials are fun, Bats, but I really want to be there when he finds out what a riddle actually is.»
- To the Moon: In Act II of Finding Paradise, Potato says that Colin once «literally» beat up Amber for her. She then asks her mother if that’s the right word, but she corrects her, saying that she meant «figuratively».
Visual Novels
- Ace Attorney: At one point, Jacques Portsman claims that there is a «mountain of evidence» pointing away from him. If you press him on this point, however, it turns out his «mountain of evidence» isn’t really evidence at all; simply a claim regarding his supposed lack of motive. If an attorney or Edgeworth tried to pull that kind of baloney in court, they would have gotten penalized. Especially bad because Portsman should know what the word means; he is a prosecutor, after all. Edgeworth calls him out on this:
Edgeworth: …Might I recommend that you review what the word «evidence» means.
Web Animation
- Homestar Runner: In the Strongbad Email «secret identity», Strong Bad and various other characters keep talking about «pseudonames». At the end, a hyperactive Strong Sad bursts in and yells that the correct word is «pseudonym«.
- In Teen Girl Squad issue #12, the girls spend the whole episode talking about «Valentimes Day». So-and-So, the most academically adept one, finally snaps and yells that it’s ValenTINE’S Day. The TGS universe being what it is, she promptly gets run over by a Formula 1 race-car… being driven by a fork.
Web Original
- Ask a Pony: One Tumblr pony drops the whole line in response when an anonymous calls him autistic for creating an ask blog specifically about a pony with human genitalia.
- Loreweaver Universe: From Secret Team.
Loreweaver: Steven, I think you may have had a serious misunderstanding about the nature of a secret.
Webcomics
- Homestuck: Dirk calls Caliborn out on using the word «ironic» to characterize his enjoyment of observing human love and romance, when it’s clearly more of a weird Fetish.
Western Animation
- Batman and Harley Quinn: Harley is annoyed at the fact people (such as Batman) call sociopaths «psychopaths».
- Ben 10: Omniverse had Ben face an alien who wants to promote peace. Unfortunately, the villain does this while wreaking havoc on the city. Ben eventually called him out with this, word-for-word.
You keep using that word, I don’t think it means what you’ve become accustomed to define it as.
Something incredibly strange is happening in Buckhead (one of the wealthiest areas of the country) that should cause the thinking person to pause, however briefly, and realize we are about to enter a new phase of intellectual life in America.
Buckhead: The Key to ending Black-Run America (BRA)?
And, of course, it deals with that word “racism.” Or, more precisely, the charge of being a “racist.”
Located in North Fulton County (uh-oh, the affluent white part of Atlanta), North Atlanta High School is experiencing extreme turmoil, which is once again bringing unwanted scrutiny to the Atlanta Public Schools – APS – system. You remember APS, right, home to the almost entirely black academic scandal?
Buckhead is roughly 76 percent white, but the sons and daughters of the majority in this Disingenuous White Liberal (DWL) enclave would never be sent to be educated with black kids.
Never.
So North Atlanta High School, though located in the wealthy (white) part of Fulton County, is a majority black school at 55 percent African-American, 22 percent white, 16 percent Hispanic, 7 percent other. The average SAT score is 1439, one of the higher scores in all of the county.
It seems six key administrators at the school, including interim principal Mark MyGrant, were removed by the APS Superintendent Erroll Davis:
At a community meeting Tuesday night attended by hundreds, Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent Erroll Davis told North Atlanta High parents that under the state’s old accountability system the Buckhead school could have been “seized” by officials because of failure to meet academic goals. That system was ditched this year in favor of a new system of evaluating schools, which shows North Atlanta High is in good standing.Davis discussed the school’s low performance in connection to recent leadership changes at the school, but said they did not play a role in the timing of the abrupt dismissal of interim principal Mark MyGrant and five of the school’s top administrators. MyGrant was retired and scheduled to leave at the end of this month; an assistant principal and three academy leaders were reassigned, while another academy leader retired
Davis said the school, which is located in one of Atlanta’s most affluent communities, is underperforming. He cited a sluggish graduation rate and new student growth data, which shows the school is slightly above average in terms of how much students are learning in a year.
MyGrant said the removal dealt with charges of racism against two staff members he hired last year. Davis said he could not address personnel issues.
In a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution late Wednesday, MyGrant said “it is time for us to move on.”
Under-performing? Shouldn’t some of the black students at North Atlanta High School be the black sons and daughters of black multimillionaires living in Buckhead?
Before we get the “charges of racism” MyGrant spoke of, just how poorly are students at this majority black hgh school located in posh 75 percent white Buckhead performing?
A sampling of data reviewed by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution shows the school located in Buckhead, one of Atlanta’s most affluent communities, has a mixed academic performance.About 62 percent of its students graduated in 2011, 10 percentage points above the district’s average of about 52 percent. The highest graduation rate was at Carver Early College, where 97 percent of students earned a diploma.
Davis highlighted North Atlanta’s rate in his comments Tuesday night, when he noted that four out of 10 students won’t graduate from the school.
Under the state’s old accountability system, which was ditched this year, North Atlanta High for years failed to meet annual academic goals. Only three other schools in the district had a worse track record of meeting benchmarks than North Atlanta, according to state data.
But the school is among the district’s best in other subjects. State data from 2011 shows North Atlanta’s SAT score of 1,439 was the second-highest in the district, just behind Grady High’s of 1,455. Passing rates on the End of Course exam in math 2 were the fourth-highest in the district.
Low standards, even for a county where the almost entirely black high schools in the South Fulton consistently perform at standards that are the worst in the state of Georgia, if not the entire country.
So what’s this charge of hiring a racist all about? [N. Atlanta High teacher quits, rips racism claim, Atlanta Journal Constitution, by Jaime Sarrio, 10-13-12]:
A North Atlanta High teacher has left her position at the school following accusations of racial discrimination, according to a letter obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.Amy Durham worked as a language arts teacher at the school, where a little more than a week ago six key administrators were replaced, including interim principal Mark MyGrant.
In a letter to school officials, Durham said her position was never officially approved by the school board because she was told there were “outstanding questions” about how she was selected for the position.
Durham said in September she was told about a charge of racial discrimination made against her related to her part-time work at the school’s college and career counseling center in 2011-12. She said she has tried to get clarity from Atlanta Public Schools about the allegations, but has gotten no response.
As a result, Durham sent the letter, dated Oct. 10, saying she was leaving her position at the high school.
“As you can understand, the initial enthusiasm that I had to be an Atlanta Public Schools teacher has been considerably diminished,” she wrote.
On Oct. 5, APS officials reassigned four North Atlanta High administrators — an assistant principal and three academy leaders. Two other administrators — interim principal MyGrant and academy leader Reginald Colbert — both retired. A new principal takes over Oct. 29.
ORDER IT NOW
MyGrant said he would present evidence that the replacements grew out of what he considers politically motivated and baseless allegations that two of his recommended hires — a graduation coach and an English teacher — were racists. He delivered 25 pages of documents to the central office Tuesday that he said would exonerate him and the other administrators. Late Wednesday, he released a statement saying, “It is time for us to move on.”
Again, so what are these “racist” charges that went to the APS, which seems to be the underlying rationale for removing the leadership of a school that was merely producing the SAT scores and graduation rates that have become expected of black students.
Would you believe Durham was accused – by an anonymous individual – of racism, because she didn’t have a reception for a black student that was accepted into Harvard (no questions or insinuations if this student got in because of affirmative action… promise! Whoops…) [In emails Atlanta Public Schools board members disagree how to investigate allegations of racism at North Atlanta, AJC, by Jaime Sarrio, 10-17-12]:
Weeks before Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent Erroll Davis replaced six key administrators at North Atlanta High, two school board members exchanged emails over parents’ complaints of “institutional racism” at the school and how to deal with it.In the emails obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution through an open records request, school board chairman Reuben McDaniel and District 4 board member Nancy Meister disagreed over how to investigate the allegations. Davis said Tuesday the district gets allegations of racism frequently. In this latest case, the district reviewed the allegation and decided not to investigate. It was passed along to the principal, he said.
APS officials swept into North Atlanta High on Oct. 5 and replaced the interim principal, Mark MyGrant, and five administrators. The upheaval sparked protests from parents and teachers — and triggered rumors that the shakeup was tied to alleged racism at the school.
Davis defended the staff moves by saying the school for years has been underperforming academically.
“It’s clear nothing much has been done about (performance issues), or if something has been done, it’s been done ineffectively by the leadership team,” Davis said this week.
On Aug. 18, MyGrant emailed Davis that he had investigated anonymous allegations that a teacher about to be hired, Amy Durham, was accused of racism for not having a reception for a black student who will be attending Harvard University.
“I am not sure how to respond to the racist comment other than to say that I have worked with her [Durham] for 10 years and have never had any concerns or complaints,” MyGrant wrote.
Three days later McDaniel sent an email to Associate Superintendent Steve Smith, asking him to collect data from North Atlanta that breaks down the school’s graduation rates, and other performance metrics, by race. He asked for an ethnic breakdown of teachers and staff who were recommended for positions by interim principal MyGrant.
“I think it is critical that we understand these issues as we go through the principal selection process so that we can factor in some of the skills required to address the racial issues at North Atlanta in our new leadership,” McDaniel wrote.
Meister responded in an email 35 minutes later that the analytical search for evidence of racism shouldn’t be focused just on North Atlanta, which is in her district. “We should have this conducted for all high schools across the district. This will allow us to have an equitable and fair analysis across all schools,” Meister wrote.
McDaniel wrote back that he agreed gathering data across the district “would be interesting,” but not practical. He wrote: “My purpose for requesting the data is to begin to understand statistically the evidence I have received from parents at North Atlanta indicating that we have a problem there that is based in an institutional racism mentality.”
Thanks to Constructive Feedback for this illuminating breakdown of North Atlanta High School
What? No party for a black student getting into Harvard – obviously, they were accepted into Harvard because they are black – can only, only be due to extreme racism on the part of the North Atlanta High School teacher.
Again, you are probably asking yourself “What the F—?” but the city of Atlanta is run with the same type of mentality that A. Reginald Eaves had when he was appointed director of public safety – serving as the super chief for all police, fire, and public safety services in Atlanta – by the city’s first black mayor, Maynard Jackson, in 1974. An extreme example of racial cronyism – having no police experience – Eaves promoted African Americans to every level of administration in the Atlanta Bureau of Police Services so that they were a substantial number and percentage of the sergeants, lieutenants, captains, majors, and deputy directors. Eaves successfully carried out Jackson’s mandates in the Bureau of Police and he made it reflect and represent the people that it was supposed to serve. He stated that he wanted as many “black police administrators as possible making decisions about black lives” in Atlanta. African Americans in Atlanta began to believe that the Bureau of Police Services was their friend and on their side. (Atlanta’s Winning the Fight Against Black-on-Black Crime, Ebony, June 1976)
No, Atlanta isn’t the fight against black-on-black, or black-on-anyone crime. It’s a dangerous place, with every public department still run by the same type of racial cronyism Mr. Eaves bragged about implementing in the 1970s.
Not throwing a party for a black kid going to Harvard can even get you fired, and the principal removed.
Back in 2010, the AJC reported that white parents were considering saving some money and instead of splurging on private school tuition, they might actually use the public schools their tax dollars fund [More kids stick with Buckhead schools, AJC, 3-15-10]:
Parents living in Atlanta’s tony Buckhead have for years enrolled their children in the city’s elementary schools, later opting for higher performing private middle and high schools. That left the North Atlanta area’s one middle and one high school underpopulated.Talk to old-timers, and they throw out a number of reasons: Marketing. Racial bias. Academics.
ORDER IT NOW
Nancy Dillon, a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker Buckhead, said families without children in public schools often move out of the city because of its higher taxes. “But if they think their money is going toward something good, you’ve got something that’s a draw,” Dillon said of the new high school. “It’s all about quality.”
The Buckhead cluster contains six elementary schools, Sutton Middle and North Atlanta High School, which offers an International Baccalaureate program begun in 1982 — the Southeast’s oldest.
Still, “parents had a perception,” said Sidney Baker, principal of Buckhead’s Sarah Smith Elementary School since 2000. “What some people saw [was] the racial makeup.” Many consider Buckhead the center of Atlanta’s white business and civic community. The city school system overall is predominantly black, reflecting the city’s demographics. Yet both are diversifying.
”You Keep Using That Word, I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means”
North Atlanta had magnet programs that drew students from all over the city, including for international studies and for the performing arts. Ten years ago, 69 percent of the student body was black and 20 percent was white. In October, after the system remade the magnet programs into “small learning communities,” the percentage of black students stood at 59. White students made up 17 of the student body and Latino students made up another 17 percent.
But there were other factors that fed into parents’ perceptions. North Atlanta was no athletics powerhouse, in large part because students went there for reasons other than its sports teams. And despite the prestige and awards earned by both the school’s magnet programs, parents felt the school’s academic prowess did not seem as strong as that of nearby private schools, some of which are nationally recognized.
Wait a second: so North Atlanta High School has consistently been the dumping ground for the best performing black students in the region, but even they can only muster a graduation of 62 percent. But they still know how to complain about “racism” when a party isn’t thrown in their honor.
One day, not far from now, someone is going to start a revolution by simply laughing at an accusation of “racism” by saying – channeling Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride – and say, “You Keep Using That Word, I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means.”
With a smile, they’ll add, “let me show you what it means.”
Does that sound “inconceivable” to you?
No?
Good.
It shouldn’t.
-
Inconceivable!» «You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
William Goldman (2013). “The Princess Bride”, p.77, A&C Black
Topics
- Movie
- Humor
- Funny
- Thinking
- Mean
- Princess
- Brides
- Life Is Pain
- Princess Bride
- Buttercup
- Princes Bride
Embed:
Something incredibly strange is happening in Buckhead (one of the wealthiest areas of the country) that should cause the thinking person to pause, however briefly, and realize we are about to enter a new phase of intellectual life in America.
Buckhead: The Key to ending Black-Run America (BRA)? |
And, of course, it deals with that word «racism.» Or, more precisely, the charge of being a «racist.»
Located in North Fulton County (uh-oh, the affluent white part of Atlanta), North Atlanta High School is experiencing extreme turmoil, which is once again bringing unwanted scrutiny to the Atlanta Public Schools — APS — system. You remember APS, right, home to the almost entirely black academic scandal?
Buckhead is roughly 76 percent white, but the sons and daughters of the majority in this Disingenuous White Liberal (DWL) enclave would never be sent to be educated with black kids.
Never.
So North Atlanta High School, though located in the wealthy (white) part of Fulton County, is a majority black school at 55 percent African-American, 22 percent white, 16 percent Hispanic, 7 percent other. The average SAT score is 1439, one of the higher scores in all of the county.
It seems six key administrators at the school, including interim principal Mark MyGrant, were removed by the APS Superintendent Erroll Davis:
At a community meeting Tuesday night attended by hundreds, Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent Erroll Davis told North Atlanta High parents that under the state’s old accountability system the Buckhead school could have been “seized” by officials because of failure to meet academic goals. That system was ditched this year in favor of a new system of evaluating schools, which shows North Atlanta High is in good standing.
Davis discussed the school’s low performance in connection to recent leadership changes at the school, but said they did not play a role in the timing of the abrupt dismissal of interim principal Mark MyGrant and five of the school’s top administrators. MyGrant was retired and scheduled to leave at the end of this month; an assistant principal and three academy leaders were reassigned, while another academy leader retired
Davis said the school, which is located in one of Atlanta’s most affluent communities, is underperforming. He cited a sluggish graduation rate and new student growth data, which shows the school is slightly above average in terms of how much students are learning in a year.
MyGrant said the removal dealt with charges of racism against two staff members he hired last year. Davis said he could not address personnel issues.
In a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution late Wednesday, MyGrant said “it is time for us to move on.”
Under-performing? Shouldn’t some of the black students at North Atlanta High School be the black sons and daughters of black multimillionaires living in Buckhead?
Before we get the «charges of racism» MyGrant spoke of, just how poorly are students at this majority black hgh school located in posh 75 percent white Buckhead performing?
A sampling of data reviewed by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution shows the school located in Buckhead, one of Atlanta’s most affluent communities, has a mixed academic performance.
About 62 percent of its students graduated in 2011, 10 percentage points above the district’s average of about 52 percent. The highest graduation rate was at Carver Early College, where 97 percent of students earned a diploma.
Davis highlighted North Atlanta’s rate in his comments Tuesday night, when he noted that four out of 10 students won’t graduate from the school.
Under the state’s old accountability system, which was ditched this year, North Atlanta High for years failed to meet annual academic goals. Only three other schools in the district had a worse track record of meeting benchmarks than North Atlanta, according to state data.
But the school is among the district’s best in other subjects. State data from 2011 shows North Atlanta’s SAT score of 1,439 was the second-highest in the district, just behind Grady High’s of 1,455. Passing rates on the End of Course exam in math 2 were the fourth-highest in the district.
Low standards, even for a county where the almost entirely black high schools in the South Fulton consistently perform at standards that are the worst in the state of Georgia, if not the entire country.
So what’s this charge of hiring a racist all about? [N. Atlanta High teacher quits, rips racism claim, Atlanta Journal Constitution, by Jaime Sarrio, 10-13-12]:
A North Atlanta High teacher has left her position at the school following accusations of racial discrimination, according to a letter obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Amy Durham worked as a language arts teacher at the school, where a little more than a week ago six key administrators were replaced, including interim principal Mark MyGrant.
In a letter to school officials, Durham said her position was never officially approved by the school board because she was told there were “outstanding questions” about how she was selected for the position.
Durham said in September she was told about a charge of racial discrimination made against her related to her part-time work at the school’s college and career counseling center in 2011-12. She said she has tried to get clarity from Atlanta Public Schools about the allegations, but has gotten no response.
As a result, Durham sent the letter, dated Oct. 10, saying she was leaving her position at the high school.
“As you can understand, the initial enthusiasm that I had to be an Atlanta Public Schools teacher has been considerably diminished,” she wrote.
On Oct. 5, APS officials reassigned four North Atlanta High administrators — an assistant principal and three academy leaders. Two other administrators — interim principal MyGrant and academy leader Reginald Colbert — both retired. A new principal takes over Oct. 29.
MyGrant said he would present evidence that the replacements grew out of what he considers politically motivated and baseless allegations that two of his recommended hires — a graduation coach and an English teacher — were racists. He delivered 25 pages of documents to the central office Tuesday that he said would exonerate him and the other administrators. Late Wednesday, he released a statement saying, “It is time for us to move on.”
Again, so what are these «racist» charges that went to the APS, which seems to be the underlying rationale for removing the leadership of a school that was merely producing the SAT scores and graduation rates that have become expected of black students.
Would you believe Durham was accused — by an anonymous individual — of racism, because she didn’t have a reception for a black student that was accepted into Harvard (no questions or insinuations if this student got in because of affirmative action… promise! Whoops…) [In emails Atlanta Public Schools board members disagree how to investigate allegations of racism at North Atlanta, AJC, by Jaime Sarrio, 10-17-12]:
Weeks before Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent Erroll Davis replaced six key administrators at North Atlanta High, two school board members exchanged emails over parents’ complaints of “institutional racism” at the school and how to deal with it.
In the emails obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution through an open records request, school board chairman Reuben McDaniel and District 4 board member Nancy Meister disagreed over how to investigate the allegations.
Davis said Tuesday the district gets allegations of racism frequently. In this latest case, the district reviewed the allegation and decided not to investigate. It was passed along to the principal, he said.
APS officials swept into North Atlanta High on Oct. 5 and replaced the interim principal, Mark MyGrant, and five administrators. The upheaval sparked protests from parents and teachers — and triggered rumors that the shakeup was tied to alleged racism at the school.
Davis defended the staff moves by saying the school for years has been underperforming academically.
“It’s clear nothing much has been done about (performance issues), or if something has been done, it’s been done ineffectively by the leadership team,” Davis said this week.
On Aug. 18, MyGrant emailed Davis that he had investigated anonymous allegations that a teacher about to be hired, Amy Durham, was accused of racism for not having a reception for a black student who will be attending Harvard University.
“I am not sure how to respond to the racist comment other than to say that I have worked with her [Durham] for 10 years and have never had any concerns or complaints,” MyGrant wrote.
Three days later McDaniel sent an email to Associate Superintendent Steve Smith, asking him to collect data from North Atlanta that breaks down the school’s graduation rates, and other performance metrics, by race. He asked for an ethnic breakdown of teachers and staff who were recommended for positions by interim principal MyGrant.
“I think it is critical that we understand these issues as we go through the principal selection process so that we can factor in some of the skills required to address the racial issues at North Atlanta in our new leadership,” McDaniel wrote.
Meister responded in an email 35 minutes later that the analytical search for evidence of racism shouldn’t be focused just on North Atlanta, which is in her district. “We should have this conducted for all high schools across the district. This will allow us to have an equitable and fair analysis across all schools,” Meister wrote.
McDaniel wrote back that he agreed gathering data across the district “would be interesting,” but not practical. He wrote: “My purpose for requesting the data is to begin to understand statistically the evidence I have received from parents at North Atlanta indicating that we have a problem there that is based in an institutional racism mentality.”
What? No party for a black student getting into Harvard — obviously, they were accepted into Harvard because they are black — can only, only be due to extreme racism on the part of the North Atlanta High School teacher.
Again, you are probably asking yourself «What the F—?» but the city of Atlanta is run with the same type of mentality that A. Reginald Eaves had when he was appointed director of public safety — serving as the super chief for all police, fire, and public safety services in Atlanta — by the city’s first black mayor, Maynard Jackson, in 1974. An extreme example of racial cronyism — having no police experience — Eaves promoted African Americans to every level of administration in the Atlanta Bureau of Police Services so that they were a substantial number and percentage of the sergeants, lieutenants, captains, majors, and deputy directors. Eaves successfully carried out Jackson’s mandates in the Bureau of Police and he made it reflect and represent the people that it was supposed to serve. He stated that he wanted as many “black police administrators as possible making decisions about black lives” in Atlanta. African Americans in Atlanta began to believe that the Bureau of Police Services was their friend and on their side. (Atlanta’s Winning the Fight Against Black-on-Black Crime, Ebony, June 1976)
No, Atlanta isn’t the fight against black-on-black, or black-on-anyone crime. It’s a dangerous place, with every public department still run by the same type of racial cronyism Mr. Eaves bragged about implementing in the 1970s.
Not throwing a party for a black kid going to Harvard can even get you fired, and the principal removed.
Back in 2010, the AJC reported that white parents were considering saving some money and instead of splurging on private school tuition, they might actually use the public schools their tax dollars fund [More kids stick with Buckhead schools, AJC, 3-15-10]:
Parents living in Atlanta’s tony Buckhead have for years enrolled their children in the city’s elementary schools, later opting for higher performing private middle and high schools. That left the North Atlanta area’s one middle and one high school underpopulated.
Talk to old-timers, and they throw out a number of reasons: Marketing. Racial bias. Academics.
Nancy Dillon, a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker Buckhead, said families without children in public schools often move out of the city because of its higher taxes. “But if they think their money is going toward something good, you’ve got something that’s a draw,” Dillon said of the new high school. “It’s all about quality.”
The Buckhead cluster contains six elementary schools, Sutton Middle and North Atlanta High School, which offers an International Baccalaureate program begun in 1982 — the Southeast’s oldest.
Still, “parents had a perception,” said Sidney Baker, principal of Buckhead’s Sarah Smith Elementary School since 2000. “What some people saw [was] the racial makeup.” Many consider Buckhead the center of Atlanta’s white business and civic community. The city school system overall is predominantly black, reflecting the city’s demographics. Yet both are diversifying.
«You Keep Using That Word, I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means” North Atlanta had magnet programs that drew students from all over the city, including for international studies and for the performing arts. Ten years ago, 69 percent of the student body was black and 20 percent was white. In October, after the system remade the magnet programs into “small learning communities,” the percentage of black students stood at 59. White students made up 17 of the student body and Latino students made up another 17 percent.
But there were other factors that fed into parents’ perceptions. North Atlanta was no athletics powerhouse, in large part because students went there for reasons other than its sports teams. And despite the prestige and awards earned by both the school’s magnet programs, parents felt the school’s academic prowess did not seem as strong as that of nearby private schools, some of which are nationally recognized.
Wait a second: so North Atlanta High School has consistently been the dumping ground for the best performing black students in the region, but even they can only muster a graduation of 62 percent.
But they still know how to complain about «racism» when a party isn’t thrown in their honor.
One day, not far from now, someone is going to start a revolution by simply laughing at an accusation of «racism» by saying — channeling Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride — and say, «You Keep Using That Word, I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means.»
With a smile, they’ll add, «let me show you what it means.»
Does that sound «inconceivable» to you?
No?
Good.
It shouldn’t.
Erick Erickson:
Democrats keep talking about our refusal to compromise. They don’t realize our compromise is defunding Obamacare. We actually want to repeal it.
I guess the next stage is to seek compromise on what ‘compromise’ means. Conservatives want ‘compromise’ to mean: we get almost everything. You get nothing. Erickson’s planning to threaten the dictionary people, maybe? (‘Dat’s a nice language you got ‘der. Be a shame if somethin’ wuz teh happin to it.’)
A kidnapper who asks for $1 million or he shoots the kid is seeking compromise, so long as he would prefer $10 million?
UPDATE: Here’s another use of the new word from Grover Norquist:
The administration asking us to raise taxes is not an offer; that’s not a compromise. That’s just losing. I’m in favor of compromise. When we did the $2.5 trillion spending restraint in the BCA, we wanted $6 trillion. I considered myself very compromised. Overly reasonable.
‘Compromise’ means conservatives getting a lot for nothing, just not absolutely everything you might ever want, for nothing. But bottom line: if you have to give to get, that’s just losing, not compromise.