And let's not forget John Edwards and his reign of saliva combing...

Although I have to say that I would like it very much if people stopped watching FOX for obscenity bloopers.

what do you think the crowd's reaction would have been if Bill had said everyone knows that even a nigg**

how about "everyone knows that even a fagg*t"

i think "chinaman" comes from the fact that the chinese were known for a long time in america as "foreign workers" on the railroads, who didn't for the most part bring their women with them- hence chanaMAN. "nigger" is a southern corruption of the latin or spanish term (i forget) "negro", meaning black. but does anyone know where the word "faggot" comes from as a term for homosexuals? just curious.

and "kike"- even I have no idea. :)

You gotta be this tall to go on this ride... And you gotta be this smart* to participate constructively in a debate.

-- *Be in possession of such an astounding, mind-boggling, profound and sublime intellect that you can recognize satire when it bites you upon your buttocks.

Thanks for posting this, Norm. Post more Maher! :)

And, how was Michael Steele on the show? I live in Maryland and never really thought that much of him.

The attack on Howard Dean's scream really was dumb, but he had to 'go away' in large part because he got his butt kicked in Iowa by Kerry (before the scream). It's not as if Kerry and Biden were frontrunners before their gaffes, either. I liked Kerry, but too was sick of seeing him get played like a fool by the right wing. Of course the attacks were unfair, but as a politician he seems unusually vulnerable to unfair attacks.

'Faggot' is an archaic term for a burning piece of wood, or firewood. I don't know exactly how that became a term for homosexuals, though.

Well, what I learned in religion class in university is that in the middle ages, homosexuals were added to the fire when they burned witches, and that is where the connection between faggot=wood and faggot=homosexual came from.

Gotta love religion class...

like, they didn't even merit their own burnings? they were just "added" to the fire when they burned witches? thats cold. so to speak.

Yeah, that's why people in Britain called cigarettes faggots. Making reference to a burning stick of wood. Ergo flaming faggot.

To "stand out like a flaming faggot" was a referrence to the sniper infested battle grounds of WWI, where a glowing cigarette ember was an inviting target at night.

I've read that the term faggot for a gay male came into fashion in America after the first world war though it was used in Britain that way for a long time because of the legend that gay men were some time burned in the fire with the local "witch" being the head liner for the show.

Epileptics and other 'undesirables' met the same fate in that "great cleansing".

so, sifting the information in your post, thomas, the term was chosen because homosexuals stand out? or if one did stand out, he was referred to as a "flaming faggot"- i.e. something that stands out in an undesirable way (attracting sniper fire, as it were)? hey, two for the price of one- always wondered about the "flaming" thing, too. thanks. (hope i got that right).

I've heard Brits refer to cigarettes as "fags", but never as "faggots".

According to the Oxford English dictionary, the use of "faggot" for homosexual was first used in the U.S. in 1914. The use of the word for homosexual spread from the U.S. to Britain.

This is EXACTLY what I was saying on the blog when Biden went on the Dilay Show after making that stupid eye brow raising remark. Yeah it was dumb, but there are FAR bigger issues right now than the verbal screw up he made, and Biden is leading the debate in the single biggest issue we face right now, Iraq. I know that concept was a little much for people to wrap there heads around in this country(or even on this blog), but it makes me feel good to see that Bill Maher was at least able to grasp that simple/obvious concept. Way to go Mr. Maher! There might be some hope for America just yet!