In The Blogs

Susan Boyle's 20 Media Euphemisms

| Mon Apr. 20, 2009 2:29 PM PDT

A Lexis-Nexis search turns up 952 articles concerning Britain's Got Talent Superstar, Susan Boyle. Why? She's got a smoking singing voice, but she's not-hot, and that's touched a cultural nerve. We are shallow. We don't want to be shallow. Or at least, we don't want people to know how very shallow we are. But we can't talk about how shallow we are without mentioning how not-hot Susan Boyle is and how we wrote her off because of her not-hottitude. Right?

So. How many colorful euphemisms can the media come up with? Lots—see 20 below.

1. "The plain Jane superstar," in a Daily News article about an offer from a porn company to put Boyle in an adult film. (It plans to fly her to L.A. on Virgin Airlines.)

2. "Like Shrek come to life," Rosie O'Donnell to People magazine.

3. "Frizzy-haired" from Mother Jones's own Party Ben.

4. "Plain, dowdy, unemployed," in New York Magazine's round up.

5. The Age of Melbourne let an imaginary Jane Austen do the dissing and refers to her as "ill-favoured."

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6. "Stocky, beetle-browed," is the word from The LA Times.

7. Susan Reimer of the Baltimore Sun writes, Boyle gives "new meaning to the description 'frumpy.'" What was the old defintion?

8. Unleashed: A blog for animals and the people who love them" of the same Baltimore Sun writes that Boyle "makes us rethink 'the spinster cat lady.'" Cat ladies of the world stand taller today.

9. "Hairy angel" is the phrase from the U.K.'s Daily Mail, which also mentioned her "unfortunate gait."

10. Mark Jefferies of the Mirror writes, Susan Boyle has the voice of an angel, but a "hair-do from hell." Do we say hair-do anymore?

11. "Drab" is the word from The Daily Star, but check out the link for the nipple-tassled Fabia, who should also be an Internet star.

12. "Matronly" is how the Chicago Tribune puts it, and quotes BGT judge Amanda Holden as saying "she just looks like anybody who could live on your street."

13. The Washington Post went for understated with "unassuming."

14. The New York Post gave us "ugly duckling" and "golden-throated spinster," which has to be the most Brothers Grimm take.

15. Her fans see her as "a triumph over looks-ism and age-ism," says the New York Times, because she's too old and too not-good looking.

16. She's an "underdog" because she's not hot, says the USA Today, which reminds us that "you can't judge a book by its cover." It's like School House Rock for grown-ups.

17. Huffington Post wins for the strangest description with "unusual-looking, weirdly-mannered outcast." Apparently, Mark Blankenship hasn't been to a mall recently--she's not that unusal looking.

18. "Avatar of yearning" is Tina Brown's take in The Daily Beast. The comment section is open to anyone who can explain that one to me.

19. "Badger in a dress" is the proud work of Wales on Sunday.

20. "A cross between Julia Child and Edith Bunker," says The Boston Herald, which also uses the word "schlumpy." That's a cross between lumpy and what, exactly?

Comments

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Submitted by Party Ben on Mon Apr. 20, 2009 9:49 PM PDT.

The reference in my earlier post on Susan Boyle has "spinster" in quotes, since I was referring to another web site. I'll take "frizzy-haired" since that's just a fact. But I'd like to make very clear that I would not have and did not call her a spinster, and I myself am just as baffled, and even troubled, by the reaction to her appearance on the show. I think your post is misleading.

spinster

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed May. 6, 2009 11:10 AM PDT.

That she is a "spinster" is also just a fact.

Yes, my mother-in-law felt

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed Apr. 22, 2009 12:02 PM PDT.

Yes, my mother-in-law felt it necessary to comment on her imperfect looks not once, but at least three times in the course of a short IM chat. At least once that she needs a make over, again, "desperately in need of" a makeover, and "she is an angel, and 'God' takes care of his angels" (and therefore, presumably, God will give her a makeover). Honestly, it was not her un-hotness that lowered people's expectations of her, I think it was her un-hipness that did that! Says a lot about people, and how they arrive at their expectations.

"Avatar of yearning"

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed Apr. 22, 2009 12:04 PM PDT.

"Avatar of yearning" = message of "we want to get over/let's get over ourselves" via poppy pop culture pop bubbles.

Susan Boyle could easily

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed Apr. 22, 2009 12:11 PM PDT.

Susan Boyle could easily shed a few pounds and get a makeover and then look just as attractive as 90 percent of the people who are dissing her. However, unlike these dissers, Susan would also still have her kind personality and her amazing voice. Susan is the winner.

Susan Boyle

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun Apr. 26, 2009 4:54 PM PDT.

Thank you! My thoughts exactly.

Avatar of Yearning as a

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed Apr. 22, 2009 12:24 PM PDT.

Avatar of Yearning as a description for Boyle seems fairly clear if you've listened to the lyrics of the song she became famous for singing, "I dreamed a dream". She sang about losing hope in a life she yearned for--in her words it seemed an appropriate song to where she was in life personally. In performing that particular song of yearning, she secured that dream that had been 'killed' for herself in reality. I think what Boyle said on her Larry King interview would have been good to include here. King asked her if she planned to change and her response was 'why should I?' Why indeed! She is widely adored as is, even as it has made our culture uncomfortable. I hope this busts the door wide open to how we expect (women in particular) to look and our cultural preconceptions about 'ill-favored' people being basically useless, disposable, laughable.

That is PRECISELY my

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun Apr. 26, 2009 2:08 PM PDT.

That is PRECISELY my sentiment. Leave the woman alone! She doesn't deserve these comments. She is such a beautiful woman as she is. For the media to try to say she should be shaped into the stereotypical gorgeous superstar is just wrong in my view. WHY SHOULD SEE!!!!! The fact she got up on stage and performed as she did with that kind of self confidence despite her "insert derogatory comment of choice here" looks is testament that she has more courage than, I dare say, 95% of the general public and 98-99% of all those that can't see what they were witnessing. Susan Boyle is an angel. She will go far DESPITE all the demeaning comments thown her way. She certainly has the talent. Now let her pave the way for others out there who have the talent but were deathly afraid of coming forward because they didn't have the "media styled" hot looks. You go Susan. Knock 'em dead. You are a superstar in my eyes! Barbie who?

"schlumpy." That's a cross between lumpy and what, exactly?

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed Apr. 22, 2009 12:56 PM PDT.

It's a cross between lumpy and shlump. The whole media reaction to her is a reflection of cultural shallowness and people's reaction shows greater maturity, compassion and encourages me to think that the media should stop treating their readers and viewers like idiots. yup, I agree she's a winner. Dr. George

Frumpy, shlumpy, ugly

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed Apr. 22, 2009 1:39 PM PDT.

Frumpy, shlumpy, ugly duckling, stocky, dowdy...it all comes down to the same questions--that nobody wants to get caught asking. Men: "Would I go to bed with her?" Women: "If I looked like her, would men want to go to bed with me?" As the guy in the old joke said, when he woke up the morning after his wedding night and saw the ugly woman with the world's most beautiful voice lying next to him: "For Christ's sake, SING!"

Susan Boyle of Scotland

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu Apr. 23, 2009 10:48 AM PDT.

This lady whom God has gifted with the voice of an angel has the courage of a lion, an indomitable spirit, and talent that begs to be shared with the world. Bets are she undoubtedly has many other qualities in addition to that lovely voice. Hopefully, they too will be discovered and revealed and appreciated, by those perceptive enough to recognize what comprises true beauty.

Susan Boyle

Submitted by OzarkDream (not verified) on Thu Apr. 23, 2009 4:27 PM PDT.

OK....no arguing that she has a wonderful singing voice.....BUT I have a thought/question..... What if Susan was stunningly beautiful? Let's say she walked out on that stage and impressed everyone with her beauty, would the judges, the audience and all of us have been so blown away by her singing? or do you think that her voice was such a drastic contrast to her looks that it had a bigger impact on everyone? just a thought.....

Ok, the thing is, she's

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri Apr. 24, 2009 10:03 PM PDT.

Ok, the thing is, she's thrilling BECAUSE of her looks and unhip persona. Her voice is decent, but if I shut my eyes and listen, it's nice but I'm not wowed. Her shtick is that she's unlikely. She gives hope to the majority of us who are regular people and also unhip. Many people (myself included) root for the underdog. Were she to sweeten her look and become like all the rest, she immediately loses what's interesting about her. The euphemisms are great because they're honest; again, they inspire hope in the rest of us. There's no reason to be embarrassed of ourselves for calling it what it is. And none of it has appeared mean-spirited (that's where the line is). It's frankly nice to see the merits of a regular person, rather than a barbie doll, in the entertainment industry. So long as she stays relatively normal-ish and doesn't Hollywood up too much, I hope she is successful.

Rosie O'Donnell vs Susan Boyle

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun Apr. 26, 2009 11:45 AM PDT.

"Like Shrek come to life," Rosie O'Donnell to People magazine. I wonder if Rosie has looked in Her mirror lately, and she is not much of a singer either, is she? Shameful, Rosie!

Susan Boyle

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun Apr. 26, 2009 2:00 PM PDT.

Those of us of a certain age (another euphemism) who remember Kate Smith wonder when it became necessary for singers to be "hot" to be noticed. The thirties had both Kate and Marlene.

Susan Boyle

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun Apr. 26, 2009 5:53 PM PDT.

The 1960s made pop stars out of several talented women who were not classically beautiful, notably Janis Joplin and Cass Elliot. The oil shock and the subsequent end of economic optimism, and the reassertion of control over popular culture by the music industry, brought on a cultural regression to pre-hippy norms that manifested itself first in the rise of disco and then the phenomenon of Reaganite/Thatcherite right-wing university students from which we have yet to recover. Does Susan Boyle mean that the 60s are back? I suspect not, particularly since these are not good economic times. Within a year those same judges who pretended to look so astonished when she started singing (I doubt she got onto a stage in front of that many people without anyone from the show having heard her) will be using ‘Susan Boyle-ish’ to denigrate the non-beautiful who seek to follow her lead. The vast majority of people regularly on TV are there because they are good-looking; they are not about to let their only advantage be devalued without putting up a nasty fight.

Susan Boyle

Submitted by Baca (not verified) on Mon Apr. 27, 2009 5:48 AM PDT.

"Avatar of yearning" is the perfect phrase to describe her. The embodiment of an intense feeling of loss. My God the woman is 47 years old and never been kissed. What I find interesting is people commenting above noting her "kind personality" "an angel" and "undoubtedly has many other qualities". How do they know that? She could be a right bloody old sow for all we know. It is as damaging a stereotype to offer her these qualities based on her lack of looks as it is to assume a gorgeous blonde is "dumb".

The Voice

Submitted by SmokePole (not verified) on Mon Apr. 27, 2009 7:58 AM PDT.

I first heard Susan Boyle on the morning news as I was getting ready for work. I wasn't watching the screen, and had no idea how she looked. I remember thinking that she did quite well, for an amateur, though she lost control of her intonation during a couple of phrases. Certainly there are worse voices making a living at it. I hope she can build on her wide exposure to build a career as a singer. Susan Boyle is far from unique. The world is full of amateur musicians who make music for no other reason than the love of music. I sing in a chamber choir with an 80 year old man who retired after 35 years as a music teacher. Arthritis has taken his ability to play instruments, but while he has breath he will continue to make music. There are thousands like him. I hope Susan Boyle holds tight to her love of music. There is not enough money or fame in the world to pay for that.

Susan Boyle - Rosie O'Donnell comment

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon Apr. 27, 2009 10:02 AM PDT.

let me get this straight - Rosie O'Donnell daring to pass judgment on another person's looks? Looks should not matter - beauty is only skin deep. But Rosie is a mean and ugly person from the inside. And since she does have the nerve to comment on another's looks, she should take an inventory of her own looks.