This comment feels you’re personally... attacking me? Catering to me? I dunno, but my fondness for They Might Be Giants is the hill I’m willing to die on. I don’t think I’ve ever said that on Kinja before.

Or just write better Christmas songs and let the crappy old ones die.

TBH, I wonder why somebody hasn’t already done this.

See, I read it as the man singing to the woman and the woman singing to everybody else.  But yeah, outside of its original context there’s no way to know that.  I think that’s my last word on the issue, though, because as I said at the top, I haaaaate this song, and I’ve suddenly found myself defending it.

I do wonder if the conversation should shift more to why people still love a song that’s irrelevant as hell

Accurate! The most positive way to read the song is that she’s taking charge of her own sexuality, but yeah, the guy’s first line should really be “well should I call you a cab? Because the roads are only gonna get worse.”

I mean, obviously I wasn’t there for any of the performances and obviously there don’t need to be any other party guests for the song to work, but the way it was described to me they did a lot of interaction with the audience to exaggerate the “look, we all know what’s going on here but let’s all be polite about it”…

My understanding is that Frank Loesser wrote the song to perform with his wife at parties, and that they would set the stage (i.e., get into character and hint at their intentions) before starting the song. I know it was used in a movie where the roles reverse halfway through the song, but I’ve never seen that version.

I agree with you on all of this. My point is that the song is not supposed to be about date rape. It is a slut-shaming song that perpetuates outmoded double standards, and that’s a perfectly fine reason to boycott it.

The difference is that Song of the South was always racially insensitive. Baby, It’s Cold Outside was never about date rape, but modern audiences have decided to read it that way. Song of the South is a victim of changing social norms while Baby, It's Cold Outside has been stripped of it's context and repurposed.

Well... To be fair, they’re still worrisome lyrics if you take them at face value, and I don’t know that it’s worth doing research just to appreciate a (garbage) Christmas song...

Ive always hated Baby, It’s Cold Outside, so I’m not interested in defending it too avidly, but in it’s original context the two characters in the song are 100% on the same page; it was the ‘40s, and an unmarried woman absolutely did not spend the night in a man’s house. They’re making a big show to the rest of the…

Whoa there hold up wait wait wait wait. It sounds like somebody is putting lemon juice in your eggnog, and that might explain why you dislike it.

I will never understand what celebrities think they’ll get out of picking fights of with other celebrities. It’s one thing to call out bigotry or BS political statements, but I’m confused as to how Mr. Rapaport thought this would bereceived. If you can’t say anything nice, then keep your dignity by S’ing TFU.

About the same number as are allowed to drive the real car.

I’m sorry, but from “The Toys of Peace” by Saki:

Never heard that one before, but I’m totally saving it up for when my son is old enough to buy into such a concept.

+1 for Better than Bullion, which makes the only vegetarian bullion options worth a damn. Finely chopped dill pickles fit in more places than you’d expect (chili, especially), a dusting of Parmesan or brewer’s yeast adds a little umami, and it’s worth sprinkling rosemary on anything savory or rosewater on anything…

When I was in high school, and entire slumber party of girls I had a crush on got salmonella, and it was almost certiainly from the eggs in the raw cookie dough.

The nearest McDonald’s and Burger King to my home are both part of the same strip mall. So, you but the fries at McDonald’s and then walk over to pick up your Whopper.