Comments on: Women. Always Making Stuff Complicated.

By: Steve Pick

Steve Pick — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 +0000

Of course, I know you read James Wolcott every day, so know you and he (along with the also excellent Tom Watson) are somehow inadvertently arguing about Jackie Gleason this morning. I submit that Ralph Kramden, while indeed a wife beater and a moron, wasn’t quite a doofus. My memory of the Honeymooners is that, while he acknowledged that Alice was, indeed, the greatest, it wasn’t because he thought for too many seconds that he couldn’t really accomplish anything without her guidance. And, besides, “The Honeymooners” is entirely too caught up in class issues to be an example of the doofus paradigm. I don’t think doofusses (I guess that’s how you spell the plural) become so much a part of the culture until later in our evolution towards spiraling consumer debt.

By: Twisty

Twisty — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 +0000

It’s Kramden with a K? Yipes, and me such a stickler.

Well, I have not read Wolcott in a few days, so I guess there’s just some kind of Gleasonesque component to the intellectual aether this morning.

I agree with you about Ralph. My argument, apparently not well-worded, is that he is the prototype–in that he is fat and unsuccessful and married to a wisecracking hottie–and that over the years the type has been diluted to produce today’s modern doofus, lost in the desert with his family in the Dodge Durango.

Are you suggesting that the modern doofus somehow reflects male insecurity re:being a successful provider?

Perhaps the plural of “doofus” is “doofi”?

By: Steve Pick

Steve Pick — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 +0000

I’ll go with doofi, considering the obvious Latin root of doofus.

I wasn’t suggesting anything about male insecurity leading to doofism, but I kind of like the theory. At any rate, in the 50s, we were never shown true doofi in any cultural representation. I vaguely remember it being born in the late 60s or early 70s, when men were incapable of properly brewing instant coffee as well as their beautiful wives could. But much greater research than my spotty memory needs to be conducted.

Perhaps a Doofus Studies chair could be created at some enterprising university?

By: yankee transplant

yankee transplant — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 +0000

Great, funny, well-written post! Makes some excellent points!

By: Twisty

Twisty — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 +0000

Thanks, Yankee. We aim to give satisfaction!

By: a nut

a nut — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 +0000

Okay, I definitely have to disagree with Mr. Doofus who said that women like cheaper, sturdier cars such as the Kia. I can’t wait for my hands to get on large chunks of cash (and for Peanut to get older than 12) so I can buy an Audi TT. That’s not anywhere close to cheap and it’s a tiny 2-seater. Other than that, I’d buy myself a Honda or a Volkswagon….

By: a nut

a nut — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 +0000

Ohhh, did you know that Volvo has come out with a concept car for women by women? It’s okay; it comes complete with a hole in the headrest for your ponytail, extra storage space for shopping and the hood doesn’t come up but every 30,000 miles and by the Volvo people only. That’s the part that killed me as I like to lift my hood and tinker myself.

By: Karl Maria von Berensdorff

Karl Maria von Berensdorff — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 +0000

The Volvo concept car was made by women for women AND men. In all Volvo released material it says this but it was the media who constantly said “Look! A girly car by girls for girls You can’t even open the hood! omg lolz!!!!!!oneoneone”

“…Because I’m certain that our male customers will love this concept car” - Hans-Olov Olsson, Volvo CEO at the time