That didn't take long

Ace Rimmer, from the Red Dwarf books, once called one of the other characters "old fuitcake". He used expression such as "old boy", "old top", "old munchkin", and things like that.

That was the first thing that came to my mind when I read "fruitcake". And, of course, a little palm-sized cake with bits of fruit on it.

That article's from 2003. The demonization of Pete Stark is hardly "beginning". Note that his nontheism isn't mentioned.

For Malkin's purpose anything with the word fruit in it works.

Isn't being smeared by la Malkin (who is nuttier than an entire warehouse full of fruitcakes) in Wingnut Daily actually a badge of honor?

PZ:

I've never heard "fruitcake" used against gays, although I imagine practically every word has been used as an insult against them—I've mainly heard it to express one's opinion of another's sanity, as in "nutty as a fruitcake".

Just like hundreds of singular nouns can refer to the human vagina, and every plural noun to human breasts. To wit (well, maybe "wit" is the wrong word here) I offer for consideration my friend Mike's remark about a young lady: "She has very nice personalities."

Wow, he's insulted at least four people over a span of 17 years - what a monster!

This is kind of a stretch; I'm happy to hate Malkin, who is a raving loonie, but criticing a politician for foul language is fair game (if a particularly weak argument, and not one I'd choose to use), and this is a 4 year old article.

Fruitcake is not foul language... just a foul food.

Malkin is a fruitcake. And foul.

Begins? That's from 2003.

Pete was my rep until a couple of years ago, now I have Barbara Lee, but I could move to a house a couple of blocks away and have Pete again.

He's a genuinely nice guy. I have voted for him, and I like him.

And "fruitcake" isn't a homophobic slur, "fruit" is (depending on context), but I wouldn't expect Malkin to be up on that sort of slang. She's not as worldly as she'd like to believe.

he demonization of Pete Stark begins. Wouldn't you know it would be Michelle Malkin ("imprisonment for being brown is OK!"), and it would be in WorldNutDaily

... and ...

That article's from 2003.

Well, that proves it. She's a witch! Burn the witch! Burn the witch!

... wait. To be sure, does Michelle Malkin weigh as much as a duck?

I guess I'll have to stop calling people like Malkin "froot loops". It's both a trademark violation and a gay slur!

Or not.

Maybe I've simply heard it used incorrectly, but 'fruitcake' is indeed used as an insult against the homosexuals in Texas, as is 'Froot Loop' and any other variation on that theme.

Sounds like Texans have a problem with fruit.
No wonder it's the fattest state in the land.

From the midwest here, and in my neck of the woods it is also true that "fruit" could be a homosexual slur, but that "fruitcake" is an insult specifically against someone's intelligence and/or common sense. The words are somewhat analagous, but not at all homologs.

I don't think that they are saying that fruitcake is homophobic, but rather that cocksucker is homophobic. I think they have a bit more of an argument there (as in from certainly no argument to almost certainly no argument).

Ace Rimmer, from the Red Dwarf books, once called one of the other characters "old fuitcake".

"Ace Rimmer". Heh. Just got that.

Of course, calling somebody that could be a compliment.

I'm from Texas, and I've never heard "fruitcake" used as anti-gay, just shorthand for the "Nutty as a" expression, i.e. crazy.

Oh, and if it doesn't move on its own before preparation (which always entails battering and frying), it's not food.

I'm pretty fricking tired of having "tolerance" thrown in the face of liberals. I'm pretty far to the left, and I'm far from tolerant. I don't tolerate stupidity, homophobia, racism, child abuse, religious privilege, censorship, the animal cruelty, substandard education, or bad TV, for starters. But even if this nut's entire rant were dead on target in all details, I'd still rather be associated with Stark than the hypocrites on the right, from Ted Haggard and Duke Cunningham to Newt Gingrich and Rudy Giuliani. So yeah, I'm intolerant and uncivilized sometimes, just like new buddy Stark, but I'm not an immoral scumbag like these guys.

I believe she is conflating the slurs "Fruit" and "Cupcake", but even that is a bit of a stretch since cupcake has also been used to refer to an attractive young woman. Hell, who knows what goes on in that sewer of an imagination.

"Fruitcake is also used, especially in the United Kingdom and the United States, as insulting slang for a 'crazy person' (e.g. "he's a complete fruitcake"). It is derived from the expression "nutty as a fruitcake", which was first recorded in 1935. [1] It is also used to suggest that someone is a homosexual."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruitcake#In_the_USA

Never heard the term "fruitcake" used for a homosexual? You guys need to get out of the lab more often.

How about: butt pirate, rump ranger, turd burglar, poopy poker, sausage smoker, semen monkey, anal agitator, bat boy,...I could go on. Just let me know.

Hope you guys aren't paying too much for that education you're getting.

In college we used to contract the phrase and call people "nutcakes." It only now occurred to me that everyone doesn't say it.

Obviously your homophobia knows no bounds.

Is there something you want to get off your waxed chest Clay?

Seeing how the Malkin article is allmost 4 years old, the "That didn't take long" title doesn't seem appropriate. While the "fruitcake" as an anti-gay slur is weak, if the other things attributed to him are accurate (and with Malkin, that's a big if), then he has a mouth more suited to the rightwing.

It's both a trademark violation and a gay slur!

It's a floor wax and a dessert topping!

Not for nothin', but did anyone notice that "malkin" was on that list of euphemisms we all looked at a few days ago? Jus' sayin'...

Nah, Stevie...you guys just seemed so oblivious that "fruitcake" was used to refer to homosexuals, I just thought I'd be a friend and introduce you to a few of the other euphemisms floating around out there in the real world. Heck, "fruitcake" seemed to catch you guys like a deer in the headlights, and I just couldn't bear the thought of you being turned into road kill the next time someone pops a new term for homos on you.

That's the kind of guy I am. Simply terrified of fecal ingesters. Must be my naturally non-hirsute chest.

Alas for Malkin, she has short-circuited any attempt to call shame on someone judging another as crazy by titling her article "Pete Stark: Raving Lunatic".

Are we sure that's not just a missplaced byline?

"Fruit", "fruity", "fruitcake" and variations can refer to either craziness or perceived gayness where I'm from. I could conceive it used as a gay version of "cheesecake" or "beefcake." Also, a "fruit fly" is a woman who hangs around gay men.

But it's derogatory to use a slur against crazy people too! And next time somebody calls you "lame" or "a moron", chide them for making fun of your handicap.

FWIW, "fruitcake", as in nuttier than one, isn't a gay slur. "Fruit", however is. To wit: there's an old granola joke that goes, "After you take all the nuts and fruits out of California, all you have left are the flakes." I rest my case.

If I heard someone say "That guy is a fruitcake." I'd assume that that guy is crazy.

Then again, time was "That guy is so gay," would have been an enthusiastic endorsement of his exuberant cheer. See old IBM morale songs. http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=IBM (at the bottom)

Damn language, why can't it just stay put!

Paging Clay, Paging Clay... Pastor Ted Haggard is paging Clay...

Message For Clay - Pastor Ted thanks you for the Great Weekend - He'll never forget it. Please call your good friend Pastor Ted again.

That is all.

"FWIW, "fruitcake", as in nuttier than one, isn't a gay slur. "Fruit", however is. To wit: there's an old granola joke that goes, "After you take all the nuts and fruits out of California, all you have left are the flakes." I rest my case."

See Wikipedia. Link posted in comment 20. The language has changed in recent years, and yes, anything involving the word 'fruit' can mean homosexual.

Malkin is the fruitcake.

I've heard "fruitcake" used as a homophobic slur; indeed, as several commenters remarked, any variation on "fruit" will do the trick (ooh, bad pun, sorry). I really don't get where it could come from, though. I suppose slurs based on, uh, anatomical elements are obvious enough, but fruit? Whatever. Maybe it's a subconscious in-the-closet compliment for being sweet and good for you :-)

But seriously, regardless of the word. I'm gay myself and I'm sure none too fond of people who say things like that, but I want to say, in this case, so what? The guy's human, he's bound to have faults, no one reasonable is expecting perfection just because he's godless. We don't even know in what context he might have said that. I have friends who sometimes use homophobic slurs without really meaning them, it's just something they were used to doing growing up. It's regrettable, and I don't let them get away with it, but it doesn't mean they're raging homophobes.

Yeah I don't get where "fruit" meaning gay came from either.

Guess that's why I didn't really get fruitcake meaning anything other than nutty.

He may have been dressing down someone and called them a fruitcake.

But his voting record is very clear.

Ummmm... First, as many have pointed out already, this was originally written on July 23, 2003, but republished on March 13, 2007. I went to the Ways & Means Committee website...
http://waysandmeans.house.gov
And looked up what might have been the transcript for the hearing in question:
"Joint Hearing on Examining Pension Security and Defined Benefit Plans: The Bush Administration's Proposal to Replace the 30-Year Treasury Rate" (July 15, 2003)
http://waysandmeans.house.gov/hearings.asp?formmode=detail&hearing=95

It would seem that Stark, if present at all, did not contribute at all to the meeting, much less call anyone a "fruitcake" or a "cocksucker". Am I not looking at the right transcripts? What's up with that?

Though the column is from 2003, it's been reposted as of today, so the backlash can be said to be beginning.

Unless you think the reposting is strictly coincidental...

Good point about the reposting. However:

Pete Stark's tiring tirades

I hesitate to say this, but in my less enlightened days, (IE - highschool) I, in fact, used "fruitcake" as a homophobic slur. And, though I don't like saying this either, I have to agree with the right-wing nut and say that he is a bit of a prick. Probably less so then many other politicians, but still. Not that she really cares- she's just happy to have found that ammo cache.

On the topic of how Stark's non-theism would affect his chances for re-election, I thought y'all might like to see this quickie "your two cents" poll from SFGate (the San Francisco Chronicle's online arm), on the question "Would a candidate's atheism be a deal-breaker at the polls for you?"

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=13&entry_id=14…

Not a statistically representative sampling, obviously. But interesting nonetheless. There are a fair number of religious believers in the bunch... but only two out of the fourteen said No, they wouldn't vote for Stark now.

Again, this is the Bay Area we're talking about here. But it's still encouraging.

(BTW, I can't decide which of those two No's is my favorite -- the "if you don't believe in anything, you will believe anything" person, or the "God is crying, and I can't stand it" person.)

I think the best one used (at me) was "Gayer than a treeful of monkeys on nitrous oxide."

Other notables:
"Three-dollar bill."
"Gayer than Dick's hatband."
"Skin-flute player."

Morph

Actually I think you all missed what she was actually saying because she's an exceptionally bad writer. She wasn't saying fruitcake was a homophobic slur, rather she was saying that "cocksucker" is a homophobic slur. I would have missed it though, she said the slur was 10 letters and fruitcake only has 9. As far as I can tell, this is the only way to figure out what she was talking about because she refused to say "cocksucker" save once with three exposed letters. Because when those letters are put together some kind of voodoo happens and they get special power. So she avoids using the word even in censured form.

'Cocksucker' doesn't really mean sucker of cocks. Rather it means you're a cocksucker. Just as motherfucker doesn't mean you fuck mothers (yours or other) it just means you're a motherfucker.

'Fruitcake' comes from the old expression 'nutty as a fruitcake', which is how someone of Stark's generation would use it. And according to his explanation, that's what he meant. It's only more recently that it's been construed and used as anti-gay.

she did not want to put in print that Fucktard Stark called the committee chair a cocksucker. Who am I to question the Bay Area democrat's expertise in cocksucker-ness. after all, he represents so many.. he is obviously the best cocksucker Representative in the House...