How I Met Your Mother "How Lily Stole Christmas" OAD: 12/11

[Neenahboy]

But I didn't say "fudge".

Hilarious episode :up:

[firerose818]

Really enjoyed this one! :up:

What is it with all us girls around the age of 30 who never got an EZ Bake oven as a kid? I have always wanted one too.

-Rose

[JDHutt25]

But I didn't say "fudge".

Hilarious episode :up:
+1!

[SparkleMotion]

Swarley: "I'm fine...my nose is just overflowing with 'Awesome' and I had to get some of it out." :D:up:

[terpfan1980]

Children: grinch! grinch! grinch!

Preggers ultra religious mother: spppppppewwwww! (drink flying every where).


That was a great episode. :up: :up: :up:

[Graymalkin]

I really really want to know what the "Grinch" word is! :D

[Mikeyis4dcats]

I'm guessing

See You Next Tuesday

[edc]

Delayed until late-night tonight in Houston so they could show a Christmas-themed infommercial. :(

Thank goodness for TiVo, but it likely won't be in HD...

[Satchel]

At first I thought he called her a bitch, but they could say that...must have been the C word...

[busyba]

I'm guessing

See You Next Tuesday

No, the show is on mondays.




;)

[Graymalkin]

That's what I figured, because "bitch" is used all the time.

And apparently "assface" can be, too. Probably not "d**khead," though. :D

[classicX]

I didn't think the episode was that funny. Guess I'm in the minority there.

[mrpantstm]

Definitely an enjoyable episode. I wish my friends would apologize with beer.

[f0gax]

(goes something like...)
I should be playing laser tag. And being legen wait for it... ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ




















-dary

[DaveBogart]

I didn't think the episode was that funny. Guess I'm in the minority there.That you are. You must be a grinch to have found this episode to be not that funny.

[drew2k]

Really enjoyed this one! :up:

What is it with all us girls around the age of 30 who never got an EZ Bake oven as a kid? I have always wanted one too.

-Rose"Easy bake oven ... that's what I'm gonna name my van."

"And I have only one package left and it's for you. <pause> Yeah I did."

[Lee L]

Funny episode. It took me a minute or two of puzzlement to get the meaning of grinch (I too thought it must have been a female dog) but my wife got it right away.

So hilarious thinking of all those religious kids shouting that out! :D

[mrpantstm]

I really thought Ted would use the argument 'You can be angry at me but don't ruin Christmas for Marshall.'

[scooterboy]

I didn't enjoy this episode as much, but I know why.

I've been as sick as Barney for the last two days. :(

[ScottE22]

At first I thought he called her a bitch, but they could say that...must have been the C word...

I really thought it was "bitch" and he was just cleaning it up for "the kids" -- and for added comedic value that tied in with the theme of the show... It would seem really out of character for Ted to call her the C word.

[SparkleMotion]

I wish they'd string the Swarley and slap bet things along as running subplots. :D

[milo99]

i dunno, I still think it was bitch, not the C word. The C word would have been a bit out of character for Ted to be calling her in present time. as in, ok, in the answering machine message i could see it. Even then, Teds reaction to the message being played was non existent until Lily reacted to it.

And then when they were having the argument in real time and he said you're being a "grinch", i don't think the C word fits with him, his demeanor, or what was being argued. Bitch fits much more.

Now as to why they wouldn't say it.... i dunno. I think some people see it as a much more vile word than others...

[milo99]

I wish they'd string the Swarley and slap bet things along as running subplots. :D
I've been waiting for that too! He has 5 slaps right? At the end of hte last few eps, i've lamenting the fact that we haven't seen the slap bet revisited at all.

[Lee L]

i dunno, I still think it was bitch, not the C word. The C word would have been a bit out of character for Ted to be calling her in present time. as in, ok, in the answering machine message i could see it. Even then, Teds reaction to the message being played was non existent until Lily reacted to it.

And then when they were having the argument in real time and he said you're being a "grinch", i don't think the C word fits with him, his demeanor, or what was being argued. Bitch fits much more.

Now as to why they wouldn't say it.... i dunno. I think some people see it as a much more vile word than others...


Well, that fits exactly what I thought, but my wife (who is from Long Island and curses like a sailor so that may cloud her interpretation :D ) insisted it had to be the C word since bitch is not that offensive.

[TonyD79]

I'm going with bitch rather than the c-word. The point wasn't that it couldn't be aired on TV, the point was that it was FUNNY to substitute and let the voice over (which was actually funny this time) make a recurring joke.

Besides, grinch sounds a bit like bitch so you get the fudge/f-word joke from a Christmas Story (which they used also).

[Sparty99]

Count me as someone else who thinks it was bitch and not the c-word. Think the only reason I think that is because of the fact that grinch & bitch sound alike.

[jking]

I think it was bitch as well. The C-word would have been hard for Ted to come back from, and certainly Lily wouldn't have ended up saying "I kind of was a C-word" at the end. Bitch is close to grinch and it was a Christmas themed episode... which to me was the main reason grinch was used, not because bitch can't be used on TV.

[Mikeyis4dcats]

see, I assumed bitch at first, but the look of sheer terror in the eyes of everyone around when they said it seemed to me to indicate it was more offensive.

[wouldworker]

The word was definitely "bitch". Nobody would throw around the c-word as casually as they did in this episode - at the bar, at the religious family's house, etc. Plus, they would not have gotten away with having the kids saying "bitch, bitch, bitch..." so they needed a substitute.

It's a light comedy - how anyone can think they would use, or even suggest the use of, the c-word is beyond me.

[MassD]

I think it was 'bitch'...

But... I can't see how people would get so worked up over that... for a derogatory word, I just can't see people getting THAT pissed off... especially in NYC.

[drew2k]

i dunno, I still think it was bitch, not the C word. [...]

Now as to why they wouldn't say it.... i dunno. I think some people see it as a much more vile word than others...
Well, that fits exactly what I thought, but my wife (who is from Long Island and curses like a sailor so that may cloud her interpretation :D ) insisted it had to be the C word since bitch is not that offensive.
It's a light comedy - how anyone can think they would use, or even suggest the use of, the c-word is beyond me.

I'm with wouldworker - even though you can now say "bitch" on TV, to say it SO many times during the 1st half-hour of prime-time would certainly have set off some trigger-happy "concerned" parents ...

Ignoring events such as the Westminster Kennel competitions, if you subbed "bitch" every time Ted said "grinch" (except for the one time he actually did MEAN "grinch"), wouldn't that have set a record for the number of "bitches" in a 30 minutes block?

[drew2k]

I think it was 'bitch'...

But... I can't see how people would get so worked up over that... for a derogatory word, I just can't see people getting THAT pissed off... especially in NYC.I'm sure if Ted called someone else a bitch, no one would have blinked, but I'm guessing the over-reactions were simply because of who Ted called that name ... it was Lily! Lily of the sweet disposition, who nurtures children and takes joy in simple things, such as hearing how Marshall missed drinking orange juice because he brushed his teeth first. More than likely, Lily has never been called a bitch by ANYONE before ... and you always remember your first!

[Amnesia]

I'm with wouldworker - even though you can now say "bitch" on TV, to say it SO many times during the 1st half-hour of prime-time would certainly have set off some trigger-happy "concerned" parents ... I also originally thought it was "bitch" but I'm with the people who don't understand why the characters would be so horrified to have Ted call Lily that.

So what if he calls her a "bitch"? Would that really cause her to take away her decorations? To call his mom? (Yes, I know people it sitcoms do strange things, but still...)

[pmyers]

I think it was the C-word

[Lee L]

I also originally thought it was "bitch" but I'm with the people who don't understand why the characters would be so horrified to have Ted call Lily that.

So what if he calls her a "bitch"? Would that really cause her to take away her decorations? To call his mom? (Yes, I know people it sitcoms do strange things, but still...)


And cause the super to turn off the power to the apartment? Of course, maybe they just oversold it and we are reading too much into people's reactions.

[Mikeyis4dcats]

The word was definitely "bitch". Nobody would throw around the c-word as casually as they did in this episode - at the bar, at the religious family's house, etc. Plus, they would not have gotten away with having the kids saying "bitch, bitch, bitch..." so they needed a substitute.

It's a light comedy - how anyone can think they would use, or even suggest the use of, the c-word is beyond me.

hell, they used the c word (spelled out as I have done) last weekend on some celebrity gossip show on VH1 my wife was watching.

[DaveBogart]

I think the word is just like Christmas: You can make it be anything you want it to be.

[hapdrastic]

I also originally thought it was "bitch" but I'm with the people who don't understand why the characters would be so horrified to have Ted call Lily that.

So what if he calls her a "bitch"? Would that really cause her to take away her decorations? To call his mom? (Yes, I know people it sitcoms do strange things, but still...)


Prior to meeting my fiancee I would totally have agreed with all the sentiment about "bitch" not being that bad of a word, but (and, oh, did I find this out the hard way) that is the one word you cannot say to her (even jokingly) or she will snap. C-word, or anything else - no problem, but not bitch. There was no doubt in my mind that "grinch" was "bitch", and her reaction fit.

As others have said, I think the big thing is that *Ted* called *Lily* a "grinch" not just that it was that word being spoken...context.

[wouldworker]

And cause the super to turn off the power to the apartment? Of course, maybe they just oversold it and we are reading too much into people's reactions.You guys think too much. The joke about the super turning off the power was that Lily said "You're going to piss off the big guy upstairs" (which we think means God), Ted kept saying "Grinch", and the "big guy upstairs" turned out not to be God but the super who lives on the floor above Lily. Classic misdirection. The actual word had very little to do with the joke.

[jking]

Prior to meeting my fiancee I would totally have agreed with all the sentiment about "bitch" not being that bad of a word, but (and, oh, did I find this out the hard way) that is the one word you cannot say to her (even jokingly) or she will snap. C-word, or anything else - no problem, but not bitch. There was no doubt in my mind that "grinch" was "bitch", and her reaction fit.

As others have said, I think the big thing is that *Ted* called *Lily* a "grinch" not just that it was that word being spoken...context.

I agree. The word that I have *always* been told not to call a woman is a bitch. Why it gets to them so much, I have no idea. But it does. Sure, Lily overreacted, but it's a sitcom, overreacting is what people do in sitcoms.

[pmyers]

wow...all this debate over the word is very surprising. There was no doubt in my house that it was the C-word. Maybe just in my circle the B-word just doesn't get the reaction that the C-word does....

And for the record...Lilly was a B-word or C-word ;)

[madscientist]

The obvious substitution is "bitch", and when I first heard it on the show that's what I thought it was. But after seeing the entire episode I'm definitely with pmyers etc.: "bitch" is nowhere near nasty enough to justify the reactions people were giving. Remember these are 20-somethings living in NYC, and you're going to tell me that people fall down in a faint, turn of electricity, etc. over "bitch"? Not buying it.

I'm absolutely fine with the idea substituting "grinch" as a joke, not because of the FCC; I'm not basing my opinion on what's OK to say in primetime. And, I hear what some here are saying about particular women who have issues with "bitch". But I myself don't know any women who feel that "bitch" is worse than the c-word, and I don't know any who would take that kind of offense at it.

As for the electricity thing: yeah of course I get that the joke was about the "big guy upstairs", but the whole thing doesn't work unless the word is offensive enough to get that kind of reaction.

I think they actually used "grinch" so that they didn't have to define the word. If "bitch" works for you in the context of the show, great. If you think it was the c-word, fine. If you don't think any of the words you know are bad enough for that kind of reaction, then you can just imagine that there's some really super-offensive word out there that you aren't aware of :p ;)

PS. I asked my wife and she definitely felt it was the c-word, based on reactions.

[TAsunder]

The tie breaking vote goes to lucky louie, where the C-word was explicitly defined as being much worse than the B-word. Obviously lucky louie, being such a quality show, knows best. I leave it to you to determine how much sarcasm should be read into the sentences prior to this one.

[DaveBogart]

I'm watching it again right now. Lilly says, "It's the best friend's job to call me that word?" If were anything other that the c word, she would have said it and not "that word."

Ted says "grinch" in the bar as a girl passes by. She takes great offense at merely overhearing the word. Ever been in a bar or restaurant and overhear everyday foul language? None would elicite the response this passing girl had besides the c word.

Ted says to Barney, "Like you've never said that word." Nobody refers to "bitch" as "that word."

"Slamming doors and screaming curses?" Bitch is hardly a curse.

Lilly calls Ted assface, twice, nay -- three times, way worse than bitch.

There's just no way the word is anything other than CLINT.

[wouldworker]

According to this guy, who claims to have inside information, it was the c-word:

http://sepinwall.blogspot.com/2006/12/himym-ted-goes-seaward-aka-ouchie-in.html

In case anyone was uncertain, I checked with a friend at CBS, and in case there was any confusion whatsoever, "Grinch" was code for the C-word, not the B-word. (In the rough cut I saw, Future Ted went on for quite a while about how it was a word that no woman ever wants to hear under any circumstances.)
Of course, it being the internet and all, the guy could be full of crap.

[dianebrat]

As much as it could be the c-word, if it was me, i would have decked him for the c-word, same in the bar..

Also keep in mind there are some gender lines here that come into play.

I can say I'm being a bitch, or that I'm bitchy.. and my gf's can say the same, and we get what can best be described as "special dispensation"

I have ownership of it.. by rule of gender :)

But should a BF, or a guy in my circle of casual friends say it.. that my friends, is a whole different level.

A woman saying it, vs a guy saying it.. huge difference IMNSHO

Diane

[Lee L]

You guys think too much. The joke about the super turning off the power was that Lily said "You're going to piss off the big guy upstairs" (which we think means God), Ted kept saying "Grinch", and the "big guy upstairs" turned out not to be God but the super who lives on the floor above Lily. Classic misdirection. The actual word had very little to do with the joke.


Yeah, I got that part of the joke. :p My question is how is a building super in NYC going to be offended by hearing bitch?

And then if it is indeed the C word, I will post the obligatory question. Who the heck would tell their kids (who are in high school) this kind of stuff? ;)

[LeVich34]

According to this guy, who claims to have inside information, it was the c-word:

http://sepinwall.blogspot.com/2006/12/himym-ted-goes-seaward-aka-ouchie-in.html


Of course, it being the internet and all, the guy could be full of crap.


Wait! I went to Hebrew School with this guy! ^^^^ We didnt learn anything about grinches in Hebrew School!

[Amnesia]

And then if it is indeed the C word, I will post the obligatory question. Who the heck would tell their kids (who are in high school) this kind of stuff?What do you mean? All he told his kids was that Aunt Lily was upset because he called her a name in a phone message. What's wrong with that? He never told the word to his kids. In terms of telling the story to his kids, what does it matter what word he actually said in the message as long as he didn't repeat it to his kids?

(Not that I think there's anything wrong with saying the real word to kids, no matter what letter of the alphabet it starts with...but that's a topic for another thread...)

[JDHutt25]

Wait! I went to Hebrew School with this guy! ^^^^ We didnt learn anything about grinches in Hebrew School!

Clearly, you went to the wrong Hebrew school.

[busyba]

wouldn't that have set a record for the number of "bitches" in a 30 minutes block?
Unless you count a typical episode of Designing Women. :p


I think it was "C". It just doesn't make any sense at all for people to refer to "bitch" as "that word" the way they were.

And Ted's kids are well into their teens when this story is being told. Considering all the other lurid stuff he's told them, 2025 Ted wouldn't refer to "bitch" as a "very very very bad word".


According to this guy, who claims to have inside information, it was the c-word:

http://sepinwall.blogspot.com/2006/12/himym-ted-goes-seaward-aka-ouchie-in.html

Of course, it being the internet and all, the guy could be full of crap.
I'm familiar with this guy's work from back before blogs when he was posting NYBD Blue reviews on Usenet newsgroups. I'm inclined to give him a little more credibility than most random bloggers.

[TonyD79]

see, I assumed bitch at first, but the look of sheer terror in the eyes of everyone around when they said it seemed to me to indicate it was more offensive.

Whose terror? The friends? How about they were stunned that one of them called another "bitch" and that they knew Lilly was not going to be happy about it.

Also, the C-word probably would have gotten Ted slapped or hit by the girl at the bar, not just a look.

And the the religious family was terrified at the thought of SANTA CLAUS, so "bitch" would result in a spit take.

[Havana Brown]

At first I thought he called her a bitch, but they could say that...must have been the C word...


Ummm....I didn't get it until you all said it. :o

It's even funnier now. :D

[Supfreak26]

Prior to meeting my fiancee I would totally have agreed with all the sentiment about "bitch" not being that bad of a word, but (and, oh, did I find this out the hard way) that is the one word you cannot say to her (even jokingly) or she will snap. C-word, or anything else - no problem, but not bitch.


So call her a bitch and she becomes one. Ever try this trick with other words? :D



As for the show, I thought it was bitch. The C-word never crossed my mind until I read this thread. I just figured that someone as sweet as Lily would be horrified at being called a bitch.

As for the lady's reaction at the bar, I think her reaction was perfect for the word bitch. Same with the prego religious freak.

In the end, it doesn't matter. As long as we know it was a word that was not nice and offended Lily.

[JDHutt25]

I, like many of you figured it couldn't be bitch, since that's said on TV all the time. I immediately thought the C word as well. Nobody would call Ted's mom just for being called a bitch, not even in the sitcom universe.

[markymark_ctown]

this thread is useless without a poll!

for the record, i believe grinch = c word

[mmilton80]

I think it was bitch...remember when he went through various ways to say it (grinchy = bitchy...the c word with a y at the end is just weird).

[busyba]

Same with the prego religious freak.
Who, incidentally, was played by Moon Unit Zappa.

[busyba]

the c word with a y at the end is just weird.
This guy made it a classic:

http://ia.ec.imdb.com/media/imdb/01/I/64/17/12m.jpg

:D

[Supfreak26]

Who, incidentally, was played by Moon Unit Zappa.

Holy crap!! I didn't even recognize her!

She has not aged well.

[drew2k]

I, like many of you figured it couldn't be bitch, since that's said on TV all the time. I immediately thought the C word as well. Nobody would call Ted's mom just for being called a bitch, not even in the sitcom universe.We didn't see the start of Lily's conversation with Ted's mome, but imagine, if you will, two takes on the conversation:

1: Can you believe he called me that?

2: Can you believe he called me that?

I already deleted the episode, but didn't Ted's mom say something to the affect of, "I can't believe you called Lily that", versus, "I can't believe you used that word."?

I can see where everyone thinks it's the C-word, but still lean heavily towards the B-word, simply because of who Ted called it.

Oh yeah, did anyone ever think one little word on a sitcom would lead to this much analysis? On a mythology show (Lost, Heroes, Superman et al), sure, but on a sitcom? Who'd a thunk it! :D

[jking]

On to another subject... I wonder if that was an intentional reference to Seinfeld when Swarls Barkley told Robin "Don't look at me, I'm hideous"...?

[busyba]

On to another subject... I wonder if that was an intentional reference to Seinfeld when Swarls Barkley told Robin "Don't look at me, I'm hideous"...?
I'm pretty sure that was a thing well before Seinfeld.

[JimSpence]

Damn! Willow looked fine!

[jking]

I'm pretty sure that was a thing well before Seinfeld.

A reference would be nice.

[marksman]

Children: grinch! grinch! grinch!

Preggers ultra religious mother: spppppppewwwww! (drink flying every where).



Very hard to make an actual spit take funny in context. I was laughing out loud.

Very good episode.

I even didn't hate Ted that much in this one.

[madscientist]

Who, incidentally, was played by Moon Unit Zappa.What? Like, omigod! You are so tootally right! I mean, like, bogus to the max that I didn't see that! Fer sure!

[madscientist]

Also, the C-word probably would have gotten Ted slapped or hit by the girl at the bar, not just a look.Er... not really. Seriously? You think a woman is going to be walking by a table in a bar, hear the c-word in passing, and haul off and slap this guy she doesn't even know?

Man, you must know the bars where all the crazy women hang out.

[dianebrat]

Er... not really. Seriously? You think a woman is going to be walking by a table in a bar, hear the c-word in passing, and haul off and slap this guy she doesn't even know?

Man, you must know the bars where all the crazy women hang out.

I'd be one of them.. especially if it was a bar I was a regular at,
not saying how successful I'd be..

but that's a darn big word to be swinging about..

(on the other hand I'd think several other women would consider holding him down for me in most places) :cool:

Diane

[classicX]

Another vote for the C-word.

Based on all the reasons above, plus the fact that Lily (who said a$$face more than once in the episode) was not willing to repeat the word, a word we've heard her say in previous episodes.

Lily: "Why would you call me... that word?"

[mitkraft]

On to another subject... I wonder if that was an intentional reference to Seinfeld when Swarls Barkley told Robin "Don't look at me, I'm hideous"...?

For some reason I want to say this is from "The Elephant Man". Can anyone confirm or deny?

[Neenahboy]

Does Barney's blog have anything to say about the "b-word vs. c-word" controversy?

[classicX]

For some reason I want to say this is from "The Elephant Man". Can anyone confirm or deny?

Denied. As far back as I can tell, this quote is original to Kramer on Seinfeld.

[classicX]

Does Barney's blog have anything to say about the "b-word vs. c-word" controversy?

Not updated yet - it's still Stinson vs. Stinson.

[Royster]

For some reason I want to say this is from "The Elephant Man". Can anyone confirm or deny?

You know, I think you are right. If it is from there, then Kramer would have been echoing it as well.

[busyba]

For some reason I want to say this is from "The Elephant Man". Can anyone confirm or deny?
I can't find anything to confirm that, but that was my first instinct as well.

I don't think it was necessarily The Elephant Man, but the way he delivered the line really feels like a reference to something to me. (See for yourself (http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ka1PeNNi6dg))

The thing is, I never thought of that as being one of the "big" Seinfeldisms to come out of the show. It was just a one-time thing in the show and not even in a significantly featured position. But the phrase is widely referenced these days. That also leads me to believe that it was something before Seinfeld.

But for the life of me I can't find it. :(

[Steveknj]

My take on this is that it was bitch and they were trying to be "cute" with Christmas theme of the show. It obviously wasn't about protecting the younger viewers as they had the scene about them smoking pot, which to me is far more offensive than the word bitch. While I wouldn't want my kids using bitch on a regular basis, I surely don't want them watching something where they glorify taking drugs. I'm not a goody goody, and I understand the context of the pot smoking in the show. I just think the writers thought it cute, being a Christmas show to use grinch for bitch. They sound similar enough, and they used fudge for the F curse, so it is right in line with my theory.

[DUDE_NJX]

It had to be "bitch". You use "****" in face-to-face arguments.

[Lenonn]

Well, over at TV Guide's forums, someone posted that they heard Cobie Smulders in a radio interview. According to the actress, the intended word was indeed the c-word.

[mmilton80]

Well, over at TV Guide's forums, someone posted that they heard Cobie Smulders in a radio interview. According to the actress, the intended word was indeed the c-word.

Must be true. Someone posted it in a forum who heard it on the radio. We can, probably, trace the truthiness of this.

[PeternJim]

If indeed it was the "c-word" then the writing on the rest of the episode sucked. Ted's reaction to Lily hearing the answering machine message was WAY too mild. He should have been, if not apologetic, then at least far more embarassed (this IS Ted), and should have leapt to explaining the circumstances in painful Ted-like self-defense. As it was, he just sort of reacted as "Oops" and waited to see what her reaction was.

And as has been said, there is no way he would have been leaping up and down shouting it in her apartment, nor whould Lily have calmly announced at Ted's (known to be hyper-religious) sister's doorway that yes, she kinda was.

Some jokes should just never be deconstructed.

[jradford]

If indeed it was the "c-word" then the writing on the rest of the episode sucked. Ted's reaction to Lily hearing the answering machine message was WAY too mild. He should have been, if not apologetic, then at least far more embarassed (this IS Ted), and should have leapt to explaining the circumstances in painful Ted-like self-defense. As it was, he just sort of reacted as "Oops" and waited to see what her reaction was.

And as has been said, there is no way he would have been leaping up and down shouting it in her apartment, nor whould Lily have calmly announced at Ted's (known to be hyper-religious) sister's doorway that yes, she kinda was.

Some jokes should just never be deconstructed.
I agree. I think the over-reactions that people THINK point to the C-word do not compare to the flippant use of grinch later in the episode. Also, the B-word, when used in the way Ted used it, IS extremely offensive. Offensive enough that many would think the reactions of everyone in the episode seemed about right.

[johnperkins21]

Wow. Just wow. I have no idea where you guys are coming up with the idea that it was b**ch.

[drew2k]

Wow. Just wow. I have no idea where you guys are coming up with the idea that it was b**ch.What, you jumped in at the end to post without even reading the thread?! :eek:

Just scroll back and read all the posts from those who don't think it was the C-word, and that just might give you an idea ... ;)

[jradford]

Wow. Just wow. I have no idea where you guys are coming up with the idea that it was b**ch.
Did you read our posts? :rolleyes:

[busyba]

Did you read our posts? :rolleyes:
Well, I did, and I have to say I still don't see it. :D

[johnperkins21]

What, you jumped in at the end to post without even reading the thread?! :eek:

Just scroll back and read all the posts from those who don't think it was the C-word, and that just might give you an idea ... ;)

Read them all, but I just don't see how you could possibly think bitch would generate that sort of reaction. The only thing I can imagine is that you maybe grew up in a household/area where bitch was a bad word? But it's fairly common on prime time television these days, and it's hardly the type of thing that could cause that much of an outburst. Maybe I'm just jaded by my complete lack of objection to any combination of sounds eminating from someone's mouth.

I grew up where the word bitch was used on an almost daily basis with nary a second thought. I guess that the difference comes from the way "naughty" language was treated while you were growing up. :o

[jradford]

Read them all, but I just don't see how you could possibly think bitch would generate that sort of reaction. The only thing I can imagine is that you maybe grew up in a household/area where bitch was a bad word? But it's fairly common on prime time television these days, and it's hardly the type of thing that could cause that much of an outburst. Maybe I'm just jaded by my complete lack of objection to any combination of sounds eminating from someone's mouth.

I grew up where the word bitch was used on an almost daily basis with nary a second thought. I guess that the difference comes from the way "naughty" language was treated while you were growing up. :o
I will say that after reading everyone's arguments that I'm not opposed to thinking that the writers made it so you could basically think it was any word you wanted, with the words here being the most popular. Yes, the reactions were over the top for use of the b-word, but the use of the c-word throughout the episode was so totally out of character for Ted that I still don't think that was the intention. They have spent the entire series making Ted the "nice guy." I refuse to buy that he's also a guy that throws out the C-word when angry at a woman. Or the kind of guy that would leave it on a message machine either. Much less have Lilly ADMIT to being a C-word. I prefer overreactions to out-of-character.

[smak]

Who, incidentally, was played by Moon Unit Zappa.

Well that brings this thread full circle, because I went to Hebrew School with Moon Unit Zappa.

Carpooled with her some times too.

-smak-

[busyba]

Well that brings this thread full circle, because I went to Hebrew School with Moon Unit Zappa.

Carpooled with her some times too.

-smak-
To bring the thread full circle, you had to tell us that she was a grinch. :)

[MassD]

but the use of the c-word throughout the episode was so totally out of character for Ted

Well, it seems to me that the whole point is that it WAS out of character for Ted to use the word. If it wasn't so drastic, no one would have made much of a fuss about it in the first place.

[jradford]

Well, it seems to me that the whole point is that it WAS out of character for Ted to use the word. If it wasn't so drastic, no one would have made much of a fuss about it in the first place.
No, the whole point of the episode was that it was out of character for Ted to use it that ONE time on the message machine. When they started having Ted convincing Lilly that she was one, and then Lilly finally agreeing that she had been one, it would not only have been out of character if it had been the c-word, it would have been a DIFFERENT character. That is my point. Even though I do agree that there was some overreaction if it was the B-word, the way the B-word was used in the message was just as out of character and just as shocking for Ted to have said it about Lilly considering how good of friends they are. To me, the c-word just makes a lot less sense.

[rondotcom]

... what's a bigger waste of bandwidth. All the postings on this thread, me reading them, or me adding to them!

:)

[JC Hollywood FL]

It wa bitch, and those of you who thought of the c-word are dirty birds.

[johnperkins21]

Ok, I am conceding the point somewhat. I'll agree that it could have been "bitch," and they used "grinch" to compensate for the fact that if they actually used "bitch" the plot would be completely implausible. By leaving it somewhat ambiguous, you can decide for yourself which word you think it is, and then laugh along at the situations it brings up.

I'm also a very new viewer to the show (this is only my 2nd episode), so I do not know any of the background on the characters. So from my point of view it could not have been anything other than "****."

edit:
Hmmm, I wonder why **** is filtered but bitch isn't? Doesn't censoring it give it more power? Discussion for a whole other forum I guess.

[Lee L]

It wa bitch, and those of you who thought of the c-word are dirty birds.


Including the writers and actors on the show I guess.

[Jonathan_S]

... what's a bigger waste of bandwidth. All the postings on this thread, me reading them, or me adding to them!

:)Well, lets think about this logically.
All the postings on this thread are definitely larger (more kB) than your post, so you adding to them isn't the biggest waste.

You reading them involve downloading them once, but there are currently 1,185 view of this thread, so you reading them wasn't the biggest waste.

So by process of elimination, the biggest waste of bandwidth is all the postings on this thread.

(Glad to contributed to the ongoing bandwidth waste)

[5thcrewman]

"Too many Grinches want to see this Stud when I be ridin'"