[Tango-L] (fwd) He played her like a violin/brushes

[Trini y Sean (PATangoS)]

Thank you, Ed, for finally bringing up the slang usage.  It
sounded to me as if the original commenter simply didn't
have an adequate way of expressing himself. 

This thread started when Tango For Her described "the floor
our my canvas and the woman is my brush."  I didn't take
offense because I don't see artists as being exacting the
same way an accountant or programmer needs to be.

Anyone else familiar with the Bob Ross paintings on public
tv?  In a half-hour show, Bob Ross paints a landscape and
makes it look really easy.  And "happy accidents", as he
puts it, can become a rock or a tree. 

My view of artists is that they may have an idea in mind
when they pull out a canvas (or whatever material) but that
they are open to changing their plans if something else
becomes interesting to them.  Perhaps the artist loosely
controls the bristles on the brush.

Sometimes when I paint (in my case it's the walls and trim
in my house) and the paint goes where I didn't intend it,
I'll think "oops, the brush got away from me".  When I do
try to paint well in difficult areas without taping off
areas, it's like I have to coax the brush into doing what I
want.  Perhaps that's because I'm not an expert at it.

Perhaps Tango for Her's message might have been better
received if it had been phrased with "as if" or "like"
rather than "is".

Trini de Pittsburgh



--- Ed Loomis <TangoBear at pobox.com> wrote:

> Hi folks,
>      While I am sure that everyone posting to this thread
> means well I am amazed
> that it is continuing the way that it is. In American
> slang to "play someone
> like a violin" is an established figure of speech which
> dates back to the
> prohibition era during which "violin" was also often
> synonymous with the
> Thompson sub-machinegun, which was frequently concealed
> in a violin case. To say
> that I "played someone like a violin" means that I
> manipulated them to my
> advantage so cleverly and so completely that I made an
> utter fool out of them.
> Why is anyone even surprised that the ladies on the list
> are annoyed at the
> suggestion? 
>      Can we please put this flea bitten old dog to bed
> and just let it go?!?
> Ed
> 
> On Fri, 21 Dec 2007 17:50:28 +0000, Jay Rabe
> <jayrabe at hotmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Men are from Mars. They speak a different language. 
> 
> When a man says, "He played her like a violin...," what
> he means is, "He
> expresses his musicality by leading her steps to
> accompany the music so
> harmoniously that her feet could be a part of the
> orchestra. He pauses to give
> her space to embellish at exactly those points in the
> musical score where such
> embellishments fit perfectly with the music, as if she
> were part of the
> orchestra." 
> 
> I dare say, it's highly likely that the woman who was
> dancing with the man so
> described would have reported a sublime experience of
> exquisite musicality.
> 
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> 


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