Regarding the Gangstabilly album cover, do any of you HeAthens know what (if anything) the license plate on the front the car (a '68 Bonneville?) is supposed to say?

"FORGET,
HELL"

It's a popular tag/bumper sticker in the south, usually accompanied by Johnny Reb or the Confederate flag.

Of course. Now I see it clearly. Thanks, Smitty.

What are the intentions of such an image? That the Confederate soldiers are far more vicious--and thus more worthy of fearing--than hell?

ledward2 wrote:Of course. Now I see it clearly. Thanks, Smitty.

What are the intentions of such an image? That the Confederate soldiers are far more vicious--and thus more worthy of fearing--than hell?

Note the comma between forget and hell. IOW, "we will not forget" either the civil war or rebel soldiers depending on how one wants to interpret the accompanying visual.

beantownbubba wrote:

ledward2 wrote:Of course. Now I see it clearly. Thanks, Smitty.

What are the intentions of such an image? That the Confederate soldiers are far more vicious--and thus more worthy of fearing--than hell?

Note the comma between forget and hell. IOW, "we will not forget" either the civil war or rebel soldiers depending on how one wants to interpret the accompanying visual.

Thanks, BTB. That makes sense. Part of the problem was that I couldn't see the comma on my browser since I keep my magnification at 125%. Even then, though, a Comp professor and/or editor (I am neither . . . but I do spend a fair amount of time writing, and thus editing) would likely still have issues with it. I assume the intending meaning is something like "Forget? Hell no!" More verbosely, "Forget the Civil War? Hell no!"

I've lived in the South all my life and I have never seen this image. I have seen the "American by birth, Southern by the grace of God," and the "Durn tootin' I'm a Rebel," depictions, but never "Forget, Hell!"

Smitty wrote:

growing up in western North Carolina I rarely ever saw the Confederate flag in any manner. That said, anytime we'd take a family roadtrip to places like Myrtle Beach, Chattanooga, north Georgia, you'd see people selling FORGET HELL! beach towels, mudflaps, and stuff like that on roadsides.

Not that they were ever a rarity, but in my estimation, the amount of Confederate flag displayed around here has probably tripled since, oh I don't know, 2008?
My brother used to have an old Camaro with that "Forget, Hell" tags on the front. BTB nailed the meaning, just another way of saying "old time are not forgotten".

whatwouldcooleydo? wrote:

Smitty wrote:

growing up in western North Carolina I rarely ever saw the Confederate flag in any manner. That said, anytime we'd take a family roadtrip to places like Myrtle Beach, Chattanooga, north Georgia, you'd see people selling FORGET HELL! beach towels, mudflaps, and stuff like that on roadsides.

Shit like this and the battle flag were rather ubiquitous in Alexander County NC in the 70s/80s. Tough to NOT spot it.

Flea wrote:

whatwouldcooleydo? wrote:

Smitty wrote:

growing up in western North Carolina I rarely ever saw the Confederate flag in any manner. That said, anytime we'd take a family roadtrip to places like Myrtle Beach, Chattanooga, north Georgia, you'd see people selling FORGET HELL! beach towels, mudflaps, and stuff like that on roadsides.

Shit like this and the battle flag were rather ubiquitous in Alexander County NC in the 70s/80s. Tough to NOT spot it.

Not in Buncombe County

ledward2 wrote:Thanks, BTB. That makes sense. Part of the problem was that I couldn't see the comma on my browser since I keep my magnification at 125%. Even then, though, a Comp professor and/or editor (I am neither . . . but I do spend a fair amount of time writing, and thus editing) would likely still have issues with it. I assume the intending meaning is something like "Forget? Hell no!" More verbosely, "Forget the Civil War? Hell no!"

I grew up in Arkansas in the '60s and saw this shit all the time (along with the license plate of a donkey farting that said "LBJ has spoken"--remember those?). I always took it to mean, "Fergit bein' trounced by the Yankees? Hail nah!
Maybe it makes more sense if you add extra syllables: Fer-GEE-yit, Hay-uhl!

I saw a Confederate flag flying in Minnesota recently. There wasn't an American flag on the pole.

It's become en vogue for "pissing off libtards".

I always have to wonder, what is worse? Just plain old dumb asses or the people that assume dumb asses are racist.

When I see a confederate flag in Ohio, my first reaction is "way to show your ass to everyone."

In 1982 my Boy Scout troop went to the world's fair in Knoxville. On the way we spent a few days in the Smoky Mountains and Gatlinburg. This image was everywhere. License plates, tshirts, stickers, etc. 99% of the kids in my troop bought something with this image on it. I went to Douglas Freeman HS in Richmond and our mascot was the Rebels and you could buy stuff from the school store with this image on it. I never owned anything with this image on it but in middle school I did have a Dukes of Hazzard tshirt before I knew what the flag really stood for.

Swamp wrote:I always have to wonder, what is worse? Just plain old dumb asses or the people that assume dumb asses are racist.

It's pretty safe to say that even though not all dumbasses are racists, all racists ARE dumbasses.

Flea wrote:

Swamp wrote:I always have to wonder, what is worse? Just plain old dumb asses or the people that assume dumb asses are racist.

It's pretty safe to say that even though not all dumbasses are racists, all racists ARE dumbasses.

That safety depends on where and to whom you are speaking.

LBRod wrote:

Flea wrote:

Swamp wrote:I always have to wonder, what is worse? Just plain old dumb asses or the people that assume dumb asses are racist.

It's pretty safe to say that even though not all dumbasses are racists, all racists ARE dumbasses.

That safety depends on where and to whom you are speaking.

I defer to your wisdom, Sensei.

I wish all racists were stupid. It'd make kicking their asses a lot easier.

Flea wrote:

Swamp wrote:I always have to wonder, what is worse? Just plain old dumb asses or the people that assume dumb asses are racist.

It's pretty safe to say that even though not all dumbasses are racists, all racists ARE dumbasses.

It's always a mistake to assume the opposition is dumb, especially when that opposition essentially had their way w/ their part of the world for hundreds of years. It takes something more than dumbass to make that happen. Although I guess dumbass is one of those words capable of many interpretations and if you're not using it to mean "stupid" you're probably right.

Just for yucks, I've noticed more and more in my part of the world that the word "schmuck" is capable of of similar slipperiness. You know you don't want to be called a schmuck, but exactly what you're being called is far from an exact science or a general consensus.

beantownbubba wrote:

Flea wrote:

Swamp wrote:I always have to wonder, what is worse? Just plain old dumb asses or the people that assume dumb asses are racist.

It's pretty safe to say that even though not all dumbasses are racists, all racists ARE dumbasses.

It's always a mistake to assume the opposition is dumb, especially when that opposition essentially had their way w/ their part of the world for hundreds of years. It takes something more than dumbass to make that happen. Although I guess dumbass is one of those words capable of many interpretations and if you're not using it to mean "stupid" you're probably right.

Just for yucks, I've noticed more and more in my part of the world that the word "schmuck" is capable of of similar slipperiness. You know you don't want to be called a schmuck, but exactly what you're being called is far from an exact science or a general consensus.

Correct. Isn't English a frustratingly wonderful and mutable language? I pity ESL learners.