Lou Grant and Mary Richards trump any seedier connotations on this side of the pond, Fay.

Heh. You said 'seedier'. Heh.

And now I'll stop giggling like a twelve year old.

Was there a pun in Matt's post? Oh well, it will come to me eventually, I guess.

Bwah.

ION, rumor has it that BSG season 3 dvds aren't coming out 'til APRIL.

At least it's April of 2008 and not any later April.

Kristen Chenowith's ability to walk like a normal person

I didn't watch the whole show, but one of the parts I did watch involved her fleeing off the porch, down the front steps, and down the walk to the gate. I was pleased to see that, like a normal (amply-bosomed) person, she tucked her hands around her bosom to go running down stairs.

I guess I hate spunk.

...from the utter calm that greeted this assertion, I gather that either (a) you are all far more mature than me, or (b) it doesn't have the same connotations across the pond.

Umm OK yeah - in the U.S. spunk is almost never used as a word to describe sperm. I think that would be considered archaic. The short version is that "you've got spunk" is not too far (as something one fictional character says to another) from "I like a girl with spirit".)

That is the short version. This being the buffistas, I'll give you the long version. Back before a show called "The Mary Tyler Moore" show, it used to be common cliche in fiction (especially situation comedy)for the perky heroine to take s certain amount of verbal bullying in a job interview or other encounter with a dominant male, be pushed on step too far and push back - but you know not very hard. It was considered very daring for a woman faced with a man in authority to push back at all, and not simply eat any shit he handed out. (In fiction; these were male fantasies, I suspect women were not as easy to push around as this type of fiction portrayed.)

Observing how enormously cute the woman (probably called a girl) was when she pushed back, the man would say "You've got spunk!" as praise.

The Mary Tyler Moore show more or less killed that cliche forever in its first episode.One of the main characters (Lou Grant, the boss) interviewed Mary Tyler Moore, the star, and pushed her round with some verbal bullying in a job interview. She pushed back, in annoyingly cute and perky way and Lou told her:

"You've got spunk"

Long pause

"I hate spunk!".

Won the hearts of every American who saw that episode, and killed the phrase "you've got spunk" forever.

"I hate spunk" remains as cultural reference for someone who is annoyed by the excessively cute/perky especially when hating said cute/perky is a minority position.(At least it does for Americans of a certain age, or those who caught the MTM show on Nick at Night.)

in the U.S. spunk is almost never used as a word to describe sperm. I think that would be considered archaic.

Except for that Sex and the City episode about "funky spunk."

Although, thanks for the cultural history lesson, Typo Boy. I didn't know that.

Sadly, "spunk" shows up in a fanfic context, where writers are always searching for new and unintentionally gross ways to describe sex.

It's no 'sticky white love piss'. I have a special fondness for that one.

Edited to spare people's eyes.

'sticky white love piss'

ACCK. You made a bear, Jars! Undo it! Undo it!