英语阅读：Nobody messes with Joe
Reader question: In a speech to Congress on February 24, 2009, Barack Obamasaid, in part: “That is why I have asked Vice President Biden to lead a tough,
unprecedented oversight effort – because nobody messes with Joe.” What is the
meaning of “nobody messes with Joe”?
My comments: First of all, the Joe Obama was talking about is not Joe Louis
the boxing champion, or Joe DiMaggio the baseball great.
Nor was he talking about the average Joe, you know, the everyday Joe on the
street.
The Joe he was addressing instead is none other than Biden the Vice
President, Joe being his first name.
Now let’s deal with the messing business.
If you mess with something, you may, well, mess it up, that is, make a mess
of it. The other day, for example, I overheard someone in the office yell: “My,
somebody messed with my computer. My files are gone. Heaven’s sakes! Years of
work, gone!”
If you mess with a person, on the other hand, you confront them, get in
their way, argue with them, contradict them or even fistfight them. People are
therefore warned not to mess with certain folks who are tough, strong, and
generally known to be hard to defeat. If you mess with them, they will beat you
up, or, as Americans say, kick your butt.
Hence, Obama gave the job to Biden because he knew nobody wants to get in
the way of the no-nonsense Senator.
Alright, here are some media examples to give you a better idea of how it
feels to mess up with someone:
1. The great Danbert Nobacon appeared in public in a brown leather skirt,
and looked great; the sarong showed dangerous signs of becoming the New Lad’s
favoured beachwear. And then someone told me that kilts were about to make an
appearance in Jigsaw's men’s shop. I was down there the same afternoon; there
was quite a scrum, and, by now, I understand that they can’t be had for love or
money. You certainly feel you are taking your life in your hands the first time
you walk out of your front door in it. It’s a very strange feeling indeed; it
makes you walk in a completely different way, a sort of aggressive stomp; you
have to learn a new way of sitting; it makes you feel that everyone is staring
at you, which of course they are; and, weirdly, it gives you a strong feeling of
confidence. Nobody messes with a man in a skirt; in London, I suppose there is a
sense that picking on anyone because of what they are wearing exposes you as
uncool. And perhaps even lads out on a Friday night quickly come to the
conclusion that anyone who goes out dressed like that must be quite incredibly
hard. A photographer wolf-whistled me as I was going into a London Fashion Week
party, but I prefer to think that was genuine appreciation. On the whole, people
make three comments. The first is: “Are you wearing any underwear?” To which the
only proper response is “Why? Are you?” The second, more learned, is: “Of
course, if you think of the whole range of cultures, the skirt is as much a male
garment as a female one. Think of Greece.” - Nobody messes with a man in a
skirt, The Independent, October 16, 1998.
2. Sam, 17, from Hackney is no longer in a gang but in his early teens he
spent three years in one. He found it difficult to explain to us why he first
got involved: “You get a little party happening. You might just hang out and…I
don’t really know…” But what Sam does know, is that being in a gang made him
feel as though he was a part of something in which he belonged. He liked the
closeness and the solidarity: “Gangs are like friends, deep friends, you know
what I mean? They’re like proper friends. When I was in a gang, I was with all
my brethren.” As strange as it may sound, for Sam it was also about safety
because as he said: “When you’re in a gang, no-one messes with you.” - Through
the eyes of children, The Magistrate, November, 2003.
3. The next double-page spread contains a timeline of acquisitions from
when Murdoch inherited and rescued the Adelaide News in 1954 through to
yesterday’s formal acquisition of Dow Jones. Each entry contains skeptical
quotes predicting Murdoch’s demise, including: “He’ll be broke within the year”
- 1954, on his rescue of the Adelaide News. “No one reads that” - 1969, on his
acquisition of the Sun. “No one messes with the BBC” - 1989, on the launch of
Sky. The timeline ends with 2007 and the quote: “The Wall Street Journal will
never be the same.” It continues: “Exactly. And that’s a promise.” - Murdoch
trumpets WSJ purchase with global ad campaign, The Guardian, December 14,
2007.
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