Comments for The Virtual Stoa

Comment on A Short History of Swivel-Eyed Loons by Chris Brooke

Chris Brooke — Mon, 20 May 2013 21:27:59 +0000

Very good. But it’s older than that. See, for example, from 1838:

http://books.google.it/books?id=g7MrAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA192&dq=%22swiveleyed%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=A5WaUYrYHMOxObe2gNgH&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22swiveleyed%22&f=false

Comment on A Short History of Swivel-Eyed Loons by Marc Mulholland

Marc Mulholland — Mon, 20 May 2013 17:56:00 +0000

First use I find is in Rudyard Kipling, ‘Captain Courageous’ (1898).

Old seadogs meet:

” He jammed one end of the board into two nicks in the bulwarks, kicked out the leg, and ducked just in time to avoid a swinging blow from the man-o’-war’s man.

“An’ they did that on the ‘ Ohio,’ too, Danny. See?” said Tom Platt, laughing.

“Guess they was swivel-eyed, then, fer it didn’t git home, and I know who’ll find his boots on the main-truck ef he don’t leave us alone. Haul ahead! I’m busy, can’t ye see?” ”

Here swivel-eyed seems to mean lacking hand-eye coordination.

Comment on A Short History of Swivel-Eyed Loons by Worth Reading 109: Mouths of the wicked and deceitful | What You Can Get Away With - Nick Barlow's blog

Mon, 20 May 2013 11:45:26 +0000

[...] States. Almost everyone who’s driving is driving places that are pretty darn congested.” A short history of swivel-eyed loons – Chris Brooke delves into Lexis and finds the moment when the swivel-eyed and the loon were [...]

Comment on A Short History of Swivel-Eyed Loons by Bridge Ward News

Bridge Ward News — Sun, 19 May 2013 19:47:01 +0000

I remember reading that Spitting image made sure that Tony Benn’s puppet would not have eyes in fixed positions so they would roll around at random. Benn’s prominent eyes were often seen as one of the reasons he was such a compelling speaker in the 1980s, although that probably didn’t look as good on TV interviews.

Meacher was in 1983 an up and coming Bennite (and almost as posh), although he would later moderate considerably.

Comment on A Short History of Swivel-Eyed Loons by Gregg

Gregg — Sun, 19 May 2013 15:21:25 +0000

You can see it particularly about 1 minute and 10 seconds into this song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzyejwELMNo

Comment on A Short History of Swivel-Eyed Loons by Chris Brooke

Chris Brooke — Sun, 19 May 2013 15:03:49 +0000

Yes, I think you’re right about this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSv3PNBHCBM

Comment on A Short History of Swivel-Eyed Loons by Gregg

Gregg — Sun, 19 May 2013 14:53:03 +0000

Tony Benn’s ‘Spitting Image’ puppet was given eyes that swivelled independently of each other, which I always assumed was a reference to this epithet.

Comment on A Short History of Swivel-Eyed Loons by Chris Brooke

Chris Brooke — Sun, 19 May 2013 13:23:02 +0000

Let’s have a look. The American Spectator in 1993 has “Tony Benn (republican, leveler, formerly Lord Stansgate) gave a swivel-eyed speech.” But the database I have here isn’t good for stuff that old, so you might be right. That would link up to the Michael Meacher quote that Matt Turner dug out, in the post: just as swivel-eyed in the 1990s was transferred from Redwood to, e.g., Gorman, it makes perfect sense that an epithet for Benn got carried over to Meacher.

Comment on A Short History of Swivel-Eyed Loons by ejh

ejh — Sun, 19 May 2013 12:51:49 +0000

Was there nothing about Tony Benn from the early Eighties? I’d swear I remember the term from back then and it being specifically applied to him.

Comment on A Short History of Swivel-Eyed Loons by Chris Brooke

Chris Brooke — Sat, 18 May 2013 16:26:08 +0000

Peter Oborne, Sunday Express, 8 April 2001:

*** He [= Blair] and his spin-doctors have been very clever at creating a widespread impression that the Tory party is a collection of swivel-eyed lunatics, driven by a pathological hatred of the Continent. But anyone who examines for more than a few seconds the Blairite proposition that the Tories are extreme swiftly discovers that there is no truth in it at all. ***