Iceland's Prime Minister Says She'll Skip Mike Pence's Visit....

[HipChick]

I guess we will be seeing some Tweet rants on this..

https://time.com/5658037/iceland-pm-skipping-pence-visit/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

[Newest Reality]

1. Excellent Choice!

Don't encourage Mother's Q-Tip. He tends to lie an awful lot, anyway. And he thinks of the Handmaiden's Tale as an exciting and practical idea for the future of America. We wouldn't want to encourage that, now would we?

[GusBob]

2. I can name that word within 3 tweets

Oh she be called nasty

[HipChick]

4. Yup..

[Wounded Bear]

3. Any decent world leader should do this...

our bullshit excuses for political leadership should be pariahs.

[HipChick]

5. I can see Trump threatening to make the G7 the G5

with Boris, if they don't let Russia in..

[Rollo]

6. We have the best president rubles can buy

[NastyRiffraff]

7. She's not only a woman, but an attractive one

Pence would be scared to meet with her. Mother wouldn't approve.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. Maybe that's the problem. Mother saw her photo

and is afraid Mike wouldn't be able to control his manly urges.

[LiberalFighter]

9. Creepy manly urges.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

10. I suspect Pence of having an extensive, exotic and disturbing porn collection.

[LiberalFighter]

12. Girls or would it be guys in cat costumes?

Possibly wearing a leather harness?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

18. I'm thinking more along the lines of B&D stuff

or maybe farm animals.

[SWBTATTReg]

13. Someone that calls their wife 'mother' is already sick. Gross. No wonder Indiania got rid of ...

Pence...got tired of hearing someone call their wife 'mother'...this is so gross I am just about to throw up.

[Boomer]

15. Stop, just stop with this "mother" stuff

Believe me, as a gay woman, I'm no fan of Mike Pence, but I'm really getting tired of everyone getting their knickers in a twist over Pence's use of the term "Mother" to refer to his wife.

This is a common Midwestern tradition, or at least it was at one time. I belong to the generation that heard this usage often. There's a certain degree of sexism involved, because it was mostly women's names that were exchanged in favor "Mother" or "Ma". It quite literally became her name within the family circle.

I also saw this time tradition among my Mexican grandparents, where "Mamita" became my grandmother's name -- used by everyone around her, including my grandfather, her husband.

I get that to younger people today this seems strange, and it's not a tradition I'm sorry to lose, but it's not some flagrant sign of perversion. Although I'm pretty damn sure Mike Pence's closet has plenty of those.

[Chemisse]

17. It was common in my family too, in New England.

It starts when the babies are born and you want them to call the parents Mom & Dad, so the parents call each other that - and then it just never ends.

My mother, who is 84, still calls my father Dad, although it shifted to Grampa for a number of years when my kids were growing up.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

19. I heard it in my family, too, although it was used in a jokey way.

It doesn't bother me that Pence calls his wife "Mother," but it is disturbing that he won't be alone with any woman unless she's there too. Does he worry about not being able to control his urges unless "Mother" is present to remind Little Mike to stay behind the zipper? That's weird.

[LiberalFighter]

20. I'm from the midwest with parents born in the 1930's

Mother was not used for my mother or grandmother by the spouses.

[Boomer]

25. Common is not universal

I'm not claiming every single family in the Midwest did this, but it was common. My parents never did this, but I heard it in other households and my wife's parents did follow that pattern.

I get that by modern standards it may sound odd, and I'm not attached keeping it, but it's not a sign of Pence being emotionally disturbed. There are plenty of other symptoms that merit some scrutiny (can we say "closet case"?), but this one habit of his isn't nearly as weird as a lot of people seem to think.

[dflprincess]

26. It was never used in our family either

the closest it might have come is when my father might say to my brother or me "Ask Mom", but usually it would have been "Ask your mother."

We had neighbors where the husband called his wife mother. I recall Pop saying something about it to Mom and then adding "Maybe I should start calling you Mother." Mumsie, who was working on dinner at the time, turned around with a very sharp knife in her hand and said "Why don't you try it & see what happens." -- Then they both laughed. It wasn't until I was older & figured out where she'd been pointing the knife that I understood their whole exchange.

And yes, I called my father "Pop". Something my nieces & nephews find endlessly amusing.

[Boomer]

29. Your mother has good instincts

I'm not surprised that Pence uses it, because he's so deep into "Christian" values that deify men, with women reduced to their role. And that's essentially what that naming does: it erases a woman's identify as a human being separate from her family role.

[lame54]

23. No...

It's ridiculous and funny

[SWBTATTReg]

28. No, I am not going to stop and this is my opinion, and if you don't like it, fine. I'll always...

be against the use of this word in this manner and by the way, I've lived in the country, in small towns, and in large cities, and this term was always viewed in a neg. manner.

[malaise]

11. You win the thread

[Neema]

27. I highly doubt his many urges would come into play here.

I think there's a really convenient reason he doesn't "allow himself" to be alone with women.

[lame54]

22. Hillary Swank could play her

[Celerity]

24. she was in a video as the main actress for Bang Gang's (an Icelandic Alt Pop band) first single

[paleotn]

14. What the heck is Norman doing in Iceland anyway?

[MrModerate]

16. I think she needs to wash her hair that day. n/t

[lame54]

21. In Iceland will she even know he's there