From: b.scott@csuohio.edu   
      
   On Sat, 20 Sep 2008 15:37:21 +1200, Zeborah   
    wrote in   
    in   
   rec.arts.sf.misc:   
      
   > Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)  wrote:   
      
   >> Sounds like the baddie earned "to the pain". Good doesn't   
   >> mean  "pansy-ass nancy boy".   
      
   > Indeed, masculine and heterosexual Good Guys are quite   
   > well represented in literature.  As, even, are female   
   > Good Guys.  I hadn't however noticed that any of these   
   > groups were less likely to be merciful / more likely to   
   > seek revenge than effeminate or gay Good Guys.   
      
   I think that you're misinterpreting Sea Wasp's terminology:   
   I take 'pansy-ass nancy boy' to be roughly 'gutless wonder   
   who'd rather let deer starve en masse than cull the herd   
   (for instance)' -- someone so soft-hearted as to be   
   soft-headed.   
      
   > (Ah, I see that Wiktionary has a third sense of "pansy"   
   > meaning "timid". I can't say that letting a cripple live   
   > to the pain seems overly brave to me.  Perfectly   
   > understandable, of course, but not calling for any great   
   > courage.)   
      
   Depending on how you view the punishment, it requires either   
   a certain callousness that a 'pansy-ass nancy boy' won't   
   have, or the moral strength to accept the painful   
   consequences of imposing a harsh but justified sentence --   
   which the 'pansy-ass nancy boy' also won't have.   
      
   Brian   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)