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I had forgotten I took this shot weekend before last at the Davis Farmer’s Market. Word on the street is this group gets into it frequently with the “Students FOR Malaria”…
But I kid the kids. Riffing on this last night my wife and I realized there aren’t very many better options… Student Fighting Malaria sounds good at first until you realize it also sounds like they have malaria. Students For the Eradication of Malaria is precise but wordy.
So if you just tell yourself that it’s against in the sense of “in hostility to” and not in the sense of “disapproving of,” it probably is your best bet. It just sounds and looks funny.
9 Comments
What about Students Promoting ERadication of Malaria or SPErM?
March 12th, 2007 at 9:32 am
It’s a banner day, obdurate. I slightly chuckled at your response.
March 12th, 2007 at 9:55 am
And I didn’t even have to explain it. I knew that eventually I would find the lowest common denominator.
March 12th, 2007 at 10:41 am
You’re closer to it than you realize.
March 12th, 2007 at 11:03 am
When they graduate, will they no longer be against malaria?
March 12th, 2007 at 11:15 am
Check out “Student Leaders Against Malaria” (SLAM) at malaria.org.
March 13th, 2007 at 6:11 am
or the slightly less popular Student Leaders Urging Terrorists to Stop (SLUTS)
March 13th, 2007 at 9:52 am
Malaria was one of the greatest writers of the 1800s. Giuseppe de Malaria-Octovio’s stories, often written with a “tongue-in-cheek” slant, raised eyebrows in his 1830s home of Mexico City. With references to “dirty peoples” coming up from northern South America (and/or southern North America) to find the good life, and jokes about “the modern room for the bathing” (i.e.; indoor plumbing), the upper crust of Mexico City’s movers and shakers were none too happy with his lampooning their profits made on the backs of the poor, and their easy lifestyle of not using the public latrines.
Finding it easier to besmirch his name by associating it with a (then) deadly disease than to confront him head on, Mexico’s early elite appear to have won the hearts and minds of later generations, relegating Giuseppe de Malaria-Octovio (or “Malaria”) to a footnote in history. He may have the last laugh however, as a recent resurgence in his works’ popularity (thanks in part to the banning of DDT) has made him a rallying point for many young students enamored with his vivid descriptions of early bathroom-related mishaps. You can sometimes hear the competing catcalls of students groups “for” and “against” Malaria rising out of the background noise of the crowded slums of Mexico City.
March 13th, 2007 at 1:23 pm
I always wondered who the Mexican guy with a beret was. The more you know.
March 13th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
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