March 5, 2014

In the middle of the night, I discover DipNote, the U.S. Department of State Official Blog.

Did you know the State Department has a blog? I happened upon it — at 3:40 a.m., just now — after clicking from Memeorandum — one of my most-used bookmarks to "2014 International Women of Courage Award Winners," at the State Department website.

"DipNote"... I had to think about it for a few seconds. Dip? To me, a "dip" is a nutty and relatively lovable, lightheaded person. Donovan's "Epistle to Dippy" plays in my head. That can't be the intended association.

At Urban Dictionary, the top definition for "dip" is "to leave abruptly. To get the hell out of somewhere." That's sound State-Department-y, but not in a good way. Scrolling farther, there's "dip" as in smokeless tobacco, which can have a foreign-affairs lilt — Copenhagen, Skoal.

Yet farther down the page at Urban Dictionary:
term originated in chicago (chi-town) term for side piece/broad not your man women.
Another entry says it's Detroit slang:
This term refers to members of the female sex, typically those who are very attractive and have a decent, if not, respectable reputation.
I have to get to definition #10 before something like my personal first definition shows up:
someone that is stupid or does something stupid; retarded, another way of saying retarded; short for dipshit

1) wow that guy is such a dip
2) hes got to be dip
Sorry for the offensive word. The r-word. Not the s-word. I'm okay with "dipshit," but the question is, why would the State Department want to trigger such an association (assuming anybody trips into their blog, as I did in the middle of the night, AKA Morning at Meadhouse)?

Hitting the lower depths of the definitions — ##11, 12, 13 — we get into drugs. "Dip" (or "dips") might refer to "A pill that makes you feel like a better person" or to "A cigarette dipped in liquid pcp."

And I finally get around to Googling "Epistle to Dippy" and see that Dippy, the recipient of Donovan's epistle, was not some sweet hippie girl, but a man who was serving in British Army in Malaysia. It's Jimmy Page playing guitar on that single, by the way, and I highly recommend the whole 44-song collection "Troubadour," which includes EtD.
Through all levels you've been changing
Elevator in the brain hotel
Broken down but just as well
Looking through crystal spectacles
I can see I had your fun
At what level of the brain hotel has the State Department's elevator broken down? I reach for my crystal spectacles at 4:11, which Urban Dictionary tells me is slang for "information," and of course, I figured out a while into the dusty minutes of meditation in this rhododendron forest of a blog post, that the "dip" in the State Department's "DIPNOTE" is short for "diplomacy."

I'm not sure if it would be dippy to actually read DipNote. The top post written 5 days ago by "DIPNOTE BLOGGERS" — there's authorship for you — is "A Critical Moment for Ukraine." Was that "moment" the moment that was happening 5 days ago, or is the moment the eternal now?

The post cobbles together a blather-y quote from Barack Obama and another quote — even blabbier — from John Kerry.
The United States has been clear that the Ukrainian people deserve the opportunity to determine their own future...

Obama said, "... we've made clear that [Russian officials] can be part of an international community’s effort..."

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry..."...  I... made it clear that [the Russian presence] could be misinterpreted at this moment....
Everything's clear as Obama and Kerry make things clear or at least inform us via unnamed State Department bloggers that they have been making things clear to the Russians. I put on my crystal spectacles and sing the last verse of "Epistle to Dippy":
Dum dum dum, dum dum, dum dum dum
Dum dum dum, dum dum, dum dum dum
Dum dum dum, dum dum, dum dum dum
Dum dum dum, dum dum, dum dum dum
Dum dum dum, dum dum, dum dum dum

20 comments:

iqvoice said...

You voted for these dips, so what does that make you?

Bob R said...

The whole rhythm section is pretty good on that song, including Donovan on acoustic. However, the lyrics...have not aged well. I think if you played covers of Donovan songs and Donovan parodies and asked me to distinguish, I'd do only slightly better than picking at random. The idea of 44 Donovan songs in my iTunes seems excessive. I guess you had to be there (and older than ten.)

Ann Althouse said...

"You voted for these dips, so what does that make you?"

I never voted for John Kerry, and I didn't vote for the Obama term within which John Kerry was appointed.

Blame me for SOS Hillary if you want, but not for John Kerry.

MayBee said...

"Blame me for SOS Hillary if you want, but not for John Kerry."

If Obama hadn't been elected in 2008, I doubt he would have been elected in 2008. So you don't get off that easy. :-)

Anyway, who looks at John Kerry and thinks he seems like a great guy to represent our nation, either as POTUS or SOS? Surely he doesn't have a fan base of any kind. Why did Obama put him in this position?

MayBee said...

Oops. Second 2008 should be 2012. Can't blame that on autocorrect

gratefulgee said...

"Who put the dip in the
Dip-de-dip-de-dip?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3ncpCxQMKs&feature=player_embedded

George M. Spencer said...

Donovan caught the vibe in '66, but the Spoonful were more prescient....

Hot town, summer in the city
...Isn't it a pity
Doesn't seem to be a shadow in the city.
All around, people looking half dead
Walking on the sidewalk, hotter than a match head.

Might be a long, strange summer in Europe.

David said...

We also used dipshit, a derogatory term for a phony, unpleasant, despicable person. "A real dipshit" was the lowest category.

There is also the cattle dip, common in Africa, used to rid livestock of parasites.

Both usages seem quite apt here.

David said...

MayBee said...
Oops. Second 2008 should be 2012. Can't blame that on autocorrect


Oh, go ahead. Kerry would.

Hagar said...

"Dipshit" is sort of a take-off on "sheep dip," which is another version of "horse puckey" or B.S.

And sheep dip is quite real anywhere they breed large flocks of sheep. The breeders run the sheep through a bath of sheep dip to rid them of parasites.

jacksonjay said...

Anyway, who looks at John Kerry and thinks he seems like a great guy to represent our nation, either as POTUS or SOS? Surely he doesn't have a fan base of any kind. Why did Obama put him in this position?

President Pen and Phone didn't have a resume when "we" made him King of the World. He didn't have a team. He has relied on a gang of goofy senators, met during his brief senate run, to serve as his team. Biden, Clinton, Kerry, Hagel, really? Of course, he feels like he really doesn't need anyone, so what does it matter?

That smile, swagger, and panache was all he needed to convince lots of really smart people to vote for him. He also talks really pretty, like Rand Paul.

C R Krieger said...

Maybe it is just that I know folks with Foreign Service experience, but Dip for Diplomat seemed pretty straight forward to me.  I would note that the Foreign Service is not one of the seven uniformed Services but it is distinguished, in the Department of State, from the Civil Servants.

And I never voted for JFK (John Forbes Kerry) either, nor E Warren, nor that Senator from Maryland, Ed Markey, nor for Teddy.  Did vote for Scott Brown, twice, and for Gabriel Gomez.

Regards  —  Cliff
Lowell, MA

C R Krieger said...

As for sheep dip, and here Wikipedia does a poor job, it is a term for military folks doing a sort of "exchange tour" with the CIA.

Regards  —  Cliff

CWJ said...

jacksonjay's post made me think of...

President Pen and Tellerphone

Charlie Currie said...

There's also, flea dip, used to rid cats and dogs of fleas.

mccullough said...

The dipnote for Benghazi must be good.

The Godfather said...

When I was growing up, "dip" meant your definition 10; "dipshit" was an intensifier.

As in "John Kerry is a dip. The guy who appointed him is a dipshit."

Michael K said...

State Department Foreign Service Officers sometimes use the term as slang for each other, See, for example, an excellent blog for retired FSOs .

PS; they are not Obama fans.

MzWIsh said...

I knew someone who served some time in a Wisconsin prison back in the '80's.

he and his fellow prisoners referred to eavesdropping as 'dipping'.

Unknown said...

Perhaps too inside-baseball as a blog name, but a dip (diplomatic) note is the term for a formal communication between a country's foreign ministry or embassy and another's.