July 8, 2004

Naked lunch.

Here's an interesting little squib in today's NYT:
LOUISIANA: CLUB CAN'T KEEP WOMEN OUT OF 'MEN'S GRILLE' The State Supreme Court ruled that the Southern Trace Country Club in Shreveport could not exclude women from a public dining area based on its desire to protect their sensibilities and the men's privacy if the men wanted to dine "in various stages of undress." The club had argued that the Men's Grille, the only one of its restaurants that is open on Sundays, is near the men's locker room to preserve the "locker room environment," and that men occasionally eat there in only a towel or in the nude. The court said Tuesday that the practice violated the club's own dress code, and it upheld an appeal court's ruling that the policy was arbitrary and capricious.

Imagine if you were allowed to discriminate all you want as long as you are naked. Or did the court say that if only the clubhouse rules said you could dine naked, you really could discriminate?

But what is wrong with people that they want to eat in a "locker room environment"--with its fungal overtones? And while you're getting your act together, and getting rid of the "Men's" in "Men's Grille," how about getting rid of the "e" in that "Grille"? A "grille" is that metal shield for the car's radiator. You cook on a "grill." I love the way, in their quest for a manly clubhouse, they embraced the fey Ye-Olde-Shoppe approach to spelling. For a literal-minded person like me, "Men's Grille" conjures up a picture of a large car with lots of little (naked) men stuck into the front metalwork. I'm seeing a Gary Larson-style cartoon.

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