No Talking About Physical Appearance

It is bad taste to discuss how people look, their physical appearance. Long before the advent of wokeness you weren’t supposed to remark upon ugly noses or comb-overs. (Alert: this blog will describe the author’s attitude to the appearance of certain specified people. If offended by such commentary, stop reading.)

My mother had a German word to describe the physical appearance of people whose appearance she didn’t like: “unappetitlich.” The literal translation its “unappetizing.”The imaginary unappetizing person was a character she made up named Ignatius Greenspetch. That name was code for “yecch.”

While it’s ok to complain about what people say or do, that’s it in polite society.

Here goes, in no particular order:

Nicole Scherzinger. This lady who just won the Tony as best actress in a musical, brings the idea of thinness to a new level. There’s nothing but skin and bones. She needs a good meal.

Cynthia Erivo. The whole look, bald head, nose ring and extensive ear hardware makes you afraid lest she get near a powerful magnet. Also, her chest shines with the addition of what looks like chicken fat but may be a greasy moisturizer.

Elon Musk. This gentleman, highest on the list of people Ed Koch called “richies,” looks like he needs a bath that ought to include shampoo after a professional haircut. A selection of snappy Hawaiian shirts would be an improvement over his wrinkled black schmatta that must have been on sale at J.C. Penny. The black baseball cap could be replaced by a seasonal fedora worn at a rakish angle.

Yannick Nezet-Seguin. This gifted Canadian conductor is the music director of the Metropolitan Opera and the Philadelphia Orchestra. He appears to have multiple looks syndrome. Some days he’s a blonde wearing a sport shirt. Others he has brown hair and a black tunic. One tends to ask “who is that?” when he appears.

Eleanor Roosevelt. This towering figure in the history of American government and politics got short-changed in the looks department. She proved that the British have no monopoly on bad teeth.

Manuel Antonio Noriega. This Panamanian dictator and drug dealer looked the part.

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“Judge a book by the cover” is something we have all been taught not to do. Still…