Decades before today’s cancel culture gave birth to “woke, woker, and wokest,” attentiveness to racial and social justice facts and issues my mother repeatedly advised, “don’t get into pissing contests with skunks.”
I was in elementary school 70 years ago plus or minus when I first heard her say it. Considering she’s been gone 10 years and lived to within 4-months of being 100, she had many, many years to articulate it. And, yes, she did so a LOT, especially, in her 80s and 90s. I can’t imagine how often she’d be saying it today with all the skunk balm being sprayed on TV and everywhere else.
As a lifelong member of the party of Lincoln, my mother was living in a retirement complex the last few years of her life where essentially everyone else was on the other side of the aisle. Thus, the skunks reference came up often in the privacy of her apartment. And as you might imagine, she had very few lengthy conversations — philosophical or political — in the hallway.
And for the woke skunks out there who are totally devoid of:
(1) common sense;
(2) third grade math skills; and
(3) knowledge of American history,
NO, she didn’t know Lincoln personally nor did she vote for him. Of course, that assumes you have any idea who Lincoln was other than a 2020 project by self-serving, loser RINOs.
Also for the unawakened pretending the opposite, those are NOT the same as 4-legged RHINOs, like the cuddly stuffed animal you snuggle with at night to protect you from the scary world. RINOs, Republicans in Name Only, are make-believe Republicans who disgrace the name.
Interestingly for the Lincoln Project folks is that old Abe pegged them with a skunk quote of his own: “What kills a skunk is the publicity it gives itself”.
Hopefully, the RINO influence in the Republican Party going forward will be killed as a result of the “publicity it gives itself,” i.e., gave itself in 2020. Somehow, they didn’t think the stench would give them away, but the skunks on the other side of the aisle never think that either.
The woke ones outdid themselves in 2020 though; their wokest year yet using Merriam-Webster “accepted” (a.k.a., halfwit) definitions. They championed national and even international defund the police efforts and then were shocked when crime went through the roof in their communities.
DAH!
“Don’t get into pissing contests with skunks” applies unilaterally to anything involving the cancel culture cult
The mayors that agreed to cutting funding for police in their communities probably did so to keep from getting into pissing contests with rioting, vandalizing, arsonist skunks. But, as some defund-the-police mayors found out, a mob of two-legged Mephitis mephitis (Skunks) — a.k.a., polecats — can show up at mayors’ doors spewing their noxious wares even if, in theory, they’re all on the same side (Here and Here).
And what about Washington, DC?
“Don’t get into pissing contests with skunks” applies to essentially any Left-Right discussion that goes on there. However, no one in the federal government would ever be confused with someone who was woke … or awake … so that connection doesn’t work. Nonetheless, the idiom still applies BIG TIME.
My mother has been gone ten years, so she missed the woke cancel culture phenomenon. Nonetheless, I’m one-hundred percent certain her use of “don’t get into pissing contests with skunks” would have increased exponentially today. She probably used them at least weekly throughout her 80s and 90s, but it would likely be daily now … maybe hourly.
Was she shy about expressing her opinion?
Not so much, especially in her 90s.
Finally, since “don’t get into pissing contests with skunks” applies unilaterally to anything involving the cancel culture cult, I’m thinking she was ahead of her time. She’d be lucidly “woke” today by comparison … “woker” than most, perhaps even “wokest” of all.
R.W. Trewyn Ph.D.——Bio and Archives
Ron Trewyn was a university professor 44-years, working in upper administration the last 28. Drafted into the Army in January 1968, he attended the Army NCO School after basic and advanced infantry training, graduating as a Staff Sergeant, E-6. In 1969, he served as a Platoon Sergeant and Platoon Leader in the Republic of Vietnam with Delta Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry, 199th Light Infantry Brigade until wounded in action. After serving in the Army, he completed his undergraduate degree and earned a Ph.D. in microbial physiology with minors in biochemistry and genetics. Following 4-years of postdoctoral cancer research, he joined the medical school faculty and Comprehensive Cancer Center at Ohio State University for 16-years. Thereafter, he served in a variety of central administration roles at Kansas State University, retiring as Vice President for Research Emeritus.
Decades before today’s cancel culture gave birth to “woke, woker, and wokest,” attentiveness to racial and social justice facts and issues my mother repeatedly advised, “don’t get into pissing contests with skunks.”
I was in elementary school 70 years ago plus or minus when I first heard her say it. Considering she’s been gone 10 years and lived to within 4-months of being 100, she had many, many years to articulate it. And, yes, she did so a LOT, especially, in her 80s and 90s. I can’t imagine how often she’d be saying it today with all the skunk balm being sprayed on TV and everywhere else.
As a lifelong member of the party of Lincoln, my mother was living in a retirement complex the last few years of her life where essentially everyone else was on the other side of the aisle. Thus, the skunks reference came up often in the privacy of her apartment. And as you might imagine, she had very few lengthy conversations — philosophical or political — in the hallway. 
