FATS HAS JUMPED THE SHARK AGAIN

I don't know if Limbaugh can say anything that will convince his listeners that he's a buffoon. A month ago, he said that the words "storefront," "factory," and "worker" are "Marxist-Leninst terms." Here's the transcript:

OBAMA: Today is an encouraging day. We learned that the economy actually produced a substantial number of jobs instead of losing a substantial number of jobs. We are beginning to turn the corner. This month more Americans woke up, got dressed, and headed to work in an office or factory or storefront, more folks are feeling the sense of pride and satisfaction that comes with a hard-earned and well-deserved paycheck.


RUSH: This is what this regime does. This regime tries to tell us how we are feeling. This month more Americans woke up, got dressed, and headed to work in an office or factory or storefront? Storefront? Factory? These are all Marxist and Leninist terms. So is "worker." More folks are feeling the sense of pride and satisfaction? More folks are more scared than ever. I just saw a chart on the percentage of Americans who think the country is headed in the wrong direction. It's close to 60%. There isn't a whole lot of happiness out there. Here's Obama off script on drilling.

According to the OED, "worker" in our sense of the term has been around since the 1300s:

1. One who makes, creates, produces, or contrives. {dag}a. Applied to God as maker or creator; sometimes absol. the Creator, (one's) Maker. Obs.
13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 1501 {Th}e worcher of {th}is worlde. 1382 WYCLIF Job xxxvi. 3 My werkere I shal proue ri{ygh}twis. 1500-20 DUNBAR Poems xlvi. 53 He, of natur that wirker wes and king. Ibid. 60 He, the wirker, that put in hir sic grace. 1557 N.T. (Genev.) Ep. *ij, God the Creatour, moste perfect and excellent worker of all thinges. 1594 HOOKER Eccl. Pol. I. ii. §2 Only the workes and operations of God haue him both or their worker, and for the lawe whereby they are wrought. a1602 W. PERKINS Cases Consc. (1619) 4 He is the author and worker thereof [i.e. of goodness].

"Factory" has been around since the 1500s:

5. a. A building or range of buildings with plant for the manufacture of goods; a manufactory, workshop; ‘works’.
1618 USSHER Let. to Camden 8 June, The Company of Stationers in London are now erecting a Factory for Books and a Press among us here. 1832 G. R. PORTER Porcelain & Gl. 307 The spacious factory of the manufacturer. 1878 JEVONS Prim. Pol. Econ. 63 Somebody must settle whether the factory is to work for..ten..or eight hours a day.

"Storefront" has been with us since 1880 but has no Marxist-Leninist heritage:

1. a. The side of a shop facing the street; (a building with) a shop window.
1880 G. W. CABLE Grandissimes 376 A large porte-cochère..[opened] upon the banquette immediately beside and abreast of the store-front. 1922 F. FARRINGTON Meeting Chain Store Competition iii. 37 You can make your store front as conspicuous as a red front Atlantic and Pacific Tea Co. store front and still make it infinitely more attractive. 1945 Planning Store of Tomorrow (National Retail Merchants Assoc.) 6/1 Some are specialists on store fronts, but can do or supervise an intelligent job on interior layout. 1962 E. SNOW Red China Today (1963) lxx. 538 Some of the old foreign store fronts (such as Whiteaways) now exhibited shining lathes and other machines. 1974 R. L. SIMON Wild Turkey iii. 19 [A] shocking pink storefront temporarily labeled ‘The Institute of Oral Love’. 1977 Guardian Weekly 4 Dec. 12/5 This indifference..turns storefronts not into show-cases for the articles sold by the shops but into museums of all the goods that were once sold there or will be sold at some future date. 1979 United States 1980/81 (Penguin Travel Guides) 73 This little deli is just a storefront on a shopping-center strip, so look carefully.