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Former Harvard President, Larry Summers, on the Winklevoss Twins: They Are "A**holes"

By Dustin Rowles | Posted Under Trade News | Comments (32)

winklevossrowers.jpg

“One of the things you learn as a college president is that if an undergraduate is wearing a tie and jacket on Thursday afternoon at three o’clock, there are two possibilities. One is that they’re looking for a job and have an interview; the other is that they are an a**hole. This was the latter case. Rarely have I encountered such swagger, and I tried to respond in kind.” — Larry Summers, former Harvard President and a Treasury Secretary under President Clinton.

(Source: Uproxx)









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Comments

"they are an a**hole."
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Coming from a guy who ran Harvard, the grammar of that is interesting. Unless he just thinks of them in the Winklevi singular as well.

Posted by: , at July 21, 2011 10:23 AM

I went to school with his daughter. According to her, President Summers was also a bit of an a**hole. But he can turn a phrase.

Posted by: E-Money at July 21, 2011 10:24 AM

I think I like this guy.

Posted by: ed newman at July 21, 2011 10:25 AM

I've met Larry Summers. He does not need to "try" to out-asshole or out-swagger anyone. It comes naturally.

Posted by: Lee at July 21, 2011 10:26 AM

Takes one to know others.

Posted by: Fredo at July 21, 2011 10:27 AM

"We're surrounded by assholes!"

Posted by: The Wanderer at July 21, 2011 10:31 AM

I think anyone working in higher education would agree: It's not just the uber-rich crewcuts who are assholes. Assholery knows no gender; it knows no income bracket or race or creed. Assholes are comm majors, and math majors, are undeclared. It's beautiful, really.

Posted by: Internet Magpie at July 21, 2011 10:33 AM

He's a university president. Being an asshole is pretty much a prerequisite. They generally aren't so much education advocates as they are fundraisers.

Also, The Social Network showed that the Winklevoss twins are, in fact, one person. I think his grammar was fine.

Posted by: Socrates_Johnson at July 21, 2011 10:33 AM

"Is anyone else here an Asshole?"

"Yo!"

Posted by: Socrates_Johnson at July 21, 2011 10:35 AM

It is fine, since he's referring to a singular - 'if an undergraduate' - in his example.

Posted by: Really Not the Grammar Police at July 21, 2011 10:37 AM

Well, technically the pronoun "they" is a plural pronoun, to which his "an a**hole" is referring. So, he should say "he or she is an a**hole".

Technically.

Posted by: Jaaron at July 21, 2011 11:08 AM

But it's also used to refer to people in general, which is what's going on here...yes? No?

I don't know why I care.

Posted by: Really Not the Grammar Police at July 21, 2011 11:19 AM

I think I would rather defer to the Harvard president guy instead of some pointy-headed internet asshole's opinion.

Posted by: BarbadoSlim at July 21, 2011 11:20 AM

By the way, a quick rereading shows that he's using the term "they" as a gender neutral singular pronoun. As Jaaron points out, this is technically incorrect, but it is a pretty common usage of the word. Even at some point while in college, I had TAs or professors tell me it was fine to use the word that way, even though I had finally gotten used to saying he or she instead.

Where it gets fishy is if you're using it as a singular verb, it SHOULD be "they is an asshole." Of course since "they" isn't actually a singular noun, it sounds extremely awkward to say this. Basically, there's no way to marry a plural subject to a singular object without it sounding really bad. I think the moral of the story is when calling someone an asshole, it's best to just let the technicalities of grammar slide.

You guys have totally outdone yourselves today! -- DR

Posted by: Socrates_Johnson at July 21, 2011 11:26 AM

Er...sentence one paragraph two should say "if you're using it as a singular noun"

Posted by: Socrates_Johnson at July 21, 2011 11:28 AM

What a bunch of grammar parsing a**holes.

Posted by: Mrcreosote at July 21, 2011 11:31 AM

It's how we do.

Posted by: Mrs. Julien at July 21, 2011 11:43 AM

People, the important part is that the former president of Harvard confirmed that these two assholes are assholes. Now they're official. They've finally made it. Hallelujah.

Posted by: Robert at July 21, 2011 11:52 AM

Well, Summers oughta know. He's something of a famous asshole himself.

And his language is grammatically incorrect, but he's administration, not an English professor.

Administrators often can't speak or write very well. Which explains a lot, actually.

Posted by: Slash at July 21, 2011 12:50 PM

They were meeting with the president of the most prestigious university in America in his office. Seems to me a little formality wasn't uncalled for.

Posted by: Todd at July 21, 2011 1:14 PM

People, the important part is that the former president of Harvard confirmed that these two assholes are assholes.

I thought the going to Harvard at all thing did that. How little I know.

Posted by: BierceAmbrose at July 21, 2011 1:54 PM

The Winklevi are twins, so Summers was thinking of them as a unit. I have twins, so I know how this sort of grammatical conundrum happens. The truth is, if only one twin had been an asshole, well, he probably wouldn't have met with Summers in the first place. But, I'm SO glad they are: a) assholes or b) one big asshole (circle one) because that scene in The Social Network is one of my favorites.

Posted by: Stinky at July 21, 2011 2:13 PM

Summers is also an asshole for sharing his unsolicited and unnecessary opinion of them.

And thanks everyone for the grammar throwdown. Made me happy to see Pajibans fully explaining why what he said is poorly phrased.. Of course, Summers said women aren't as naturally good as men at MATH - I'm sure he never ranked abilities on language use.

Posted by: Sara Tonin at July 21, 2011 2:24 PM

Sara Tonin, I was just scrolling down to see if anyone else remembered that about this guy. Not that it has tainted my opinion on him or anything, but with a blind spot that big I am not sure if I'd believe this guy's opinion on assholes unless one of them was crapping on his lap.

Posted by: Anne At Large at July 21, 2011 2:32 PM

The opinion wasn't unsolicited. He was asked about the truth of "his" scene in The Social Network. Of course he could have just said it was accurate and left it at that, but he was playing to a crowd.

Posted by: ed newman at July 21, 2011 2:34 PM

Sometimes people choose to set aside grammar rules in order to make their statements more pithy. Apple's "Think different" campaign drove Jobs & Co. crazy trying to decide whether to use correct grammar ---Think differentLY--- or just go with the less-uptight-but-incorrect usage. I'm not saying Summers would ever be that thoughtful about his words, but most people don't sound very grammatical when their interviews are transcribed anyway.

Posted by: Stinky at July 21, 2011 2:36 PM

Lee had it in one. Summers is an astounding level of asshole and, thus, seems to have a low tolerance for other assholes. This presents a problem if you are an economist, an academic, or a politician as these are fields populated by a high proportion of people in ties at 3pm. So, given his professional choices, I guess Summers is a masochist as well.

Posted by: hattie at July 21, 2011 2:44 PM

Anne At Large and ed newman: I think it's fairly common knowledge that Summers is a major asshole. That's why that scene in the movie was so much fun.

Posted by: Stinky at July 21, 2011 2:48 PM

Christ you people are fucking morons. Summers is known far and wide for being an asshole and has admitted so on numerous occasions. The humor in his statement which none of you mongloids got is in his definition of asshole and how it ties in with his own life.

idiots.

Do us a favor and step in front of a runaway bus.

Posted by: Mr. Pancake at July 21, 2011 4:19 PM

Am I the only Pajiba-reading Harvard alumna? In any case, most everything that's been said is true, but I really prefer the term "asshat" to "asshole." Vocabulary is so important to us, you know.

Posted by: deadnotsleeping at July 21, 2011 6:05 PM

Mr. Pancake, I'm looking for someone who said something different than your statement.
.
.
.
.
I'm still looking...

Posted by: Socrates_Johnson at July 21, 2011 8:09 PM

Mr. Pancake blew his stack.

Posted by: Stinky at July 21, 2011 9:32 PM