All in the Family Episode: The Games Bunkers Play

This episode first aired in November 1973, and I think I would still remember it, even without the fact that the episodes of this popular and famous television series have been shown innumerable times over the decades to reinforce my memory; and besides, I have the dvd box set. hahahaha But really, this was a memorable episode. Being able to face criticism and to look at ourselves in the mirror is not easy for most of us; perhaps, all of us. Sometimes our feathers get ruffled, but we then settle down and get over it, and we even accept our flaws and mistakes; at least, to some degree.

Cast for this episode:

Carroll O'Connor as Archie Bunker

Jean Stapleton as Edith Bunker 

Rob Reiner as Mike Stivic

Sally Struthers as Gloria Bunker Stivic

Betty Garrett as Irene Lorenzo

Vincent Gardenia as Frank Lorenzo

Mike Evens as Lionel Jefferson

 

The episode opens with the Bunker family finishing their chicken dinner, but Gloria telling her mother that the chicken was a little under done, and Archie adding, "What do you mean, under done? It was alive. It was fighting me all the way down." He then says that Edith's dessert took charge though, because, "the apple pie is now holding him down and the ice cream is freezing him to death." hahaha Mike and Gloria have invited their neighbors Frank and Irene Lorenzo and Lionel Jefferson over to play a new game that evening, "Group Therapy," where the players are to tell how they really feel about themselves and about each other. When Archie previews a couple of the questions, he scoffs at playing the game and he goes out to drink some beer at the neighborhood bar. The Lorenzos show up, then in comes Lionel, and Mike immediately tells him about an article he read covering "the black problem" (if you are unfamiliar with "All in the Family," Lionel Jefferson was the neighbor of the Bunkers, and black). The group sits down to play the game, which has printed cards with questions or descriptions of something a player must do, and upon completion of the answer or action, the other players vote if that player was sincere ("With it!"), or faking it ("Cop out!). The players each have a playing piece that moves along a game board according to how the other players vote on their answers and actions. (Note: We never really see the details of the board, or learn what the goal is, but it's not important. I just added this so you get an idea of what's going on.) 

 

Edith goes first and the card says for her to tell the players which person in the world she would like to look like and why. Edith immediately answers, "Katharine Hepburn," and that Hepburn's eyes and hair are similar to Edith's, so that wouldn't upset Archie. (Comment: Edith is devoted to her husband and she knows how Archie can react negatively to new things, so this is her first thought.) She also says she liked Hepburn's voice in movies, and the whole group responds positively to Edith's answer by holding up cards saying "With it." Frank Lorenzo is next, and his card tells him to discuss the part of his body he is most proud of. (Comment: This is the same card that had sent Archie off to the bar to drink beer, as anything that might hint about sex made him uncomfortable; in fact, in more than one episode, if I remember right, even the word "sex" brought a quick "shush" from Archie. The sexual implication of the question is obvious, and while today audiences at a movie or stage show would likely chuckle a little at this "implication," in the early 1970s, this implication brought hysterical laughter from the audience, and likely "some" very uncomfortable people, as the subject of sex on television was highly controversial. "All in the Family" was filmed with a live audience present; thus, reactions from the audience are real and specific to what the audience saw and heard, and the filmed version was not provided with recorded laughter and audience reactions (called "laugh tracks"), which were quite common on television.) Anyway, Frank says he's most proud of his nose, and he goes onto say why, which gets Frank 4 votes of "With it," but then Irene tells the others Frank is most proud of his body, mainly his hairless chest, and this persuades the group to reverse their votes to "Cop out." 

 

Lionel is next and his card has him choose a player, to then stand back to back, and push against one another while Lionel tells the other person why it's hard for him to be direct with that person. Lionel chooses Mike, and they stand back to back, then Mike asks why it's hard for Lionel to be direct. Lionel tells Mike to look at what's going on, that Mike isn't really pushing, and Mike says he doesn't want to knock Lionel off balance, to which Lionel asks, "Would you push harder if I was white?" When Mike acts somewhat indignant about Lionel's statement, Lionel says Mike is always bending over backwards to agree with him, that he wants Mike to treat him like Lionel Jefferson and not a representative of the whole black race. Mike denies that he does that, but Lionel mentions that every time he sees Mike, Mike brings up about "the black problem" (Remember what Mike said when Lionel first came to the house that night). Mike asks if he should talk about the weather, and Lionel answers, "Sometimes yes, black people have weather too, you know. We get rained on and everything." Mike exclaims that Lionel was faking this whole thing, so he votes "Cop out," but the rest of the group votes "With it," displeasing Mike, but not totally getting under his skin. Gloria is next and the card says for her to tell the person closest in the group to her (in her life) something that will help that person. Gloria stands and goes to Edith. Mike immediately tells Gloria she's wrong, because he's the closest to her, because he's her husband and he wants Gloria to say whatever it is to him. So Gloria obliges by saying what she was going to say to her mother, "Michael, I think the dresses you've been wearing make you look older," which brings tremendous laughter from the audience, but it brings a very stunned looked to Mike's face. Mike is next and the card tells him to stand and tell the group what makes him mature. After Mike's behavior, this brings more laughter and some teasing facial expressions from Gloria. Mike starts by saying that he's tolerant of the other guy's opinions, but this brings an outburst of laughter from Gloria, plus a comment about how Mike and Archie argue. Mike says "Archie is a walking monument to intolerance," prompting Edith to briefly interrupt. Mike asks how many "With it" votes there are, but he gets all "Cop out" votes. After some more squabbling, Mike declares the rest of the group is dead wrong, but that he won't spoil the game. 

 

Irene draws a card that tells her to sit on the lap of the person who makes her nervous and to tell that person why they make her nervous. Irene goes over and sits on Mike's lap, which upsets him very much, but she tells him that they way he's acting about this game is making her very nervous. Mike votes "Cop out," but the others vote "With it," just rubbing more salt into the wounded Mike. Edith is next and her card says for her to tell one of the players something she's never said before, but that she'd like to say to them. Edith turns to Mike and says she doesn't like the way he's been acting so stuck up lately. Mike is surprised, and Edith continues, "I think it's mean to make fun of Archie and to call him names the way you do." Mike becomes more agitated, saying that Archie says dumb things and that Achie can't be taken seriously. He ends by saying, "C'mon ma, I have a brain." Edith replies by telling Mike that if he's really smarter than Archie, then he shouldn't let Archie see that. (There is applause from the audience) When the others in the group agree with Edith, Mike gets very upset and charges that they are ganging up on him. He says he doesn't want to play anymore, and he overturns the game board and cards, and runs up the steps. Gloria goes upstairs to Mike, but he's very angry and again mentions how Gloria chose her mother over him in the game. Gloria tells him it's possible to love two people at the same time, but in different ways. She also tells Mike he can't take criticism. After a few more minutes Mike settles down and goes downstairs where everyone is about to have tea. Mike has them all sit down, and he apologizes, but then he just can't stop himself from couching his apology in some self pity. This causes Mike and Lionel to raise their voices to one another and Mike challenges Lionel to do what Edith had done; that is, to say something to someone he has never said, but that he really wants to say. Lionel agrees, and he goes to Edith. He fumbles over his words at first, but then says that he and his family were very scared when they moved into the neighborhood, but that Edith was so welcoming to them, they knew they had one good friend no matter what happened. Lionel continues, "I don't know why it took so long to tell you this, but I'm very grateful." Edith thanks Lionel and she leans over and kisses him on the cheek. (Comment: Today, most people wouldn't even pay much attention to such a thing, but in those times, a white woman of any age even giving a friendly kiss on the cheek to a black man was likely to cause great anger among many people, especially whites, and likely far more so in the southern areas of the country. So this scene was a big deal back then and I'm glad they did it.) Mike is angry that Lionel was so nice to Edith and he asks why Lionel didn't criticize Edith, but Lionel says he didn't have any criticism. Mike gets angrier and challenges Frank to criticize someone, but Frank says he doesn't have any criticism. This brings Mike to say that Frank and Irene have been married for more than 20 years, and that Frank must have something to say to Irene, maybe about their sex life. Frank turns to Irene and thanks her, bringing laughter and applause from the audience. (Comment: Again, even saying something like that on television in those times was apt to cause heart palpitations in a part of the American population, but "All in the Family" challenged the traditional fear and discomfort of sexual topics by Americans.) Mike rants and says how Archie yells, but Gloria tells him he yells at her dad just as much as her dad yells at him. Mike says that Archie forces him to yell, but this brings Edith to tell Mike she doesn't think Mike yells at Archie because of Archie, but because of himself. She tells a story one of her teachers told them in school about a man who saved another man's life, but the man who was saved was not grateful, but rather he got madder and madder at the man who saved him. Mike flies off the handle again, saying that Edith is referring to the fact that he owes Archie a lot of money, but Edith tells Mike it's more than that, and that her teacher said when a person owes another person a lot, they can resent that person more and more because they begin worrying they'll never be able to pay the person back. Mike is somewhat less upset, but he ends up going to the kitchen. As Gloria starts to head to the kitchen to talk with Mike, Edith stops Gloria and instead she herself goes to talk with Mike.

 

In the kitchen, one of the best minutes of television history (in my opinion) takes place between Edith and Mike. Edith asks if Mike wants to know why Archie yells at him, and Mike says that Archie hates him. Edith tells him, "Oh no Mike. Archie yells at you because he's jealous of you." Mike scoffs and says he doesn't want to listen anymore, but Edith gets firm, grabs Mike by the arm and says, "Now wait a minute, you WILL listen to me. Archie is jealous of you." She tells Mike that it really isn't hard to understand, because Mike is going to college, but that Archie had to quit school to help support his family. "He ain't never goin' to be nuthin' more than he is right now. But you, you got a chance to be anything you want to be, that's why Archie's jealous of you. He sees in you all the things he could never be." Edith tells Mike to try to be a little more understanding with Archie and to think these things over,  she then goes back into the living room. (The audience applauds Edith's words to Mike!) 

 

Mike's facial expression shows he IS thinking it all over, when through the back door comes Archie. As always, Archie immediately says, "Keep away from me, Meathead!" Mike says, "Arch, I wanna tell you something ... I understand," and he grabs Archie and hugs him, leaving Archie totally perplexed.          

            

 

Photo is of the 2005 Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Fourth Season DVD set 

WORD HISTORY:

Couch-This word has noun and verb forms, and the history of the word is interesting, although a bit shaky as to its actual Indo European ancestor. If its ancient ancestor is as below, then it is distantly related to "stall" (the noun: place for animals, small business stand, a tactic to delay doing a particular activity), also the verb form "stall" (to halt, come to standstill, to avoid taking action on something), and to "still" (the adjective meaning 'quiet, stable,' later also used as a noun), which are from the Germanic roots of English, but with the "delay tactic" meaning for "stall" likely coming via French, which had it from (Germanic) Frankish from the same Germanic source as the English words, and to "install/installation," again based upon Germanic, but borrowed by Latin and then by English (the verb "install" likely had French reinforcement), and also "location," a word of Latin derivation borrowed directly from Latin by English. The word "couch" is really a prefixed word. It goes back to Indo European "kom/ghem," which had the notion of "by, with, near, beside." This gave Latin "com" (and its variant form "con") meaning, "together, with," which is a common prefix in Latin-derived words. The main part of what became "couch" seemingly goes back to Indo European "stel," which had the notion, "to put into a place, to be in a place, to stand something in place." This gave Italic "stlocus,"^/^^ seemingly meaning, "a place, a location," with the beginning sound dropped in the Latin form, leaving "locus," meaning, "a definite place or position, a region." This gave Latin the verb "locare," meaning, "to place (in a position)," and the prefixed form with "com" was rendered as "collocare," meaning, "to place, to settle into a place, to put together." This passed to Latin-based Old French initially as "colchier," then as "couchier," meaning, "to go to bed, to lie down," and which then became "coucher" and produced the noun "couche," meaning, "a bed, a place to lie down, a place to sleep." English borrowed the verb in the early 1300s as "couchen,"^^^ meaning, "to lay down to rest/sleep," with a military meaning of "to lie in wait to spring an ambush, to lay low." The noun was borrowed in the mid 1300s, initially as "couche," and meaning, "a piece of furniture for resting or relaxing, often for more than one person, but capable of allowing a person to lie down for rest or sleep," but also, "an animal's lair" (typically a hidden place where an animal lives and sleeps"). The meaning "to talk about a difficult subject indirectly," seems to be from the military meaning of "lay low."   

 

^  Italic is a branch of the Indo European family of languages and includes Latin, Umbrian, Venetic, and others, most which have died out. Latin's own limited use today is mainly because its dialects evolved into several modern languages: Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Rumanian, Catalan, Sardinian, and several others. 

 

^^ The ancestor of the Italic form "stlocus" is a problem, and not everyone agrees that its ancestor was "stel," but at this time, I have no reason to change my opinion. 

 

^^^ English typically used 'en' on the ending of verbs to form infinitives, just as its cousin, German, still does. In modern English we use 'to' to form infinitives: 'to go,' 'to read,' 'to eat,' but in the times of the 'en' endings (even earlier often as 'an'), there was no need to add 'to.'

All In The Family Episode: Archie In The Hospital

"All In The Family" first aired on the CBS television network in January of 1971. The show, developed by producer Norman Lear, dared depict our prejudices, bigotries and hatreds right to our faces, but usually with a comedic twist. The basic format of the show was of middle aged Archie Bunker, a working class white man living in the Queens section of New York City, along with his wife Edith, their daughter Gloria, and Gloria's husband Mike.

This episode from "All in the Family" shows us how preconceived notions about what a person of a particular country is NOT supposed to look like. I would dare say that many of us, myself included, would assume the man on the other side of the partition to be a white Frenchman, and this doesn't make you a racist or a bigot in itself, but the question is, how would we treat another person in a circumstance such as this upon finding out the race or ethnic background of the person? Like another human being? Or would bigotry and racism overcome us, as it did with Archie?   

Episode Cast:

Archie Bunker ............................... Carroll O'Connor
Edith Bunker ................................. Jean Stapleton
Mike Stivic .................................... Rob Reiner
Gloria Bunker Stivic ..................... Sally Struthers
Jean Duval .................................... Roscoe Lee Browne
Lionel Jefferson ............................ Mike Evans
Louise Jefferson ............................ Isabel Sanford
Doctor Spence ............................... John Heffernan
Nurse ............................................. Priscilla Morrill

The episode opens with Archie in bed screaming for Edith because of back pain. Downstairs, Edith, Gloria and Mike are watching television, and Edith yells back to Archie that she'll be there, but she remains focused on the television program, an episode of then popular "Marcus Welby, MD." Gloria offers to go to her father and we then begin to learn that Archie is worried about his job, since he's been off work for several days. A little while later one of the workers calls and tells Archie that everything is fine at work, only causing more stress for Archie, because he isn't even missed at work, and there is a new young guy who is doing a great job, which is scaring middle aged Archie that the young man will replace him as foreman. Mike tries to explain to Archie that his back pain may be psychosomatic and caused more by worry and stress about this young guy taking his job, instead of being caused by a true physical injury. Fearful of showing what may be seen as weakness, Archie rejects Mike's idea. 

Archie's chain smoking doctor comes to the house and tells Archie he wants him in the hospital for tests. The scene shifts to the next day at the hospital where Archie is in a semiprivate room with a dividing partition drawn so that the two patients can't see one another. The other patient is black and the nurse says the partition is broken and can't be opened. Archie hears the other man's French-sounding accent and the two begin talking. The man tells Archie his name is Jean Duval (pronounced like "zawn," and it means "John"). Archie asks if the man is "a Frenchie," and Jean tells him, "Qui, I'm from Martinique."* Jean had a cyst removed from his back, so the two men share a problem in the same part of their anatomies and they get along in their conversation. Louise and Lionel Jefferson come to visit Archie and after about a minute, Jean asks Archie to introduce him "to your family" (for those unaware, the Jeffersons live next door to Archie and they are black).** Archie is rattled by Jean's request and he quickly tries to assure Jean that this is not his family and he tells Lionel to tell Jean this too, which prompts the joking Lionel to say, "Whatever you say, pop!"  Hahaha!  Louise and Lionel leave and in come Edith and Mike. Edith goes around the partition to meet Jean, and she then says to Archie, "It's funny, he don't look French" (said in improper English). Archie tells Edith and Mike that he and Jean haven't seen each other yet, because of the partition, which tells Mike all he needs to know. Mike tells Archie he should try to think of something other than his job and back, which sends Archie writhing in pain. Edith and Mike go to get the doctor.

Archie and Jean begin to talk again, and Archie tells him about his job and about this young 24 year old guy who is now working there, and just the mention of this young guy brings Archie to wince in pain. Jean says, "Do you think he is maybe after your job, Archie?" Now Archie winces again, but he tells Jean that is a good and smart observation. He also tells Jean that when they get out of the hospital, that Jean should come to supper with his wife some night. Jean says that he and Archie "are two ships that pass in the night," but Archie comes back with, "You are my kind of people." Archie tells Jean his address, but Jean cannot find a pencil to write it down. Archie has one and Jean gets out of bed and goes around the partition to Archie's side. This leads to an absolutely hilarious scene, because when Archie looks up, he is startled and says, "Who are you?" Jeans says, "Jean Duval." Archie sits up on the edge of the bed and says, "You said you was a Frenchman." Jean answers, "Qui." Archie says, "You didn't tell me you was black," leading Jean to say, "You didn't tell me you was white." Archie then says, "But white people don't have to go around tellin' other people that." Edith and Mike come back and tell Archie they can't find the doctor. Archie gets up and says he doesn't care, because he's going back to work. Mike says, "See .... psychosomatic!" Jean says to Archie, "Your illness was psychosomatic, but that's not what got you back up on your feet again..... It was that 'old black magic.' "  

* Martinique is an island part of France located in the Caribbean, just as Hawaii is an American state, but located in the Pacific Ocean, some distance from the contiguous United States. The population of Martinique is overwhelmingly of African descent.

** "The Jeffersons" soon was to become a popular separate television series as a spinoff of "All in the Family."

WORD HISTORY:
Anatomy-The first part of this compound word is related, through Indo European, to "on," a word from the Germanic roots of English. This part goes back to Indo European "ano," which meant, "on, upon." This gave transliterated Ancient Greek "aná," meaning, "on, upon, up, up to, upwards." The second part of "anatomy" is related to "epitome," a word borrowed by English from French, which had it from Latin, which had it from Greek. This goes back to Indo European "tem," which had the notion, "to cut, to cleave." This gave transliterated Ancient Greek "témnein," meaning, "to cut, to cut into or through, to butcher." Together these parts gave transliterated Ancient Greek the noun "anatomē," meaning, "dissection," which produced "anatomia" (anatomy). This was borrowed by Latin as "anatomia," and it passed to Latin-based Old French as "anatomie." English borrowed the word in about 1400 from French, but with very likely reinforcement from Latin, and with the meaning, "anatomy, the course of study of the structure of living things;" thus also, "the part of science dealing with the structures of living things," but also, "the structure of living things." The overall idea lying behind the word is, "the use of dissection to study physical structures of living things." The word took on the more general "how things work" as another meaning.   

All In The Family Episode: Mike Comes Into Money

When "All In The Family" first aired on the CBS television network in January of 1971, it was the talk of the nation. The show, developed by producer Norman Lear, dared depict our prejudices, bigotries and hatreds right to our faces, but usually with a comedic twist. The basic format of the show was of middle aged Archie Bunker, a working class white man living in the Queens section of New York City, along with his wife Edith, their daughter Gloria, and Gloria's husband Mike, usually called "Michael" by Gloria. The living arrangement is that Gloria and Mike get room and board while Mike attends college, but the young couple's other expenses must be paid for by themselves, and they must pay for the room and board, plus interest, after Mike gets his college degree and begins earning a living. This "agreement" is not always set in concrete and it proves to be periodically contentious, especially so in this episode. Further, the young liberal couple living with a middle aged couple is far from peaceful, as Archie is set in his ways on a number of things, and he doesn't see the contradictions he holds regarding other aspects of life. For instance, Archie would use "hell" or "damn" at times when arguing a point, but he tells others not to swear in the house.*
  
This episode is one I've remembered for all of the years since it was first telecast prior to the presidential election in 1972 (Nixon vs. McGovern). Of course, I got some "refresher" help with the reruns of "All In The Family" in the decades since those times. This episode has some truly funny lines, at least from the standpoint of my type of humor, but it also made some more serious points. 

Cast:

Archie Bunker ............................Carroll O'Connor
Edith Bunker .............................. Jean Stapleton
Gloria (Bunker) Stivic ...............Sally Struthers
Michael/Mike Stivic .................. Rob Reiner

The episode opens with Edith reading the draft of what is supposed to be a funny story to Gloria. She wants Gloria to help refine the story so she can submit it to Reader's Digest for a chance to make $100, a decent sum of money in 1972, and equivalent to about $600 today. Edith's story isn't very funny, but Archie and Mike arrive home with raised voices as they argue about pollution. Things settle down from that argument only to have Archie open the water bill and declare, "Lucky me, I've got the only Polack who showers regularly."** Mike reaches into his pocket and pulls out a dime, which he offers to Archie. Archie responds by saying, " That dime ain't gonna pay for all your showers," and Mike replies, "No, but it'll pay for yours." Hahaha!

Mike opens a piece of mail, only to read that an uncle has died, but that he's left Mike $275. This prompts Archie to ask for $200 of the sum as a partial payment on what Mike owes him for more than two years' room and board. Mike says this goes against the agreement he and Archie made that defers Mike paying on the debt he owes Archie until after he graduates and gets a job. Then comes the equivalent to a sock in the jaw to Archie. Mike tells him he plans to donate the $200 to the campaign of Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern. Archie is furious, but Mike tries to explain that he's trying to defend democracy, because the Democrats have virtually no money, while the Republicans have 30 million dollars available to them (equivalent to more than $175 million in today's value). Mike says that "it's like politics in America is only for the rich," and this brings the question from Archie, "Who's been feeding you that Commie crapola?" Mike replies, "President Eisenhower" (he was a Republican president during the 1950s). Archie screams, "He did not! Eisenhower was a great president who never said nuthin'." Hahaha  Gloria then adds, "He (Eisenhower) did too, Daddy. Eisenhower made that statement in 1968, I saw it in the Reader's Digest." This brings Edith to interject, "Oh! I wonder if they paid him $100 for it?" Hahahaha! Archie forbids Edith to do any more cooking for Mike and Gloria, until Mike starts "chipping in;" so, dinner times are now divided for the family.

The scene shifts to two weeks later, which is election day. Gloria, who has had a job since before Mike's inheritance and the resulting argument with Archie, comes home and rushes to fix supper for Mike and herself. In the process, Gloria is in so much of a hurry, she turns the oven up to 500 degrees, not knowing that Edith has rolls baking for Archie's dinner. The rolls are burned and Edith and Gloria quarrel over the whole situation. The argument brings Archie into the kitchen to say, "What's all the hollerin' out here? For a minute I thought I was in the back room of a Greek restaurant." He goes to Gloria, who asks him if he cares that she and her mother have just had this argument. He answers, "Sure I care. I told yous to shut up, didn't I?" Hahaha!

Archie tells his daughter that it's all Mike's fault, that Mike didn't do the right thing about the $200. She answers that fathers often make sacrifices for their kids and that even when Archie helps Mike, he is also helping her and that this is helping her to be better off than himself, and that every father wants his child to be better off than himself. Archie gives the hilarious reply, "That don't always work that way, little girl... Take a look at your animal kingdom for example there. Take the gorilla. Well the gorilla wants his kid to grow up better than him too, but the kid grows up, and there he is, still a gorilla." Hahahaha!

Mike comes home and sees the stew Edith has prepared for Archie's supper. Archie quickly points the way to the kitchen for Mike to get his own food. Mike goes into the kitchen and Gloria and Mike discuss how Mike has been working after college each day to earn $200 to give to Archie, but they have told Archie and Edith that Mike's been at the library studying. So far Mike has made $150. Mike asks Gloria what's for dinner. She answers, "Hamburgers," bringing Mike's reply of, "Again? I don't want them every night." Gloria then says, "Last night I made you meatloaf." Mike answers, "Gloria, meatloaf IS hamburger. It's the same thing with another name." The two have a brief exchange, and Mike says to Gloria that her father is "stupid" and "pig-headed." Gloria gives an interesting response: "Hold it, don't you call my father names just because you had a fight with him, that's not fair. And maybe we're not being fair. Maybe we should look at things from his point of view...... Michael, there are two sides to everything. Remember, it's not only that you didn't give Daddy the money, but you gave it to somebody he's dead against... I haven't been home more than ten minutes and I've already had a fight with my father and my mother and now you." Mike says, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to," but Gloria cuts him off with, "Oh shut up and eat your meatloaf," to which Mike says, "It's hamburgers," bringing Gloria to shout, "It's the same thing!" hahahaha!

Meanwhile, Archie and Edith eat their dinner and discuss the argument between Mike and Gloria. Edith tries quoting an old saying, but mangles it badly, causing Archie to say, "I've got an old saying for you, Edith. A bird that always flies in a fog is called a dingbat." *** Mike and Gloria come out of the kitchen and get ready to watch the election returns, but Archie won't allow it, so Mike tells Gloria that they can go to McGovern's local campaign headquarters to watch the returns. This brings Archie to say, "That's right, you've got $200 of TV watchin' comin' to you there." Mike gets angry and takes the $150 from his pocket and gives it to Archie. Gloria explains to her father about how Mike has been working to get this money together. Mike tells Archie that just as he got this money, that he'll get Archie every nickel he owes him. Never one to be appreciative or to give out compliments, Archie wants to know when he'll get the remaining $50 of THIS money.    

* While "hell" or "damn" wouldn't even move the needle on modern network television, in those times, they were about as strong a couple of words that were allowed on television. For those of you who didn't live through that era, there were no true cable channels in those days where "strong language" was essentially permitted.

** Of course today, I can't imagine that word being used on network television. Since I grew up in a neighborhood that included a fairly large number of people of Polish background, including quite a number of actual Polish immigrants, the word was common there, and it was not uncommon for people of Polish descent to use it, although some Polish people took offense to it, as it wasn't so much the word, but the context of the word's usage that was derogatory. Certainly Archie Bunker's derogatory use of the word (in more than in just this episode) went a long way to making the word taboo on television and in every day society.

*** The word "dingbat" became so popular from Archie's use of it for Edith, that wherever you went back in those times, you were apt to hear someone called a "dingbat," and that's just what you'd hear people call me. Hm, I never have figured that out ....    

Photo is of the 2004 Sony Pictures Home Entertainment "All In The Family: Season Three" DVD set

WORD HISTORY:
Burgess-This is one of those words with a base from Germanic in a non Germanic language, which then developed its own offshoot and meaning, and which was then borrowed by English. It is related to "bourgeoisie," a word borrowed by English from French, and it is related to "berg" and to "burg(h)" (thus, "borough"), words from the Germanic roots of English. "Burgess" goes back to Indo European "buhrgh/bhrgh" which meant "high place." This gave Old Germanic "burg(s)," meaning, "castle, fortress, protected place or stronghold," since most castles were built on high places for their military benefit. Since these provided protection, many people came to live in such places, and as time passed, the name remained, but many of of stronghold characteristics began to disappear. English had forms of the word from Old Germanic as "burg," "burh" and "burgh," which brought the development of the compounds "burgleoda" and "burgsittend," both of which meant "citizen, resident" (English eventually borrowed Latin-derived "citizen" from French). Meanwhile, Old French had a form of the Germanic word either passed to it from Latin "burgensis" (which had borrowed it from Germanic initially as "burgus"), which meant, "citizen/resident of a walled town," or French directly borrowed the word from Frankish, a Germanic language/dialect; the French form back then being "burjois," again with the "citizen/resident" meaning. The form carted to England by the Normans was (or shortly became?) "burgeis," and English borrowed that form in the early 1200s, before the modern form. By circa 1500 it was used for a member of Parliament who represented a "borough" (the close relative of "burgess"). In 1600's Colonial America, the lower house of the Virginia legislative body was called the "House of Burgesses." It has also been used in some places for other local legal authorities (magistrates).