I'm Not A Smart Man, But I Know What CHUD Is

On Saturday, at the third No Kings protest, there were many, many amusing signs.  My favorite of these was an image of Frodo Baggins grasping the One Ring, only with Donald Trump's face over his, along with the caption "I will take the ring to Sauron!"

But while I was hanging out there, alone this time (my niece couldn't make it), I noticed a trio of teenaged girls, all with signs . . . and one of those signs had a familiar word on it.

A lot of the people at the protest were waving their signs around, but some only pointed them at passing cars (a lot of which would honk or wave their own signs back), but this girl kept hers where it was firmly unreadable from me.  Finally, I approached her, and said, "Hey there, does your sign say Donald Trump is one of the CHUDs?"

She turned her sign to me.  I laughed.  You see, there was a horror movie that came out in 1984 where the ad campaign absolutely captivated me, to the point where my friends and I would talk about CHUDs (Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers, mutated creatures that lurked in New York's sewers and subway tunnels) all the livelong day.  I finally saw the movie about three years later, and was wildly disappointed by it, finding it thoroughly mediocre.*

"A Chud is a--" the girl began, but I needed no mansplaining.  

"Oh, I know what a CHUD is," I said, and snapped this--admittedly imperfect--photo.

I went back to my place (next to an elderly lady with the profound and lyrical sign "It doesn't have to happen to you for you to care about it"), and eventually the crowd dispersed.  But as I was walking to my car (I had had to park four blocks away, despite getting a fairly good parking spot), it occurred to me that I should not have interrupted her.

I didn't know, at least in this context, what a Chud was.

Why didn't I let her explain it to me?  Then I'd have a blog post worth its low-sodium health warning.

But apparently, the word "chud" now means a repulsive or ignorant right-wing loudmouth, a reactionary troll, ie a basement-dweller, rather than the city sewer version.

And don't get me wrong, the word is still funny (I have always had a weakness for words that start with Ch-, such as chalupa, chunder, chingaso, Chima, the main character in CRANK--Chev Chelios, and the Argentine insult chanta.  I find them inexplicably hilarious), but I wasn't sure if it applied to Donald Trump or not.

But then, I remembered: Donald Trump is from New York City . . . home of the CHUDs.  

*In fact, for the past twenty years, whenever anybody asks me what movie I would remake, if I had the chance, the answer is always C.H.U.D..  Always.