Stemming the Rose

When Aguirre says to Jack Twist, "Twist, you guys wasn't gettin' paid to leave the dogs baby-sit the sheep while you stemmed the rose," there seemed to be no doubt regarding his allusion. Here in the hallowed halls of Column it seemed that there was a metaphorical rose that needed a metaphorical stem, so, it was not difficult to go from point A to point B.

What is interesting about this phrase is that it comes from Randy Quaid's character in the film, which a small yet pivotal role in Brokeback Mountain. The role is indicative of human alpha male response to two young males having sensual fun with one another. Still it is a great phrase. Other interest lies in the fact that Sunday's New York Post actually acknowledged and discussed it. It was the second of two articles discussing this film in Rupert Murdoch's Post.



Rose That Has No Name by Sara Stewart January 22,2006

Uh ... come again? That line from "Brokeback" spoken by Randy Quaid's gruff rancher in reference to Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal's sheep-tending, has left a lot of moviegoers wondering just what it means to "stem the rose."

Now that the film has picked up three Golden Globes and looks Oscar-bound, it's likely to confound even more people.

The movie's distributor, Focus Features, had no opinion to offer on the term. A query called in to Annie Proulx, author of the original short story, was not returned.

Even those well-versed in gay and/or cowboy lingo have found themselves at a loss. The phrase has spawned a handful of lengthy online debates, such as the one at literary forum languagehat.com
Proulxfan: "Is there confusion about 'stem the rose'? it's a reference to homosexual sex."
Glenn G: " 'Stemming the Rose' is a euphemism for 'struggling against love.' Jack and Ennis were hired to protect the sheep from wolves. i.e., to stem the wolf attacks. Instead, they stemmed the rose - they were battling against homosexual desires."

Language hat: "I'm sorry, but that's an extremely strained interpretation. I'm sure proulxfan is correct." Others posit that the term refers more to an onanistic practice - a visual suggested by stripping the thorns from the stem of a rose. And a somewhat less jaded reader offered the opinion that perhaps it referred to the practice of pulling a rose's petals off, i.e., wasting time.

One New York author chalks it up to the Wyoming writer's habit of inventing cowboy-ese phrases: "As with so much of Annie Proulx's 'prose,' it probably doesn't exist in real life," says the novelist, who asked not to be named for fear of sparking a literary feud.

"She's not only using a mixed metaphor, she's inventing one: The verb 'to stem' means to stop, dam up. But used with plants, it means to remove the stem, which sounds like the opposite …"

Whatever the definition, we're hoping it catches on as a fun, ambiguous new hipster phrase: "What did you do this weekend?" "Oh, you know, caught a rock show, went to brunch, stemmed the rose."