SR - Stubborn

[tmcd at jump.net]

On Wed, 11 Aug 1999, Michael A Scofield <ivarcat at juno.com> wrote:
> Ivar, also stubborn, and tired of the babble, here
...
> But if you don't have a suggestion, you can't complain about what is
> on the ballot.

Well, myself, I won't be *quite* that harsh.  I know little about
cooking, and if someone asks at a populace meeting for menu ideas I
may keep quiet.  If, at the feast, I am served crottled greeps [1],
filboid studge, and poiled slurgs [2], I hope you won't think much
less of me if I grumble quietly.

Nevertheless, it is much better to speak up at populace and ask for
plain roast beast -- better to light a candle than to curse the
darkness and all that -- and better not to complain later about the
existance of a feast, the motives of those who designed such a thing,
et cetera.

> A name that "sings" is the one picked ... much like the Star Spangled
> Banner after it has some history and glory behind it.

An interesting comparison.  The anthem is from "To Anacreon in
Heaven", a British drinking song of the late 1700s. [3] That's
unsurprising when you remember just how unsingable it is -- it's
probably much more fun to warble it drunk.  It wasn't legislated as
the US national anthem until 1931.

> making sure that "none of the above" is an option for those who
> don't like any of the names.

I rather like the suggestion, I forget by whom, of "I don't want a
name" and "I want none of the names on this list".  We'll see if it's
needed.

Daniel de Lincolia

                 --------------------
Footnotes:

[1] "[Crottled greeps is science fiction] fanspeak for the kind of
food you get at convention banquets.  'Filboid studge' means the same
thing", writes djheydt at uclink.berkeley.edu / Dorothea, old-time
Westerner.  The latter appears to be a less-common term.  Best served
with "Melbourne Old-and-Yellow", a fine Australian fighting wine,
estate bottled at Chateau de la Wogga Wogga, Queensland.  (That was a
Monty Python album reference.)  "Like Blog, many formulae have been
presented; Richard E. Geis, noted writer, holds out for chocolate cake
in hot tomato soup, ...", writes (gfarber at panix.com (Gary Farber).

[2] "Poiled slurgs" is a foodstuff (?) and fine lubricant mentioned in
passing in Phil Foglio's hilarious _Buck Godot_ comic books.

[3] The tune of "The Star-Spangled Banner" is often said to be
identical to "To Anacreon in Heaven", but they're only close.  A scan
of the original sheet music is at
http://www.bcpl.lib.md.us/~etowner/anacreon.html (via AltaVista).
"Words by : Ralph Tomlinson Esq., Tune by : John Stafford Smith 'as
sung at the Crown [and] Anchor Tavern in the Strand, circa 1780'",
says http://www-cs.canisius.edu/~salley/Bard.book/anacreon.html .

-- 
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