So what’s with this 1920’s death ray?
A death ray joke shows up in half the threads here, and I just don’t get it.
Why is everybody else having a good laugh?
I know I’m a geek, a dork, an engineer, etc.
But come on, fellow Dopers, have pity on me! Will somebody let me in on the joke, too?
It started in a GQ thread about scalar weapons. It is no longer even slightly funny, IMO, and in fact is bordering on downright annoying at this point.
[waving my 1920s style death ray aropund in a vaguely menacing and highly erotic manner]
Aw, c’mon, it’s a little funny still 
The actual death ray thing is not as annoying as all the threads that keep popping saying ‘Explain this 1920’s Style “Death Ray” thing to me!’
What I think we need is a 1920s Style Sticky.
Or a Death Sticky.
Or a slightly sticky 1920s style “Death Ray”.
Ah, they’re 1920’s style “Death Rays”.
Zap all ray topics!
Link to the culprit. ON the first page *Dogface (I think) posts “Ah, they’re 1920s-style Death Rays”, which accidently quadruple-posts. When read in succession it sounds (to me) like a talking Mad Scientist doll with a pull string and a young child pulling for all he’s worth.
“Ah, they’re 1920s-style Death Rays”…“Ah, they’re 1920s-style…” ad nauseum.
And now I see that a poster has actually changed his/her moniker to that phrase.
“1920’s Style Death Rays” postings are not as annoying (to me) as threads with vague titles - even though such thread descriptions are frowned upon (as well they should be) some still manage to slip through.
For example, don’t you hate thread titles such as:
“Can somone help me with this?”
“Does anyone know the answer?”
“Weird thing happened yesterday”
“Did this ever happen to anyone else?”
At least when you see a thread with 1920’s Style Death Rays in its title, you know it is NOT going to be about 17th Century Indonesuan Topsoil Management.
But 1620’s style “Death Rays” were a crucial develpment in loosening up soil in Indonesia.
DreadCthulhu
Wow I did not know that. Incredible. You learn something new every day. Now I have another item to add to my “Death Ray” collection of facts.