# 1920s Style Death-Ray? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 7, 2005, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1920s-style-death-ray/307355 "2005-06-07T21:06:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![hawkeyejo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e19b73/32.png) [@hawkeyejo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawkeyejo)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1920s-style-death-ray/307355/1 "2005-06-07T21:06:54Z")
I don’t know if this has been asked before, but what’s with the inordinately high number of references to ‘1920s Style Death-Ray’ around these parts. Here I am, a paying member and all and no one has let me in on this particular bit of secretive Dope-speak. Please, for the love of all that is young and beautiful, tell me what it means before I get zapped by one of those rays. And while you are at it, also kindly dispel my ignorance on the meaning of YMMV. Confounded acronyms. And cryptic references. They should all be banned I tell you. Unless I know what they are about. ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1920s-style-death-ray/307355/2 "2005-06-07T21:13:46Z")
1. YMMV = Your Mileage May Vary 2. The “1920’s Style Death Ray” reference is from some arcane bit of SDMB history. I think it’s a running gag. 3. Hi, Opal! ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1920s-style-death-ray/307355/3 "2005-06-07T21:15:19Z")
This question comes up from time to time, and should probably be in the FAQ (if it isn’t). Here is a link to the [original thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=202225). A poster made a wisecrack about 1920’s style death rays and inadvertantly triple-posted. From there the rest of the thread devolved into a train wreck and the phrase became part of SDMB folklore. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1920s-style-death-ray/307355/4 "2005-06-07T21:46:00Z")
> [@FatBaldGuy](#): > > This question comes up from time to time, and should probably be in the FAQ (if it isn’t). Here is a link to the [original thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=202225). A poster made a wisecrack about 1920’s style death rays and inadvertantly triple-posted. From there the rest of the thread devolved into a train wreck and the phrase became part of SDMB folklore. That, & the fact that being a Charter Member gets you a 1920’s Style Death Ray as a promotional gift. I shall begin my Reign Of Terror directly. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1920s-style-death-ray/307355/5 "2005-06-07T21:51:14Z")
And the award for most gratuitous comical [reference](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=247475) to 1920’s S.D.R.s goes to **Mangetout**. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1920s-style-death-ray/307355/6 "2005-06-07T21:56:13Z")
I prefer the [1980’s Style “Death Ray”](http://dimacs.rutgers.edu/~graham/silly/kilmer.jpg) myself. ---
**Author:** ![Flander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Flander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flander)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1920s-style-death-ray/307355/7 "2005-06-07T22:26:13Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > I shall begin my Reign Of Terror directly. Blast you! ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1920s-style-death-ray/307355/8 "2005-06-07T22:30:18Z")
> [@Flander](#): > > Blast you! No-no-no. The traditional line is: “You’ll never get away with this, you Fiend!” ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1920s-style-death-ray/307355/9 "2005-06-07T22:32:41Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > That, & the fact that being a Charter Member gets you a 1920’s Style Death Ray as a promotional gift. I was deep-sea fishing, and accidentally dropped it into the “Challenger Deep” of the Marianas trench, the deepest trench in the world. Strangely, I only stopped to fish that spot for twenty minutes. :mad: Tripler It was back in 1960. ---
**Author:** ![parthenokinesis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/cc9497/32.png) [@parthenokinesis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/parthenokinesis)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1920s-style-death-ray/307355/10 "2005-06-08T01:08:55Z")
Ah, perhaps a list of other in jokes that could be explained. 1 “Rio” by Duran Duran 2 1960, for 20 minutes 3 Hi Opal! (did I get that right?) ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1920s-style-death-ray/307355/11 "2005-06-08T01:16:02Z")
> [@parthenokinesis](#): > > 1960, for 20 minutes Well, shit. . . Since I already know all three, I’ll be obliged to [link](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=283407) to the one I alluded to . . . Tripler But I’m only alluding to it for twenty minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1920s-style-death-ray/307355/12 "2005-06-08T01:16:21Z")
Best in-joke ever: “Under-wiener bra.” Good times. Good times. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1920s-style-death-ray/307355/13 "2005-06-08T01:18:48Z")
1. Fucko off. 2. My eyes! The goggles, they do nothing! 3. When come back, bring [_I forget what you’re supposed to bring_]. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1920s-style-death-ray/307355/14 "2005-06-08T01:23:18Z")
Pie. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1920s-style-death-ray/307355/15 "2005-06-08T01:23:56Z")
Ah yes…I remember now… **[PIE!!!](http://www.weebl.jolt.co.uk/pie.htm)** ---
**Author:** ![hawkeyejo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e19b73/32.png) [@hawkeyejo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawkeyejo)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1920s-style-death-ray/307355/16 "2005-06-08T01:53:31Z")
Damn, I remember that scalar weapons thread…and now I remember reading the whole death ray thing on it for the first time. But I thought it already was an ‘in joke’ by that time. Oh well, learn something new everyday. Now I have the laborious and unenviable task of going through all the other SDMB ‘in’ stuff you guys posted. Why, oh why do you do things like that :mad: .If my head explodes from it, all y’all are going to hell. What a bunch of nerds. ---
**Author:** ![hawkeyejo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e19b73/32.png) [@hawkeyejo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawkeyejo)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1920s-style-death-ray/307355/17 "2005-06-08T01:57:47Z")
> [@Inigo Montoya](#): > > And the award for most gratuitous comical [reference](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=247475) to 1920’s S.D.R.s goes to **Mangetout**. :smack: Good god, that really was frickin’ hilarious. I admit scalar devices do have their uses…at least on the SDMB ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1920s-style-death-ray/307355/18 "2005-06-08T02:15:27Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > That, & the fact that being a Charter Member gets you a 1920’s Style Death Ray as a promotional gift. Dammit, if I still had the 914 I could mount it on the passenger side. ---
**Author:** ![BoringDad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ad7895/32.png) [@BoringDad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoringDad)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1920s-style-death-ray/307355/19 "2005-06-08T04:32:51Z")
> [@hawkeyejo](#): > > Please, for the love of all that is young and beautiful, tell me what it means before I get zapped by one of those rays. The real danger is if you are looking in someone’s casket, they could zap you with a 1920’s death ray and it would look like their corpse was saying "[Gotcha ya!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=80870&highlight=gotcha) ---
**Author:** ![Dignan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@Dignan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dignan)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1920s-style-death-ray/307355/20 "2005-06-08T06:25:22Z")
The _Rio_ by Duran Duran joke is from a thread requesting help naming an 80’s song. Within the span of something like 3 minutes there were a bunch of responses with the same answer of _Rio_ by Duran Duran. The joke about goggles doing nothing is a Simpsons reference. Rainer Wolfcastle is in the Radioactive Man movie, and supposed to be wearing protective glasses. When a vat of acid is dumped in a scene, it is revealed that the goggles Wolfcastle is wearing, in fact, do nothing. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1920s-style-death-ray/307355.md?page=2)