Yes, that was the original point, but I think what’s happening is that in addition to explaining the history and origin of in-jokes, is to give newbies an even broader historical understanding of the board, including the best (LOTR), most-noteworthy (ask the…), and possibly the infamous threads (pan fried s*****) of the board.
The staff could also include a commentary on these threads (“while some of the ‘ask the…’ were informative or fun, we don’t want to see this get out of hand, so don’t be surprised if frivolous ‘ask the…’ threads get closed”). It would be a way of avoiding repeating history you don’t want to be repeated.
Peace
My response to including the official doper brat pack as a historical institution of the board worthy of highlighting can only be expressed in the Pit.
I think I can explain two of them. Veteran dopers, help me out if I’m wrong.
“Hi, Opal!” originated when doper OpalCat got a tad irked at someone who made a list containing only two items, asserting that the minimum is three for a proper list. Thereafter, whenever someone had two points to make, two items to enumerate or two whatevers to whatever, they’d make a list of it and then write as the third element: “3. Hi, Opal!”
The Grapist was apparently someone whose entire purpose in life was to take someone’s post and repost it in purple font, along with the statement “You’ve been Graped by the Grapist!” He/she made a brief comeback just in the past couple months or so under a very similar name, but the graping was quickly extinguished and the Grapist banned anew.
“Hi, Opal” started when OpalCat made a post admonishing people that you need at least three items to make a list so people started putting 3. Hi, Opal! as the third entry on any list they made.
“Graped by the Grapist” is from a troll from about a year, year and a half ago, where he would quote someone’s post in the color purple and then post “This post has been graped by the Grapist!”. He only lasted an hour, at most, and didn’t grape many people (I’m one of the few. Go me.) but he stuck in the minds of everyone nonetheless.
“I burning your dog” was the title of a Pit OP, I think. I never opened it due to the horrible grammar but I assume it started much the same way “1920’s style death ray” did.
Nightwatch and Aesiron, my heroes Thank you, that clears up a lot for me - that “Hi, Opal!” really had me thrown.
Now, if the mysterious “band name” could be cleared up… unless it’s just one of those “everyone says it IRL” kind of things… I used to sit around having deep, philosophical talks with my friends (the kind you have fresh out of high school and/or college when you think you’ve learned everything worth knowing) and whenever someone would come up with an interesting combination of words, more often than not, someone would say “That would make a great band name!”
I assumed it came from the humor columnist Dave Barry’s penchant for parenthetical asides along the lines of “(And by the way, let me just mention that “Coalition of the Willing” would make a great name for a band).”
In Internal Urinary Alarm Clock (Sep 99), we have this quote “By the way, this thread title belongs in the “Best band names” thread in MPSIMS.” by Gilligan.
In Boring, Boring!!! (Nov 99), we have “The Felching Quips. Sounds like a pretty good band name to me. Either that or a death defying circus act.” by** Mullinator**. To which UncleBeer replies, "Been over to MPSIMS, Mull? I had the same thought about, “Mother Teresa’s Bones.”
In Hitler’s Silverware (Nov 99), we have “:::writes down “Hitler’s Silverware” in notebook under “Potential Band Names”:::” by pldennison.
In …Anus (Jan 00) {a lovely game thread in which the last word is made into… OK, it’s a stupid thread}, we have “The Maltese Anus, starring Humphrey Anus (now there’s a band name!)” by Rodd Hill.
In Create-a-Band (Jan 00) we have more fascination with odd band names, this time, created by the posters.
In Seven Deadly Sins (Feb 00) we have “::Jumping on the Lust Wagon:: Hmm, that sounds like a good band name…” by Demo.
Alphagene: “And anyone who has spent more that 3 nanoseconds reading GD knows that Libertarian looooves “peaceful honest people”.”
Doctor J: “But you’re ignoring the most important point–“Libertarian and the Peaceful Honest People” would be a great name for a band.”
Esprix: "DoctorJ, is every witty turn of phrase a good name for a band? "
The Ryan: “DoctorJ, [and the] witty turn of phrase … That sounds like a good band name.”
At this time, there are quite a few “hey, that sounds like a good band name” posts in a number of threads. This inspired this thread: Band Names (Jun 00) where horowitz posts: “I have heard mentioned in many threads lately, “Hey that would make a great band name.” So what do you think would make a clever or funny band name?”
But the first person to simply quote a snippet from another poster’s post and simply add “Band Name” was **tiggeril ** in Jack-ass Dean Tyler Nov (00) –
Just had an idea while waking up this morning. We could do an official SDMB song, to the tune of We Didn’t Start The Fire, and have each catchphrase linked to its original thread, post, or whatever. It could be written by several Dopers and compiled into a sticky by a mod.
I dunno about the Mods, cityboy916, but I like it enough to suggest a chorus.
Here’s where these phrases started!
Click the links provided to find these in-jokes cited.
Here’s where these phrases started!
Be a social climber! Read this Dope-board primer!
Thank you, that clears up a lot for me - that “Hi, Opal!” really had me thrown.