# A slap in the face to the whole SDMB **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 22, 2002, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-slap-in-the-face-to-the-whole-sdmb/120264 "2002-07-22T19:59:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-slap-in-the-face-to-the-whole-sdmb/120264/1 "2002-07-22T19:59:14Z")
OK, “friend”, so you are unable to engage in small talk as it is beneath you and is so very meaningless; sample conversation: gigi: hey, “friend”, how are you? “friend”: I’m not sure how to answer that; what do people really mean when they say “how are you?” you embrace the “life is suffering” idea so hard that anyone with running water and electricity is a complete sellout and materialistic whore; you despise all television\* and are patronizingly vocal about it; But the last straw came the other night as we were settling down to read “Richard III”. Upon reading the first line, I was amused at remembering “The Winter of Our Discount Tent”, one of those all-time great thread titles. I related the tidbit and this is what you say?!: “Well, probably no one there got it, right?” You’re right, because it’s an Internet message board everyone is a slack-jawed yokel who barely understands crap. They’ve evidently never read a book or for that matter left their parents’ basement or their bathrobe for years. You really need to think before speaking; just because you thought of it doesn’t mean it might not deserve a little careful editing. Get off it, already. –gigi, who is accepting appropriate torture ideas \*just a note to say that I don’t watch TV either but I am glad for folks who do enjoy it ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-slap-in-the-face-to-the-whole-sdmb/120264/2 "2002-07-22T20:10:39Z")
And you associate with this creature for what specific purpose? ---
**Author:** ![Kamandi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5daacb/32.png) [@Kamandi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamandi)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-slap-in-the-face-to-the-whole-sdmb/120264/3 "2002-07-22T20:25:29Z")
He reads books made on a printing press rather than papyrus scrolls? What a materialistic whore. ---
**Author:** ![pesch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pesch/32/4925_2.png) [@pesch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pesch)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-slap-in-the-face-to-the-whole-sdmb/120264/4 "2002-07-22T20:27:28Z")
I would guess for the amusement, since that’s a total twit. I was like that once (hums “I used to be disgusted, but now I try to be amused”). 🆒 Anyway, compulsive bitterness is sooooo '90s. Torture idea: stay amusingly cheerful around this person. (Think “Ned Flanders”). Be optimistic. See the glass as half-full, and today as the first day of the rest of your life. And do it, no matter what they say. Drives them bat-shit. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![pldennison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@pldennison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pldennison)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-slap-in-the-face-to-the-whole-sdmb/120264/5 "2002-07-22T20:30:27Z")
pesche, just watch out for those red shoes of yours. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-slap-in-the-face-to-the-whole-sdmb/120264/6 "2002-07-22T20:34:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kamandi \* > \*\*He reads books made on a printing press rather than papyrus scrolls? > > What a materialistic whore. \*\* To be fair, he probably found his Shakespeare volume, as well as our Christmas presents, at the dump. Ned Flanders, eh? ::Schemingly rubs fingers together:: And **Tom** , I am honored by your visit, sir. ---
**Author:** ![Sparc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Sparc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparc)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-slap-in-the-face-to-the-whole-sdmb/120264/7 "2002-07-22T20:34:20Z")
[quote] “The Winter of Our Discount Tent”[/qote]So… what was so funny about this??? ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_The\_Diver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Buck\_The\_Diver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_The_Diver)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-slap-in-the-face-to-the-whole-sdmb/120264/8 "2002-07-22T20:44:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gigi \* > \*\* > \*just a note to say that I don’t watch TV either but I am glad for folks who do enjoy it \*\* No _Discovery Channel_? No _TLC_? No _National Geogaphic Channel_? No _GASP_ _Cartoon Network_? :eek: As for your friend, just pick out three random threads in GD and show them to him/her. I’m willing to bet that’ll change their opinion of we lowly Internet message board dwellers. ---
**Author:** ![Amok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f17d59/32.png) [@Amok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amok)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-slap-in-the-face-to-the-whole-sdmb/120264/9 "2002-07-22T20:49:34Z")
It’s a literary allusion, a pun on the opening line of Shakespeare’s _Richard III_, **Sparc**. > [@](#): > > _Act I Scene I_ > GLOSTER. > **Now is the winter of our discontent** > Made glorious summer by this sun of York; > And all the clouds that lour’d upon our house > In the deep bosom of the ocean buried. > Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths; > Our bruised arms hung up for monuments; > Our stern alarums chang’d to merry meetings, > Our dreadful marches to delightful measures. ---
**Author:** ![Kamandi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5daacb/32.png) [@Kamandi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamandi)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-slap-in-the-face-to-the-whole-sdmb/120264/10 "2002-07-22T20:52:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gigi \* > **To be fair, he probably found his Shakespeare volume, as well as our Christmas presents, at the dump.** Oooh. What a charmer. I completely understand why you’d want to keep him as one of your bestest buddies. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-slap-in-the-face-to-the-whole-sdmb/120264/11 "2002-07-22T21:03:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Buck The Diver \* > \*\*As for your friend, just pick out three random threads in GD and show them to him/her. I’m willing to bet that’ll change their opinion of we lowly Internet message board dwellers. \*\* Damn straight, but then he’d know about this place and might post. He’s one of those “Sure it isn’t spelled right and the grammar is sketchy, but you know what I meant” people. :eek: He does have some good qualities, just give me a minute… Oh, I know, he teaches me how to think before I speak and respect others’ opinions. ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-slap-in-the-face-to-the-whole-sdmb/120264/12 "2002-07-22T21:08:47Z")
And here I thought it was the Winter of our Missed Content. ---
**Author:** ![Sparc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Sparc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparc)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-slap-in-the-face-to-the-whole-sdmb/120264/13 "2002-07-22T21:10:48Z")
Amok, > [@](#): > > As You Like It > Act II Scene VI > > \*Jaques. \* > […]O, that I were a fool ! > I am ambitious for a motley coat. > […] > It is my only suit; > Provided that you weed your better judgments > Of all opinion that grows rank in them > That I am wise. I must have liberty > Withal, as large a charter as the wind, > To blow on whom I please; for so fools have: > And they that are most galled with my folly, > They most must laugh. And why, sir, must they so? > The ‘why’ is plain as way to parish church: > He that a fool doth very wisely hit > Doth very foolishly, although he smart, > Not to seem senseless of the bob; if not, > The wise man’s folly is anatomiz’d > Even by the squandering glances of the fool. > Invest me in my motley; give me leave > To speak my mind, and I will through and through > Cleanse the foul body of th’ infected world, > If they will patiently receive my medicine. ---
**Author:** ![scott\_evil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@scott\_evil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scott_evil)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-slap-in-the-face-to-the-whole-sdmb/120264/14 "2002-07-22T21:17:14Z")
The winter of our disco tent: Outdoor rave in January. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-slap-in-the-face-to-the-whole-sdmb/120264/15 "2002-07-22T21:19:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gigi \* > \*\*He does have some good qualities, just give me a minute… Oh, I know, he teaches me how to think before I speak and respect others’ opinions. \*\* By providing an example of what not to do? (You _were_ being sarcastic there, right?) ---
**Author:** ![Abe\_Babe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3ab097/32.png) [@Abe\_Babe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abe_Babe)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-slap-in-the-face-to-the-whole-sdmb/120264/16 "2002-07-22T21:48:48Z")
And for those unable to divine the future. . . “The winter of our missed portet” ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-slap-in-the-face-to-the-whole-sdmb/120264/17 "2002-07-22T21:50:05Z")
> [@](#): > > “Well, probably no one there got it, right?” > > You’re right, because it’s an Internet message board everyone is a slack-jawed yokel who barely understands crap. They’ve evidently never read a book or for that matter left their parents’ basement or their bathrobe for years. Well, there _are_ more than a few places on the Internet like that. In all fairness, how was s/he to know that most posters here _would_ be able to ID it as Shakespeare? (Though I certainly wouldn’t have been able to tell you what play it was from before **Amok** refreshed my memory. :)) ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-slap-in-the-face-to-the-whole-sdmb/120264/18 "2002-07-22T23:20:28Z")
And to be honest, while I value intellectual stimulation as much as the next person, since when does a person’s or community’s worth hinge on being able to quote or recognise Shakespeare? That’s the part that really gets my goat. I myself have neither read nor seen Richard III, but did know it was a Shakespeare reference of some kind. Do I get half-points for that? Maybe I can be in the “junior malcontent league” until I rack up enough random knowledge to be truly wise. ---
**Author:** ![taggert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/96bed5/32.png) [@taggert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/taggert)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-slap-in-the-face-to-the-whole-sdmb/120264/19 "2002-07-23T00:02:08Z")
Userchouster: “Now is the winter of our disconnect.” Hamster: “I grow weary and must rest. A pellet, a pellet, or your original post.” ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-slap-in-the-face-to-the-whole-sdmb/120264/20 "2002-07-23T00:07:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gigi \* > \*\* > > you despise all television\* and are patronizingly vocal about it; > > But the last straw came the other night as we were settling down to read “Richard III”. Upon reading the first line, I was amused at remembering “The Winter of Our Discount Tent”, one of those all-time great thread titles. I related the tidbit and this is what you say?!: “Well, probably no one there got it, right?”\*\* Ironically enough, this same joke was the name of a regular skit on The Red Green show, which is hardly a bastion intellectual humour. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-slap-in-the-face-to-the-whole-sdmb/120264.md?page=2)