"have you ever met any normal people? I never have. The so-called normal man is a figment of the imagination; every member of the human race, from Jojo the cave man right down to that final culmination of civilisation, namely me, has been as eccentric as a pet coon – once you caught him with his mask off.”
Robert Heinlein, in The Rolling Stones.
Indeed, but have you ever seen a coon with his mask off?
Who was that hairy little guy? I wanted to thank him.
Do you mean the coon or Fat Freddy? Or maybe his cat?
“Normal is just a setting on the washing machine.”
(I find it helpful to substitute the word “typical” with the word “normal” when it is being applied to human behavior).
Sometimes, petting sweaty things can be very rewarding.
I remember seeing this one in print, back in the day! Are the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers available online somewhere?
Raccoon, unmasked:
https://www.cmnh.org/CMNH/media/CMNH_Media/Photo%20Galleries/Meeko/Meeko-Bucket-682x491.jpg
Yes, that’s a raccoon.
Google turns up a lot of hits. I haven’t looked at them to see what’s actually there, except this one seems to have some stuff: (Scroll down a bit to see a list of individual issues. I think you can click on those to see some (all?) of the pages.)
Wow, I never even knew the FFF Brothers seies went on so long, or I wouldn’t have asked.
Thanks for the link!
You either have to be good, or good at it. Or both.
That is so cool!
Mine are all pretty much military related:
“Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor. . . [well] it’s not over now. 'Cause when the going gets tough. . . the tough get going!” – John Blutarski, Animal House
“Don’t bring a knife to a gunfight.” – I heard it somewhere before.
“It’s not all that bad. . . nobody’s shooting at me. . .” – Me, to a co-worker bringing me bad news.
“It ain’t nuthin’ but to do it. . .” – Me, at another coworker in the midst of a whiny meltdown about how much paperwork we were going to have to do.
Tripler
Just my own few.
It is better to say nothing and be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt.
A good one! To be said when confronted by life’s 1st-World problems.
Similar to that, when I and a friend are at the top of a steep and formidable-looking ski run, or when I am about to start climbing a long hill on my bike:
“Go on! It’s not like it’s going away!”.
“I was just following orders”
Signed: Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane, with dishonourable mention to everyone convicted at Nuremburg
That’s exactly what I’m conveying when I throw that phrase out into the world. I’m retired military, working in a world of academic-PhDs, a two or three of which are ‘prima donna’ level egos. They tend to get their knickers in a twist at times, and tend to forget that First World problems are often self-manufactured and/or easily overcome/ignored.
Sometimes, my PHD outranks/outperforms theirs.
Tripler
Public High Diploma.
I heard a different version of what @Tripler said. In reference to some less-than-thrilling way to pass the time in a small town: “It ain’t nothin’ but somethin’ to do.”
This was in a place where they’d sit on the porch to wait for the UPS man to finish his run, so they could hear him go through all 13 gears on the way out of town.
Very true. As someone once told me, if you just turn up on time and do an average - or even less than average - job, you become reliable and managers like reliable people. (trhat doesn’t mean you will progress far, but someppeople don;t want that).
My dad loved them, and I grew up with them. The most prominent I remember hearing as a little girl and accepting as Gospel:
“Never look a gift horse in the mouth.”
“One man’s meat is another man’s poison.”
“You can’t have your cake and eat it too.”
“It could always be worse.”
“Hard work keeps you out of trouble.”