# Dead baby needs its diaper changed

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-baby-needs-its-diaper-changed/9338>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 29, 2000, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-baby-needs-its-diaper-changed/9338 "2000-03-29T05:26:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Man\_from\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Man\_from\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_from_Mars)\
**Post date:** [March 29, 2000, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-baby-needs-its-diaper-changed/9338/1 "2000-03-29T05:26:00Z")

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I’m sure many of you are familiar with the snopes website. Many times, the writer inserts quotations of some sort into her name and one got my attention. She says “Dead babies (stories) can’t take care of themselves.” Would anyone know where this quote might have come from originally or what it might mean? It seems pretty obvious to me that dead babies, or living babies for that matter, can’t take care of themselves.

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**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\
**Post date:** [March 29, 2000, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-baby-needs-its-diaper-changed/9338/2 "2000-03-29T10:05:00Z")

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It looks like the writer makes up a quote as a play on words to do with the UL itself. If you include a link to the UL in which the quote in question is included it may help in clearing up the question.

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**Author:** ![EnigmaOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EnigmaOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EnigmaOne)\
**Post date:** [March 29, 2000, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-baby-needs-its-diaper-changed/9338/3 "2000-03-29T11:02:00Z")

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{{{“Dead babies (stories) can’t take care of themselves.” }}}—Tony

In one (the obvious) context this is a very depressing concept.

In the implied contxt, I’ll make a guess that it means that, stories (ULs) do not lay themselves to rest.

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– **Kalél**  
[TheHungerSite.com](http://www.thehungersite.com)  
_“If our lives are indeed the sum-total of the choices we’ve made, then we cannot change who we are; but with every new choice we’re given, we can change who we’re going to be.”_

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [March 29, 2000, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-baby-needs-its-diaper-changed/9338/4 "2000-03-29T14:04:00Z")

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I don’t know if it’s original to him, but that is a lyric from an Alice Cooper song, “Dead Babies.” I can’t remember which album, either “Killer” or “Billion Dollar Babies,” probably.