Dex: Please consider adding “RO” (new Pit term that I understand, but can’t remember what it stands for) to the glossary of Dope terms.
TIA.
Recreational Outrage
Can you give me an example of usage?
Thanks for the links, guys – I forgot to check back in on this thread last night.
Yes, that’s the discussion that started it – and people have started putting (“RO”) notations in the titles of Pit threads.
As far as a definition goes, I think it would be when someone appears to be going considerably of their way to discover new things to get upset and complain about. Mary Whitehouse is the Patron Saint of Recreational Outrage.
I think it’s a marvelously insightful term, especially when you hear of people “getting exercised” over some issue or topic and deriving all sorts of physical release from blowing their stack over some relatively trivial occurrence. It takes the notion of “Wolf, wolf!” to another level so that when those who indulge in RO actually care about something that matters, their protestations and harangues are merely boring repeats of childish overacting.
But it does save having to go outside to get one’s exercise for the day.
I agree, it’s a great term, very evocative.
But since people are now abbreviating it as “RO” in thread titles, I think it might be helpful to add it to the glossary. I spent a few wtf moments skimming the Pit, which I visit regularly but not all that frequently.
I’m torn in two directions over the basic issue: using acronyms. They can be quite time-saving and useful when they’re commonly known. They can save breath and can make puffed-up sounding things sound less so. In fact, I get the strong impression that some acronyms are retro-fitted in that the letters came before the words did. Many foundations are like that: take some neat word and make an acronym out of it. CORE and MADD come to mind.
But there’s little as annoying as deliberately using acronyms when the meanings aren’t common currency. Have you seen the cell phone commercial where the mother is trying to communicate with the little girl whose every utterance is some chat room or email acronym? (It’s one of those commercials where I would never consider using their product because of the offensiveness of the commercial.)
It reminds me of a sales type where I worked who got all tense about computer related acronyms and how he insisted that things like DOS and CPU and ROM be spelled out so he could “feel more comfortable” with them. He would then turn right around and start talking about the ROI he was getting out of some POE problems he was having with the PTB in the UAE.
I would politely tell the MF to KMA and GTH.
LOL!
Gut the hamster?
Grab the hoodie?
Goad the hostage?
Hmmm.
Clue: GT = Go To
Alright, so my tentative definition would be:
RO [“Recreational Outrage”] describes when a person gets all worked up (outraged) over some moral or ethical issue and derives satisfaction (recreation) from expressing that outrage. Usually, the inciting occurrence is either trivial or completely irrelevant to the person and his/her own life.
Comments? Suggestions?
It could be amusing to link to some examples. Along the lines of “in the dictionary as a definition of ______, you’ll see his/her picture…”
Another element in the RO cases I have observed is the over-the-top nature of the indignation. When done well, it’s great self-parody. When not so cleverly stated it’s just embarrassing. Both types are fun to read.
Houston?
Hackensack or Honolulu. Definitely not Houston. They have problems there.
OMG! It’s NBD! Just CTFOA! 
sorry, i couldn’t resist
Left Turn!
For whatever reason, I’m just not able to put my thoughts into words on this subject. I see some relation to the question about threadshitting and what that is.
One posters RO is another’s threadshitting. (Claiming that a thread is nothing more than RO indicates that it’s not worth posting about and unworthy of disucussion.) What, exactly is the problem with RO?
I get really pissed when I see drivers use their turn signals when they are in the middle of a turn. WTF! The turn signal is used to indicate to other drivers what you’re going to do, analstain! It is not to communicate to yourself what you are already doing, drippydrawers.
It’s cathartic for me, and if other posters want to play along, yay!
If they don’t, they can either go somewhere else and play with their superlative intellect, or they can make their own RO post and threadshit all over my RO. It’s all so spectacularly reflexive I could pee on my feet!
Oh, and your definition looks good Dex. It gives the general feel of the thing.
Works for me.
I refused to ask what CTFOA was all about so I did me some searching and found all sorts of wonderful possibilites. Don’t you just love it when your acronym of choice can be interpreted several different ways, all the way from highly positive to highly negative?
In that spirit, what are some alternatives for the RO in question?
RO = recently old
RO = relatively obsolete
RO = randy orangutan
RO = rotten outside
RO = rudely obsequious