# Letter to the Teacher **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 29, 2005, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-to-the-teacher/319089 "2005-08-29T13:21:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-to-the-teacher/319089/121 "2005-08-31T00:15:42Z")
> [@VunderBob](#): > > I’ve been sitting here fo an hour trying to figure out a way to work in the one about blowing a seal. Don’t be a cod, there’s nothing funny about that. Besides, it’s only ice cream. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-to-the-teacher/319089/122 "2005-08-31T00:25:20Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > Don’t be a cod, there’s nothing funny about that. Besides, it’s only ice cream. It was a fluke. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-to-the-teacher/319089/123 "2005-08-31T00:30:10Z")
**groan** STOP IT Everyone’s avoiding the MMP because of you nuts. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![ems](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@ems](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ems)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-to-the-teacher/319089/124 "2005-08-31T00:31:06Z")
Ah the great “WHAT THE HELL IS THAT AS IT IS MOST CERTAINLY NOT GRAVY” debate. Picture it a young (ish) and smart (stop laughing!) refined and delicate English lady (I am making myself laugh here as that really isn’t true!) arrives in the USA for a company mandated training class. At training centre there is a canteen for lunch aka a free for all. Imagine if you will 80 hungry oilfield workers who haven’t eaten in ooohhh a couple hours since snack time in the queue behind aformentioned English lady. Then observe the young smart etc etc etc English lady stop the entire lunch queue and ask the nice lunch lady: “WHAT THE HELL IS THAT AS IT IS MOST CERTAINLY NOT GRAVY?” And then the ‘gravy should be brown’ discussion starts holding up lunch for the 80 people behind me in the queue and providing entertainment for the 50 or so other diners already seated. That ladies & gentlemen was my introduction to southern cooking 3 years ago 😃 I am still not a huge country gravy fan but I lurves me some biscuits and gravy if hungover. Hushpuppies are indeed the food of the gods. ---
**Author:** ![ems](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@ems](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ems)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-to-the-teacher/319089/125 "2005-08-31T00:33:03Z")
**Bobbio** blew a seal \ Sorry I will disappear back to work now ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-to-the-teacher/319089/126 "2005-08-31T00:41:58Z")
> [@ems](#): > > And then the ‘gravy should be brown’ discussion starts holding up lunch for the 80 people behind me in the queue and providing entertainment for the 50 or so other diners already seated. We don’t have queues here; we have lines. Can’t afford queues as they’re too posh. ---
**Author:** ![gardentraveler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gardentraveler/32/3576_2.png) [@gardentraveler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gardentraveler)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-to-the-teacher/319089/127 "2005-08-31T01:37:07Z")
I was going to come in with a line about “at least it wasn’t a gasket” in response to the “blew a seal” part, but others have come in and ruined the timing. I am crushed. 😉 > [@swampy](#): > > I’ll admit that sausage gravy piled on a biscuit looks like the dog threw up on a biscuit… It is phenomena such as this that make me not so much a fan of Southern cooking. Fried chicken. Yum. Biscuits and/or hushpuppies. Yum. Mysterious gravy over fried not-quite-sure-what. Not so yum. I’m fonder of **Shibb’s** interpretation of Southern. Also of real Mexican food. Some Tex-Mex is OK, too. Sorry to hear about the job, **MagicEyes**. Feel free to tell us about it when you’re ready. I was in meetings from 8:30-3:30 pretty much without a pause. (OK - there was officially about 1/2 an hour when we got to pick out our lunches, but I’m not counting it as the kitchen is attached to the conference room.) So I’m not really all here right now. Off to bed. GT P.S. **Ashes** - I didn’t know there was a **right** side to a voodoo doll…hmmmm… ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-to-the-teacher/319089/128 "2005-08-31T02:14:12Z")
> [@Bumbazine](#): > > stick blender Those are one of those cool gadgets that I’ve always wanted, but don’t know what I’d use them for. [QUOTE=swampbear (except **donkey** who thinks he’s a bear, so we humor him) [/QUOTE] So where am I supposed to put myself in the gay subculture system? ---
**Author:** ![MagicEyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@MagicEyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MagicEyes)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-to-the-teacher/319089/129 "2005-08-31T02:16:22Z")
> [@gardentraveler](#): > > Sorry to hear about the job, **MagicEyes**. Feel free to tell us about it when you’re ready. Thanks. Long story short, it was out of the blue and a bit irrational. I’ve done really good work, and (almost) everyone I work with knows it, but because I haven’t gotten some minor things done right away and because I can’t read my boss’s mind and figure out what he wants me to do without him telling me, he thinks I’m not doing a good enough job. And then there’s a co-worker who I’m pretty sure has tried to make me look bad to the boss. But she’ll be the one suffering when I’m gone, because I do lots of things that no one else in the office knows how to do. And she’ll be stuck doing everything I used to do, only she won’t have a clue how to do it. Not looking forward to the staff meeting tomorrow. I should call in sick. I have a lot of sick time that I won’t get to use before the end of September. I have my laptop, so I’m back online, for now. My bottom RAM slot is bad, so now my RAM is in the top slot and it works okay there, but the whole RAM slot dealy has to be replaced, so I have to take it back when they get the parts. Good thing I don’t have to pay for it–it would cost almost $900, which is half what I paid for the computer in the first place. If it’s done the wrong way, white gravy is a lot like wallpaper paste. Maybe I should make some sausage gravy this weekend. I have some really good Mennonite sausage (it’s not made _from_ Mennonites, it’s made _by_ Mennonites, silly!). Or I could make some sausage balls. ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-to-the-teacher/319089/130 "2005-08-31T12:05:28Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > **Sean** , please look up the word “facetious” in the dictionary. Cuba is, after all, south of Florida. And most Cuban food comes directly from the Spanish food. South of Spain, for all I know. Not from the North of Spain. That’s where the finest silver is, for making lockets and such. Well, I couldn’t find “facetious”, but I did find “gullible”. Twice. You should look it up. ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-to-the-teacher/319089/131 "2005-08-31T12:08:40Z")
Oh, and I also looked up “irony.” It had as an example an English woman defining what gravy is to Southern folk. ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-to-the-teacher/319089/132 "2005-08-31T12:13:46Z")
**MagicEyes** I hope everything works out the best for you at your job, however you define best. Who knows, your fool of a boss may decide to act human today. I have sooooo much stuff to get done at work I don’t want to do any of it. If anybody comes in my office to whine at me today, I’m gonna start whining back. I think that’d be fun. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-to-the-teacher/319089/133 "2005-08-31T12:25:28Z")
Ya’ll are developing some wicked bad halibuts. 😉 Nice to be back in a t.v. studio that’s kept at about 62 degrees with brisque a.c. flowing all day to keep the heat down once the lights are up. NYC is covered by the tattered moist remnants of Katrina, and the sky looks positively angry. No more C&W concerts for me, I tell ya. Best seafood dinner **ever**? Around 1987, I’m shooting a documentary in Philly. Chico the gaffer has a hankering for seafood. I do a run down to the foot of Market Street to a fishmonger, Chico and most of the crew heads back to his house to put up pots to boil. Shrimp, mussels in garlic sauce… -sigh- we boiled, steamed, set to on newspapers spread all over the tables with tons of iced cold beer. A dinner without compare. I know this ain’t IMHO but this post puts me in mind to ask a poll-ish question. Of the meals you can remember that were truly amazing, were they in a restaurant or in your home, or someone else’s home? And, what was amazing about them? ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-to-the-teacher/319089/134 "2005-08-31T12:37:31Z")
> [@swampbear](#): > > **MagicEyes** I hope everything works out the best for you at your job, however you define best. Who knows, your fool of a boss may decide to act human today. > > I have sooooo much stuff to get done at work I don’t want to do any of it. If anybody comes in my office to whine at me today, I’m gonna start whining back. I think that’d be fun. You should put up a sign on your desk declaring your office a whine-free zone… ---
**Author:** ![MagicEyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@MagicEyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MagicEyes)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-to-the-teacher/319089/135 "2005-08-31T12:38:56Z")
> [@swampbear](#): > > **MagicEyes** I hope everything works out the best for you at your job, however you define best. Who knows, your fool of a boss may decide to act human today. I doubt he’ll come to his senses. He’s not a bad person, he’s just…a doctor. No offense to doctors, but they’re not always the most patient people. I have to take some time off to go to my great-aunt’s funeral. Wonder how that’s going to go over, with me having a ton of things to do and only a month left to get it all done. But they can’t say no, because I have comp time. > [@swampbear](#): > > I have sooooo much stuff to get done at work I don’t want to do any of it. If anybody comes in my office to whine at me today, I’m gonna start whining back. I think that’d be fun. I’d love to see that! Sounds like a fun day. My best seafood dinner ever was on Harkers Island, NC. It was kind of a potluck, but not exactly. Scallop fritters, fried fish, clam chowder, and a bunch of other stuff. I’m really picky about fish and seafood, but this was just perfect. They really know how to do seafood there. Probably got in their boats and caught it that morning. If you’re ever on the coast in North Carolina, go see the Waterfowl Museum on Harker’s Island and Cape Lookout National Seashore. While you’re in the area, swing by Beaufort and go for a cruise with Lookout Cruises. ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-to-the-teacher/319089/136 "2005-08-31T12:56:30Z")
> [@MagicEyes](#): > > No offense to doctors, but they’re not always the most patient people. But they are the people with the most patients. Hey, I missed the fish puns, so I got to do something. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-to-the-teacher/319089/137 "2005-08-31T13:05:38Z")
My best seafood dinner was at a trashy bar in Pascagoula MS. I don’t even remember the name of the place anymore… You ordered shrimp, and they’d bring you a turkey platter that was 50/50 boiled and fried shrimp. The tables had every type of hot sauce and horseradish known to man on them, and it all was washed down with beer by the pitcher. The second best (and it was darn close) was at a bar near **FCMom’s** house, but long before she ever got it to cast out the demons of ugly decoration. The place was at the very tip of land where the Potomac River met the Chesapeake Bay, and the place was well known to the Navy people at NAS Pax River. Another turkey platter type meal, but it had a little bit of everything except lobster on it. It was the first time this (former) Hoosier landlubber ever cracked crab, or even had oysters and clams in the shell. It’s been my experience that dive type bars have the best eats, no matter what the cuisine is. ---
**Author:** ![Exgineer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Exgineer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exgineer)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-to-the-teacher/319089/138 "2005-08-31T13:06:26Z")
Thanks for the \ **ems**. We’ve been sadly \less this week. > [@Anaamika](#): > > Everyone’s avoiding the MMP because of you nuts. 😛 I won’t say that bad puns in the MMP are the primary reason I took a break from the SDMB, because that would be a lie. But they’re on the list. ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-to-the-teacher/319089/139 "2005-08-31T13:13:45Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > NYC is covered by the tattered moist remnants of Katrina, and the sky looks positively angry. Only 30 miles or so west, and I’ve got a sunny sky. Which irks me, because I was hoping for tattered moist remnants. And maybe a power outage. Tattered moist remnants. \ ---
**Author:** ![Tupug\_Anachi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@Tupug\_Anachi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tupug_Anachi)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-to-the-teacher/319089/140 "2005-08-31T13:18:36Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > Ya’ll are developing some wicked bad halibuts. 😉 **toons** , nah, just…sea…horsing around is all. 😃 I can’t think of just one “best meal ever” but every choice one that comes to mind seems to involve home and family, good eats, some vino and conviviality. **magic** , that just sucks. But life’s too short to work for people who are asshats. Consider it a blessing and don’t let the screen door hit you on the bum on your way out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-to-the-teacher/319089.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-to-the-teacher/319089.md?page=8)