Squink ~laughter~ my mistake, prolly my second thread then
(the Dope is working very slow for me right now and I’ve had a post history query going for the last five minutes so I can’t see my post history.)
I’m actually kinda ashamed of the thread I refrenced… based on an innacurate news story that I didn’t follow up/research and then I reacted very defensively when I was called a coward over not wanting folks to be drafted…
And, simply because I’ve really liked your username since I first saw it, I can’t resist…
That’s an old urban legend. It stems from the traditional practice of tuning a bagpipe by skinning a live cat, and comparing pitches. Of course, nowadays they do all the bagpipe tuning by computer.
Actually, it’s newly minted. Stems from the observation that the Repblican spokesthing in the thread’s OP has the same name as the actor who played the villain in Psycho.
Puts me in mind of the hypothesis that language didn’t evolve for communication, but instead as a way of quickly identifying which tribe you belonged to.
If you know the SDMB lingo, you’re a member of the tribe.
I tend to think it works in the opposite direction: people recognize a distinct group they want to be a part of, and try to integrate with it by copying what they perceive to be distinct about it. This can include anything from a guiding philosophy, to a style of dress, to a clever catchphrase.
Alright, then let me ask you this: when you’re hanging out with friends, and you make a joke that refers to something that happened years ago, that only people who are your close friends would know about. Are you doing it to be exclusionary? Is it “tribal identification,” or is it just folks having a good time?
First, I said it was a hypothesis, not a theory. It’s a model, and I’m not getting 100 percent behind it.
Second, the point isn’t to be exclusionary, but it ends up being a very quick way to identify someone.
Think about it, if you’re British and you talk to someone who doesn’t have the same accent, you know immediately and without any need for analysis that they’re not from the same place you are. (yes, I realize that not all brits have the same accent, but you get the idea)
Same thing with a group of friends.
If your buddy says “Oh, but at least it’s not ** soy sauce**” you might laugh over it, but would someone new to your group of friends get it? It isn’t meant to serve as a marker for who ‘gets it’ and who doesn’t, but it sure as heck can work out that way without much difficulty.
But isn’t it meant as a marker, really? …ominous chord… Because even within groups there are pecking orders and doesn’t an ‘old in-joke’ establish affiliation seniority “Mwah-ha-ha, well clearly I have been part of the group longer than you, because we go waaaaay back. Ergo, I have tribal seniority! Now gimme the kitten knife.”
Meh, I’m talking out of my ass, but I’m just podering the hypothesis out loud and looking at related implications.
Is soy sauce ‘just having a good time’?.. Tune in next week when Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom follows a tribe of Dopers across the Boards.