it’s the Creation vs. Evolution threads. They * never * stop. They don’t even slow down. The origin of humanity is the energizer bunny of debate topics.
It doesn’t * really * bother me of course, because I just don’t read 'em, but holy moly, what in god’s or Darwin’s name can there possibly be left to say?!?! Surely by now the total number of words devoted to this topic here on the SDMB has got to equal a very large book. Give it a rest. Just a little one. For maybe, a week? Okay, a day?
And people thought the election threads were excessive…at least with those, there was new information every day, not to mention an end in sight! Sheesh!
“Illegitimi non carborundum” doesn’t sound quite right, but I saw it described as mock-Latin so there’s probably no definitive version. I ran across some variant of this in The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, I’ll track down her exact turn of phrase.
That and gun control and “flirt with me, I’m hot!” threads.
I don’t go there anymore either. I just stopped in here to join the club, cast my vote, whatever, and to participate in the hijacking thusly:
I remember a DJ out of San Francisco in the late sixties - early seventies who signed off his program with the phrase
“Illegitimi non carborundum”, so it’s been common usage at least that long. When management made him stop using it, he explaned on the air that he thought it meant “Don’t let the bastards get you down.” for what that’s worth.
Incidentally, it’s quite valid, if slightly strained, Latin, depending on the gerundive of the rather rare verb carborare, “to wear away, to erode” (erodere, the word that gave rise to “erode” itself, means “to eat, to eat away, to gnaw” and is also the source for rodent). And, thanks to Carborundum brand abrasive and the corporation of the same name who makes it (like Band-Aid and Scotch tape, it’s a trademark that’s becoming the common name as well), it’s virtually self-translating.
Dearest Stoid, who has been known to start as many as 5 election threads in a single day,
The “don’t let those bastards grind you down” thing also shows up in The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. It is a MUST READ. You, I think, would love it.
After all the grief I was getting, i actually sat and counted one day. I think the total number of threads was around 120. I was responsible for 12, 10% of the total. I was, in fact, the leader. But I had several hot on my heels, with totals of 7, 8, 9.
I was in the grip of a once-in-a-lifetime obsession. I’m better now.
Unfortunately, it’s taking so long because the creationists are too stupid to realize they are wrong. And they think the same of us evolutionists. We have the weight of scientific and logical authority on our side. They have the weight of (their interpretation of) Biblical authority on theirs. But we all think that, if we just keep talking, the other side will see their folly and it will be all sunshine, lollipops, and roses.
Sorry, dropzone, but I’m pretty sure that lollipops are expressly forbidden in one of the Epistles. And if you want rainbows, well, rainbows lead inevitably to a debate about the Deluge. Roses are okay, though. We can have roses.
