# OK, ZPG: Let's get a room. I'm paying. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 21, 2016, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-zpg-lets-get-a-room-im-paying/763557 "2016-08-21T20:37:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2016, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-zpg-lets-get-a-room-im-paying/763557/1 "2016-08-21T20:37:18Z")
In the [odd posters thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=799586), I described a [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=13365557) started by **ZPG Zealot** way back in 2011 (and subsequently closed) as “wall-to-wall comedy gold **ZPG** batshittery”. Which I still think is a fair description. However, I understand that **ZPG Zealot** might disagree with my assessment of said thread, and she appeared in the odd posters thread to defend herself. That is fair and understandable, since I was saying things about her behind her back, which I wish I hadn’t done. I really just wanted to share something that I found funny and entertaining. Still: Bad form on my part, and I should have known better. Even so: It derailed the odd posters thread, causing the OP of that thread to intervene, which is another problem. I now feel bad for creating a situation where I talked about \*\*ZPG \*\*behind her back, but then she got slapped for defending herself. That is not fair. Therefore: Let’s take that derail here, where we can mud wrestle more freely. I’ll state my position again: I just thought the thread I linked to was hilarious. That’s basically what I have so far on the subject. Whether this thread is really needed, I’m not sure. But if **ZPG Zealot** or anyone else wants to call me a poopy-head about this, it seems fair to me that they should have somewhere to do it. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2016, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-zpg-lets-get-a-room-im-paying/763557/2 "2016-08-21T20:59:31Z")
If you sincerely feel bad, you could just, ya know, _apologize_. **ZPG** has already been raked over the coals and deservedly so. I see no reason to do the same with another Pit thread. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2016, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-zpg-lets-get-a-room-im-paying/763557/3 "2016-08-21T21:09:33Z")
Yeah, fair enough. **ZPG** , I apologize. Mods, feel free to close thread. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_great_unwashed/32/4791_2.png) [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2016, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-zpg-lets-get-a-room-im-paying/763557/4 "2016-08-21T22:04:01Z")
I don’t think Martian B started this thread so that ZPG could be further humiliated, I think it’s simply that he has a thing for her (and I’ll shake her hand for the dignified way she has conducted herself since this became apparent). ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2016, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-zpg-lets-get-a-room-im-paying/763557/5 "2016-08-21T22:48:43Z")
Yeah, if you were trying to downplay your feelings about **ZPG** , you might have chosen a different title for your OP. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2016, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-zpg-lets-get-a-room-im-paying/763557/6 "2016-08-21T23:38:30Z")
> [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](#): > > I don’t think Martian B started this thread so that ZPG could be further humiliated, I think it’s simply that he has a thing for her (and I’ll **shake her hand** for the dignified way she has conducted herself since this became apparent). (bolding mine) If I’m remembering correctly, not an offer likely to be gladly accepted. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2016, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-zpg-lets-get-a-room-im-paying/763557/7 "2016-08-21T23:46:07Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > (bolding mine) If I’m remembering correctly, not an offer likely to be gladly accepted. Buy her dinner and drinks first. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-zpg-lets-get-a-room-im-paying/763557/8 "2016-08-22T00:16:18Z")
Wouldnt ZPGZealot, a self-admitted fortune teller, have to take the hand of her client?? :sherlock: :plagerize: ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-zpg-lets-get-a-room-im-paying/763557/9 "2016-08-22T00:37:42Z")
OK, partly based on some observations I saw someone else make elsewhere, here’s what I think is going on: \*\*ZPG \*\*is not crazy, and she’s not a troll. She’s entirely normal. She simply lives in an alternate reality. This is a world which is like ours in most respects, except that, in her universe, some aspects of modern Western society resemble a Gothic fantasy version of the medieval Balkans. Honor killings of women with loose reputations, arcane wedding customs, belief in vampires, werewolves and fortune tellers, etc… for her, these things are not marginal or restricted to a small minority. Instead, they are perfectly commonplace in her version of the modern day US. Therefore, she is as confused by our social customs as we are by hers. She must think we’re all weirdos with no sense of propriety. Someone suggested that she just \*thinks \*that she lives in such a world, but I think a much more likely scenario is that she actually does, and we’re communicating with her through an interdimensional portal, which has opened up somewhere on the intertubes. Neither side knows about the portal or the existence of the other universe, hence all these misunderstandings. If you read her posting history with this in mind, it all seems much more consistent, coherent, sensical and non-crazy. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-zpg-lets-get-a-room-im-paying/763557/10 "2016-08-22T02:55:16Z")
And, in this thread, we have the fortune of witnessing the _Rectus doperus_ and their bizarre mating rituals. See how the male mocks the female in an attempt to get her to respond, after his previous offer met with silence. Will she respond, or remain forever elusive? ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-zpg-lets-get-a-room-im-paying/763557/11 "2016-08-22T03:07:52Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > OK, partly based on some observations I saw someone else make elsewhere, here’s what I think is going on: > > \*\*ZPG \*\*is not crazy, and she’s not a troll. She’s entirely normal. She simply lives in an alternate reality. This is a world which is like ours in most respects, except that, in her universe, some aspects of modern Western society resemble a Gothic fantasy version of the medieval Balkans. Honor killings of women with loose reputations, arcane wedding customs, belief in vampires, werewolves and fortune tellers, etc… for her, these things are not marginal or restricted to a small minority. Instead, they are perfectly commonplace in her version of the modern day US. Therefore, she is as confused by our social customs as we are by hers. She must think we’re all weirdos with no sense of propriety. > > Someone suggested that she just \*thinks \*that she lives in such a world, but I think a much more likely scenario is that she actually does, and we’re communicating with her through an interdimensional portal, which has opened up somewhere on the intertubes. Neither side knows about the portal or the existence of the other universe, hence all these misunderstandings. > > If you read her posting history with this in mind, it all seems much more consistent, coherent, sensical and non-crazy. Well either that or she’s cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs fucking insane, and not a very nice person. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-zpg-lets-get-a-room-im-paying/763557/12 "2016-08-22T03:52:59Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > \*\*ZPG \*\*is not crazy, and she’s not a troll. She’s entirely normal. She simply lives in an alternate reality. This is a world which is like ours in most respects, except that, in her universe, some aspects of modern Western society resemble a Gothic fantasy version of the medieval Balkans. Honor killings of women with loose reputations, arcane wedding customs, belief in vampires, werewolves and fortune tellers, etc… for her, these things are not marginal or restricted to a small minority. Instead, they are perfectly commonplace in her version of the modern day US. Therefore, she is as confused by our social customs as we are by hers. She must think we’re all weirdos with no sense of propriety. How about this. She’s a traditionalist Roma, which is to say, she’s a member of a society that does have honor killings, restricts physical contact between the sexes, has wedding customs that non-Roma consider strange and arcane, has fortune telling as a traditional feminine occupation, and has werewolf and vampire mythologies. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-zpg-lets-get-a-room-im-paying/763557/13 "2016-08-22T04:18:32Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > How about this. She’s a traditionalist Roma, which is to say, she’s a member of a society that does have honor killings, restricts physical contact between the sexes, has wedding customs that non-Roma consider strange and arcane, has fortune telling as a traditional feminine occupation, and has werewolf and vampire mythologies. You’re just repeating what he said. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-zpg-lets-get-a-room-im-paying/763557/14 "2016-08-22T06:34:05Z")
The problem isn’t that she’s a traditionalist Roma. That’s cool - whatever rocks her boat. The problem is that she expects everyone else to act like traditionalist Roma, too, and acts shocked when they don’t. In other words, as far as she’s concerned, the way she does things isn’t just they way she does things, it’s the \*right \*way to do things, and any other way is wrong. She demands tolerance of other people while showing absolutely none of her own. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-zpg-lets-get-a-room-im-paying/763557/15 "2016-08-22T06:53:24Z")
I’m not sure she’s even typically Rom. A long-standing poster, **Kal** , who is of a Roma heritage, has also expressed WTF attitudes towards her more outlandish proclamations. 😃 ZPG is the weird old relative that pops up in many families…strange notions but harmless. The relative that pops up into your life occasionally, but is not in your face every day, otherwise you’d have them committed. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-zpg-lets-get-a-room-im-paying/763557/16 "2016-08-22T06:55:35Z")
Where is any corroboration that ZPG beliefs=Roma beliefs? ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-zpg-lets-get-a-room-im-paying/763557/17 "2016-08-22T06:57:56Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > And, in this thread, we have the fortune of witnessing the _Rectus doperus_ and their bizarre mating rituals. See how the male mocks the female in an attempt to get her to respond, after his previous offer met with silence. Will she respond, or remain forever elusive? Instead they have netted the BiggusTardus…run away before he lectures again!! ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-zpg-lets-get-a-room-im-paying/763557/18 "2016-08-22T10:40:47Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > OK, partly based on some observations I saw someone else make elsewhere, here’s what I think is going on: > > \*\*ZPG \*\*is not crazy, and she’s not a troll. She’s entirely normal. She simply lives in an alternate reality. This is a world which is like ours in most respects, except that, in her universe, some aspects of modern Western society resemble a Gothic fantasy version of the medieval Balkans. It all makes so much sense now. Going forward I’ll read all her posts as though they’re written by a minor NPC from [Ravenloft](http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/news/return-ravenloft). ---
**Author:** ![Zeke\_N.Destroi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/4af34b/32.png) [@Zeke\_N.Destroi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeke_N.Destroi)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-zpg-lets-get-a-room-im-paying/763557/19 "2016-08-22T11:28:45Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > … I was saying things about her behind her back, which I wish I hadn’t done… Bad form on my part, and I should have known better. > > …I now feel bad for creating a situation where I talked about \*\*ZPG \*\*behind her back, but then she got slapped for defending herself. That is not fair. Good on you for recognizing your part in the Straight Dope bully culture and owning up to it. > [@](#): > > Therefore: Let’s take that derail here, where we can mud wrestle more freely. :smack: > [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](#): > > I don’t think Martian B started this thread so that ZPG could be further humiliated, I think it’s simply that he has a thing for her (and I’ll shake her hand for the dignified way she has conducted herself since this became apparent). And now the bullying begins. > [@zoid](#): > > Well either that or she’s cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs fucking insane, and not a very nice person. And continues. > [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > How about this. She’s a traditionalist Roma, which is to say, she’s a member of a society that does have honor killings, restricts physical contact between the sexes, has wedding customs that non-Roma consider strange and arcane, has fortune telling as a traditional feminine occupation, and has werewolf and vampire mythologies. Good one and well said. > [@Rigamarole](#): > > You’re just repeating what he said. Yeah, without the alternate reality different dimension shit it is entirely the same in tone and content. > [@Alessan](#): > > The problem isn’t that she’s a traditionalist Roma. That’s cool - whatever rocks her boat. The problem is that she expects everyone else to act like traditionalist Roma, too, and acts shocked when they don’t. In other words, as far as she’s concerned, the way she does things isn’t just they way she does things, it’s the \*right \*way to do things, and any other way is wrong. She demands tolerance of other people while showing absolutely none of her own. Who exactly doesn’t think that the world should conform to their version of right and wrong? “She demands tolerance of other people while showing absolutely none of her own” that’s pretty much the standard for most people and is the ruling idea on this board. > [@madsircool](#): > > Instead they have netted the BiggusTardus…run away before he lectures again!! Holy fuck the hypocrisy of this board. You do realize that 'tard is short for retard which is a slur against mentally handicapped people right? You get that calling him a retard because you dislike him demeans retards right? I guess it’s okay because it isn’t Big Fag - because slamming the mentally challenged is somehow more acceptable than slamming homosexuals (neither one of them is acceptable.) How is it that nigger and fag are beating offenses around here but retard (and its variants) gets a pass? There is a bully culture entrenched here that is made more reprehensible by the inherent hypocrisy. Pretty much everyone on this board would break bones leaping over each other to decry bullying - except when they have a chance to take part in it. Fuck sake ---
**Author:** ![Paranoid\_Randroid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paranoid_randroid/32/18_2.png) [@Paranoid\_Randroid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paranoid_Randroid)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-zpg-lets-get-a-room-im-paying/763557/20 "2016-08-22T12:11:46Z")
> [@Zeke\_N.Destroi](#): > > Who exactly doesn’t think that the world should conform to their version of right and wrong? This is asinine. If you have a highly idiosyncratic view of right and wrong, disagreed with strongly by pretty much anyone you come into contact (outside perhaps your own circle of family and friends), it behooves you to recognize that you’re pissing against the wind. I’m not going to tell her she’s wrong for not wanting to shake my hand; I’m also not about to react with tolerance to being called a rapist for offering it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-zpg-lets-get-a-room-im-paying/763557.md?page=2)