# RTA, you lying sack of shit. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 22, 2001, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rta-you-lying-sack-of-shit/66212 "2001-05-22T20:50:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2001, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rta-you-lying-sack-of-shit/66212/21 "2001-05-23T12:40:30Z")
OK, Eludicator. I was smply making a correction, and I did say that I could be wrong. Tell you what. Try and come up with something better than “putz”, and I might ignore the fact that you are completely devoid of logical thought. > [@](#): > > I was a frustated virgin once myself. Of course, I was fifteen At least Manny can lose his virginity\*, you unfortunately will never lose your idiocy. \*I assume that he already has, but for the sake of continuity, I’ll go with your pathetic school of brainfart thinking. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2001, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rta-you-lying-sack-of-shit/66212/22 "2001-05-23T13:18:51Z")
That’s right! You _were_ wrong! **Twice!** Howzabout “bongwater for brains?” Better? “I remember the first time I had sex. Pretty scary. It was dark, I was all alone…” Rodney Dangerfield “Its not his ignorance that frightens, its all the things he knows for certain that just ain’t so” Mark Twain ---
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2001, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rta-you-lying-sack-of-shit/66212/23 "2001-05-23T13:45:01Z")
about up to your level. :rolleyes: How about trying to say something yourself, instead of trying to appear all well read and smart by quoting meaningless quotes. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2001, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rta-you-lying-sack-of-shit/66212/24 "2001-05-23T14:20:30Z")
An improvement, but you’re still confusing petulance with invective. Oh, by the by, Goethe was German. Not Dutch. Three for three. ---
**Author:** ![CnoteChris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/278dde/32.png) [@CnoteChris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CnoteChris)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2001, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rta-you-lying-sack-of-shit/66212/25 "2001-05-23T14:30:34Z")
Do you _think_ we could fit anymore jackasses in this thread? Oh, wait. I just ripped on myself… ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2001, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rta-you-lying-sack-of-shit/66212/26 "2001-05-23T15:20:32Z")
I guess no one heard me through all the mutual masturbation. . . Did RTA ever demonstrate that drilling will harm the caribou? ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2001, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rta-you-lying-sack-of-shit/66212/27 "2001-05-23T15:55:55Z")
As best I can tell, **RTA** has never demonstrated _anything at all_, except that he as a visceral hatred of Republicans. So no. He offered no evidence. In fairness, though, that wasn’t really an issue of the thread until his cheap shot. The actual thread is **Bricker** ’s GD thread about how that guy who was supposedly fired for political reasons after posting a caribou migration map on the internet actually got fired because he is a unmanageable weisenheimer who can’t take directions from his bosses and didn’t have a real job definition. Pity, too. Cuz he seems like a really smart guy. The article **Bricker** linked to was pretty interesting. Check it out. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2001, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rta-you-lying-sack-of-shit/66212/28 "2001-05-23T16:34:23Z")
> [@](#): > > “Is this the nose that launced a thousand ships And burned the topless towers of Illium?” > > See, thats French. When it comes to high-tone snottiness, you can’t do better than stealing from the French! Acutally, it’s Christopher Marlowe, from [_Doctor Faustus_](http://www.bartleby.com/100/137.12.html). I looked through _Cyrano de Bergerac_, but I could not find a parody of that quote, so I doubt your attribution. It’s bad enough to be a pretentious ass (and stop working my side of the street!), but to be one who misquotes famous lines makes you look even more fatuous than you are, which I hardly thought possible. You already demonstrated that you had not read the Washington Post article that sparked Bricker’s thread, so you are now heaping the Pelion of ignorance on the Ossa of faking erudition (and how’s that for being pretentious?) Elucidator, you are an imbecile, so stop bothering these nice people and go back to your comic book store, where you dispense the insults instead of absorbing them. ---
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2001, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rta-you-lying-sack-of-shit/66212/29 "2001-05-23T17:03:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by goboy \* > \*\*Elucidator, you are an imbecile, so stop bothering these nice people and go back to your comic book store, where you dispense the insults instead of absorbing them. > \*\* Best reference ever! ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2001, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rta-you-lying-sack-of-shit/66212/30 "2001-05-23T18:33:07Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by goboy \* > [@](#): > > “Is this the nose that launced a thousand ships And burned the topless towers of Illium?” > > Acutally, it’s Christopher Marlowe, from _Doctor Faustus_ Yes, of course! _Dr. Faustus_! The famous scene where Mephistopholes teases Faustus about his nose. Faustus then regales the audience with all the witty things Mephistopholes _might_ have said, but didn’t, of which the above is but one. Scene ends with Faustus saying “and as I end the refrain, thrust home”, and sticks Ol’ Scratch with his sword. “And now, 'tis blade of steel, 'twixt gut and bladder interposed!” You’re so full of shit, your eyes are brown, Goboy! Best you return to studying your _joseki_. All your base are belong to me. Kit Marlowe, indeed! (snicker, chortle) ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2001, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rta-you-lying-sack-of-shit/66212/31 "2001-05-23T18:39:01Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by goboy \* > [@](#): > > “Is this the nose that launced a thousand ships And burned the topless towers of Illium?” > > Acutally, it’s Christopher Marlowe, from _Doctor Faustus_ Yes, of course! _Dr. Faustus_! The famous scene where Mephistopholes teases Faustus about his nose. Faustus then regales the audience with all the witty things Mephistopholes _might_ have said, but didn’t, of which the above is but one. Scene ends with Faustus saying “and as I end the refrain, thrust home”, and sticks Ol’ Scratch with his sword. “And now, 'tis blade of steel, 'twixt gut and bladder interposed!” You’re so full of shit, your eyes are brown, Goboy! Best you return to studying your _joseki_. All your base are belong to me. Kit Marlowe, indeed! (snicker, chortle) “What a maroon!” B. Bunny ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2001, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rta-you-lying-sack-of-shit/66212/32 "2001-05-23T18:55:04Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by goboy \* > [@](#): > > “Is this the nose that launced a thousand ships And burned the topless towers of Illium?” > > Acutally, it’s Christopher Marlowe, from _Doctor Faustus_ Yes, of course! _Dr. Faustus_! The famous scene where Mephistopholes teases Faustus about his nose. Faustus then regales the audience with all the witty things Mephistopholes _might_ have said, but didn’t, of which the above is but one. Scene ends with Faustus saying “and as I end the refrain, thrust home”, and sticks Ol’ Scratch with his sword. “And now, 'tis blade of steel, 'twixt gut and bladder interposed!” You’re so full of shit, your eyes are brown, Goboy! Best you return to studying your _joseki_. All your base are belong to me. Kit Marlowe, indeed! (snicker, chortle) “What a maroon!” B. Bunny ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2001, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rta-you-lying-sack-of-shit/66212/33 "2001-05-23T21:00:40Z")
No, you are still wrong. The theater scene in [_Cyrano De Bergerac_](http://abu.cnam.fr/cgi-bin/donner_html?cyrano1) you reference mentions nothing about “topless towers of Ilium.” Here’s the speech where Cyrano mocks the guy trying to insult him: > [@](#): > > Ah ! non ! c’est un peu court, jeune homme ! > On pouvait dire… Oh ! Dieu !.. bien des choses en somme… > En variant le ton, -par exemple, tenez > Agressif : “Moi, monsieur, si j’avais un tel nez, > Il faudrait sur-le-champs que je me l’amputasse !” > Amical : “Mais il doit tremper dans votre tasse > Pour boire, faites-vous fabriquer un hanap !” > Descriptif : “C’est un roc !.. c’est un pic !.. c’est un cap ! Que dis-je, c’est un cap ?.. C’est une péninsule !” > Curieux : “De quoi sert cette oblongue capsule ? > D’écritoire, monsieur, ou de boîtes à ciseaux ?” > Gracieux : “Aimez-vous à ce point les oiseaux > Que paternellement vous vous préoccupâtes > De tendre ce perchoir à leurs petites pattes ?” > Truculent : “Ca, monsieur, lorsque vous pétunez, > La vapeur du tabac vous sort-elle du nez > Sans qu’un voisin ne crie au feu de cheminée ?” > Prévenant : “Gardez-vous, votre tête entraînée > Par ce poids, de tomber en avant sur le sol !” > Tendre : “Faites-lui faire un petit parasol > De peur que sa couleur au soleil ne se fane !” > Pédant : “L’animal seul, monsieur, qu’Aristophane > Appelle Hippocampelephantocamélos > Dut avoir sous le front tant de chair sur tant d’os !” > Cavalier : “Quoi, l’ami, ce croc est à la mode ? > Pour pendre son chapeau, c’est vraiment très commode !” > Emphatique : “Aucun vent ne peut, nez magistral, > T’enrhumer tout entier, excepté le mistral !” > Dramatique : “C’est la Mer Rouge quand il saigne !” > Admiratif : “Pour un parfumeur, quelle enseigne !” > Lyrique : “Est-ce une conque, êtes-vous un triton ?” > Naïf : “Ce monument, quand le visite-t-on ?” > Respectueux : “Souffrez, monsieur, qu’on vous salue, > C’est là ce qui s’appelle avoir pignon sur rue !” > Campagnard : “Hé, ardé ! C’est-y un nez ? Nanain ! > C’est queuqu’navet géant ou ben queuqu’melon nain !” > Militaire : “Pointez contre cavalerie !” > Pratique : “Voulez-vous le mettre en loterie ? > Assurément, monsieur, ce sera le gros lot !” > Enfin parodiant Pyrame en un sanglot > “Le voilà donc ce nez qui des traits de son maître > A détruit l’harmonie ! Il en rougit, le traître !” > -Voilà ce qu’à peu près, mon cher, vous m’auriez dit > Si vous aviez un peu de lettres et d’esprit > Mais d’esprit, ô le plus lamentable des êtres, > Vous n’en eûtes jamais un atome, et de lettres > Vous n’avez que les trois qui forment le mot : sot ! > Eussiez-vous eu, d’ailleurs, l’invention qu’il faut > Pour pouvoir là, devant ces nobles galeries, > me servir toutes ces folles plaisanteries, > Que vous n’en eussiez pas articulé le quart > De la moitié du commencement d’une, car > Je me les sers moi-même, avec assez de verve, > Mais je ne permets pas qu’un autre me les serve. See? The line you mention is not in there. (You did know that Rostand wrote in French, not English, didn’t you?) Now, it’s possible that there may be an English translation of _Cyrano_ that includes that line, but if so, it’s not Rostand’s! Again, you are misquoting Marlowe and attributing the line to Rostand, and since Marlowe wrote in the 16th century and Rostand wrote in the 19th, even if some translator added the line, Marlowe still wrote it first. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2001, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rta-you-lying-sack-of-shit/66212/34 "2001-05-23T21:29:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by andros \* > \*\* > I’m fairly scared to read the linked thread, so I’ll ask here: > > Did **RTA** ever demonstrate that drilling will harm the caribou? \*\* No, **RTA** did not. However, I have just posted some _actual data_ on the linked thread. Boys, boys, boys, stop the cream pie fight and come back to the thread. I’m having to reply to myself over there. (Well, Ok, maybe the cream pie fight is more fun . . .) ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2001, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rta-you-lying-sack-of-shit/66212/35 "2001-05-23T21:29:36Z")
I wonder when 'Lucidator is gonna start providing links to sites that indicate that all Republicans are “macho poseur assholes”, and when he starts ending every post with “SCORE!!” Don’t even try, Goboy, to get an intelligent thought into his head. If he claimed that a basketball was a cube, he’d continue insisting that even if such a ball were put into his hands. Weather forecast from Planet Elucidator… partly cloudy, between 70 and 75 degrees, and very, very stupid. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2001, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rta-you-lying-sack-of-shit/66212/36 "2001-05-23T22:36:27Z")
Well, damn sure wasn’t Goethe (He wrote in German. You knew that, right?) My line is clearly the bit about the nose, which appears in a translation I remember from some time ago. Hell, might have been the Classics Comics version, who remembers? Well, sure, Kit Marlowe mentioned Helen of Troy. Lots of serious literary guys vamped on Homer (he wrote in Greek. You knew that, right?). Its not my confusion, bunky, it’s yours. Let me break this down for you: nose = probably Cyrano. Me = probably right. You = laboriously proving a point not in contention. Well, this has been fun, kind of a kick to slip the bounds of polite discourse and get down and dirty. Wears thin, though. I stand by my original point: RTA did nothing blameworthy, Manhattan insulted him needlessly, rather in the manner of a bully. The thread, perused by any attentive and reasonable person, clearly shows precisely that. The rest is “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nose.” That’s Moliere. Buh-bye! ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2001, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rta-you-lying-sack-of-shit/66212/37 "2001-05-23T23:31:22Z")
> [@](#): > > Its not my confusion, bunky, it’s yours. Let me break this down for you: nose = probably Cyrano. Me = probably right. You = laboriously proving a point not in contention. Boy, what a piece of work! It it weren’t a point in contention, why were you arguing so strenuously? You don’t even have the balls to admit you were dead wrong. Manhattan, I apologize for hijacking your thread. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2001, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rta-you-lying-sack-of-shit/66212/38 "2001-05-23T23:33:14Z")
It’s amazing to me that the standards of inquiry and evidence collapse so thoroughly in the Pit. > [@](#): > > My line is clearly the bit about the nose, which appears in a translation I remember from some time ago. Hell, might have been the Classics Comics version, who remembers? You could have cleared this whole silly matter up in a hot second by providing a citation. > [@](#): > > nose = probably Cyrano. Me = probably right Not even Cecil can get away with being “probably right.” > [@](#): > > I stand by my original point: RTA did nothing blameworthy, Manhattan insulted him needlessly, rather in the manner of a bully. The thread, perused by any attentive and reasonable person, clearly shows precisely that. So anyone who disagrees with you is **in** attentive and **un** reasonable? Lovely. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2001, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rta-you-lying-sack-of-shit/66212/39 "2001-05-23T23:42:02Z")
That’s Shakespeare, jackass. Unless you can cite the play and the line where Moliere was specifically spoofing the Bard. Which I doubt, because unlike you, Moliere had the capacity for originality. And sorry, the “Classics Illustrated” comic-book version doesn’t exactly cut it. You might have better luck if you’d actually read any of the texts you qoute. ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2001, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rta-you-lying-sack-of-shit/66212/40 "2001-05-23T23:48:25Z")
This is what appears in my copy of _Cyrano de bergerac_, as Cyrano is making fun of the other guy’s inability to suffieciently mock Cyrano’s own nose: > [@](#): > > Or–parodying Faustus in the play– > “Was this the nose that launched a thousand ships and burned the topless towers of Illium?” (Bantam Classics edition, trans. by Brian Hooker, p.31) This corresponds (in terms of placement) to the following from **goboy** ’s quote: > [@](#): > > Enfin parodiant Pyrame en un sanglot > “Le voilà donc ce nez qui des traits de son maître > A détruit l’harmonie ! Il en rougit, le traître !” Which is not even similar to the translated version. The original (and far more famous) line was Marlowe, from _Faustus_ (which is reasonably close to _Faust_, Goethe’s masterpiece), and was parodied by Rostand’s translator by changing a single word (and putting it in French). To insult others’ abilities at pedantry while not recognizing Marlowe’s most widely known quote as the source seems pretty hypocritical. If you’re going to be a pretensious jackass, at least know whereof you speak, rather than memorizing a line or two of great literature to use to fake it. Now shut up the lot of you. As for: > [@](#): > > I stand by my original point: RTA did nothing blameworthy, Manhattan insulted him needlessly, rather in the manner of a bully. The thread, perused by any attentive and reasonable person, clearly shows precisely that. So you, **RTA** , and **stoid** are the only attentive and reasonable people here? Or is it that all three of you tend to equate knee-jerk liberalism with virtue and intelligence? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rta-you-lying-sack-of-shit/66212.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rta-you-lying-sack-of-shit/66212.md?page=3)