# That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons even death may die. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 20, 2006, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-dead-which-can-eternal-lie-and-with-strange-aeons-even-death-may-die/369479 "2006-08-20T19:53:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-dead-which-can-eternal-lie-and-with-strange-aeons-even-death-may-die/369479/1 "2006-08-20T19:53:39Z")
Honor the Chronicler of the Great Old Ones! He has died…yet his words live on! In Unholy fashion! On this date, August 20, in the year 1890, H.P. Lovecraft was born. Or, at least, _entered the World!_ His Father went suddenly _Mad_, and destroyed himself. His Mother likewise went Mad, and was committed to the same asylum his Father had briefly been confined to. After a lifetime of writing, he died poor, in a grimey little house in his native Providence. He was born in a mansion on Angell Street. Falling from grace, he died in want, of cancer & malnutrition, on March 15, 1937. But he was a true Artist, & his words live on, to horrify us all. Happy Birthday, Mr. Lovecraft. But please: no need to return our visit. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-dead-which-can-eternal-lie-and-with-strange-aeons-even-death-may-die/369479/2 "2006-08-20T20:10:58Z")
Ia! ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-dead-which-can-eternal-lie-and-with-strange-aeons-even-death-may-die/369479/3 "2006-08-20T20:42:25Z")
Instead of a birthday cake for HPL, I suggest a nice Cruller Out of Space. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-dead-which-can-eternal-lie-and-with-strange-aeons-even-death-may-die/369479/4 "2006-08-20T20:47:53Z")
_slaps **pinkfreud** with a wet Deep One_ ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-dead-which-can-eternal-lie-and-with-strange-aeons-even-death-may-die/369479/5 "2006-08-20T21:13:51Z")
Isn’t that little title poem about the Kraken or something? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-dead-which-can-eternal-lie-and-with-strange-aeons-even-death-may-die/369479/6 "2006-08-20T21:33:30Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz] Ia! [/QUOTE] Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn! ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-dead-which-can-eternal-lie-and-with-strange-aeons-even-death-may-die/369479/7 "2006-08-20T21:53:49Z")
[QUOTE=Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor] Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn! [/QUOTE] Well, that’s easy for you to say. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-dead-which-can-eternal-lie-and-with-strange-aeons-even-death-may-die/369479/8 "2006-08-21T01:33:24Z")
‘Ecky- ecky- ecky- ecky- pikang- zoop- boing- goodem- zoo- owli- zhiv’. Oops, sorry! Wrong mythos. Didn’t Abdul Alhazred write a book about cats, too? ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-dead-which-can-eternal-lie-and-with-strange-aeons-even-death-may-die/369479/9 "2006-08-21T01:50:47Z")
Been my sig for a while now. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-dead-which-can-eternal-lie-and-with-strange-aeons-even-death-may-die/369479/10 "2006-08-21T01:57:14Z")
Guess I should click on Show Sig. ---
**Author:** ![brianjedi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-dead-which-can-eternal-lie-and-with-strange-aeons-even-death-may-die/369479/11 "2006-08-21T02:58:28Z")
Am I the only one who thought this would be about the Metallica classic “The Thing That Should Not Be”? (Yes, I know the song’s based on Lovecraft.) ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-dead-which-can-eternal-lie-and-with-strange-aeons-even-death-may-die/369479/12 "2006-08-21T03:37:27Z")
I’ll have a drink in Mr. Lovecraft’s honor, down at the Shub-Niggurathskellar. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-dead-which-can-eternal-lie-and-with-strange-aeons-even-death-may-die/369479/13 "2006-08-21T11:01:16Z")
[QUOTE=Big Bad Voodoo Lou] I’ll have a drink in Mr. Lovecraft’s honor, down at the Shub-Niggurathskellar. [/QUOTE] A pint of _Shoggoth’s Old Peculiar_, mmm? Happy Birthdy HPL - but who is this\*\* \*Ian \*\*\*chap, and what’s so _strange_ about him? ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-dead-which-can-eternal-lie-and-with-strange-aeons-even-death-may-die/369479/14 "2006-08-22T00:56:29Z")
No Elder Gods showed up on his _birthday_? That’s harsh. Poor guy. Figures. They never call, they never write… ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-dead-which-can-eternal-lie-and-with-strange-aeons-even-death-may-die/369479/15 "2006-08-22T01:06:20Z")
[QUOTE=pool] Isn’t that little title poem about the Kraken or something? [/QUOTE] [Not exactly.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cthulhu) Perhaps you were thinking of [this](http://whitewolf.newcastle.edu.au/words/authors/T/TennysonAlfred/verse/juvenilia/kraken.html) poem. ---
**Author:** ![pesch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pesch/32/4925_2.png) [@pesch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pesch)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-dead-which-can-eternal-lie-and-with-strange-aeons-even-death-may-die/369479/16 "2006-08-22T03:02:13Z")
Happy birthday, H.P. You didn’t get much in life, but you got a great cameo appearance in a fine pulp novel this year (“The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril”), and the Library of America saw fit [to preserve your words.](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1931082723/102-5148006-1684941?v=glance&n=283155) Plus some great film adaptations (“Re-Animator” All right, a sort-of adaptation). Not a bad post-life career. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-dead-which-can-eternal-lie-and-with-strange-aeons-even-death-may-die/369479/17 "2006-08-22T03:13:25Z")
[QUOTE=pesch] Plus some great film adaptations (“Re-Animator” All right, a sort-of adaptation). [/QUOTE] Not exactly. [Only](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0264508/) [two](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0478988/) really good ones. The others were unspeakable eldritch necrophagous blasphemous abominations from the deepest tenebrous crevices of elder night, and not in a **good** way, either! ---
**Author:** ![lokij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5e9695/32.png) [@lokij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lokij)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-dead-which-can-eternal-lie-and-with-strange-aeons-even-death-may-die/369479/18 "2006-08-22T04:47:16Z")
[QUOTE=pinkfreud] Instead of a birthday cake for HPL, I suggest a nice Cruller Out of Space. [/QUOTE] Only if it is a non-Euclidean Cruller. :\> ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-dead-which-can-eternal-lie-and-with-strange-aeons-even-death-may-die/369479/19 "2006-08-22T11:20:24Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally Posted by BrainGlutton > Perhaps you were thinking of this poem. Doh! :smack: yeah you were right. Ok well everyone meet me at the Pub of Innsmouth for a drink in Lovecraft’s honor. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-dead-which-can-eternal-lie-and-with-strange-aeons-even-death-may-die/369479/20 "2006-08-22T11:40:09Z")
[QUOTE=Kythereia] No Elder Gods showed up on his _birthday_? That’s harsh. Poor guy. Figures. They never call, they never write… [/QUOTE] Naah. They’re still checking with their law firm about **Lib** ’s contentions about them having a valid claim to all real estate. Why bother directly horrifying with eldritch profanations when you can get a lawyer to do it for you?! 😉 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-dead-which-can-eternal-lie-and-with-strange-aeons-even-death-may-die/369479.md?page=2)