# "The Usual Suspects" **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [December 21, 2010, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usual-suspects/564961 "2010-12-21T15:41:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usual-suspects/564961/241 "2010-12-25T13:36:32Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > a nelogism of his own devising You give me too much credit. “Ass-lickers” is **SfG** ’s term of art. How about “The Usual Suck-Peckers”? That more clearly alludes to the time-honored phrase from CASABLANCA you bow abjectly before, and cleverly puns on it. Does that qualify as part of your noble literary tradition? Or is the problem not whether “suspects” or “suck-peckers” is in that tradition, or insulting, but simply that one is allowed because its nastiness is directed towards posters who find fault with some Mod decisions, and the other is directed at posters who blindly and ferociously support every Mod decision ever made? That couldn’t be the real distinction, could it? ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usual-suspects/564961/242 "2010-12-25T16:55:17Z")
Yeah! If “suspects” is allowed, then how about “assholes”, “motherfuckers”, and “fucking retards who disagree with me?” Unless of course there’s a mod conspiracy as only those who support mod actions can possibly be dismissive of those who disagree. I call conspiracy! The detective is on the case. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usual-suspects/564961/243 "2010-12-25T19:08:13Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > How about “The Usual Suck-Peckers”? That more clearly alludes to the time-honored phrase from CASABLANCA you bow abjectly before, and cleverly puns on it. Does that qualify as part of your noble literary tradition? I have already noted that it was not the “literary” aspect of the phrase but the multiple meanings and ambiguity of the phrase as exemplified by the literary citations that indicated that “usual suspects” was not a clear insult. > [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > Or is the problem not whether “suspects” or “suck-peckers” is in that tradition, or insulting, but simply that one is allowed because its nastiness is directed towards posters who find fault with some Mod decisions, and the other is directed at posters who blindly and ferociously support every Mod decision ever made? That couldn’t be the real distinction, could it? This is just bullshit. Insults toward the Mods are tolerated, here, more than insults against other posters, (as your presence demonstrates every day). Since it is clear that you are going to invent new imaginary complaints for the sole purpose of keeping your grumbing on the first page of the forum, I will bow out and let you carry that heavy burden without my further help. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2010, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usual-suspects/564961/244 "2010-12-25T23:40:56Z")
If insults to the mods were actually tolerated here, I’d feel free to respond as I’d like to. That you assert that this website is some bastion of freeedom to would-be abusers of the poor defenseless mods is pretty funny or pretty sad, depending on how seriously you take yourself. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2010, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usual-suspects/564961/245 "2010-12-26T01:01:06Z")
I am upset that I am not allowed to be insulting in my replies to you, you who are either laughable or pathetic, depending on circumstances. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2010, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usual-suspects/564961/246 "2010-12-26T03:01:19Z")
Well, you could start a pit thread, and then quote the post and hyperlink the reply you want to give. Repeatedly. Or you could just tell me “I’ll start what I fucken well feel like starting, kay?” And when you don’t get warned because you haven’t a host of belligerent posts preceding that, it will start a whole new pile of poopy hitting the spinning blades. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2010, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usual-suspects/564961/247 "2010-12-27T16:05:41Z")
I’ve decided to step away from this thread. The handful of people interested in actually discussing this topic are being overwhelmed by the people who’d rather simply dismiss those of us who have a problem with the attitude exemplified by the usage of phrases like “the usual suspects.” And if the moderators aren’t going to rein in people who stop by to tell me how stupid this topic is, or make \*really fucking creepy \*suggestions about how much they’d like to fucking \*spank \*me, I have no desire to stick around for further abuse. If anyone has a point they’re disappointed I won’t be addressing, please feel free to PM me and we can continue some actual debate in private. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usual-suspects/564961.md?page=12)