# What are some spins on "man steals lawn gnome, sends pics to owner"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 22, 2004, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-spins-on-man-steals-lawn-gnome-sends-pics-to-owner/260937 "2004-08-22T03:46:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JoeSki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b487fb/32.png) [@JoeSki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoeSki)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2004, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-spins-on-man-steals-lawn-gnome-sends-pics-to-owner/260937/1 "2004-08-22T03:46:08Z")
The famous story of a man that steals another mans lawn ordament and send pics of it standing in fron of monuments, and places from other countries back to owner has always been interesting…now suppose you weren’t held back by time, space, lack of cash, and you had superpowers, what are some spins you’d put on this? How do you think this story would play out in a SCI FI novel? Or what’s the most interesting way for this to happen in your opinion? For one reason or another, I’ve been obbsessed trying to think of variations of this for the last two days. I haven’t come up with anything too interesting: An online friend mentioned a microscopic lawn gnome. Not sure how this came up, but after thinking about it for a while, it would strike me as funny if I heard about a millionair who possed the worlds smallest lawn gnome…having it stolen. And then to have pictures sent to him of the gnome stnading in fron of other famous small stuff. I think the entire world would love the irony in that. Some recent commercials featured a gnome that was stolen and who later fell in love with a miny statue of liberty. Very clever, I thought. This got me thinking about how a professional novel writer would go about writing letters from the gnomes point of view back to the owner. Some pretty good stories could be written. I wouldn’t mind seeing a mad scientist transform a lawn ordament into a robot capable of travelling the world by itself and sending his previous owner pictures. Would make for an interesting story told right. Intergalactic and time travelling gnomes would be neat too. Any other interesting spins people can think of? ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2004, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-spins-on-man-steals-lawn-gnome-sends-pics-to-owner/260937/2 "2004-08-22T03:52:46Z")
I suppose you could Photoshop his gnome into screenshots of the gnome-traveller photos in _Amelie_ 😃 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Asbestos\_Mango](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@The\_Asbestos\_Mango](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Asbestos_Mango)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2004, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-spins-on-man-steals-lawn-gnome-sends-pics-to-owner/260937/3 "2004-08-22T05:35:36Z")
How about the diary of a lawn gnome who travels to a satellite orbiting the rings of Saturn, then his teleportation device/ship/whatever malfunctions and he gets stranded there, then slowly goes insane from lonliness? ---
**Author:** ![emekthian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecae2f/32.png) [@emekthian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emekthian)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2004, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-spins-on-man-steals-lawn-gnome-sends-pics-to-owner/260937/4 "2004-08-22T05:36:03Z")
Steal the lawn gnome. Hijack a plane. Take some video footage of the lawn gnome in the pilot’s seat, making it appear that the lawn gnome hijacked the plane. Crash the plane into a really tall building. Just before the crash, put the tape in a crashproof container along with instructions to mail the tape to the owner , attach a parachute, and throw it out the window over a populated area. Let someone find the container with the tape. Hilarity ensues. And with the distruction and loss of life comparable to the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks, the hilarity will be needed more than ever. ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2004, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-spins-on-man-steals-lawn-gnome-sends-pics-to-owner/260937/5 "2004-08-22T06:35:28Z")
Well… completely opposite to stealing something and sending back pictures: Someone here sent a couple stuff for the 12 days of Christmas. The first year they got a patridge in a pear tree etc etc through the years. I never heard what happened at the end though, if they ever met the person who was sending them these things. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2004, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-spins-on-man-steals-lawn-gnome-sends-pics-to-owner/260937/6 "2004-08-22T06:51:14Z")
This idea was part of the plot of the movie _Amelie_. Wonderful, funny film! ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2004, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-spins-on-man-steals-lawn-gnome-sends-pics-to-owner/260937/7 "2004-08-22T13:21:14Z")
Kidnap the owner and send Polaroids to his lawn gnome? ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2004, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-spins-on-man-steals-lawn-gnome-sends-pics-to-owner/260937/8 "2004-08-22T18:19:35Z")
I have seen examples of “Man hijacks sensible thread, sends shameless puns to OP.” If I were doing that, I feel sure the word “polynomial” would be involved, but I’m not, so it won’t. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2004, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-spins-on-man-steals-lawn-gnome-sends-pics-to-owner/260937/9 "2004-08-22T20:36:57Z")
> [@JoeSki](#): > > Some recent commercials featured a gnome that was stolen and who later fell in love with a miny statue of liberty. Very clever, I thought. FTR, this gnome wasn’t stolen–he just likes good travel bargains. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2004, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-spins-on-man-steals-lawn-gnome-sends-pics-to-owner/260937/10 "2004-08-22T22:42:16Z")
My former housemate worked on a musical. On opening night the lead actor was given a bizarre clown doll, the kind with a ceramic head, ceramic hands and feet, but a rag doll body. The actor had a bad habit of smuggling the doll onstage during performances. He thought it was a terrific “in-joke.” The directors and stage management didn’t think it was funny at all. One night he stick the doll in the front of his overalls so the clown was peeking out overtop. That was the final straw. My housemate is very calm and reserved in demeanor, so he can pull pranks and always get away with it, because no one would ever fathom that he would do such a thing. He kidnapped the clown doll, stuck it on a photocopier to get a rather grotesque-looking image, and then sent a ransom note made with newspaper headline clippings. Two other actresses suddenly got on board. They went to the Dollar Store and bought _all_ the other clown dolls they had – and then would put dismembered clown pieces around the theatre. The actor saw a leg poking out from under a garbage can. “Bobo!”, he yelled, thrilled to have found his long lost clown… Nope, it was just a clown leg. One performance my housemate’s mother came to the show. She had a front row seat. The show opened with the lead charging out and shaking hands with the audience members. He’s never met my housemate’s mom, and she doesn’t look much like him. My housemate never fully explained, he just said “Here, Mom. When he comes over, give him this clown foot…” Totally freaked the actor out. He almost “corpsed.” His face scrunched up he looked bewildered, and he was barely able to sputter his next lines. After the show… he came running out from backstage “some weird lady gave me a clown foot!” ---
**Author:** ![JoeSki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b487fb/32.png) [@JoeSki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoeSki)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-spins-on-man-steals-lawn-gnome-sends-pics-to-owner/260937/11 "2004-08-23T01:17:04Z")
> [@The Asbestos Mango](#): > > How about the diary of a lawn gnome who travels to a satellite orbiting the rings of Saturn, then his teleportation device/ship/whatever malfunctions and he gets stranded there, then slowly goes insane from lonliness? Oh dear Lord that’s rich. That would be a great prank to pull if you were moving across state. Take pictures with the gnome in front of variious places while driving across state, and then once you settle down in your new house, just take pictures of the gnome in a room, and then have the story take a turn for the worst 😃 . Of course it’s even better with the a SCI FI twist thrown in. I think this is my favorite of the bunch. Some great letters could be written back to the owner in this context. > [@Sublight](#): > > Kidnap the owner and send Polaroids to his lawn gnome? Ha! That would be pretty funny…only worthwhile though if your gnome was turned into a robot by previously mentioned mad scientis or if you knew the mailman or someone else was peeking into your mail. > [@Zoe](#): > > This idea was part of the plot of the movie _Amelie_. Wonderful, funny film! Agreed. It’s on my DVD-to-buy list. I still don’t think we’ve scratched the surface of all the different varities this story has, esspecialy since we’re allowing a freedom of time space and resources. I wish I could think of something better than what I have but my imagination isn’t as good as I wish it was. It’ll improve over the years though. Ones in danger of getting bubbles up one’s whoops-a-daisy. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-spins-on-man-steals-lawn-gnome-sends-pics-to-owner/260937/12 "2004-08-23T02:09:47Z")
This jogged two memories, one fact, one fiction. **Fiction:** the National Lampoon story about ‘O.C. and Stiggs’ (made into a movie directed by Robert Altman) was about two sociopathic teens [picture Beavis and Butthead with early-80s expensive tastes and the ability to get laid]. These two terrorized a nerdy neighbor by stealing his rare stamp collection and (over the next several years) anonymously mailing letters back to him with the stamps, canceling 99.99% of the value of the stamps. _Effing water torture!_ Disclaimer: I have not seen the movie, hear that it’s pretty bad. **Fact:** Also in the early 80s, in my small hometown in West Virginia. I was working my way through engineering school by teaching guitar. One winter day, a local resident had a tragedy to report to the newspapers: _the statue of Santa Claus had been stolen from in front of his house!_ The following Saturday morning, two burnouts showed up for their lessons, and started asking me if I’d heard about the theft as I wrote out their Def Leppard tabs. Thinking nothing of it, I said yes, but gradually realized they had something they wanted to tell someone: _they’d stolen the statue._ They recounted calling and jokingly asking for a ransom (this was before caller ID). I told them two things: 1) Give the damn thing back; and 2) Don’t ever confide in me again. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-spins-on-man-steals-lawn-gnome-sends-pics-to-owner/260937/13 "2004-08-23T03:05:37Z")
In the same vein were the efforts of the SDMB’s own **Darwinself** (aka Dread Pirate Judy and a host of other names used in the AOL environment). A lady across the street had a ceramic goose in the yard. Over the course of many months, Judy added a trail of goslings to the scene, then began dressing the geese with home-sewn outfits for special occasions such as Christmas and Easter. Judy was actually discovered by the local police, one night, but they let her go. Those stories were wonderful and, as Judy never became particularly active, here, I almost maintained my participation on alt.fancecil-adams to keep up with the adventures, except that Judy’s participation seemed to fall off, there, as well. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-spins-on-man-steals-lawn-gnome-sends-pics-to-owner/260937/14 "2004-08-23T03:26:18Z")
Well, a [couple of jokers around here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=264793) decided to steal a plastic pig from someone in a trailer park, and sent the owner some rather humorous ransom notes. The owner didn’t find it funny, and called the cops. No word if the perps have been caught or not.