# Woo Hoo! Yay! Rotting Whale Party! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 3, 2004, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-yay-rotting-whale-party/258054 "2004-08-03T00:46:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2004, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-yay-rotting-whale-party/258054/1 "2004-08-03T00:46:52Z")
No, it isn’t a band name, it’s a [news story](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/3527212.stm). On a whim, we decided to take a stroll along the beach at Lee-on-the-Solent this evening, but on arrival, we had trouble parking and noticed a huge flock of people standing by the slipway, looking out to sea. Two tugs were manouevering the bloated carcass of a dead fin whale in the shallows; a construction ‘claw’ machine was tugging on a cable, trying to get the thing ashore. But the oddest thing is… there was this really weird, _party atmosphere_. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2004, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-yay-rotting-whale-party/258054/2 "2004-08-03T01:55:46Z")
Once they get it to shore, they could always blow it up to dispose of it. That’s always loads of fun. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2004, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-yay-rotting-whale-party/258054/3 "2004-08-03T02:30:24Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > Once they get it to shore, they could always blow it up to dispose of it. That’s always loads of fun. Such as … [http://perp.com/whale/video.html](http://perp.com/whale/video.html) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2004, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-yay-rotting-whale-party/258054/4 "2004-08-03T03:14:37Z")
Whew! For a sec I thought this going to be another one of your “Can I cook it? Sure I can!” theads. ---
**Author:** ![The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2004, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-yay-rotting-whale-party/258054/5 "2004-08-03T04:07:49Z")
I am _greatly_ disappointed. If I open a thread about \*\*Mangetout’s \*\* rotting whale party, I want to see recipes! Cooking a beached whale? It’s hard enough getting the sand out of leeks. Anyway, perhaps these will satisfy: [http://cheftalkcafe.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11335](http://cheftalkcafe.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11335) [www.worldcouncilofwhalers.com/recipemid-delicacy.htm](http://www.worldcouncilofwhalers.com/recipemid-delicacy.htm) www.highnorth.no/Library/Culture/Recipes/no-wh-me.htm ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2004, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-yay-rotting-whale-party/258054/6 "2004-08-03T08:23:57Z")
Sorry, I have no rotting whale recipes - British food may have a reputation for being nasty, but we have to draw the line somewhere. BTW, to get sand out of your leeks, make a single cut lengthways, leaving the root and about half an inch of stem intact - you’ll be able to separate the layers and rinse out the dirt under the tap. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2004, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-yay-rotting-whale-party/258054/7 "2004-08-03T19:41:32Z")
> [@](#): > > But the oddest thing is… there was this really weird, _party atmosphere_. You think it’s strange now? Imagine explaining to your grandchildren how this eventually became a local holiday. I mean, assuming. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2004, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-yay-rotting-whale-party/258054/8 "2004-08-03T19:54:10Z")
_Everybody whale chum tonite_ ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2004, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-yay-rotting-whale-party/258054/9 "2004-08-03T22:11:50Z")
Weird. I just now read a passage in my book where a group of Vikings dug up some whale liver - no, wait…it was shark. But this thread is about whales, so let’s pretend it’s a whale - that they had buried months earier to rot, and ate it greedily like a wonderful delicacy. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2004, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-yay-rotting-whale-party/258054/10 "2004-08-03T23:23:54Z")
Oh, rotten, exhumed shark liver is fine, with a bit of salt and pepper and vinegar, but like I said, I draw the line at bloated decomposing whale - it isn’t the same thing. BTW, [here](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/3530086.stm) is the follow-up story; it took them four hours to dispose of the thing - it was bloody _huge_ - just as a scale comparison - the claw of that grab machine is about the height of an average man.