Of course not. I would never swear vengence lightly, but if I were to take that inner vow, then my enemy would be dealt with in the most efficient manner: the more dangerous my enemy, the swifter and more violent my actions.
Hmm…y’know, that, I might do. (We all gotta go some time—might as well make a profit on it.)
So you accept his/her challenge, sneak to the duelling field the night before, and arrange a nice explosive surprise for him.
Exactly the way I’d do it, except I’d have more flying monkeys.
According to legend, a man once challenged Abraham Lincoln to a duel. As the challenged party, he had choice of weapons.
His choice: cow pies, at 20 paces.
Absolutely; if my worst enemy turns his back on me and I have a gun in my hand and no witnesses, he’s dead. Of course, he knows this so I might be the one shot in the back.
You guys are a bloodthirsty lot.
Pochacco got it right. The point of dueling wasn’t to kill your opponent. You poisoned people for that. The point was that you were publically declaring that you were willing to place your own life at risk in defense of what you had said or done.
So don’t answer whether or not you’d be willing to kill somebody you hate. The real question is how many of the things you say or do would you be willing to back up with your life?
Let’s put it in SDMB terms. How would you feel about a “dueling” option on the board. Anyone who feels a post went too far would have the right to challenge the poster to a duel. The poster can decline by agreeing to delete the post or edit out the offending portion. But if he refuses to do so, the duel is on. We’ll make the odds light but real - let’s say 10%. The mods will spin the wheel or roll the die for both duellists and if one or both of their numbers come up, they’re permanently banned.
Would you challenge other posters, knowing that every time you did so you might face a 10% of being banned? If your post was challenged would you back down or risk banning?
As interesting an idea as that is, I fear that it would quickly spiral out of control. Also, the forum probably has enough to worry about without new proprietary code for dueling and keeping track of everyone on the board who has a problem with another member. Isn’t that partially what the pit is for?
I can’t tell if you’re kidding or not.
The suggestion wasn’t a serious one.
-FrL-
I would not duel a sworn enemy. If I did that, it would mean I had allowed my enemy to force me into a chump’s bargain. I’d be in a trick bag where I must either die or commit murder. Why would I want to be such a fool? :smack:
Frylock, I challenge ye to a duel! Choose your weapon 
Now wait a minute now. What’s the offense?
We got to do this proper.
-FrL-
In such a hypothetical I’m with Der Trihs - cheat. Perhaps even turn down the duel and then kill the wombat from behind.
If it’s not my worst enemy, then I might take a page from Larry Niven and Russel Steitz - duel with champagne corks.
(For those interested, here’s a link to the book the anecdote appeared in. It starts on page 275.)
Haha! In that case, it was a joke! ; :smack:
[/gullible]
I accuse thee of not making enough Futurama references! ::lays down the gauntlet::
And then it would spiral back. The inherent 10% elimination factor would make the practice pretty self-limiting. Those people who are too quick to take (or give) offense would soon run into the law of averages and be gone.
I read a funny short story in Dragon many years ago (I believe it was an extract from a new book) in which duelling was done with a twist: each participant devised an oath that the other had to keep in the event that he survived the duel. (That is, if A kills B, A keeps the oath that B laid on him.) The oath had to be completely original and non-fatal. The combatants could agree to call off the duel if each found the other’s terms too horrible to contemplate.
In this case the duellists were disputing ownership of a unique meerschaum pipe, and the challenger stipulated that if he lost, the present possessor of the pipe would bury it at the bottom of a reeking kitchen midden. Dismayed, the present possessor cast about him for an equally horrible fate for his adversary, and came up with a geas never to use clean linen again: no sheets but had already been slept in, no shirt but had already been worn, no towels but had been used, all by someone else. Both participants, fanatic though they were, pondered the awful oaths that they were bound to swear and, shortly before the minute’s grace expired, agreed to forget the quarrel.
In fact, I believe there’s an MPSIMS game thread there.
If you desire a second, I’m your man.
All right, then.
Good news everyone! The chosen weapon is: The Smell-O-Scope!
A series of thirty four random celestial coordinates will be computed. The combatants will then each take turns placing their nostrils on the Smell-O-Scope, inhaling deeply. If the first combatant remains alive and conscious after the first set of coordinates, then the second combatant shall sniff the second set of coordinates, and if s/he remains alive and conscious after this second set, then the first shall sniff the third, and so on.
If all 17 rounds have gone by with both combatants remaining standing, then it shall be considered an honorable draw.
Zoidberg will be relieved to know that I choose BMallion as second.
-FrL-
At your service.
Autolycus, your second?