Click here for the Tom Tom Club Fight Thread!

[Mike Mosely]

Dear Everyone:

A thought occurs.  Has YOUR thread suddenly turned into a wild wild west brawl?     Did you start a thread on a nice little classic course only to watch a hockey game break out?

Now with the new Tom Tom Club Fight Thread, you can be sure that YOUR thread can be argument-free! 

Now anytime Tom or Tom or any of their buddies want to argue on any topic whatsoever, they can simply post "See Tom Tom Club fight thread," and those who want can join them there for 15 rounds!  20 rounds!  36 pages of 35-posts each!  The fun never ends!  Never miss another body-slam, people's elbow, or "W-O-R-M" of your favorite hard-fightin', hard-fartin' GCA nimrod!

Bonus!  Act now and we'll throw in a free can of Barney Repellent!  Now how much would you pay?

I'm just kidding everyone, but seriously.  The fight is getting exported to thread after thread.  It's making it harder and longer to read your daily dose of GCA, that's all I'm saying.  Can e please not turn OTHER people's threads into GCAers Gone Wild?  Thanx in advance.

Tom P, yes I did see your good thread on Myopia and NGLA.  That's for the hat tip.

Oh...AND GO RED SOX!

[Pete Lavallee]

Just remember, Llamas are dangerous in the playoffs.

[Kalen Braley]

Mike,

You forgot the price...

All these can be had for the low low price of just $19.99

[TEPaul]

MikeM:

You have a danged fine suggestion there. From now on if I have a problem or argument to pick with Tom MacWood that emanates out of someone else's thread I will be sure from now on to just create my own separate thread over the argument so as not to clog up someone else's thread and subject.

This I will do with Tom MacWood. The other guy (the other "M") I doubt I will even bother responding to in the future as I've come to see his participation on here as just about completely worthless. 

[Mike Mosely]

Just remember, Llamas are dangerous in the playoffs.

Llamas like it back to back, Yankees like it IN THE BACK!

Go Llamas!

Tom P:  I do learn a boatload from your posts!

[Jay Flemma]

Did someone say "Llama?"

Ta-boot!  Ta-boot!

Repeat, Repeat!

Go Red Sox! Hiya Mose!

[Michael Blake]

Did someone say "Llama?"

Ta-boot!  Ta-boot!

Nice to know you're a fan Jay!  Wish those guys were still touring.

[TEPaul]

"Tom P:  I do learn a boatload from your posts!"


MichaelM:

Thank you for that---it's very kind of you, but look pal, I'm into total specificity these days and just saying a 'boatload' definitely doesn't cut it!! What kind of boat? A rowboat or something about the size of THE TITANIC?

[Mike Mosely]

How about a nice frigate?  Well equipped, several nine-pound guns, and itching to bring back booty from raiding some piratic xebecs in the Mediterranean?  Or maybe a schooner?

I dont know anything about schooners, I just like saying the word "schooner..."

[TEPaul]

"How about a nice frigate?  Well equipped, several nine-pound guns, and itching to bring back booty from raiding some piratic xebecs in the Mediterranean?  Or maybe a schooner?
I dont know anything about schooners, I just like saying the word "schooner..."



MichaelM:

Me too, schoooner just has a really lovely sort of pleasant flow to it. I'll take any kind of schooner any day over even a really nice and well equiped frigate. That just sounds to me like somebody is basically using profanity and trying to insult me.

[Mike Mosely]

"How about a nice frigate?  Well equipped, several nine-pound guns, and itching to bring back booty from raiding some piratic xebecs in the Mediterranean?  Or maybe a schooner?
I dont know anything about schooners, I just like saying the word "schooner..."



MichaelM:

Me too, schoooner just has a really lovely sort of pleasant flow to it. I'll take any kind of schooner any day over even a really nice and well equiped frigate. That just sounds to me like somebody is basically using profanity and trying to insult me.

schooner it shall be, even though frigates are nicer ships, despite the unfortunate name.  My girlfriend is a naval history professor here in Boston and she's into sailing and crew in the biggest way.  She's always trying to teach this landlubber.  I get much the same when I try to teach her about flop shots and stingers.

But no, frigate was not a play on words:)

[TEPaul]

Mike:

I do a lot of reading and researching on many other things than just golf course architecture. I don't know whether you knew that. One of them is the history of life at sea. It seems that life at sea, particularly when those 19th century sailors were out there for months on end, was just a lot more culturally stable, particularly in a basic sexual context aboad the schooooners compared to the frigates. The sexual culture aboard those frigates was just a lot dicier, a lot more dangerous and complicated. I think the etymology of the word "frigate" actually has something to do with that fact.

[Mike Mosely]

OK, I'll have to run that past Molly (my gal).  All I know was she groused about how few women were in "Master and Commander."   

[TX Golf]

A question for you experts in boating history. Do you happen to know the origin of the word SHIT ??

[Mike Mosely]

Robert, is that a boxer puppy?  He's adorable!

[TX Golf]

Actually it is an English Mastiff!!!

[Mike Mosely]

another gorgeous dog.  did you name him Kazak by any chance?

(For those of you scoring at home, Kazak was the name of Vonnegut's famous "hound of space" in The Sirens of Titan.)

[TX Golf]

Yea they are. haha. Actually, and you are going to laugh when you hear this, it isn't my dog. I want to get one in a few years but don't have the room for one right now (I live in an apartment) as they average about 200 pounds. If you google English Mastiff that is one of the first pictures that comes up, and I love it. However, when I do get one I will let you know what I name it.

Robert

And P.S.    Vonnegut was a nut job, but a great writer.

[TEPaul]

Robert:

Not exactly but I do know that in the last century and back it could basically be used in semi-polite society and was not exactly thought of as profane or perjorative (there's actually a word for when words go through this type of meaning change). But back then the common usage was "beshit."

Hence the fairly well known joke from Abraham Lincoln:

Lincoln got so pissed off at General McCellan for basically doing nothing he decided to get in his carriage and go out to McCellan's camp outside Washington and speak to him personally. When Lincoln got to McCellan's camp there was noone around except two privates digging a hole:

Lincoln to the privates:
"What are you two doing?

The two privates to President Lincoln:
"We are digging a private privy for General McCellan, Mr. President."

Lincoln:
"Is it going to be a one holer or a two holer?"

Privates:
"It's going to be a one-holer, Mr. President.

Lincoln:
"Well, that's a very good thing because if it was a two holer before General McClellan could make up his mind he would probably beshit himself."

[TX Golf]

TEPaul,

Great story. Now as far as the origin of shit this is what I have heard. It makes complete sense but I have not been about to confirm its accuracy.

On long trips from Europe to the America manure was carried because it obviously acts as a great fertilizer and was in high demand in the rapidly growing colonies. Due to its relatively high weight, it would be dried and then packed into large crates. However, they found that there was a problem with this system. If the crates were stored at the bottom of the ship, the manure would get wet and begin to smell. However, the larger issue was that it released large amounts of methane gas, and when trapped underneath the deck of the ship, was extremely flammable. Due to the fact that candles were the only form of light used back then this created a severe problem. So, the crates were marked with a certain abbreviation on the side.

S.H.I.T.   or Ship High in Transit.

I don't know if this is true but it seems like it makes sense.

Robert

[Mike Mosely]

Vonnegut was a nut job, but he was also a roaring lion of a writer.

[Joe Bausch]

TEPaul,

Great story. Now as far as the origin of shit this is what I have heard. It makes complete sense but I have not been about to confirm its accuracy.

On long trips from Europe to the America manure was carried because it obviously acts as a great fertilizer and was in high demand in the rapidly growing colonies. Due to its relatively high weight, it would be dried and then packed into large crates. However, they found that there was a problem with this system. If the crates were stored at the bottom of the ship, the manure would get wet and begin to smell. However, the larger issue was that it released large amounts of methane gas, and when trapped underneath the deck of the ship, was extremely flammable. Due to the fact that candles were the only form of light used back then this created a severe problem. So, the crates were marked with a certain abbreviation on the side.

S.H.I.T.   or Ship High in Transit.

I don't know if this is true but it seems like it makes sense.

Robert

According to snopes.com, that S.H.I.T story is load of crap. 

http://www.snopes.com/language/acronyms/shit.asp

[TX Golf]

Damn.... there went that theory. Woops. Well it made sense before this revelation.

[Jay Flemma]

I'll echo that sentiment about Vonnegut:  Sirens of Titan, Cat's Cradle, and Galapagos are marvelous.

Trivia question:  did you know the Grateful Dead's Music Publishing company was called Ice Nine Publishing? (That's in Cat's Cradle).

Wow, that's a lot of musical references in this thread - Talking Heads, Phish, the Grateful Dead, and Stepping in Shit (A dan jenkins favorite).

Jenkins:  "The band's name was stepping in shit.  They played two devastating thunderstorms and got off the stage..."

That's from Slim and None.

[TEPaul]

RobertW:

I love that etymology story of shit. Doesn't seem like someone would make something like that up without some basis in fact.