I think "woo" may have originated either on Ben Goldacre's Bad Science blog, or on the associated forums.
It's a terribly useful term.
John Houghton #241
all the wonderful doctor words used to obfuscate meaning to lessen the impact
When my dentist told me I would have to have two wisdom teeth removed, he said "We'll get you into hospital, and they'll pop those out for you". When I quibbled, he did concede that "wrench" would be a better word than "pop".
I know I'm far from a frequent commenter here, but for whatever it's worth I agree with Anna @75.
My favourite is from Ben Goldacre:
Parmageddon
Zombies are us at our dullest. At least, the Romero/Pegg-Wright zombies are, and they're the only interesting zombies.
We are all zombie-like from time to time, just going through life oblivious to most of the world, mechanically satisfying our basic needs. The horror of the zombie is the horror of being like that all the time. And the satirical content of the zombie arises when our basic desires involve shopping malls or pubs.
You can see this illustrated in Shaun of the Dead, when Shaun goes to the corner shop for the second time - everyone around him has been turned into a zombie, and he doesn't notice because he's too wrapped up in his own narrow task of buying an ice cream cone. In that moment, he's as much a zombie as the actual monsters - the difference is, he is capable of being more than a zombie, they aren't.
Zombies don't need to be based on strong mind/body dualism. In Romero's Day of the Dead, a zombie is educated to have rudimentary social skills, while in Shaun of the Dead Shaun keeps his zombified best friend in the shed where they happily play computer games together.
We live in a technological civilisation that, wonderfully, allows us to satisfy basic needs very simply, with little thought or difficulty. The good side of that is that it allows us to create and enjoy incredibly sophisticated art and science. The bad side is that it allows us, if we choose, to become zombies. This is what makes zombies a particularly potent monster for our age.
If you do have flu, it's probably not a good idea to curl up on the sofa and watch Survivors.
Libertarianism and SF share a demographic of clever, introverted teenagers.
Watching McCain's concession speech now: he's a great deal more gracious than his supporters.
This is a wonderful result.
Wolf Blitzer is driving my wife to looking at LOLcats. Seriously, CNN has some fantastic computer graphics, presented via astonishingly shoddy camerawork. It's late night here, and I'm having a couple of ciders: what's these guy's excuse?
Turnout is absolutely the key to winning elections, and that's why I'm confident of an Obama victory. Not only is he an inspiring candidate, he has created a GOTV operation of astonishing proportions.
I'm watching this in Edinburgh with my wife. Neither of us can vote in this election, but we are both watching, nervous and hopeful for an Obama victory. There are millions like us tonight.
On overheard compliments:
I used to be a councillor on Cambridge City Council, and for the last two years I was Executive Councillor for Environmental Services. Which basically meant I had cabinet-type responsibility for every refuse bin and dog turd on every street in Cambridge. Regular meetings of the Council would always involve my opposite number, the opposition spokesman for the environment, trying to get one over on me in the question-and-answer session.
After one particular meeting, where we had sparred together all night but he hadn't managed to trip me up once, one of my colleagues was late leaving the building. She observed the opposition group in a huddle, and overheard my opposite number telling his friends "Coleman's a sly bastard".
It was the greatest compliment anyone ever paid me in politics, and I remember it fondly to this day.
The one that jumps out for me is "Paki", which should be in "UK Core", not "UK Additional". The official ranked list of offensive words in the context of British broadcasting is quoted here, with a link to the full report. It looks like a useful resource for your purposes. (I also second the recommendation of Roger's Profanisaurus.)
ethan @ 15:
The late Mr Bolan is involved only in a symbolic sense.
What about my forthcoming YA novel, "The True Beauty of T. Rex Buggery"? Your theory needs some work, I'd hazard.
I spent a few years as a tutor with the Open University. It was wonderful. All the students, regardless of ability, were motivated and interested: all were old enough that doing this particular course was a deliberate choice, and all were sacrificing time and money to be in my classroom. Best of all, never once did I hear the plaintive cry so familiar from traditional undergraduate tutorials: "Is this going to be in the exam?"
Seriously: If you want to teach people who want to learn, work for the OU.
Now wait for the next stage: this story, having appeared in a "legitimate" news source, can now be repeated in all other media without any further fact-checking or analysis. It's what Nick Davies calls "churnalism".
In fairness to Mr James, the most recent Doctor Who story to be shown before he wrote his column (and I think the one from which his quote comes, though I can't be sure) is The Seeds of Doom, a horrific gore-fest in which the Doctor is grim, ruthless, and quite uncharacteristically violent.
Firefly is Traveller plus cowboy hats and space whores. If Joss Whedon were one day to reveal that Firefly started as a write-up of a Traveller campaign he ran in a homebrew setting, nobody would be in the least surprised.
| Year | Number of comments posted |
|---|---|
| 2009 | 6 |
| 2008 | 17 |
| 2007 | 47 |
| 2006 | 7 |
| 2005 | 2 |
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