Page 12 of 17

Re: Teach Dalty American!

Posted: August 19th, 2016, 5:29 am
by Dalty
I prefer to burn them, hopefully in front of homeless orphans, while cackling maniacally before building a road through their community centre.

Re: Teach Dalty American!

Posted: August 19th, 2016, 6:07 am
by The Swollen Goiter of God
Typical Moneybags.

Re: Teach Dalty American!

Posted: August 19th, 2016, 7:41 am
by Dalty
No, typical Moneybags would pay his henchman to rough them up a bit.

Re: Teach Dalty American!

Posted: August 19th, 2016, 9:14 am
by The Swollen Goiter of God
I just assumed that was part of it.

Re: Teach Dalty American!

Posted: August 19th, 2016, 9:31 am
by Dalty
Only with the extra "Cruelty" package.

Re: Teach Dalty American!

Posted: August 19th, 2016, 9:46 am
by The Swollen Goiter of God
Extra? It's not standard-issue Moneybags? Disappointing.

Re: Teach Dalty American!

Posted: August 19th, 2016, 9:58 am
by Dalty
It's OK. I can afford additional evil.

Re: Teach Dalty American!

Posted: August 20th, 2016, 8:44 pm
by neglet
Mal Shot First wrote:
Dalty wrote:When you guys go to parties, why do you always drink out of red plastic cups?
They're blue sometimes. ;)

To answer your question, it makes clean-up a hell of a lot easier after a bit party. You just toss all those cups out.
Also, you can write your name on it with a Sharpie, so you don't lose track of your drink.

Re: Teach Dalty American!

Posted: September 4th, 2016, 4:59 pm
by Scotia
Excellent question. The red solo cup was a real head scratcher for me. I only heard about it through that God awful song. I tend to bring my own glass to the party. Or my own bottle.

I like to share.

Re: Teach Dalty American!

Posted: September 5th, 2016, 1:28 am
by Dalty
Also, if you turned up to a party over here with the pitiful amount of booze portrayed over there in movies and TV shows then you would be asked to leave!

Re: Teach Dalty American!

Posted: September 6th, 2016, 6:35 pm
by Scotia
Dalty wrote:Also, if you turned up to a party over here with the pitiful amount of booze portrayed over there in movies and TV shows then you would be asked to leave!
Word

Re: Teach Dalty American!

Posted: September 6th, 2016, 8:14 pm
by Mal Shot First
If you turned me away because I didn't bring ridiculous amounts of booze to your party, chances are I wouldn't want to attend your party in the first place.

A six-pack is a perfectly reasonable amount to bring. Maybe a case if it's something cheap like Bud Light.

Re: Teach Dalty American!

Posted: September 6th, 2016, 9:14 pm
by The Swollen Goiter of God
How about if I show up with nothing and just drink my own spit while I'm there? Fuckin' alkies.

Re: Teach Dalty American!

Posted: September 7th, 2016, 3:24 am
by Dalty
Had you pre-loaded?

Re: Teach Dalty American!

Posted: September 7th, 2016, 5:14 am
by Mal Shot First
Goiter comes pre-loaded with Windows XP.

Re: Teach Dalty American!

Posted: September 7th, 2016, 5:58 am
by The Swollen Goiter of God
And plenty of D&D HP.

Re: Teach Dalty American!

Posted: September 18th, 2016, 11:07 am
by Dalty
What is with that naming convention over there when people don't use their first name, just an initial?

M. Emmett Walsh
J. Michael Strazinsky
J. Miles Badge.

Etc etc.

Re: Teach Dalty American!

Posted: September 18th, 2016, 11:01 pm
by The Swollen Goiter of God
I might ask the same question of the similar British naming convention. Why do so many British writers use their first two initials and follow that with their last name? I'm sure you can come up with at least five examples off the top of your head. (Note: a number of American writers followed suit, so I don't mean to suggest that this naming convention was entirely a British thing, historically.)

It happens a lot with writers, I've noticed. It may have started with F. Scott Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald grew up going by "Scott," so this makes sense. Also, his full name was Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald--a name that comes with some historical baggage. Also, maybe he didn't like the idea of people repeating his name aloud and others hearing "Frances," since they might have assumed he was a writer of dime romances. (Pretty sexist, but, then again, so's history.)

I can think of a number of reasons writers, specifically, might want to do this:
  1. A writer who has a gendered first name and a gender-neutral middle name or a middle name that suggests the opposite gender might choose to emphasize the middle name. It could be that this person feels doing this will help secure work. It could also be that this person doesn't want her/his writing to be tied to ideas of gender.
  2. The writer might have grown up being called by her/his middle name, and the writer may wish to emphasize this middle name by initialing the first name.
  3. The writer's first name may be identified heavily with a specific race or ethnicity, and the writer may wish to avoid being identified that way.
  4. There may already be a famous person with the same first name, and the writer may feel a shift of focus to the second name will help her/him forge something like a unique identity.
  5. The middle name may be more unique, and unique stands out, and things that stand out often sell better.
  6. The person may plain ol' dislike her/his first name.
  7. The writer may feel this helps her/him distinguish friends from fans. The writer may also feel that doing this is a way to be personal without being too personal. It's more personal than, say, P. D. James, but it's less personal than, say, Ford Madox Ford.
  8. Since it has become a popular naming convention, the writer may feel that such a change sounds more "distinguished" and/or "writerly." The writer may also feel it just sounds better.
  9. It could be the publisher's decision, and it could simply have to do with fonts and fitting names on the cover. The publisher may feel that Christophina Amy Montgomery's first and last names are too long to be written out in full on a book cover. They may feel "C. Amy Montgomery" works better.
  10. If this is, truly, a mostly American convention, and if most readers associate the convention strongly with Americans, the writer may opt to do it in order to be identified as an American. I suppose an American writer and a non-American writer could both choose to do this, though their reasons for doing it might not be the same.
  11. It could be a feeble attempt to be honest about the name and dishonest about it at the same time. It could be done to throw creditors off the scent.
The last one's unlikely. I just wanted to go to eleven.

Re: Teach Dalty American!

Posted: September 19th, 2016, 10:08 am
by Adam54
Dalty wrote:What is with that naming convention over there when people don't use their first name, just an initial?

M. Emmett Walsh
J. Michael Strazinsky
J. Miles Badge.

Etc etc.
It's meant to signify "I'm a giant douchebag and you should leave me alone" without crudely saying as much.

Re: Teach Dalty American!

Posted: September 19th, 2016, 11:07 am
by Dalty
F. Gary Gray

Re: Teach Dalty American!

Posted: September 19th, 2016, 11:16 am
by The Swollen Goiter of God
He's not so crazy about you, either.

Re: Teach Dalty American!

Posted: September 19th, 2016, 11:18 am
by Dalty
W. Oah Black Betty

Re: Teach Dalty American!

Posted: September 19th, 2016, 11:31 am
by The Swollen Goiter of God
Ol' B. Thomas Watkins likes going with the initial initial.

Re: Teach Dalty American!

Posted: September 19th, 2016, 11:44 am
by Dalty
B J Cummings is confused.

Re: Teach Dalty American!

Posted: September 19th, 2016, 11:45 am
by Mal Shot First
The Swollen Goiter of God wrote:He's not so crazy about you, either.
It would be pretty awesome if the F in F. Scott Fitzgerald stood for "Fucking."