IntenseDebate - kateality

5 years ago @ Mark Reads - Mark Reads 'Thud!': Pa... · 1 reply · +1 points

I know my grandfather also had a book called something like The Bible Codex, which claimed that there were a lot of secret messages in the bible, I think? I poked at it when I was at his house one day as a teenager, so ~2000, and recall thinking the methodology seemed questionable.

5 years ago @ Mark Reads - Mark Reads 'A Hat Full... · 2 replies · +17 points

I come from a kind of weirdly isolated island culture that is so distrustful of outsiders that it has several terms to describe them, none of which have traditionally positive connotations - if you visited my hometown you'd be a CFA or Come From Away, and "friggin' mainlanders" is the kind of thing one mutters under one's breath when the federal government tries to tell you what to do - so I feel the Chalk and its distinction between strangers and "our Tiffany".

6 years ago @ Mark Reads - Mark Reads 'The Truth'... · 0 replies · +3 points

Totally understand - happens to me too. All good, on the same page, no harm done :)

6 years ago @ Mark Reads - Mark Reads 'The Truth'... · 2 replies · +4 points

If you didn't make it clear in the first comment, I appreciate that you have now.

What I read, and I may have been mistaken, is that you came to think lawyer jokes are funny because everyone you have ever known who became a lawyer was entirely without integrity.

I think I was also confused when you said that you had never really seen a portrayal of decent lawyers because there are hundreds of books, movies, and television shows about lawyers with complex lives, jobs, motivations and backstories.

I may have read too much into your comments; if that's the case, I'm sorry. My overarching point, and one on which it sounds like we agree, is that the stereotype is a bit tired, and certainly not broadly representative of a hugely varied profession. I wish Pratchett had challenged it (there is a character in a later book that I think would have been an excellent counterpoint to Slant, but who is not written as a lawyer).

6 years ago @ Mark Reads - Mark Reads 'The Truth'... · 4 replies · +10 points

I am sorry that the lawyers you know are also sucky people. And while I completely understand that for the vast majority of people, lawyer jokes are a form of comedy that punches up because it is a class/economic privilege category, it's jarring to see people say that they appreciate jokes about my entire profession being amoral and mystified about the very concept of integrity because of their experience with a couple of members.

6 years ago @ Mark Reads - Mark Reads 'The Truth'... · 6 replies · +9 points

I know lawyer jokes are a staple of all the things, but goodness do they get tiring after a while.

Slant embodies the stereotypical scheming, over-technical, condescending vision of a lawyer. But Pratchett doesn't do anything clever or subversive with this trope except to make the lawyer SO over-technical that he even got around being dead.

7 years ago @ Mark Reads - Mark Reads 'The Fifth ... · 1 reply · +5 points

The Town of Dildo, in Newfoundland, is also a good one.

7 years ago @ Mark Reads - Mark Reads 'Carpe Jugu... · 1 reply · +8 points

Pregnancy, and particularly breastfeeding do tend to increase cup size. That change is often permanent - much to the chagrin of mothers who had hoped to get back to their pre-baby bras.

7 years ago @ Mark Reads - Mark Reads 'The Last C... · 0 replies · +4 points

It is!

7 years ago @ Mark Reads - Mark Reads 'The Last C... · 2 replies · +12 points

So, I come from Newfoundland, which is one of those remote places that has a traditional local cuisine based both on whatever-can-be-found-that-is-edible and on preserved foods that could be brought over by ship. Some of these are excellent (like partridgeberry anything and bakeapple jam). Some of it is questionable (hard tack, or rock-hard bread that can survived an Atlantic crossing), and some of it is just weird (fish-and-brewis, which is salt cod and hard tack soaked until it gets mushy with some carrots and potatoes thrown in for good measure). Some of it is, to my mind, flat-out nasty (seal flipper pie, I'm looking at you).

Interestingly, in recent years a number of restaurants have gotten really excited about Newfoundland's local food, and there are a couple of truly world-class dining experiences to be had based on traditional foods (Raymond's, one of Canada's best restaurants, does a moose bolognese that is to die for). The fact that I quite enjoy the up-scale restauranteur interpretation has made me think about the class-based elements of my food preferences. But not hard enough to make me eat flipper pie again!

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