Gabfest: And Thereby Hangs A Tail

Cracks me up anytime!

 

I like FoxTrot comic strip!

 

@Iravati,

Water Boy is extra-cautious but even cheerleaders can be knocked down by the running back by sheer momentum outside the football field.

 

@Rihana

Backlog from “on lappy” posts. Foremost, this is no MAS post. I have been wanting to raise this point since I read Gauri's post in Watson thread. This is also not a perfunctory gratitude of my half crown in (Ira + Gauri)/2 formulation.

I have observed a singular trait in you that stands out. Rather than dissolve in the herd mentality of trite counsel, you pose a challenging voice to contest the practical aspects of any advice. Is that realistic? Is that worth? You muster a contrariety not to merely counterbalance an argument but arrive at a more, what's that word, heuristic solution to a problem. I like this quality in you. I don't know if you ever found it challenging to air nonconformist voice. I don't know if you ever landed in troubles. I don't know if such disposition has ever alienated you from the rest. It is heartening to see that tiny voice scuttle in the forums that represents a woman who is unafraid of the consequences of her defiant tone. You are graceful and eloquent. Being able to be graceful and eloquent and defiant at the same time is some mystic superimposition of style over construct over standing that not many can conjure up.

I usually end my unsolicited appraisals with “don't change a thing about you”. I don't know why I do that. May be I have grown fond of a certain way I perceive a person and want to retain that impression. In your case, don't change a thing about you because if you do, that rarity of a tiny voice here will be lost.

 

Also remember this?

The Jealous Letter, Muppets' Dr Bunsen Honeydew wrote to the Mars Rover Team!


Transcript:

THE Jim Henson COMPANY

TO: MARS ROVER MISSION TEAM
FR: Dr. Bunsen Honeydew & Beaker, MUPPET LABS

RE: CONGRATULATIONS!

Dear colleagues,

It is with mixed emotions that Muppet Labs offers you a hearty "congratulations" on the recent success of your Mars Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity. While we realize that your remarkable accomplishment is a really nifty thing for the entire scientific community, we at Muppet Labs Mars Exploration Team (MULMET) wanted to get there first! We were so close: a mere three weeks--give or take a 20 year margin of error--from launching our own Mars explorers.

Nonetheless, in the spirit of scientific camaraderie and with a promise that we'll-beat-you-next-time, Muppet Labs sends you and your team an enthusiastic "Well done, bucko!"

Scientifically yours,

(Signed, 'DR. BUNSEN HONEYDEW PHD ESQ.')

DR. BUNSEN HONEYDEW

PS: If you continue to have difficulties with the Spirit Rover, my assistant Beaker is happy to offer free roadside assistance on Mars, utilizing our new, thoroughly untested Interplanetary Coil-Powered Catapult...or as we at MULMET like to call it "The Spring Fling".

PPS: Meep-meep-meep-meep-MEEP-MEEP-MEEP-MEEP!!!!!! NOT!

(Signed, 'BEAKER')

 

#JustForLaughs

 

Well, I was struggling to find a different diminutive. Somehow "Ira" evokes in my mind an affable mensch shuffling along amiably in a pre-war shtetl, unaware of the menacing toothbrush mustache lying in wait outside. Doesn't quite fit our brazen hussy in short shorts, more devoted to prasad than to deity.

 

Hehe! Haven't heard that 'brazen hussy' in colloquial talk since the days of the Restoration literature or Sheridan writing about those pesky columbinas and soubrettes in comedy of manners foiling the entrapments of their masters. Funnily evocative to capture my free-spirited thrift shorts. Well, they are easy to wash and dry! If you stayed in a tiny flat, you would prefer all tiny clothes to dry up.

I like "Irav". Irav sounds Rurik but also has that Zapadniki to it. I finalized two names: Iravati and Melvina. Both can be foreshortened. But "Mel" was too chic. Abandoned it.

Also, the diminutive doesn't have to be a contiguous contraction, Iravati can also be contracted as "Iva". More options. But "Irav" whispers soft chutzpah. When I first saw you use "Irav", I was amused. A blend of masculine chutzpah with feminine tenderness.

By the way, which Ira of Nietzsche or Bellow, whose have you alluded to? Shtetl me.