MeFi under siege

March 24, 2007 2:21 PM

Exactly why did this stay up on MeFi?
posted by allkindsoftime to MetaFilter-Related at 2:21 PM (62 comments total)

Like some of the commenters in the post, I'm thinking maybe I missed out on a joke or something...

This clearly violates criteria #2 for a good FPP.
posted by allkindsoftime at 2:23 PM on March 24, 2007

It didn't get much flaggery; it was Friday, and busy (I was on a plane, Matt's doing some extra-curricular stuff this weekend I think); and it seems more harmlessly weird and odd than outright bad. Don't worry, the internet will eventually get over our recent fancy for crushingly revealing (and or exquisitely faked) self-absorbed youtube-ish tellall teenage diaries. Until that day, this being a violation of criteria #2 is a matter of personal preference.

Basically, not everything that could conceivably be deleted gets deleted. And it wasn't exactly this, neh?
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:40 PM on March 24, 2007

Cautionary tale?
posted by owhydididoit at 2:44 PM on March 24, 2007

You know who else was under siege?
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 2:45 PM on March 24, 2007 [1 favorite]

I have a man-crush on cortex and I don't care who knows it.
posted by Dizzy at 2:47 PM on March 24, 2007

What cortex said. I was off reading a book and it never got an assload of flags.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 2:54 PM on March 24, 2007

In Canada an assload is known as a buttload.
posted by boo_radley at 2:57 PM on March 24, 2007

Man, we need an assload of flags indicator...

Something that tells us when we're approaching the assload threshold.

Jess: Do assload-threshold-violations trigger, say, an SMS message to your cell phone, so that you can respond immediately? With great power, etc.?
posted by disillusioned at 2:59 PM on March 24, 2007

an SMS message to your cell phone

cell phone?

In Canada your bacon is round. Nuff said.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 3:00 PM on March 24, 2007

Don't be coy, Jess. We know all about your cell phone.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 3:01 PM on March 24, 2007

I didn't say I knew how to WORK IT.

{twitterfucked!}
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 3:02 PM on March 24, 2007

"You know who else was under siege?"

Siegel, Joel?
posted by mr_crash_davis at 3:09 PM on March 24, 2007

I wasn't able to get the Twitter plugin for WordPress to work. And there's nobody I know who could possibly be interested in my hour-by-hour update of my doings. But something to that effect would be helpful on my blog. But it don't work.

Also, I sorta think your usericon on Twitter is unfortunate, jessamyn. I won't go into the reasons.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 3:11 PM on March 24, 2007

I sorta think your usericon on Twitter is unfortunate, jessamyn. I won't go into the reasons.

I change it every few weeks. Feel free to drop me an email and explain why you think it's unfortunate, this sort of coy "I've got a secret" nonsense is not to my liking.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 3:14 PM on March 24, 2007

twitter should be called tweaker. AMIRITE!?
posted by delmoi at 3:15 PM on March 24, 2007

Or named after that kid on South Park whose parents own the coffee shop.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 3:23 PM on March 24, 2007

Flags must be measured in metric fuckloads. [NOT EUROCENTRIC]
posted by Rhomboid at 3:29 PM on March 24, 2007

Don't be coy, Jess. We know all about your cell phone.
posted by terrapin at 4:43 PM on March 24, 2007

I demand to know why anything is allowed to remain.
posted by found missing at 5:13 PM on March 24, 2007

Man, we need an assload of flags indicator...Something that tells us when we're approaching the assload threshold.

Maybe the background of the post could turn ever more red as the flags accumulated?
posted by owhydididoit at 5:15 PM on March 24, 2007

OKAY FINE I DELETED EVERYTHING
posted by cortex (staff) at 5:21 PM on March 24, 2007 [4 favorites]

"You know who else was under siege?
Siegel, Joel?"

Ha - that's pretty funny, mr_crash_davis.

And jessamyn, this Canadian has never seen round bacon. From wikipedia: Canadian bacon, as in the American interpretation (Back Bacon) actually is rarely eaten by Canadians unless in fast food breakfast sandwiches from American chain restaurants. It seems like Canadian bacon is more American than Canadian.
posted by nelvana at 5:32 PM on March 24, 2007

See?

Not if you delete it twice. See?

nelvana -- I am sorry I think I am confusing my neighbors to the North with Australia.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 5:34 PM on March 24, 2007

Wow, Canadian Canadian bacon is even weirder than American Canadian bacon.
posted by owhydididoit at 5:36 PM on March 24, 2007

In the Canada I know and love, bacon is round, bub. And Canadians don't eat butter, we eat drippings. And margarine is grey, so it will not be confused with butter, which we do not eat.
posted by KokuRyu at 5:39 PM on March 24, 2007

Well, KokuRyu, I was just going to say something like you must be from some other part of Canada. But then I see you're 26 miles from me. I guess somehow I've just managed to avoid the round stuff. And yeah - I've never seen the Canadian Canadian stuff either. I must have lead a sheltered life.
posted by nelvana at 5:48 PM on March 24, 2007

Dammit, Jess, you killed my awesome pun.

AWESOME PUN.
posted by cortex (staff) at 5:50 PM on March 24, 2007

Actually, the only truthful thing I said was that margarine is gray, but that's only in Quebec, where the dairy board will not allow yellow food colouring to be added to it, for fear people will mistake margarine for butter.
posted by KokuRyu at 5:52 PM on March 24, 2007

(ok, colour me gullible ...)
posted by nelvana at 5:55 PM on March 24, 2007 [1 favorite]

Dammit, Jess, you killed my awesome pun.

I'm sorry, please feel free to put it back.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 5:55 PM on March 24, 2007

No! It's ruined now!

*slams bedroom door, blasts Journey*
posted by cortex (staff) at 5:56 PM on March 24, 2007

"Exactly why did this stay up on MeFi?"

Because we were waiting for YOU to see it!

As for Jessamyn's picture— It should be changed because it makes her look too much like my girlfriend, who is also a librarian and a MeFite.
posted by klangklangston at 6:03 PM on March 24, 2007

the dairy board will not allow yellow food colouring to be added to it, for fear people will mistake margarine for butter.

You'd think the fact that margarine says "margarine" on the tub and tastes like a metric assload of ass would be sufficient.
posted by oneirodynia at 6:18 PM on March 24, 2007

Oh, and is it Petty Callout Week on MeTa? Cause it sure seems like it.
posted by oneirodynia at 6:20 PM on March 24, 2007

a metric assload of ass

Or, more formally, a metric ass²load.
posted by cortex (staff) at 6:30 PM on March 24, 2007

Exactly why did this stay up on MeFi?

daxflame
posted by Mr. President Dr. Steve Elvis America at 6:33 PM on March 24, 2007

...where the dairy board will not allow yellow food colouring to be added to it, for fear people will mistake margarine for butter.

Yellow margarine is under siege.
posted by CKmtl at 6:40 PM on March 24, 2007

Agriculture Department inspectors swooped down on four Wal-Mart stores in the Quebec City area yesterday and seized 72 plastic tubs of yellow Becel margarine with an estimated street value of $179.28.

estimated street value?
posted by found missing at 6:48 PM on March 24, 2007

it's obvious that in quebec there is no margarine for error
posted by pyramid termite at 6:49 PM on March 24, 2007 [2 favorites]

You know what will blow your mind, maaan? Take a huuuge bong rip and hit play on ALL THE CUTS AT THE SAME TIME.

Seriously fucked up, man. I'll give you a couple of Devil Dogs at lunch period to whoever can last the longest, man.
posted by plaidrabbit at 9:13 PM on March 24, 2007

I have also never seen round bacon. Unless it's on the hoof, I guess.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 9:47 PM on March 24, 2007

Then again I'd never heard anyone actually say 'aboot' until an As It Happens interview a couple of weeks ago with a Canadian soldier back from Afghanistan.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 9:49 PM on March 24, 2007

"Then again I'd never heard anyone actually say 'aboot' until an As It Happens interview a couple of weeks ago with a Canadian soldier back from Afghanistan."

Where's that languagehat light?

That's really strange. My experience with Canadians is that I misheard that diphthong as "oo" more with Ontarians than I did with people from BC. But if you've never (mis)heard that, then you hear (and speak) the diphthong natively. But if that's the case, then you shouldn't have heard this person that way. Doesn't make sense to me. Maybe it was just peculiar to that person. Alternatively, maybe he was screwing with people and actually saying "oo".

I've heard and read Canadians claiming that no one actually ends sentences with "eh". But I heard it when I was there. I think you guys just don't realize it.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 10:21 PM on March 24, 2007

Okay, eh, me and my brother Doug are gonna talk about... hey, what're we gonna talk about today, Doug? Like, what's today's topic, eh?

Okay, like, if you buy regular bacon, it's like a big long strip, eh? But if you buy back bacon, it's all round, eh? But like Americans call back bacon "Canadian bacon" even though we don't really eat it all that much, eh? What a buncha hosers!
posted by arto at 10:22 PM on March 24, 2007

"Eh" and peameal bacon are both regional things. I grew up in Calgary where, really, NO ONE said "eh" unless they'd migrated from points east, where you do sometimes hear the "eh." Peameal bacon (totally different from standard back bacon, which is more like ham) is like the municipal food of Toronto, but it's really hard to find in Vancouver. (I've tried! Oh, how I miss you, peameal sandwiches!)
posted by SoftRain at 10:38 PM on March 24, 2007

Isn't a metric assload of ass just... one ass?
posted by nanojath at 10:55 PM on March 24, 2007

No, most normal asses are actually 0.001 SI ass. The normal usage of "an assload" is similar to the quotidian usage of "calorie" in this respect - really you mean a kiloassload, but to point it out in polite conversation is considered rude and pedantic.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 11:17 PM on March 24, 2007 [3 favorites]

I think you guys just don't realize it.

I make my living realizing and thinking about (and then teaching, if asked) these kinds of things, arguably more than ol' languagehat does (if, as I have understood he is indeed an editor).

Of course, I wasn't expecting the Spanish inquisition, I was just making a minor contextual funny (one based on an actual experience, mind you), so I typed 'oo' rather than attempt to identify the actual phoneme, which is of course, neither the monopthongal /u/ nor a dipthongal /oʊ/ or /aʊ/ but some bastardized freakish cheesehead [əʊ]-y tundra hybrid.

But I was going for pithiness over accuracy. My bad.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 12:10 AM on March 25, 2007

As a Canadian, I am more proud of our alveolar tongue flap - not a /t/, not a /d/, but something altogether magical and special... grab the Canadian nearest to you and listen to the middle consonant in "bottle".
posted by Meatbomb at 6:47 AM on March 26, 2007

I've heard and read Canadians claiming that no one actually ends sentences with "eh". But I heard it when I was there. I think you guys just don't realize it.

I agree. I live in BC and I hear "eh?" being used plenty.

"Aboot" seems to be an Easternism.

We say "bottle" and other such words oddly because we are veryfasttalkers. Using a /t/ takes far too long.
posted by five fresh fish at 9:24 AM on March 26, 2007

Meatbob---
I'm going to buy you ANYTHING YOU WANT for using "Alveolar Tongue Flap" in a sentence--- let's drink some IPA and discuss the IPA, bilabial clefts and other consonatal ephemera!
posted by Dizzy at 9:33 AM on March 26, 2007

As a Michiganian, we hear the Canadians all the time when they're oot and aboot. (The dark secret is that the distance from a Minnesota or North Dakota accent to a Canuck one is pretty slight).
And we had the local radio show Mickeys and Two-Fours to give us all our Canadian content.
posted by klangklangston at 10:43 AM on March 26, 2007

"Aboot" seems to be an Easternism.

Hmm.. I've always associated the strong 'aboot' with either Maritimers (not Newfies, they're more of an 'aboat' people), northern/western Ontario, or the prairies. Never heard it from Quebec anglophones.

Speaking of odd vowel habits... Is it only Quebec anglophones who pronounce Montreal as "Muntreal" as opposed to "Mawntreal"? For some reason, the latter really hurts my ears. I was once stuck in line behind two enthusiastic American travellers, waiting for a bus in the bowels of Port Authority in NYC, who kept saying 'Mawntreal' in almost every sentence. To pass the time, I busied myself imagining ways to inflict bodily harm upon them with my bus ticket.
posted by CKmtl at 12:46 PM on March 26, 2007

Worst of all is when they stress the first syllable. My Brooklynese grandma could always get a rise out of us by saying "Mawntreal."
posted by tangerine at 1:15 PM on March 26, 2007

You can get back bacon fairly easily in the Greater Vancouver area. You can also get regular (i.e. "long" bacon) without a problem. "Eh" is used a lot. I picked up the habit from one of my sisters-in-law, the mister rarely uses it. The mister's family is from Ontario. He doesn't say "aboot" but his younger brother does (he also now lives in BC, but hasn't been here as long as the mister). The younger brother also says "thee-ate-err". Weird.
posted by deborah at 2:38 PM on March 26, 2007

> monopthongal

I learned a neat new word today.
posted by jfuller at 2:45 PM on March 26, 2007

American: Go on, say. Say it!

Me: Say what?

American: Say "Out and about".

Me: Out and about.

American: HOO HA HAW HEE HEE HEE... "Ooooot and aboooot"! Haw haw haw [etc.]

Me: ?
posted by timeistight at 3:12 PM on March 26, 2007 [1 favorite]

As a dual citizen, I get to be annoyed with myself over matters such as these. It's great fun.
posted by Alterscape at 5:12 PM on March 26, 2007

tangerine: Worst of all is when they stress the first syllable. My Brooklynese grandma could always get a rise out of us by saying "Mawntreal."

Argh! That's exactly it.

"Tangerine" from the Moist song?
posted by CKmtl at 5:27 PM on March 26, 2007

I just wanted to say that I am ten kinds of surprised that somebody else has come up with/used the term "metric ass load."

I thought I was alone.

So, so alone.
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 7:30 PM on March 26, 2007

I just wanted to say that I am ten kinds of surprised that somebody else has come up with/used the term "metric ass load."

Actually, I think I also used that phrase in casual conversation fairly recently. It may have been "metric fuckload", however.
posted by Many bubbles at 11:59 PM on March 26, 2007

"Tangerine" from the Moist song?

Nope. Because I was eating one when I signed up.

If your experience was long enough ago, it might have been my grandma you heard. She took that bus up from Port Authority all the time. But she died fifteen-odd years ago.
posted by tangerine at 2:21 PM on March 28, 2007