With a hurf anf a durf and a plate full of beans April 21, 2008 8:07 AM   Subscribe


Yes "anf." It's an inside joke. You don't know enough about this place to get it. n00b.
posted by dersins at 8:10 AM on April 21, 2008


HURF DURF HURFER DURFER DURF DURF FURF HURF

BORK BORK BORK
posted by loquacious at 8:13 AM on April 21, 2008


If it's on projects, does it really need to be here?
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:14 AM on April 21, 2008


Ya know, we have a TF2 server for wasting time, cortex. Wouldn't you rather take a heavy out for walkies?

HURF DURF SCOUT RUSH
posted by cowbellemoo at 8:20 AM on April 21, 2008


Yes "anf."

HURF DURF AMPER SANDER

If it's on projects, does it really need to be here?

If Matt or Jess wants to close or nix this, I'm not gonna give 'em the stink-eye or anything, but I kind of like that the more navel-gazey mefi projects show up in Metatalk. I'm hopelessly partial to this one, of course.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:28 AM on April 21, 2008


Also, this is going to poison the hell out of the well, as far as follow-up research goes.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:30 AM on April 21, 2008


So it's a HURD DURF MEFI FILTER?

Fantastic. (I had no idea what this phrases origins were, so I'm doubly glad to see it.)
posted by quin at 8:30 AM on April 21, 2008


If it's on projects, does it really need to be here?

I don't think anybody actually reads projects, do they? I mean, I'm just about the most obsessive-compulsive REFRESH REFRESH REFRESH user of the blue and grey you can imagine, and, I only saw it because cortex is a contact and it showed up in my sidebar.
posted by dersins at 8:36 AM on April 21, 2008


Admirable research, but when does interest become obsession?
posted by Cranberry at 8:41 AM on April 21, 2008


What about listing usage by member? I know, I know, I ASK FOR TOO MUCH.
posted by exlotuseater at 8:42 AM on April 21, 2008


Does this mean I can remove refi from my bookmarks because it is dead?
posted by tellurian at 8:47 AM on April 21, 2008


hurf durf pony demander!
posted by rtha at 8:48 AM on April 21, 2008


I check Projects a lot, but I think I saw this on cortex's Twitter. I especially like it when the photo of me and plaid rabbit appears in the header bar on the HURF DURF post.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:55 AM on April 21, 2008


If it's on projects, does it really need to be here?

My first inclination was similar to this, but then I thought about how people bring stuff from Projects onto the front page of Metafilter, and since this insidey-joke thing is more appropriately posted here than there, there's really nothing to grouse about.
posted by Dave Faris at 8:55 AM on April 21, 2008


Psst, Cowbellmoo. There are some projects a few of us are anxiously awaiting.
posted by cashman at 8:57 AM on April 21, 2008


What about listing usage by member?

If I do a more data-driven approach to a followup, I could totally do that. As it is, there are a lot of one-off uses, a lot of folks who used it maybe two or three times, and a handful of more hardcore hurfonauts who have used it like a half-dozen times or so (jessamyn, in askme admin notes; prostyle, inline, to signify a dismissive caricature; klangklangston, often re: Dawkinsian Christian bashing; tehloki in a variety of ways including at least a few snowclone maneuvers).

I really enjoyed seeing how it would get mashed up with other memes, too; I'd like at some point to do a good (if slightly less back-breaking method of) survey of the LOLFOO meme, of stav's [NOT FOOIST] baby, and of some of the it-came-from-the-Internet adoptees like IN UR BASE and such. The capacity of folks here to flexibly and creatively reuse and repurpose language is one of the foundations of my love for Metafilter.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:58 AM on April 21, 2008 [1 favorite]


NOT LOLHURFDURFIST
posted by grouse at 9:03 AM on April 21, 2008


If it's on projects, does it really need to be here?

Nobody reads projects.
I found out about it via his Twitter, which linked to the blog post in question.
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 9:06 AM on April 21, 2008


hardcore hurfonauts

I now feel compelled to incorporate terms ending in "-onaut" as often as possible in my daily speech.
posted by the littlest brussels sprout at 9:11 AM on April 21, 2008


Ok, I'm ashamed of myself. I've never read projects. Probably because none of my projects (with the exception of research nobody reads and an even more boring blog) have an Internet presence.

Maybe I'll go check it out later...
posted by lleachie at 9:23 AM on April 21, 2008


I also want to just kind of underscore my appreciation for the syntactic bombshell that is 517's Hurf durf the-end-is-nigher. I probably wouldn't have clicked over into Must Do This mode in the last few weeks if not for that specific instance.

It's a complicated construction with a fantastic central ambiguity: it hews fairly close to what I describe in the intro to the index as the original "HURF DURF [object] [verb taking object +er]" form—in this case, it's actually "Hurf durf [hyphenated noun phrase as verb +er]", but the general heft of HURF DURF [obnoxious/unpleasant action taker] is preserved. And yet someone unfamiliar with the specific H-D meme could likely see the phrase "the-end-is-nigher" and analyze it as [the end] [is] [nigh-er] rather than [the-end-is-nigh] [+er]. Which is neat.
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:23 AM on April 21, 2008 [1 favorite]


you know, when un owen first said "HURF DURF BUTTEREATER" I just thought it was a kind of funny way to qualify insulting overweight people. Then, just a scant few weeks ago, we find out that it was actually something she was called over on POE because someone had revealed that she actually ate sticks of butter. and suddenly years of mefi history looked entirely different. just thought I'd share that.

HURF DURF REVISIONIST HISTORIER.
posted by shmegegge at 9:47 AM on April 21, 2008


I don't think anybody actually reads projects, do they?

Like Greg Nog said, Projects is great. I check it at least a few times a week. I never would have seen the cool Mars Tokyo's teeny theaters thing otherwise.
posted by cog_nate at 9:51 AM on April 21, 2008


man y'all need to take yer asthma medicine.
posted by not_on_display at 9:55 AM on April 21, 2008


What's the problem wif overlords?

:-(
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 10:01 AM on April 21, 2008 [2 favorites]


BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE MY AMPER SANDED.
posted by quonsar at 10:02 AM on April 21, 2008 [1 favorite]


I have this theory that the Internet is eating away the minutes of our lives, especially our prime years, in increasingly elaborate and depressing ways.

Maybe I'll write a 30,000 word manifesto on it and post it to Projects where approximately 6 people will read it.
posted by dgaicun at 10:04 AM on April 21, 2008 [4 favorites]


HURF *wheeze* DURF *wheeze* PROJECTS READER.
posted by cog_nate at 10:07 AM on April 21, 2008 [2 favorites]


*hurfs*
*durfs*
*nurfs*
posted by jonmc at 10:09 AM on April 21, 2008


Nobody reads projects.

Your mother reads projects.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 10:19 AM on April 21, 2008 [1 favorite]


Mmmm. SURFTURF.
posted by grateful at 10:21 AM on April 21, 2008


Nobody reads projects.

Hey man, the projects are rough...
posted by jonmc at 10:24 AM on April 21, 2008 [1 favorite]


turf dorf putter sweater
posted by iconomy at 10:33 AM on April 21, 2008 [3 favorites]


Nobody reads projects.

Your mother reads projects.


Your mother IS my project OH SNAP no he di-in!
posted by cashman at 10:43 AM on April 21, 2008 [1 favorite]


The original research performed for this project is flawed. My statements were misrepresented.
posted by Krrrlson at 10:44 AM on April 21, 2008


well played iconomy...
posted by Mister_A at 10:44 AM on April 21, 2008


I'd like to note that, while I have contributed mostly nothing of value to MetaFilter over the many years I've been here, it was MY FPP that spawned "overthinking a plate of beans". MINE. Suck it, beanthinkers.
posted by tristeza at 11:16 AM on April 21, 2008 [2 favorites]


You birthed a plate of beans?
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:42 AM on April 21, 2008


"hurf durf" almost *certainly* came here from PortalOfEvil.com, as it was already a cliche'd part of the lexicon (as tired as the stupid vibrate, pancake and bean jokes here) by the time u.n. owen, a POE hanger-on, came over here to implode.

I would go farther and probably attribute it to one of the sexsexworld crew; probably TEDA or jewboy, but the exact origins would obviously require more research.

Was it in use *before* POE and SSW? Probably, but POE and SSW gave it a history and method of use: as a prefix to some other tossed off insult. I'm sure it was POE/SSW which popularized its application before it made it's journey over here.

AND THAT'S ONE TO GROW ON.
posted by fishfucker at 11:46 AM on April 21, 2008 [1 favorite]


You know who reads Projects? People who post on Projects. People should read Projects more. And maybe post their projects. 'Cause then they'd read Projects for sure.

Project project project.
posted by Bookhouse at 11:51 AM on April 21, 2008


Yes, but has POE done this kind of SCIENCE?

I THINK NOT.
posted by scrump at 11:52 AM on April 21, 2008


In a strange little rhumba of irony, the article has now been linked by some brainless RSS-snarfing spamblog "specializing" in weight loss information. Way to be, internet.
posted by cortex (staff) at 12:11 PM on April 21, 2008


I bought one of those rhumba things, but it keeps getting stuck in the corner so I have to kick it out into the center of the carpet every few hours.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 12:23 PM on April 21, 2008


I'll bet the cats love it, though, right?
posted by dersins at 12:28 PM on April 21, 2008


I think Bookhouse is projecting.
posted by Faint of Butt at 12:32 PM on April 21, 2008 [2 favorites]


You know who reads Projects? People who post on Projects.

Wow. So it's just like small press?
posted by Artw at 12:48 PM on April 21, 2008


Man, I'll never get over that scene in The Exorcist where Linda Blair starts projectile projecting.
posted by cortex (staff) at 12:55 PM on April 21, 2008


I posted something to projects a while back, and then I spent the next several weeks reading projects. And I found a lot of really cool things. It was fun.

Then I stopped, by accident, and I didn't restart.

I'm hoping I come up with something else to post to projects soon, so that the cycle will begin again.
posted by Ms. Saint at 1:01 PM on April 21, 2008


1. If even Dave Faris can't grouch about this, it must be way cool ;-)
2. Cortex needs to get some kids, because he clearly has waaay too much time on his hands.
posted by dg at 1:46 PM on April 21, 2008


Imagine my horror when, upon loading the page, I was greeted with my own horrified gaze.

I was so re-horrified that there was nothing I could do but finally get around to creating the BBQ RSS feed on LiveJournal.
posted by Eideteker at 1:49 PM on April 21, 2008


It's really like something out of Lovecraft...

"He had at long last escaped his pursuers with the leatherbound tome intact. Breathless, he opened the purloined copy of Faces of Death to behold the secret. There, within the amassed photographs of many horrified faces, captured at the instant of their death, was his own countenance. And the horror on his face only increased as he realized his face now mirrored that in the book. It was in that moment when Death caught up with him."

posted by Eideteker at 1:56 PM on April 21, 2008


Nobody stares in stark terror from the headmast of a blog quite like you, is all. And since it's about fifty different images on random rotation, I can pretend that the when you show up on a page-load it's a brief and shocking moment of the outside world, taunting you before you're plunged back into the oubliette of the random number generator's whim.
posted by cortex (staff) at 1:57 PM on April 21, 2008


Heh. Robert Bloch did that story, except its wall paintings in an ancient Egyptian tomb instead of a book.
posted by Artw at 2:01 PM on April 21, 2008


Hurf durf meme repeater
posted by whir at 2:02 PM on April 21, 2008 [1 favorite]


MetaFilter: Hurf durf meme repeater
posted by UbuRoivas at 2:09 PM on April 21, 2008


I would go farther and probably attribute it to one of the sexsexworld crew; probably TEDA or jewboy, but the exact origins would obviously require more research.

Didn't SSW import it from Fat Chicks With Party Hats?

I thought the meme originally came from there before being popularized by SSW. If it's original to SSW then yeah, my guess would be The Explosive Diarrhea Avenger - although, you were a lot closer to all this stuff than I was.
posted by Ryvar at 3:42 PM on April 21, 2008


Didn't SSW import it from Fat Chicks With Party Hats?

oooh. that does sound like much more likely candidate. I had totally forgotten about fciph.
posted by fishfucker at 6:31 PM on April 21, 2008


I always thought it was Fat Sims in Party Hats.
posted by Eideteker at 7:01 PM on April 21, 2008


Metafilter: MetaFilter: Hurf durf meme repeater
posted by Rumple at 7:09 PM on April 21, 2008


Indeed, cortex, you are henceforth obliged to provide a etymological analysis of all memes on MeFi.

Get to work.

Man, I'll never get over that scene in The Exorcist where Linda Blair starts projectile projecting.

Projectile projecting memes? I wonder if that's what inspired meme-shitting goatse and the ROFLcopter? There may be some royalties to be had, Linda. Call your agent.

Faint of Butt totally stole my projecting call. By over six hours.

You win this round.

posted by cosmonik at 7:26 PM on April 21, 2008


Epic.
posted by kindall at 10:25 PM on April 21, 2008


Wow. Maybe I should check out projects more often.
posted by eclectist at 11:56 PM on April 21, 2008


I would go farther and probably attribute it to one of the sexsexworld crew; probably TEDA or jewboy, but the exact origins would obviously require more research.

Pretty sure it came out of the SA Forums, as so much used to before they took their precipitous plunge into irrelevance.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 12:15 AM on April 22, 2008


Fat Chicks in Party Hats had a lot of things to say about butter eaters, but I don't think there was any hurf durf, which is the real investigative challenge.
posted by team lowkey at 12:34 AM on April 22, 2008


I clicked on joshmillard.com eleventyhundred times and didn't get an Eideteker headeteker. I cry foul. FOUL.
posted by taz at 12:48 AM on April 22, 2008


Blocked at work because "sex" is filtered. Is this some kind of Last Tango in Paris butter related activity?
posted by Sparx at 2:51 AM on April 22, 2008


"Blocked at work because sex is filtered"

Imagine hearing that line... oh, 20 or 30 years ago.
posted by taz at 3:04 AM on April 22, 2008


HURF DURF BUTTER BRANDO would be a great band name.
posted by taz at 3:05 AM on April 22, 2008 [1 favorite]


Yeah, apparently Websense specifically thinks my blog is too sexy. It probably thinks the Sahel is too damp, too.
posted by cortex (staff) at 6:24 AM on April 22, 2008


Pretty sure it came out of the SA Forums,

I think that might be somewhat unlikely. POE was already a pretty large community by the time Something Awful started in 1999, and I don't recall much forum activity at the very beginning. Heck, I heard very little about SA Forums until at least 2000, 2001. I recall the POE forums as existing in 1998, and the wayback machine has posts from August 99.

FCIPH was already a POE mainstay by the end of 99.

This post (via google cache) suggests SA Forums did not start until Oct 99.

That said, 'hurf durf' usage DOES appear to be mostly from SA. HURF BLURF or various HURF modifiers seem to have been in use from at least 2000 on POE. So it's quite possible the general HURF BLURF etc came via FCIPH to the POE forums, then to SA, where it was canonized as HURF DURF, finally infecting metafilter in what, 2004?

Looking at it again, the oldest HURF BLURF reference i can find is via Jerkcity here, supposedly from 98. Later on it becomes HURF BLURF DUH which seems to be the POE usage.

it's quite possible that we're all wrong and it's a jerkcity ref.
posted by fishfucker at 11:30 AM on April 22, 2008


which, i should mention, is noted as a possible source on cortex's page.
posted by fishfucker at 11:32 AM on April 22, 2008


I feel pretty confident that people only ever read Jerk City because there was nothing else to read back then, webcomics-wise.
posted by shmegegge at 11:36 AM on April 22, 2008


metafilter: something awful wannabes.
posted by Dave Faris at 12:18 PM on April 22, 2008


I feel pretty confident that people only ever read Jerk City because there was nothing else to read back then, webcomics-wise.
posted by shmegegge at 2:36 PM on April 22


You would be wrong. Jerkcity is all that is best and worst of IRC chat around 3 or 4AM, blended and distilled. I know a LOT of people who would tell you the same.
posted by Ryvar at 1:08 PM on April 24, 2008


Pretty sure it came out of the SA Forums, as so much used to before they took their precipitous plunge into irrelevance.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 3:15 AM on April 22


Nah, sorry. Fishfucker pretty much nails it: POE largely predates SA and along with its satellite communities originated far more memes of this sort than most people realize. SA's great and all, but people mistake popularizing the modern phenomenon of transgressively humored memes for originating it.

I guess what I'm trying to say here is that I was sick of that band before you ever heard of them.
posted by Ryvar at 1:12 PM on April 24, 2008


To continue that derail a little bit, I've often wondered whether 4chan gets credit for originating so many memes simply because nobody can stand to actually read it and verify whether their claims are true or not.
posted by whir at 9:09 PM on April 24, 2008 [1 favorite]


Related research, hot off the presses: on the verbing of Metafilter.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:41 PM on May 5, 2008


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