It's a bird...

June 24, 2014 10:14 PM

YOUR EAGLE IS CALLED MEFI - A story of how I gave away a twitter handle to a football club in France because their badass eagle is now called Mèfi.
posted by mathowie (staff) to MetaFilter-Related at 10:14 PM (238 comments total)

C'est magnifique!
posted by ODiV at 10:22 PM on June 24, 2014

Lovely story, nice random act of kindness on your behalf, and those jerseys are way cool... but how do they pronounce Mefi?
posted by malibustacey9999 at 10:23 PM on June 24, 2014 [6 favorites]

I bet iamkimiam would love to know. What does mèfi mean in French anyway? The rough Google translation says "watch out" or "station you" which I guess probably means something like "danger?" It's weird no french user has ever brought this up before.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 10:26 PM on June 24, 2014 [4 favorites]

Today France, tomorrow the World Cup.
posted by Cranberry at 10:37 PM on June 24, 2014 [2 favorites]

Très bien, très jolie!
posted by Lynsey at 10:43 PM on June 24, 2014 [2 favorites]

The deputy mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, said this:

« Mefi, cela signifie fais gaffe. C’est original, car cela revient à dire que quand notre aigle arrive à l’Allianz Riviera, il fait passer un message. T’as pas intérêt à toucher à Nice, ni à mon équipe, un peu à la manière des All Blacks et de leur Haka »

My French is very rusty but I think that translates to, "Mefi, that means 'watch out!'. It's original, because that says when our eagle comes into the Allianz Riviera (stadium), it's got a message for you: You don't wanna mess with Nice, or our team! Kind of like the All-Blacks and their Haka."

(Watch out, be careful, look out, beware, you get the idea.)
posted by gingerest at 10:45 PM on June 24, 2014 [4 favorites]

So in English it means "en garde"?
posted by XMLicious at 10:47 PM on June 24, 2014 [50 favorites]

Mè like meh? Fi like fee?

The è is said like it is in chèvre, right?
posted by ODiV at 10:59 PM on June 24, 2014 [1 favorite]

I've always thought of mefi as more of a walrus.
posted by pwally at 11:03 PM on June 24, 2014 [6 favorites]

Well, "méfier" means "Beware".
posted by benito.strauss at 11:16 PM on June 24, 2014 [2 favorites]

I suck for not putting in the diacriticals. It's an accent aigu (méfi), not an accent grave (mèfi) - benito.strauss has it - and it's pronounced as it is in résumé.
posted by gingerest at 11:25 PM on June 24, 2014

There was a French film in the 80s, "Baxter", about a sociopathic dog. The line on the movie posters was "Méfiez-vous du chien qui pense." - "Beware of a dog who thinks." That's what it reminded me of.

I have no idea of the accent being grave instead of acute ('é' versus 'è') changes all that, but from the deputy mayor's statement it sounds like they're from the same root.
posted by benito.strauss at 11:27 PM on June 24, 2014 [2 favorites]

I've memailed fraula.
posted by benito.strauss at 11:34 PM on June 24, 2014

Yeah, fraula will know - as I look into it, I think there's a regional pronunciation (and, given the context, regional pride) thing going on here, and it's well over my head.
posted by gingerest at 11:36 PM on June 24, 2014

Yeah, Wiktionary puts in the category of Occitan interjections, and Nice is about as far as you can get from Paris.
posted by benito.strauss at 11:42 PM on June 24, 2014

This is great. The only use I can find on Wikipedia is on Occitan Wikipedia, where it's used to warn someone who wants to make their own soap that lye is caustic and corrosive: Mèfi: l'idroxid de sòdi es caustic e corrosiu. Cal evitar lo contacte dirècte amb la pèl e los uèlhs.
posted by benito.strauss at 11:51 PM on June 24, 2014 [1 favorite]

ahhhhhhh it's not French.

It is an accent grave: cf. their own site. It is pronounced like é (accent aïgu), however.

It's Niçois, which is a language (not a dialect as Wikipedia would have you very wrongly believe). Niçois is closely related to Occitan, Wikipedia has at least that much right.

This is not just "a soccer team in Nice", the OGC Nice is the French premier league (Ligue 1) team from Nice. Think Portland Timbers oh hai yes I'm still Oregonian teehee.

The contest to name the eagle had been up on our trams and football shop signs until very recently, really fun to learn about the new name from MeFi :) Oregon (Matt) and MeFi and Nice and football and symbolism and language all coming together, whee!

The eagle is one of two symbols of Nice, the other being la ratapignata (self-link, one I'm somewhat internet famous for). It starts with some Niçois, then I go into Nice's history and the deeper meanings behind the two symbols there, if you're curious about the eagle. benito.strauss' MeMail had the subject "le signal de chauve-souris" so I thought it was a MeFi member telling me there was another post about bats... :)

I'm going to have fun sending this to my friends. My apartment in Nice is a few hundred yards from the old stadium, which was retired only last year. Naming the eagle is part of continuing efforts to promote the brand-new stadium.
posted by fraula at 12:10 AM on June 25, 2014 [87 favorites]

The French Connection! I knew there must be one.

The shirts are awesome, you can wear them while watching the US qualify for the knockout stages tomorrow when you beat Germany (man Klinnsman would love that!)
posted by marienbad at 12:12 AM on June 25, 2014

Not everything is valued in dollars and cents (or euros et cents), hal. They got it because Matt H is tickled by their tough eagle's shared name.
posted by gingerest at 12:14 AM on June 25, 2014 [13 favorites]

I didn't want to burst Matt's bubble but hal_c_on does have a point.

As part of the brand-new stadium promotions, this is a thing with corporate backing. The stadium itself has been criticized by Niçois because it's a soulless corporate behemoth that's hard to get to from Nice, but easy to get to from the airport, as opposed to the old stadium that was in a central, middle-class part of town and only two or three kilometers from most of the city, but a trek from the international airport. Naming the eagle was one of the corporate attempts to brush over popular anger at it and encourage more people in Nice to attend.
posted by fraula at 12:16 AM on June 25, 2014 [2 favorites]

Right, obviously we need to hold a meetup there to see the eagle soar.
posted by MartinWisse at 12:51 AM on June 25, 2014

This is great nice!

(I'm never going to finish this damn dissertation though...well over the word count and the possibilities for MeFi keep coming. Who knew so much could be said about one little word?)
posted by iamkimiam at 1:23 AM on June 25, 2014 [6 favorites]

Betcha Colbert is pissed.
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 1:27 AM on June 25, 2014 [2 favorites]

eh, I quite like that profit isn't priority #1 around here. Squatting domains/desirable accounts intentionally to make cash is some no-good, shitty behavior; who wants to throw in with that, even unintentionally?

Besides, 100k is... pretty unlikely. Unless twitter makes an exception (as they have a few times in the past for some big name stuff, but seem to actively discourage in general), it is flat out against their ToS, which would make it a pretty questionable purchase at any notable price. I'm sure they'd just grab "mefiteam" or something and move on if mathowie played hardball, and nobody would be happy.
posted by cj_ at 2:47 AM on June 25, 2014 [12 favorites]

Thanks for helping me pick my Ligue 1 team! There was going to be a few scary hours in the fall when I wouldn't be able to watch soccer.

Now let's hope the eagle doesn't bite anybody.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 3:34 AM on June 25, 2014 [5 favorites]

Also, note that the 3rd kit for the 13/14 season was a particular shade of blue. Because it's a last season jersey, you can probably find one somewhere cheap. You can also pick up a scarf to hold up at meetups.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 3:41 AM on June 25, 2014

Fraula: It is an accent grave: cf. their own site. It is pronounced like é (accent aïgu), however.

Goddamnit. I thought for a second I had sound backing for my "meh-fee" pronounciation.
posted by greenish at 4:09 AM on June 25, 2014 [3 favorites]

"eh, I quite like that profit isn't priority #1 around here."
This is one of the reasons we can have nice things. I think it demonstrates why we can pretty much trust Matt not to sell out - even when he's in a bit of a pinch and the pickings are easy.
posted by klarck at 4:27 AM on June 25, 2014 [10 favorites]

klarck: This is one of the reasons we can have nice things. I think it demonstrates why we can pretty much trust Matt not to sell out - even when he's in a bit of a pinch and the pickings are easy.

I totally understand this sentiment and appreciate a lot of the ways Matt runs things around here, but charging a massive corporation for an in-demand Twitter handle would not be selling out in any way. There are business decisions that need to be made in order to keep what's important around here running or you risk having nothing at all, and this could have been an easy way to raise funds. As for Twitter's ToS regarding a transaction like this, I know a few people who have sold their Twitter accounts in the past with no issue at all, including one that went for 100k.
posted by gman at 5:08 AM on June 25, 2014 [4 favorites]

Not everything is a debate or a problem that needs to be solved. Not every cute story is a parable. Sometimes, a sports team's mascot's Twitter handle is just a sports team's mascot's Twitter handle.
posted by Etrigan at 5:23 AM on June 25, 2014 [10 favorites]

I think people second-guessing a kind action and being super-judgy about a choice mathowie decided to make is one of the reasons sometimes we can't have nice things. I mean, I get that we care a lot and have opinions but seriously, if you feel like you've done something nice because it tickles your fancy and you want to share that and everyone starts telling you why what you did was wrong why would you want to share anything with those people?

It really sucks when you try to share something that makes you feel good and get attacked for it.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 5:26 AM on June 25, 2014 [42 favorites]

Etrigan: Not everything is a debate or a problem that needs to be solved. Not every cute story is a parable. Sometimes, a sports team's mascot's Twitter handle is just a sports team's mascot's Twitter handle.

I'm pretty sure the financial situation and mod employment here is a current problem requiring as much help as possible.
posted by gman at 5:26 AM on June 25, 2014

I'm pretty sure the financial situation and mod employment here is a current problem requiring as much help as possible.

You don't get to make that decision on behalf of the guy who owns the site and the Twitter handle, though.
posted by Etrigan at 5:31 AM on June 25, 2014 [12 favorites]

No, I certainly don't. Obviously what I write here are just my opinions, in this case based on my own personal business experience of keeping things viable.
posted by gman at 5:35 AM on June 25, 2014

Hmm: Well, I think it's kooky story and it gave me a smile. Whenever people engage from a spirit of good heartedness and good intentions (which doesn't end up causing active harm to anyone else), I think they should be cheered.

Mathowie: Huzzah! Well done, sir.
posted by anitanita at 5:42 AM on June 25, 2014 [10 favorites]

It makes me extremely cranky when I write or build or otherwise make something for public consumption and people respond by asking me questions that are utterly tangential, without even offering a quick 'nice job' in passing or just mashing a 'like' button or something. Seriously cranky as shit†.

But I'm going to do that now, so I apologize in advance (but will also say 'nice job, Matt!' because that's just common goddamned courtesy).

What is the attraction of writing things on Medium? This is just the latest in a series of internet things that I just don't really get the point of, and whose relative popularity bewilders me. (As an aside: requiring Twitter or Facebook accounts to create an account at an entirely-other site? Not to put too fine a point on it, but fuck that.)

As far as I can tell, it's really very very bad at helping you find things rather than just stumble on them somehow, so it seems like getting the piece in front of more eyeballs can't be that much of a driver. It's nice-ish to look at, I guess, but no more so than (for example) Matt's own weblog. I suppose it makes sense for people who don't have their own sites (which I have to remind myself is the vast majority), but it seems like damn near every piece I read on Medium is written by somebody who already has their own site.

I mean, look, I still don't get Twitter, so I'm willing to accept that I've gotten so far into my dotage that there are Things I'm Just Never Going To Understand, but this is a serious question, not just me being sarcastic or wonderchickensian-contrary or whatever. I'm genuinely curious: why publish a piece at Medium when you have your own site?

(†I also get cranky when I try to do something nice and people get all up in my face because I didn't do it the way they wanted me to, so sympathies on the way this thread is going, Mr H. Although I do find myself forced to admit that talking about passing up (a notional) 10 grand a couple weeks after running a donation drive might be construed as a weeee bit off on the old tonal thing.)
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:42 AM on June 25, 2014 [5 favorites]

This is damn cool!

(And I cannot believe that I cannot believe that people are fucking cranky about this, or where matt wrote about it. Jesus. We are a cranky fucking people.)
posted by rtha at 5:45 AM on June 25, 2014 [12 favorites]

it was matthowie's name to sell or give away. whatever business experience you're drawing from, it's not running metafilter, so he's more qualified than any of us to make that decision. also, matthowie didn't run a donation drive - users of the site threw money at him while he kept saying that a donation drive wouldn't be happening. i shouldn't be surprised by the negative reactions (or who they're coming from) but maybe y'all can give it a rest.

i think this is super cool. thanks for sharing the story with us, matthowie.
posted by nadawi at 5:50 AM on June 25, 2014 [9 favorites]

Cool!
posted by OmieWise at 5:54 AM on June 25, 2014

or where matt wrote about it

As I said, I am genuinely curious, no more.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:56 AM on June 25, 2014

This is awesome and great. Good job, Matt!
posted by Rock Steady at 5:56 AM on June 25, 2014

This is why we can't have Nice's things.

Great story, Matt!
posted by the quidnunc kid at 5:58 AM on June 25, 2014 [56 favorites]

also, matthowie didn't run a donation drive

I beg to differ (not that it matters, really).
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:59 AM on June 25, 2014

Fair enough, stavros. medium is a new hotness, and I'm seeing a lot of established bloggers/writers/etc. putting stuff there, so...sure why not there, is what I thought when I saw that's where matt's piece was.
posted by rtha at 5:59 AM on June 25, 2014

I would have asked for an egg.

And then made a sandwich.

Not from the egg, what kind of shortsighted dumbass bastard do you think I am?

No, I would have kept that thing warm and nurtured it and when it hatched I'd have fed the baby eagle until it became something that could take down small deer or unaccompanied children. I would have named her Griselda Gunderson (mostly because I own the domain name). Then I would hook a GoPro to her and hunt with her and make a sandwich out of whatever she brought back to me, her rightful lord and master! Then I would have posted that video to the internet and wrote the story about it on Medium and made millions and eaten my sandwich.

Eventually she would lay more eggs and I would raise those as well, and when the time was right, I would use my eagle army to take over the world (except for Kentucky, I have no interest in Kentucky).

Jeesh, and matt gave it up for a jersey.
posted by cjorgensen at 6:01 AM on June 25, 2014 [6 favorites]

@tinabobina is actually available.
posted by mullacc at 6:04 AM on June 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

nadawi: it was matthowie's name to sell or give away. whatever business experience you're drawing from, it's not running metafilter, so he's more qualified than any of us to make that decision. also, matthowie didn't run a donation drive - users of the site threw money at him while he kept saying that a donation drive wouldn't be happening. i shouldn't be surprised by the negative reactions (or who they're coming from) but maybe y'all can give it a rest.

I'm drawing from approximately twenty-two years of running successful organizations, including four currently, which have weathered the 2008/2009 crisis quite nicely, all while not "selling out". You do what you have to do in order to offer the best product, while being fair to your staff and consumers. Sorry if I'm business-splaining.

As for the negative reaction and your lack of surprise as to who it's coming from, something similar can be said for your unrelenting blind support of all things mod.
posted by gman at 6:05 AM on June 25, 2014

your genuine curiosity is maybe better suited for an ask metafilter question. the answer is connected to how you don't get twitter though, since the place i see medium links the most is on twitter - so maybe you're having a hard time finding things on medium, but i don't know that that is a shared problem.

also, beg all you want - the fact of the matter is that members dug up the old donation links and made it into a reoccurring donation system in the face of matthowie saying a donation drive wouldn't work. it wasn't driven or started by him. something he explained in another medium post. if anything, he accepted a donation drive in his honor and set shit up to make it easier after the fact.
posted by nadawi at 6:06 AM on June 25, 2014

i don't care about your bonafides or your splaining snark, gman. the fact still remains that matthowie didn't ask for your business help and is better equipped to make decisions for metafilter than any other person, no matter what their resume.

and lol at blind support.
posted by nadawi at 6:09 AM on June 25, 2014 [14 favorites]

If you're trying to promote your l33t b1zness skillz, gman, you're not doing it very well.
posted by holgate at 6:10 AM on June 25, 2014 [2 favorites]

Probably the decent thing to do is to take whatever sniping people want to do out of what was intended to be a fun little thread. If you have an issue with someone or with the site, take it up privately or make your own MeTa post. It seems like a lot of people have some questions or concerns about how the site is run post-fundraising and rather than actually ask the questions directly, they just kind of obliquely bring them up in any vaguely-related MeTa.

More on point, if they made this sticker with a blue tint instead of red I would buy it immediately.
posted by Rock Steady at 6:10 AM on June 25, 2014 [8 favorites]

gman's entitled to think mathowie made a bad decision, and we're entitled to roll our eyes and think gman is being absurd if we want to, which me, I will, because accusations of brown-nosing? Such a silly thing to bring up.
posted by rtha at 6:14 AM on June 25, 2014 [6 favorites]

Jesus Christ. Matt does a goofy little nice thing and a couple jackholes have to take issue with it.

When someone does something or says something that a bunch of people like and for whatever reason you don't like, here's a sure-fire, two-step process you can use to handle it:

1) While you're sitting looking at your screen, roll your eyes.
2) Continue not being a dick on the Internet.

I'd patent this process, but I'm pretty sure I saw it somewhere else.

Good on ya, Matt.
posted by bondcliff at 6:18 AM on June 25, 2014 [3 favorites]

gman, switch to decaf, seriously.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:19 AM on June 25, 2014 [2 favorites]

French fourth division side Grenoble Foot 38, aka the "g-men," buy @gman twitter account for 10 million Euro
posted by the quidnunc kid at 6:20 AM on June 25, 2014 [16 favorites]

It's a nice story and I loved fraula's linguistic/cultural explication. Maybe she can become the official MeFi representative in the corporate box at home games?
posted by Dip Flash at 6:22 AM on June 25, 2014 [4 favorites]

also, beg all you want

Your aggression is misdirected. If you'd like to argue the issue further (although I don't really see the point), feel free to mefi-mail me.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:38 AM on June 25, 2014 [2 favorites]

I, for one, approve of our new MeFi Eagle Overlord.
posted by Atreides at 6:39 AM on June 25, 2014 [6 favorites]

This a a pretty dope hat as well. I'm digging the merch my new Ligue 1 team has for sale.
posted by Rock Steady at 6:39 AM on June 25, 2014

Thanks for the clarification fraula, I knew there had to be some angle on the language to explain why no French users had pointed out the nickname meant something like "danger", hearing it was a language from Nice makes a lot of sense.

On selling the name, keep in mind no one offered money, the $10,000 number was plucked out of thin air while discussing it with friends as well as a few here coming up with 100,000 Euro as a price. Selling a twitter handle is against their Terms of Service (I have heard it happens infrequently, but I didn't feel like breaking those rules), which is why I didn't hire a business lawyer and start negotiating. I was never going to use the Twitter handle again and thought the idea of a tweeting eagle was goofy enough to hand it over.

I published on Medium because it's a really nice editor. It never gets in the way when you're writing stuff and is great with displaying images. Try it out if you never have, the in-browser editing is really something else.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 6:40 AM on June 25, 2014 [36 favorites]

MetaFilter: Business Decisions.
posted by loquacious at 6:41 AM on June 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

What is the attraction of writing things on Medium?

Medium is like a TED Talk for agoraphobics: It makes experts seem "hip" and cranks seem legit, and you don't need to go out of your house: win/win/win.
posted by Slap*Happy at 6:41 AM on June 25, 2014 [5 favorites]

On behalf of myself and other MetaFilter Eagle Scouts, I support this.
posted by ColdChef at 6:51 AM on June 25, 2014 [10 favorites]

I love this story and this badass eagle!

I'm also pleasantly surprised no one has tried to buy/steal/blackmail me out of my three letter twitter handle yet.
posted by capricorn at 6:53 AM on June 25, 2014

For what it's worth, I liked the story enough that it finally got me off my butt to send in a donation. And I was one of the people lucky enough to get in for free! So you could say Matt made a little money off the deal (even though I was planning to donate eventually; just hadn't gotten around to it).
posted by TedW at 6:57 AM on June 25, 2014 [3 favorites]

On behalf of the dumbdumbs like myself that didn't take high school French and have no freaking idea what on Earth accent aïgu means, can someone please just tell me how this is actually pronounced?
posted by Rhomboid at 6:57 AM on June 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

I'm drawing from approximately twenty-two years of running successful organizations, including four currently, which have weathered the 2008/2009 crisis quite nicely, all while not "selling out".

I'm gonna need to see some certified documentation from the U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Being Hella Punk Division or I'm going to have to call bullshit on that one, sir.
posted by griphus at 6:58 AM on June 25, 2014 [13 favorites]

Pronounced like meh-FEE, I believe. At least, in Toulouse-accented French!
posted by rtha at 7:00 AM on June 25, 2014

FPP is a blatant self-link, poster should be banned.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:05 AM on June 25, 2014 [3 favorites]

griphus: I'm gonna need to see some certified documentation from the U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Being Hella Punk Division or I'm going to have to call bullshit on that one, sir.

I don't even understand this stupid comment, namely the "Being Hella Punk Division", but also the part about the U.S. Dept. of Commerce considering I'm a Canadian. And to be quite frank, it's not my concern whether you believe me or not, sir.
posted by gman at 7:10 AM on June 25, 2014

It's a fucking joke, jesus christ.
posted by elizardbits at 7:12 AM on June 25, 2014 [35 favorites]

And here I always thought business owners were known for being considerate and respectful.
posted by shakespeherian at 7:13 AM on June 25, 2014 [2 favorites]

MetaFilter pronunciation wars spread to other continents, languages: Obama declares @aïgu a "Terroir-ist" twitter account.
posted by the quidnunc kid at 7:14 AM on June 25, 2014 [10 favorites]

Everyone chill out, the investigation has been turned over to Moxy Früvous and they'll take it from here.
posted by griphus at 7:17 AM on June 25, 2014 [6 favorites]

I'd put one of those stickers on my car, but I'm too lazy to try to figure out if they'll ship to the US.

Well done, Matt.
posted by theora55 at 7:17 AM on June 25, 2014

gman? Decaf! Showerbeer! Unclench! Unbunch thine underwear! You're chafing!
posted by loquacious at 7:20 AM on June 25, 2014

I really wanna know what "showerbeer" is now - taking a shower in beer? Taking a beer into the shower with you?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:27 AM on June 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

IT'S FUCKING PRONOUNCED MEE-FIE YOU HEATHEN SCUM I'LL CUT YOU
posted by loquacious at 7:29 AM on June 25, 2014 [9 favorites]

EmpressCallipygos: I really wanna know what "showerbeer" is now - taking a shower in beer?

Think golden shower, but without the urine.
posted by gman at 7:30 AM on June 25, 2014

shower beers are amazing - yes, taking a beer in the shower with you. they're right up there with bath wine. for non-drinkers, shower iced coffees or just ice water, especially have a super hot day, are also divine.
posted by nadawi at 7:30 AM on June 25, 2014 [5 favorites]

Empress: Open ice cold beer, enter hot shower, relax like Frankie.
posted by loquacious at 7:32 AM on June 25, 2014 [5 favorites]

It makes experts seem "hip" and cranks seem legit

omg that's exactly what TED is and I just never realized it that way until now.
posted by kiltedtaco at 7:33 AM on June 25, 2014 [8 favorites]

Ice-cold beer? THIS I cannot abide. Beer should not be ice-cold. You can't taste anything that way.

LET'S FITE
posted by shakespeherian at 7:33 AM on June 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

Ahhh, that's why I didn't recognize it - my tastes run more towards "bathdaquiri".
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:34 AM on June 25, 2014 [12 favorites]

shower beers should be something clear and cheap - corona, mgd, etc. the sort of thing you want after mowing the lawn in texas in august. dark beers should always be not-cold.
posted by nadawi at 7:37 AM on June 25, 2014 [4 favorites]

Beer should NEVER be something clear and cheap. EVER. Full-stop. Life is too short. And shakespeherian is mostly correct, ales should be consumed in the range at which the yeast fermented, and NOT ice-cold. Lagers should be consumed at colder temperatures, but no beer should ever be ice-cold, unless it is crap beer, in which case, see my first sentence.
posted by terrapin at 7:42 AM on June 25, 2014 [2 favorites]

we would like three dollars each of your most recent wine
posted by griphus at 7:44 AM on June 25, 2014 [7 favorites]

The reason crap beers advise you to drink them ice cold ('Tap the Rockies!' et al.) is because then you can't taste how terrible they are.
posted by shakespeherian at 7:45 AM on June 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

my life is plenty long to take advantage of 30 packs of pbr for $16, especially for a shower beer. if it were a nice beer at the proper temperature it wouldn't work as a shower beer (and unless you are an expert at holding slippery bottles, shower beers should always be in cans).
posted by nadawi at 7:46 AM on June 25, 2014 [8 favorites]

The reason crap beers advise you to drink them ice cold

exactly. and it works really well.
posted by nadawi at 7:47 AM on June 25, 2014 [4 favorites]

Showerbeers are best when they're cheap American pilsners or lagers in a can, not a face full of skunkass IPA, which I frankly do like.

But no, you're looking for a nearly frozen budweiser, pacifico, red stripe/sessions, corona or even a coors and a shower hot enough to boil a crab in. Cold clear beer, hot shower. The beer will warm you goddamn nerds.

Stand in hot shower, sip beer, do nothing else. Just soak. Don't think, don't scrub. Sip cold beer before it warms. Soak. Sip. You may and will contemplate temperature difference, thermodynamics and the nature of entropy.

Resume normal shower ablutions if needed only after beer or beers is finished.

For particuarly trying cases, place extra beers outside shower in bucket of ice.
posted by loquacious at 7:49 AM on June 25, 2014 [18 favorites]

(and unless you are an expert at holding slippery bottles, shower beers should always be in cans)

Cans are better for beer anyway.
posted by shakespeherian at 7:49 AM on June 25, 2014

ugh now I just really, really want some seafood and a cold Modelo

screw this thread
posted by griphus at 7:50 AM on June 25, 2014 [9 favorites]

If you want cheap beer, brew it yourself. The Imperial IPA I brewed recently cost me 24¢ per 12oz serving.
posted by terrapin at 7:51 AM on June 25, 2014

From Eagles to Jerseys to Snark to Beer. What's coming up next, on Mefi, which is obviously prounounced Meh-Fee, unless you are some sort of deranged Satanist.
posted by marienbad at 7:52 AM on June 25, 2014 [2 favorites]

\m/

*bangs head, cuts marienbad real bad*
posted by loquacious at 7:56 AM on June 25, 2014 [4 favorites]

ugh now I just really, really want some seafood and a cold Modelo

Heh; it's only 11 am and I'm already thinking that I could really go for a bathdaquiri right now. When I get home I suppose.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:57 AM on June 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

If you want cheap beer, brew it yourself. The Imperial IPA I brewed recently cost me 24¢ per 12oz serving.

If you want cheap beer, steal it from strangers at outdoor patios
posted by shakespeherian at 7:59 AM on June 25, 2014 [6 favorites]

in an hour or so i'm going out for awesome shitty americanized mexican food. sadly i'm driving myself so no pitchers of margaritas or big ass beers for me today.
posted by nadawi at 8:00 AM on June 25, 2014

Forget the Money and the Medium, here's where you really blew it mathowie: eagles don't twitter, man, they have too much class. Eagles shriek.
posted by valetta at 8:03 AM on June 25, 2014

If anyone in the US takes the plunge and gets some of those stickers, hook a brother up. I'd love one.
posted by ColdChef at 8:18 AM on June 25, 2014 [7 favorites]

I like the turn this thread took.

I prefer shower coffee. We have a little shelf in our shower and the day I realized I could put my coffee cup there without it getting wet was a good day indeed.
posted by bondcliff at 8:22 AM on June 25, 2014 [4 favorites]

Actually, eagles kind of chirp.

/bird nerd
posted by gingerbeer at 8:25 AM on June 25, 2014 [13 favorites]

Fly, Mefi, Fly, on the road to victory,
Fight, Mefi, Fight, Score a header 1-2-3.
Hit em' low,
Hit him high,
And watch our Mefi fly.
Fly, Mefi, Fly, on the road to victory!

M-E-F-I, MEFI!
posted by Drinky Die at 8:25 AM on June 25, 2014 [2 favorites]

I gratefully accept that correction. It's kind of lost dramatic effect now, but literature must here give way to science. Eagles don't twitter, they chirp.
posted by valetta at 8:37 AM on June 25, 2014

> I loved fraula's linguistic/cultural explication. Maybe she can become the official MeFi representative in the corporate box at home games?

That would be sweet! Twitter's TOS won't let Matt charge for the account, but he can still call in favors, right?

Also, from fraula's description, it's something like may-fee, or sort of in between may-fee and meffy.

(I'm happy there's a whole city that pronounces MeFi the same weird way I do, though most of them have never heard of MetaFilter, and just my luck, fraula, notre seule MeFite niçoise, for all I know, probably calls the site "Mee-Fie".)
posted by nangar at 8:48 AM on June 25, 2014

my life is plenty long to take advantage of 30 packs of pbr for $16, especially for a shower beer

In context of the thread, this is probably the most life affirming thing I'll read today.

Out of context, oy.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 8:49 AM on June 25, 2014 [3 favorites]

I shed a single tear
posted by thelonius at 8:52 AM on June 25, 2014

I love thin, clear beers

I can only be swayed from this opinion by free beer sent to my house

A beer has to be pretty thin to fit in an envelope.
posted by GenjiandProust at 8:57 AM on June 25, 2014 [4 favorites]

MeFi alcohol wars claim thousands of victims: as insurgency bubbles and ferments revolution, Obama to send in troops to quench thirst for justice.
posted by the quidnunc kid at 8:58 AM on June 25, 2014 [10 favorites]

If you want cheap beer, steal it from strangers at outdoor patios
posted by shakespeherian

Have we learned nothing about free, unknown beers from this cautionary tale [warning within: potentially triggering to read a story about roofies, even though it worked out fine in this particular instance]?
Man, everybody but me on this conference call has a head cold and it is gross.
posted by Iris Gambol at 8:59 AM on June 25, 2014

I can only be swayed from this opinion by free beer sent to my house

Sure, and I hate single malts and it's going to take barrels and barrels to change my mind.
posted by Dr Dracator at 9:00 AM on June 25, 2014 [8 favorites]

I like really frigid, low-rent Mexican beer in the shower. Think Teacate - think Pacifico.
posted by ersatzkat at 9:17 AM on June 25, 2014 [4 favorites]

Upon re-read -- Oh, hey, the link in my comment above is to a funny Greg Nog anecdote [TL:DR; 24 pounds of honey?!], not some horrible thing. Sorry.
posted by Iris Gambol at 9:19 AM on June 25, 2014

Can I point out that this is the second animal to be named "mefi"?

The first showed up in this thread.

I like that they are both dinosaurs. What? Look at the eagle and tell me he's not a vicious little dinosaur.
posted by benito.strauss at 9:27 AM on June 25, 2014 [4 favorites]

Metafilter: Méfiez-Vous Who Enter Here
posted by Kabanos at 9:35 AM on June 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

I am reading this as I sit in a training conference. Thank you because I have learned more in this thread than in the last two hours here....and when I make it home I will be trying that shower beer thing....and would ask gman to do so as well (he may be right but evidently communication skills are not on the list of things to copy) ..... as a matter of fact we should have a group shower beer at 7 pm EST....with a toast to MeFi'
posted by OhSusannah at 9:40 AM on June 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

What kind of beverage goes with an electric fan and a damp washcloth on your forehead?

Also it's Meh-FEE the eagle and MEE-fye if you're on this website why isn't that obvious to everyone
posted by prize bull octorok at 9:41 AM on June 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

1. Homebrewing is only affordable if you don't count your time and the initial cost of all that equipment. I am speaking from experience. Also, boiling 5 gallons or more of liquid in my kitchen in the middle of summer? Not gonna happen. (What's that you say, buy an outdoor burner and do it outside, in the heat and the bugs? BTDT too, no thanks.)

2. The only thing worse than shitty beer are people who don't accept that sometimes a cheap american lager is the exact right beer for certain situations. Also I'm old and low ABV stuff is much easier on my body nowadays. A Schlitz or PBR is the PERFECT shower beer, or lawn-mowin' beer, or dive-bar-drinkin' beer.

3. Lookit shakes dropping all this beer knowledge all of a sudden, like he's some kinda expert. Pfft. (I kid, I kid, please send me beer or bring to the next meetup.)
posted by misskaz at 9:41 AM on June 25, 2014 [10 favorites]

Homebrewing is affordable only if you don't count the opportunity cost for all the time spent cleaning up, in my experience.
posted by The corpse in the library at 9:45 AM on June 25, 2014 [2 favorites]

I don't really like beer very much and I feel pretty okay about that.
posted by elizardbits at 9:52 AM on June 25, 2014 [3 favorites]

2. The only thing worse than shitty beer are people who don't accept that sometimes a cheap american lager is the exact right beer for certain situations. Also I'm old and low ABV stuff is much easier on my body nowadays. A Schlitz or PBR is the PERFECT shower beer, or lawn-mowin' beer, or dive-bar-drinkin' beer.

This. Not every occasion calls for a beer with 834 hops and 90% ABV.

I love me some good beers, but a cheap beer will do just dandy sometimes, too.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 9:56 AM on June 25, 2014

I'm homebrewing up something like that. Thinking about calling it "Evergreen" because my brewing process is just mixing grain alcohol with 840 varieties of hop extract...but that name makes it sound kind of like gin and I'm not a huge gin fan.
posted by Drinky Die at 9:59 AM on June 25, 2014

I hate beer generally but the greatest beer I ever drank was an ice cold "Natty Light" while soaking my blistered feet in a snowmelt stream in 100F/37C weather, after a 20 mile off-trail bushwhack hike across a mountain range a friend was trying to establish a new trail on. I'll never forget how great that tasted.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 10:01 AM on June 25, 2014 [11 favorites]

What kind of beverage goes with an electric fan and a damp washcloth on your forehead?

Oooh! I'd say either a Ramos Gin Fizz or Pimm's Cup.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:02 AM on June 25, 2014 [4 favorites]

I don't really like beer very much and I feel pretty okay about that.

And you gave me shit for never having seen The Goonies?
posted by bondcliff at 10:05 AM on June 25, 2014

God I'm so thirsty now.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 10:06 AM on June 25, 2014 [3 favorites]

3. Lookit shakes dropping all this beer knowledge all of a sudden, like he's some kinda expert. Pfft. (I kid, I kid, please send me beer or bring to the next meetup.)

Sure, what do you like?

the greatest beer I ever drank was an ice cold "Natty Light"

I forget where now but I recently read the results of a blind taste-test among people who Know Beer (like got their cicerone certificates, stuff like that) to find out what the best shitty beer was (PBR, Old Style, Michelob Ultra, etc.) and pretty much everyone thought Natty Light was the best of the bunch AND pretty much everyone was really embarrassed when they found out that that's what they'd picked.
posted by shakespeherian at 10:14 AM on June 25, 2014 [3 favorites]

FPP is a blatant self-link, poster should be banned.

No shit. What's the point of having a metatalk queue if anyone can just post their crap here. It's like no one has heard of projects!
posted by cjorgensen at 10:14 AM on June 25, 2014 [2 favorites]

There's some iced tea a couple threads over, MCMikeNamera.
posted by maryr at 10:16 AM on June 25, 2014 [4 favorites]

I think it was Jimmy Buffet who said, "The warmest beer I ever had was just cold enough." Sure some beers are better than others, but even the worst beer is still BEER.
posted by 724A at 10:17 AM on June 25, 2014

I drink a Natty Light every time I get my hair cut. FACT.
posted by eamondaly at 10:25 AM on June 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

I would have explored selling it at least a little, but I've also gotten over my shame about commerce (fundraising will do that to you).

But that doesn't mean I'd be a dick about it, or that I'd ever even appear to be a Cubs fan.
posted by klangklangston at 10:50 AM on June 25, 2014

hal_c_on, I think you're splitting hairs. I've also heard that Twitter has shut down accounts over big sales of accounts, which is why I avoided it.

I told them I've give them the account, and if they wanted to send me something in return, a couple jerseys would be nice, so it was optional on their end (they also got the account months ago, the jerseys just showed up by surprise yesterday).
posted by mathowie (staff) at 10:54 AM on June 25, 2014 [6 favorites]

But that IS what you did. You received 2 jerseys for a twitter username. I'd kinda suggest not publicizing that.

....are you saying this with a straight face?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:55 AM on June 25, 2014 [17 favorites]

Finding a source for that 3rd jersey that isn't 75 euros is proving harder than I thought.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 10:57 AM on June 25, 2014

Well Matt, if you're ever thinking about doing something thoughtful and generous with your own possessions ever again, please do check in with us first - we have literally thousands of threads' experience of being tedious, ignorant bores and we'd hate you to miss out on our irrelevant bullshit.
posted by the quidnunc kid at 11:22 AM on June 25, 2014 [104 favorites]

is there a word for laughing so hard you can't roll your eyes?
posted by nadawi at 11:40 AM on June 25, 2014 [13 favorites]

Homebrewing is about brewing as much as sewing is about sewing. Homebrewing = cleaning and sterilizing, and sewing = pinning and ironing.
posted by fiercecupcake at 11:50 AM on June 25, 2014 [11 favorites]

Not really clear on why it's great to support a team that decided to openly violate a rule against using live animals at games.

Before a recent league game against Paris St Germain however the eagle was made nervous by the capacity crowd and hid in the stadium roof. In a French Cup game against Monaco in February, the eagle perched on the crossbar.

posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 11:52 AM on June 25, 2014 [2 favorites]

The way I usually hear it is that brewing is 90% cleaning and 10% paperwork. (Homebrewing probably has less paperwork tho)
posted by shakespeherian at 12:00 PM on June 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

I guess within the bubble of metafilter, an accusation of "splitting hairs" is supposed to shut down the argument. But in the outside world, receiving a few hundred dollars worth of consideration for giving someone your twitter username would be a sale.

mathowie, I suggest contacting the mods and asking them to anonymize this post.
posted by dfan at 12:18 PM on June 25, 2014 [10 favorites]

Metafilter: Méfiez-Vous du plat du fèves.
posted by benito.strauss at 12:20 PM on June 25, 2014 [4 favorites]

FEVES SUR LA PLAT
posted by subbes at 12:22 PM on June 25, 2014

I, too, am in awe of this story. Just awe. I read it this morning and have kinda avoided thinking about it directly. The confluence of the enabling animal cruelty while the website is laying people off with a sort of dippy cavalier "eagles are badass" cowboy vibe really turns my stomach. It's been a good ride, folks. Have fun with your soon-to-be bankrupt website.
posted by BeerFilter at 1:16 PM on June 25, 2014

Great story. mathowie is a gentleman and a scholar.
posted by homunculus at 1:20 PM on June 25, 2014

Guess the eagle should have gone with Yo.
posted by Dr Dracator at 1:23 PM on June 25, 2014 [2 favorites]

Have fun with your soon-to-be bankrupt website.

You already buttoned, but...dude.
posted by rtha at 1:32 PM on June 25, 2014 [12 favorites]

And today's lesson is: You never can tell what will push people's buttons.
posted by neroli at 1:37 PM on June 25, 2014 [8 favorites]

This is like a classic contentious MetaTalk thread, but with subject matter chosen by random audience members at an improv show.
posted by prize bull octorok at 1:43 PM on June 25, 2014 [67 favorites]

I guess within the bubble of metafilter, an accusation of "splitting hairs" is supposed to shut down the argument

No, please go on for five more concern trolling comments about how demanding $10,000 and saying "hey if you want to send a couple jerseys my way feel free" is exactly the same thing in the imaginary Twitter court of law.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 1:52 PM on June 25, 2014 [32 favorites]

okay we'll need something capable of inspiring awe

A GLORIOUS, MAJESTIC EAGLE

okay now something everyone has trouble with

FINANCES

and an emotion

RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION
posted by griphus at 1:54 PM on June 25, 2014 [40 favorites]

enabling animal cruelty

I don't know how they treat the eagle, but every bird of prey I've seen on display at zoos, etc is taught to exhibit and display their natural instincts. This isn't an elephant on a bicycle, they take a bird out, let it fly high, bring out something that looks like their prey, the birds swoops back and gets a treat.

Sure, I wish it was a guy in a bird suit, because that'd be funnier, but on the giant continuum of animal cruelty, letting a bird fly around for a few minutes is pretty mild.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 1:54 PM on June 25, 2014 [9 favorites]

Hey, that hill over there looks pretty small and inconsequential but I MUST DIE ON IT.
posted by SpiffyRob at 1:55 PM on June 25, 2014 [11 favorites]

mathowie: Sure, I wish it was a guy in a bird suit, because that'd be funnier

Be careful what you wish for.
posted by Rock Steady at 1:57 PM on June 25, 2014 [5 favorites]

The Pelicans have the best mascot. It's exactly what I see in my nightmares every night.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 2:00 PM on June 25, 2014 [5 favorites]

pwally: "I've always thought of mefi as more of a walrus."

Me too
posted by I am the Walrus at 2:04 PM on June 25, 2014 [5 favorites]

Coming this summer, to a MeTa near you...

...on a site where snark was king, and the posters know how to showerbeer...

...the owner would dare to do something nice for Nice...and face the wrath of his users.

...now he must deal with drive-by snark! Threadshitting! Irrelevant bullshit! Irreverent bullshit!

...can he survive?

Metafilter: The Mefi Twitter Account: A Reckoning with Eagles!
posted by nubs at 2:06 PM on June 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

For maximum enjoyment of this thread, play this after every comment you read.
posted by prize bull octorok at 2:15 PM on June 25, 2014 [6 favorites]

For maximum enjoyment of this thread, play this after every comment you read.

Maximum enjoyment for whom? My cat just ran away in terror. Thanks a lot. Now I am seething with righteous indignation along with the rest of y'all. At least I'm not cowering under the bed like my cat probably is right now.

This thread is hilarious and made my day. I'm not actually angry!
posted by sockermom at 2:42 PM on June 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

The Pelicans have the best mascot. It's exactly what I see in my nightmares every night.

Pierre T. Pelican had reconstructive surgery. Still looks like a weird rooster.
posted by mullacc at 2:43 PM on June 25, 2014

Also it's Meh-FEE the eagle and MEE-fye if you're on this website why isn't that obvious to everyone

Until someone buys the eagle a membership, sure. Then it gets crazy.
posted by GenjiandProust at 2:46 PM on June 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

I'd put one of those stickers on my car, but I'm too lazy to try to figure out if they'll ship to the US.

It took me a minute, but they do ship to États-Unis!



...for €25. Um, anyone in for some bulk purchasing?
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 2:47 PM on June 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

Pretty sure the lesson here is go ahead and do neat things, but don't expect high-fives all around when you go bragging about 'em.

(But, in all seriousness, if a professional football club in the French Riviera contacts you out of the blue offering money, for the love of gosh talk them up.)
posted by Sys Rq at 2:52 PM on June 25, 2014

"Here's something kind of neat that happened" ≠ bragging
posted by Chrysostom at 2:55 PM on June 25, 2014

"Here's something kind of neat that happened to me" = bragging

(It is neat, though.)
posted by Sys Rq at 2:58 PM on June 25, 2014

I forget where now but I recently read the results of a blind taste-test among people who Know Beer (like got their cicerone certificates, stuff like that) to find out what the best shitty beer was (PBR, Old Style, Michelob Ultra, etc.) and pretty much everyone thought Natty Light was the best of the bunch AND pretty much everyone was really embarrassed when they found out that that's what they'd picked.

Any such taste-test is invalid if it did not include Grain Belt.
posted by Area Man at 2:59 PM on June 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

if a professional football club in the French Riviera contacts you out of the blue offering money

Which again, did not happen. There was never any talk of money and the rules at Twitter that selling accounts was forbidden was in the front of my mind.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 3:00 PM on June 25, 2014 [4 favorites]

Can't win. You didn't demand money: You must want this site to go bankrupt and you don't care about the people you had to lay off! You did demand mention....jerseys: You must want to risk the mighty anger of twitter for violating their TOS!

I vote you go for a bike ride and then have a shower beer.
posted by rtha at 3:04 PM on June 25, 2014 [11 favorites]

"Here's something kind of neat that happened to me" = bragging

Wow...that really sounds like a recipe for secretly resenting your friends ALL THE TIME.
posted by neroli at 3:10 PM on June 25, 2014 [12 favorites]

"Weirdest thing happened to me today. I was coming out of the office, and Patrick Stewart went by on a unicycle!"

"Christ, quit bragging already, you boastful jerk."
posted by Chrysostom at 3:14 PM on June 25, 2014 [12 favorites]

It's cruel to train Patrick Stewarts to ride on unicycles for our amusement.
posted by prize bull octorok at 3:37 PM on June 25, 2014 [21 favorites]

Eaglegoat. Goateagle.
posted by mudpuppie at 3:44 PM on June 25, 2014

"Here's something kind of neat that happened to me" = bragging

No.

"Here's something kind of neat that happened to me" = storytelling.

"Here's how much the awesome thing I did rocks and now you all know how much I rule for being so awesome that I did it" = bragging.

and while we're at it - "Here's how accepting a t-shirt means you sold your twitter handle and are gonna get kicked off the site by the Twitter gods" = totally kookoopants paranoia.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:50 PM on June 25, 2014 [2 favorites]

hal_c_on, you've been a big old grouch in MetaTalk lately. Your decision, so fine, whatever. But you're coming off as a big old grouchy grouch who grouches like the grouchiest grouch there ever was and it's kind of hard to take you seriously.
posted by mudpuppie at 3:54 PM on June 25, 2014 [14 favorites]

yeah dude maybe take a nap or something
posted by elizardbits at 3:55 PM on June 25, 2014 [10 favorites]

In all honestly, if Matt was the kind of guy who'd be all "A FOUR-LETTER TWITTER HANDLE IS A VALUABLE ASSET THAT MUST BE PROTECTED" I'd probably be way the hell less inclined to sign up for and donate to any kind of community weblog that he'd run.
posted by prize bull octorok at 3:56 PM on June 25, 2014 [13 favorites]

mathowie is spending this thread with his mouse cursor hovering over the "Burn It Down And Salt The Earth" button on the admin console.
posted by griphus at 3:57 PM on June 25, 2014 [13 favorites]

Sure paint what I said however you want.

If you look up the definition of concern trolling, you're doing exactly that. Telling me I am in imaginary legal danger.

you're off giving away stuff for free to MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR CORPORATIONS

Again, straight up selling a twitter account is NOT ALLOWED. They asked nicely, and I obliged.

If this has you so riled up, I can give you a refund on your donation.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 3:57 PM on June 25, 2014 [16 favorites]

Sure paint what I said however you want.

Holy shit, did you already forget where you said

I guess within the bubble of metafilter, an accusation of "splitting hairs" is supposed to shut down the argument.

And you started with

You know, looking them up, the team's current market value is fifty four million euros.
Thats like a hundred million dollars...and they got a 4 letter twitter username for free.

So are you just really forgetful or what, exactly? You are making much less sense than usual.
posted by rtha at 4:01 PM on June 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

Oh god what if the eagle's twitter feed turns out to be nothing but dumb off-color jokes and pictures of rodents he's eating for lunch
posted by prize bull octorok at 4:03 PM on June 25, 2014 [15 favorites]

Earlier today I was reading the three about the DirecTV commercials featuring horrifying life-sized marionettes, and thinking to myself,"This might be my favorite flavor of metafilter thread...this community is a lot of fun when the mood is 'universally appalled'." A goodish chunk short of outright offended, but still, you know, bugged. By something truly weird and offputting. That generates a lot of funny comments.

THIS thread on the other hand..."YOU WILL HEAR MY DISAPPROVAL, GODDAMNIT!" That's never a good time. Seeing it crop up in response to this story, of all things, is like a parody of metafilter.
posted by Ipsifendus at 4:06 PM on June 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

it's Meh-FEE the eagle

According to Fraula's explanation, it should be pronounced like an accent aïgu in French, so it should be "MAY-fee."
posted by ultraviolet catastrophe at 4:09 PM on June 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

are we being punked? have you been ashton kutcher all along, hal_c_on?
posted by nadawi at 4:16 PM on June 25, 2014 [2 favorites]

Hal, IINAD, IINYD, IIAHSSAHM (home schooling stay at home mom) so in the world of metafilter, I am qualified to comment on crazy. Turn off the computer dear and go take a walk. Here's a cookie. Now scoot.
posted by pearlybob at 4:47 PM on June 25, 2014 [4 favorites]

> I like this website.

Perhaps consider a different way of demonstrating that, please?
posted by gingerbeer at 4:51 PM on June 25, 2014 [11 favorites]

Did I ever tell you guys about how I was procrastinating while 16 hours into a grad school assignment on the Arizona Copper Strike? I contacted Vivid Pictures and pitched an idea for a movie. And they were like "Sure, send us a script for 'Pump'd'!. What followed was the procrastingest, dirtiest, filthiest and awesomest 4 hours on red bull, bitter orange extract, and dialogue that included the phrase "YOU JUST GOT PUMP'D!".

I think perhaps you should have avoided repeating that experiment 8 hours ago.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:56 PM on June 25, 2014

No matter what you may hear in the school yard, not all attention is good attention.
posted by gingerest at 5:08 PM on June 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

go hard or go home.

That is your choice, apparently, yes. I hope you pick the second one. I've rarely seen a MeTa with so many people gently urging someone to give it a rest. So, please, don't go hard.

It's kind of sultry out. Maybe go somewhere with AC and cold beer.
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:17 PM on June 25, 2014

go hard or go home.

Oh, put it away. Nobody wants to see your tough-guy-on-the-Internet tantrum. Go home.
posted by rtha at 5:30 PM on June 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

This is not just "a soccer team in Nice", the OGC Nice is the French premier league (Ligue 1) team from Nice.

OGC! They could easily have chosen some lower hanging fruit for their mascot.
posted by ignignokt at 5:53 PM on June 25, 2014

So many people think they are Hunter S. Thompson. So few are.
posted by benito.strauss at 6:05 PM on June 25, 2014 [4 favorites]

"go hard or go home."

I didn't realize that people still said this outside of Pride parades. I saw it printed on at least four busses at the LA Pride, tho.
posted by klangklangston at 6:13 PM on June 25, 2014 [2 favorites]

benito.strauss: "So many people think they are Hunter S. Thompson. So few are."

Just the one, I believe.
posted by Chrysostom at 6:17 PM on June 25, 2014 [3 favorites]

Okay, where are the eagle's drunken tweets? I hate twitter, but I want to see posts in french or niçoise about how much the eagle hates mice and seagulls, the feeelthy feeelthy things, may as well be english, and if that ref cards one more time, Mèfi will claw out his eyes because Mèfi is mighty.
posted by viggorlijah at 6:18 PM on June 25, 2014 [2 favorites]

And the eagle should be voiced by Carson from Downton Abbey in a stealth reprisal as his role as Deja Vu in Top Secret!
posted by robocop is bleeding at 6:45 PM on June 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

This post reminded me of learning about Wimbledon's Rufus the hawk a few days ago. A bit Pepsi Blue I suppose, but I thought it was pretty cool.
posted by misozaki at 6:58 PM on June 25, 2014

viggorlijah : "Okay, where are the eagle's drunken tweets? I hate twitter, but I want to see posts in french or niçoise about how much the eagle hates mice and seagulls, the feeelthy feeelthy things, may as well be english, and if that ref cards one more time, Mèfi will claw out his eyes because Mèfi is mighty."

Mèfi would probably get along well with birdrightsactivist.
posted by Lexica at 6:59 PM on June 25, 2014 [6 favorites]

yeah geez Matt where did you learn about selling twitter accounts, at bird school? which is for birds?
posted by NoraReed at 7:02 PM on June 25, 2014 [9 favorites]

But in the outside world, receiving a few hundred dollars worth of consideration for giving someone your twitter username would be a sale.

And nets you what? Last I looked Matt's not in the selling twitter handles business. A month ago no one was saying, "If only you could get real money for this twitter account you problems would be solved!"

If Matt was the kind of asshole that made an issue about things like this, I bet no one would have reached out and asked how they could help when the site had issues. They would be like, "Figure it out. Sell some shit."
posted by cjorgensen at 7:12 PM on June 25, 2014

A raptor with beer and yes, Rufus has a twitter account.
posted by unliteral at 7:17 PM on June 25, 2014 [3 favorites]

Is this where we sign up for our eagles? I have a rat in my backyard, and our local hawk is LAZY.
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 7:20 PM on June 25, 2014 [7 favorites]

Are the MèFi eagles trained to get along with cats? I can't accept one if it won't play nice with my cats.
posted by homunculus at 7:41 PM on June 25, 2014 [3 favorites]

So many people think they are Hunter S. Thompson. So few are.

Just the one, I believe.

And he only thought he was about half the time, too.
posted by Etrigan at 7:43 PM on June 25, 2014 [2 favorites]

Finally definitive proof that the only people who should be pronouncing it "Meh-fee" are The Frenchs.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 9:20 PM on June 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

It's great that that handle has been passed along, and nuts that mathowie copped flak for it.

(Hi Matt, If the price is right I'll buy one of those jerseys... *new can'o'worms*)
posted by Packed Lunch at 2:05 AM on June 26, 2014

Are the MèFi eagles trained to get along with cats? I can't accept one if it won't play nice with my cats.
Of course - in the same way cats just love to play with mice ...
posted by dg at 3:27 AM on June 26, 2014

prize bull octorok: Oh god what if the eagle's twitter feed turns out to be nothing but dumb off-color jokes and pictures of rodents he's eating for lunch

I'd expect to see a MetaFilter post about it. And I'd expect there to be a lot of discussion of how to interpret jokes from an eagle. Is it really that insensitive, or are eagles not able to understand nuances of modern times? After all, they are relatives of dinosaurs, with relatively small brains.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:17 AM on June 26, 2014 [1 favorite]

Flight and pronunciation. Le baptême de Mèfi, l'aigle niçois.

Because it is the start of a real verb (méfier, which connotates the idea of; be cautious, take caution, watch out, be aware) and sounds like the complete word (in some tenses, like méfie toi or je me méfie) it carries a hint of word play (verb nouning by naming a symbol of power) so pronunciation is obvious (although they do have an accent, like all regions).

Bit more flight footage. Mèfi : l'aigle de Nice
posted by phoque at 11:07 AM on June 26, 2014 [2 favorites]

ALLEZ LES MEFIS
posted by inertia at 11:58 AM on June 26, 2014

Metafilter's eagle is actually named Showerbeer.
posted by inertia at 12:06 PM on June 26, 2014 [3 favorites]

I got one free tshirt for letting Matt put my quote on some shirts. I knew I should have held out for €10,000.
posted by blue_beetle at 12:11 PM on June 26, 2014 [6 favorites]

"Flight and pronunciation. Le baptême de Mèfi, l'aigle niçois. "

Huh. I expected more of a may-fee, but it's closer to meh-fee.

Another thing the French are wrong about, I suppose.
posted by klangklangston at 12:51 PM on June 26, 2014

My dad went to Nice recently and he said he quite liked it.
posted by dng at 5:19 PM on June 26, 2014

Wait I messed that up
posted by dng at 5:19 PM on June 26, 2014 [1 favorite]

YOUR EAGLE IS CALLED SHOWERBEER
posted by Rock Steady at 6:45 PM on June 26, 2014 [17 favorites]

Wait, did I miss the part where they declawed and circumcised the eagle?
posted by bitter-girl.com at 9:41 PM on June 26, 2014 [1 favorite]

Rock Steady I just printed that and may frame it
posted by en forme de poire at 12:01 AM on June 27, 2014 [1 favorite]

Can I just say this whole idea of drinking beverages of any sort in the bathroom is really unpleasant to me? It reminds me of Kramer washing his dishes in the shower on Seinfeld.
posted by Rock Steady at 6:20 AM on June 27, 2014

This really is the quintessential MeTa thread. It has everything: sniping, snark, pedantry, concern trolling, a flameout, a food detail, custom illustrations, and an eagle.

Seriously, a great read to start my Friday morning. Thanks everyone. Excellent work.
posted by Aizkolari at 6:55 AM on June 27, 2014 [4 favorites]

It is just...the luxury edition has so much more eagle. It saddens me to think of us missing out.
posted by crush-onastick at 6:59 AM on June 27, 2014 [2 favorites]

EmpressCallipygos: I really wanna know what "showerbeer" is now - taking a shower in beer? Taking a beer into the shower with you?

gman: Think golden shower, but without the urine.

You're thinking of beershower. The order of the words matters in compound words.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:16 AM on June 27, 2014 [4 favorites]

Oh my god this thread.
posted by Sophie1 at 7:48 AM on June 27, 2014 [3 favorites]

I brought the pedantry.

That's what I'm known for. Throwing a party? I'll bring chicken salad — and pedantry!

What's my secret? Tarragon and a one-semester course in Logic.
posted by benito.strauss at 8:34 AM on June 27, 2014 [10 favorites]

Rock Steady, that was awesome.

Now that we're getting creative here, can somebody do a mashup of "Nice In Nice" and John Ashcroft singing "Let The Eagle Soar" so this thread can have the ultimate perfect theme song?
posted by prize bull octorok at 9:02 AM on June 27, 2014

This might be amusing to just me, but in the footage phoque linked to, they're playing the Red-tailed Hawk call over the stadium's PA system. Red-tail calls have long been substituted for Bald Eagle calls in American TV commercials and other patriotic displays because the our national bird's call sounds kind of whiny. And now it's apparently what all eagles sound like.

Can anyone ID Mèfi's species? Europe's got a bunch. (This article says Royal Eagle but that's not really a thing.) I'm guessing Golden Eagle, and if I'm right then the correct call is even more amusing.
posted by hydrophonic at 11:25 AM on June 27, 2014 [2 favorites]

Looks like a golden to me.
posted by gingerbeer at 3:28 PM on June 27, 2014

I am still boggling over how much fun it is to say "bathdaquiri."
posted by nebulawindphone at 6:17 PM on June 27, 2014 [2 favorites]

Oh my god this thread.

this shit is properly great, especially after all the assy fight metas we've had recently.

i actually burst the fuck out laughing several times.
posted by emptythought at 6:50 PM on June 27, 2014

You're thinking of beershower.

Looks like a golden to me.

tee hee I am 12
posted by en forme de poire at 6:52 PM on June 27, 2014 [3 favorites]

What's that noise? That high yelpy sound ... is the dog in the shower with us?
posted by valetta at 10:24 PM on June 27, 2014

...oh! and! especially since my brain insists on reparsing it as "bathdaquery," like it was "buggery" or "haberdashery" or "pottery" or "asshattery" or something, as in like "the practice, by implication somehow odd, quaint or deviant, of being a BATHDAQUE (q.v.)."
posted by nebulawindphone at 8:08 AM on June 28, 2014 [3 favorites]

"bathdaque" would be a great MeFi handle
posted by en forme de poire at 11:48 AM on June 28, 2014 [1 favorite]

When I read the medium post by Matt, I have to admit that the first thing that popped into my head was "what, and he didn't ask them for money?" Twitter TOS or not, that was my first thought after reading the post (and it was before I read this thread).

I wasn't going to say anything about how I found it weird, even though I did find it weird, because it's none of my business how Matt conducts himself in any part of his life.

This thread gave me the clarity I needed to really be able to express that in so many words. Just because I donate (a very small amount) on a monthly basis to Matt for MetaFilter doesn't mean that I get to tell him not to eat filet mignon or lobster. It doesn't mean that I get to tell him to get the supermarket-brand waffles. It doesn't mean that I can tell him to ban any user on MetaFilter. It doesn't mean that I can dictate any part of his life, whether to do with the site or not.

I don't know about anyone else here, but I donate to help defray costs and to help keep this amazing site running. Matt (and everyone else who's been affiliated with the site) has done an outstanding job over the nearly 13 years I've been hanging out here. Part of why I donated freely is because I trust Matt. I don't donate because I'm under the impression that it gives me any kind of say in the way the site is run or moderated, nor because I think I get to sit here and judge Matt in life.

We know that MetaFilter was hit hard by the Google algorithm update. We know it's been a difficult time. We know they've had to cut back on mods. As a community, we've banded together to help make a difference for this community, but the idea that we get to judge Matt or anyone affiliated with the site just because we donate(d) is pretty silly.

What we get from donating: The site itself! The feeling that we've done something that maybe made a difference! Stories about eagles named Mefi!

What we don't get: any say in anything Matt does or the right to judge him or second-guess his actions. Period.
posted by juliebug at 8:56 PM on June 28, 2014 [8 favorites]

I DEMAND THAT MATT GET THE SUPERMARKET BRAND WAFFLES

THE KIND WITH BLUEBERRIES

THEY'RE DELICIOUS
posted by NoraReed at 10:39 PM on June 28, 2014 [6 favorites]

I feel we would be wasting bathdaque with just a username - the bathdaques have the potential to be so much more, maybe an elite regiment in the Napoleonic wars with characteristically ridiculous pants, or followers of a decadent and obscure fad in the pre-revolutionary period.
posted by Dr Dracator at 4:39 AM on June 29, 2014 [4 favorites]

SURELY IT DEPENDS ON WHICH SUPERMARKET ONE IS AT
posted by The corpse in the library at 11:02 AM on June 29, 2014

Ooh, yeah, I could definitely go for some characteristically ridiculous pants.
posted by nebulawindphone at 7:38 PM on June 29, 2014 [1 favorite]