It's "The Guardian". October 14, 2015 10:51 AM Subscribe

Can we stop referring to "The Guardian" UK newspaper as "The Grauniad" or"slGrauniad"?

This joke is stale, let's give the newspaper a modicum of respect. Plus: stale.

posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome to Etiquette/Policy at 10:51 AM (480 comments total) 16 users marked this as a favorite

Yes, please.
posted by Wolfdog at 10:53 AM on October 14, 2015 [7 favorites]

Can someone memail me an explanation of the joke? Just out of curiosity?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:53 AM on October 14, 2015 [7 favorites]

The Guardian was reputed to have a high incidence of typographical errors. That's the joke.
posted by Wolfdog at 10:56 AM on October 14, 2015 [4 favorites]

It's an old joke. And at this point has I think for a lot of folks sort of crossed the blood-brain barrier and mutated from "joke" to "partly affectionate nickname", which probably explains in part its persistence.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:57 AM on October 14, 2015 [46 favorites]

No.
posted by MartinWisse at 11:01 AM on October 14, 2015 [49 favorites]

thank you thank you thank you

I sweartagod I actually considered opening a MeTa about this. The grauniad/slGrauniad business really grates.
posted by jayder at 11:02 AM on October 14, 2015 [5 favorites]

I would suggest, in light of cortex's link, that the joke is appropriate for any post made prior to the end of hot-metal typesetting. For posts made after that point, it can safely be omitted.
posted by Wolfdog at 11:02 AM on October 14, 2015 [8 favorites]

I have never actually noticed that anyone does this. I suspect I will notice it constantly now.
posted by bondcliff at 11:05 AM on October 14, 2015 [29 favorites]

Yes please? I kind of wish we had at least a soft policy on giving credit/citing things in a readable way, though I don't know that we need to cite a thing that links to the place where the thing is except in order to make this stale joke, which is maybe why it grates so badly. Call things what they are.
posted by Lyn Never at 11:07 AM on October 14, 2015 [8 favorites]

Wolfdog: "For posts made after that point, it can safely be omitted."

Uh.

I, for one, prefer Private Eye to the Grauniad, so in the same way that PE insists on running that photo of Brillo I will continue to call it the Grauniad.

FWIW, the Private Eye list of recurring in-jokes is well worth the time it takes to read it.
posted by chavenet at 11:07 AM on October 14, 2015 [16 favorites]

What a weird thing to be mad enough to make a meta about.
posted by to sir with millipedes at 11:08 AM on October 14, 2015 [94 favorites]

for any post made prior to the end of hot-metal typesetting.

Hot stuff coming through!
posted by octobersurprise at 11:08 AM on October 14, 2015 [7 favorites]

Can we still call The Daily Mail The Daily Fail?
posted by Rob Rockets at 11:09 AM on October 14, 2015 [27 favorites]

I thought it was the Daily Hate
posted by Nevin at 11:16 AM on October 14, 2015

Since I tend to skip those types of fpps, today I learned that Grauniad isn't actually its own high-producing media site. I seriously thought it was like its own longform thing. Just me?
posted by Think_Long at 11:17 AM on October 14, 2015 [34 favorites]

FWIW, the Private Eye list of recurring in-jokes is well worth the time it takes to read it.

I love Private Eye
posted by Nevin at 11:18 AM on October 14, 2015 [3 favorites]

We have to show Bernard Whipson-Snott's latest Comment Is Free, "Jeremy Corbyn's Policies Will Kill My Shih Tzu," the proper respect, everyone.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 11:18 AM on October 14, 2015 [8 favorites]

It's not really any better or worse than the tedious askme snowflake references or the 1000 other ancient jokes that are about as entertaining as stoned teenagers shouting BRING ME A SHRUBBERY!!! for the 50,000th time. I mean, yes, it's annoying, but seriously caring about it feels just as annoying.
posted by poffin boffin at 11:19 AM on October 14, 2015 [80 favorites]

I do this! And I learned it from you, Metafilter! I learned it from you.

(No, seriously, this is one of those MeFi idiosyncrasies that my brain picked up on when I started coming here and for some reason, it really stuck.)
posted by Kitteh at 11:19 AM on October 14, 2015 [5 favorites]

In UK typesetters misspell yuo.
posted by octobersurprise at 11:20 AM on October 14, 2015 [22 favorites]

however if a serial killer calling himself The Grauniad killed your whole family then i support your desire to not see it ever again. in which case you can use that script thingy which changes word A to word B.
posted by poffin boffin at 11:21 AM on October 14, 2015 [10 favorites]

how hard is it to write a browser plugin to change it to whichever you prefer? That would be kind of cute.
posted by Annika Cicada at 11:22 AM on October 14, 2015

I like the one that changes sjws to skeletons.
posted by poffin boffin at 11:23 AM on October 14, 2015 [9 favorites]

Heh, grauniad.co.uk redirects to the Guardian site.
posted by griphus at 11:23 AM on October 14, 2015 [85 favorites]

What a weird thing to be mad enough to make a meta about.

Where did you see the mad in this post? I saw where it was called, basically, stale or a bad joke or lacking in respect. None of those calmly stated things equal out to someone being mad.

That's not even getting to the point that I really want to make which is that I think if you put 'being mad' as one of the things somehow necessary to craft a metatalk thread then I think you're actually the one doing it wrong, not the OP.

I could seriously care less, wait I mean I couldn't care less becuase I don't even know what the fuss is about and don't care about it one bit, concerning the issue at hand but I think this is one of those things that show exactly what metatalk is supposed to be used for.
posted by RolandOfEld at 11:23 AM on October 14, 2015 [14 favorites]

And FWIW, if I never saw "Metafilter: ..." again it would be perfectly delightful.
posted by octobersurprise at 11:24 AM on October 14, 2015 [27 favorites]

There are a lot of these type of jokes I'd like to see die a swift death. I've never quite understood the mindset of, "Let me make the same tired joke that has already been made innumerable times before, I bet people will think it's really hysterical the 538th time they hear it".

See also: Freeze Peach
posted by The Gooch at 11:24 AM on October 14, 2015 [5 favorites]

Does anyone have an XKCD comic relevant to this situation?
posted by griphus at 11:26 AM on October 14, 2015 [21 favorites]

I'm not mad about it, but I do think it's unfriendly to new users to provide potentially useful metadata in the form of an inside joke.
posted by tofu_crouton at 11:27 AM on October 14, 2015 [14 favorites]

The graudian is a great newspaper. Calling the the garniad or whatever is disprectful.
posted by Annika Cicada at 11:27 AM on October 14, 2015 [19 favorites]

exactly what metatalk is supposed to be used for.

Walking our pet peeves?
posted by octobersurprise at 11:28 AM on October 14, 2015 [13 favorites]

Oh, while we're on the subject: some extremely helpful UK person here explained the differences between all the newspapers (Telegraph=conservative, Sun=tabloid, etc.) for us dumb Americans. Does anyone have a link to that comment or post? It was pretty funny, IIRC. Sorry to derail, but now it's bugging me as to what it had to say about the Guardian.
posted by Melismata at 11:29 AM on October 14, 2015

I remember at school if someone had a nickname that 'stuck', but they didn't like it and asked people to stop it, then they were doubly stuck with it.
posted by colie at 11:30 AM on October 14, 2015

I fear this is a particularly embedded windmill at which to be tilting.
posted by Celsius1414 at 11:30 AM on October 14, 2015 [7 favorites]

Also if we're complaining about newspapers and their treatment on MeFi, I'd like to formally request that any time the New York Post is mentioned or linked, everyone boo and jeer and make noise like it was Haman's name on Purim.
posted by griphus at 11:31 AM on October 14, 2015 [19 favorites]

I support this request.
posted by kimberussell at 11:31 AM on October 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

I just need to be sure everybody saw this lovely little short film about the last day of hot metal typesetting at the NYT in 1978. It's worth the watch. (called ETAOIN SHRDLU, via)
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 11:31 AM on October 14, 2015 [30 favorites]

Sorry to derail, but now it's bugging me as to what it had to say about the Guardian.

It's read by people who think they ought to run the country.
posted by octobersurprise at 11:32 AM on October 14, 2015 [8 favorites]

> "partly affectionate nickname"

Absolutely this, it's barely a joke any more to me, primarily a nickname. I wouldn't use it in a tag or post body, though.
posted by lucidium at 11:33 AM on October 14, 2015 [3 favorites]

Oh, while we're on the subject: some extremely helpful UK person here explained the differences between all the newspapers

Jim Hacker: Don't tell me about the Press. I know *exactly* who reads the papers. The Daily Mirror is read by the people who think they run the country. The Guardian is read by people who think they *ought* to run the country. The Times is read by the people who actually *do* run the country. The Daily Mail is read by the wives of the people who run the country. The Financial Times is read by people who *own* the country. The Morning Star is read by people who think the country ought to be run by *another* country. The Daily Telegraph is read by the people who think it is.

Sir Humphrey: Prime Minister, what about the people who read The Sun?

Bernard Woolley: Sun readers don't care *who* runs the country - as long as she's got big tits.
posted by Nevin at 11:33 AM on October 14, 2015 [59 favorites]

the differences between all the newspapers

They're all rightwing except the Morning Star.
posted by colie at 11:34 AM on October 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

day I learned that Grauniad isn't actually its own high-producing media site. I seriously thought it was like its own longform thing. Just me?

Not just you - I thought the Grauniad was an Irish publication, to be honest. (The spelling looked plausibly Gaelic.)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:34 AM on October 14, 2015 [14 favorites]

It wasn't just a mirror of the US version (People who read WSJ run the country...), it was a UK person trying to be helpful to the US people (Sun=POS tabloid that's like the NY Post, or something like that). Maybe.

But that's helpful anyway, thanks!
posted by Melismata at 11:36 AM on October 14, 2015

It's an affectionate nickname (mostly) and I've been using it for decades now, so as far as I'm concerned, it has gone past 'stale' and become 'classic'. The only reason I don't use it here is because I always hoped that no one would notice that my posts were single-link graniaud.
posted by betweenthebars at 11:38 AM on October 14, 2015 [9 favorites]

My previous thoughts about people who do this:

Welcome to the world of tomorrow, time traveller from the 1980s! Don't noise it around, but The Guardian will do away with hot metal typesetting in 1987, resolving the main cause of inadvertent typos. That said, I'm afraid you'll have to wait another ten years or so until Corrections and Clarifications comes along to highlight all the other mistakes. In the meantime, keep chuckling away at Private Eye, and try not to let Thatcher get you down.

Seriously, check the 1987 link. They made a tiny coffin for the last edition set in hot metal type.
posted by zamboni at 11:38 AM on October 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

I'm going with "affectionate nickname". You know, like "MeTa".
posted by librosegretti at 11:39 AM on October 14, 2015 [5 favorites]

It seems that if we're going to get rid of the mindless, not-funny-but-long-established japery that is “Grauniad”, we should also ask people to use “overthinking” instead of “bean plating” and straight-up end posts about CAPS LOCK DAY.

Or some kind soul could make a user script that automatically turns “Grauniad” and “grauniad” into “Gaurdian”.
posted by Going To Maine at 11:43 AM on October 14, 2015 [4 favorites]

All typos in this thread are automatically ruled to be intentional.
posted by librosegretti at 11:45 AM on October 14, 2015 [13 favorites]

> I'm not mad about it, but I do think it's unfriendly to new users to provide potentially useful metadata in the form of an inside joke.

It's not a MetaFilter "inside joke," it's a very common—and, as several have said, affectionate—jokey name that was created for a very good reason. I love the Guardian and read it frequently, but I will never stop calling it the Grauniad. It's fun and makes me smile. Sorry if you don't like it, but there are always browser plugins to help mitigate the annoyance. (I personally am sick unto death of all the people going "There must be dust in here" or "My allergies must be acting up" or some fucking thing because they can't bring themselves to say they found a linked item moving, but you don't see me starting a MetaTalk post about it. I learned long ago that the world is not going to cater to my idiosyncratic preferences.)
posted by languagehat at 11:45 AM on October 14, 2015 [100 favorites]

"Metafilter: if I never saw 'Metafilter: ...' again it would be perfectly delightful."

did I do that right
posted by jayder at 11:46 AM on October 14, 2015 [69 favorites]

This is far less annoying to me than snowflake references in Ask or obits cluttered into uselessness by the (traditional, I know) endless stream of dots. Carry on.
posted by Sternmeyer at 11:46 AM on October 14, 2015 [8 favorites]

did I do that right

no
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 11:48 AM on October 14, 2015 [11 favorites]

I personally am sick unto death of all the people going "There must be dust in here" or "My allergies must be acting up"

I'm like 98% sure there was a MeTa about that at one point.

Ok, 50%, but still.

(for the record, that annoys me too but I'm not gonna make a thing about it)
posted by bondcliff at 11:50 AM on October 14, 2015 [6 favorites]

we're having a hell of a time with this Gaurdian knot
posted by griphus at 11:51 AM on October 14, 2015 [38 favorites]

Maybe we could have the equivalent of a swear jar - anytime someone uses something from the proscribed list of cliches, they have to donate 10 cents to the site.
posted by Chrysostom at 11:52 AM on October 14, 2015 [5 favorites]

And FWIW, if I never saw "Metafilter: ..." again it would be perfectly delightful.

I find this one more irritating than any other insider joke here. - though it's possible I'm missing a lot of them. I had no idea what a Grauniad was until just now.
posted by kanewai at 11:53 AM on October 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

Wish I had 10 cents for every time someone annoyed me. I'd be reading The Financial Times.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 11:54 AM on October 14, 2015 [40 favorites]

Are we registering pet peeves? If I could never see the "I just want to tell you both good luck, we're all counting on you" quote ever again it would be too soon. It's not clever.
posted by Phire at 11:55 AM on October 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

All your memes are belong to dust.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 11:56 AM on October 14, 2015 [29 favorites]

But, what are they counting on them? Is it the beans?
posted by Oyéah at 11:57 AM on October 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

If I could never see the "I just want to tell you both good luck, we're all counting on you" quote ever again it would be too soon. It's not clever.

Surely you can't be serious?
posted by bondcliff at 11:59 AM on October 14, 2015 [24 favorites]

Stop calling me serious.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:00 PM on October 14, 2015 [35 favorites]

To be clear, I personally don't mind the name Grauniad, just the jokes about long gone typographic errors.
posted by zamboni at 12:02 PM on October 14, 2015

MetaFilter: If I never saw “Metafilter: …” again it would be perfectly delightful.
posted by Going To Maine at 12:03 PM on October 14, 2015 [6 favorites]

Are we registering pet peeves?

In case anyone wasn't sure about this, any comment that starts with the word "obligatory" isn't.
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 12:03 PM on October 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

Are we registering pet peeves?

no Civil War spoilers please
posted by poffin boffin at 12:04 PM on October 14, 2015 [12 favorites]

Should "Grauniad" stay or should it go?
posted by The corpse in the library at 12:04 PM on October 14, 2015

If it stays it would be tourble. If it goes it would be dboule.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:05 PM on October 14, 2015 [65 favorites]

My pet peeve is the word "kiddo."
posted by Nevin at 12:06 PM on October 14, 2015 [9 favorites]

Can I vote for this like a thousand times? It's annoying and confusing.
posted by octothorpe at 12:07 PM on October 14, 2015

Are we registering pet peeves?

I take grim solace in the incontrovertible fact that people (and you know who you are) who don't read the articles before commenting are going to the special hell.
posted by zarq at 12:08 PM on October 14, 2015 [15 favorites]

My pet peeve is the word "kiddo."

How about 'sweetums'?
posted by zarq at 12:08 PM on October 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

Guardian-shaming
posted by oliverburkeman at 12:09 PM on October 14, 2015 [4 favorites]

How does everyone feel about the fart emoji? 💨I propose it as a replacement for whichever recurrent MetaFilter tic we kick off the island today!
posted by ignignokt at 12:10 PM on October 14, 2015 [4 favorites]

I personally am sick unto death of all the people going "There must be dust in here" or "My allergies must be acting up" or some fucking thing because they can't bring themselves to say they found a linked item moving, but you don't see me starting a MetaTalk post about it.

Look, long-time users know the best way to bring up your pet peeves is as an oblique comment in an unrelated MeTa. You know this. I know this. So why are you even mentioning the possibility of a whole MeTa post? Up your game.
posted by grouse at 12:10 PM on October 14, 2015 [4 favorites]

FoxReplace exists. This is not a problem.
posted by The Master and Margarita Mix at 12:13 PM on October 14, 2015

Metafilter: "Metafilter: if I never saw 'Metafilter: ...' again it would be perfectly delightful."

from my cold dead hands...
posted by maryr at 12:13 PM on October 14, 2015 [14 favorites]

My pet peeve is the word "kiddo."
posted by Nevin at 12:06 PM on October 14

dude that kiddo thing is like nails scratched across a chalkboard for me. there was a comment recently that used it so many times, I couldn't decide whether it was sincere or a sly parody.
posted by jayder at 12:13 PM on October 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

May I insert here my personal request that we thoroughly ban any links to the "off-guardian", a Putin propaganda site masquerading as a 'watchdog' over the UK's "Liberal Media".
posted by oneswellfoop at 12:15 PM on October 14, 2015

If it stays it would be tourble. If it goes it would be dboule.

I cannot lie, typo jokes get me every time. Scramble up the vowels, reorder the consonants, and I'm there.

I'm with languagehat on the Grauniad thing, it makes me smile just a little every time, first because it's a funny pronounceable letter scramble, second because it's teasing them about typos they made thirty-plus years ago, which is the good old-fashioned kind of pedantry that keeps nerd society ticking along.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 12:16 PM on October 14, 2015 [65 favorites]

I don't like how every year someone is like "I have no idea how these people got their cats into their scanners." Seriously, anyone with a cat and a scanner should know that you just lift up the lid and hold your cat down while you press the "scan" button and then clean up the scratch marks with alcohol and cover them with some good quality bandaids. It's not rocket science, why play ignorant?

As far as why? Um.. duh.
posted by bondcliff at 12:16 PM on October 14, 2015 [11 favorites]

I never realized it was a typo joke! I assumed it was a play on the 18th century titling convention that gave us The Dunciad, The Beeriad, The Colubriad, The Fredoniad, The Thespiad, The Columbiad, The Hamiltoniad, The Prussiad, The Helvetiad, The Censoriad, The Macaroniad, The Diaboliad, The Golfiad, The Chessiad, The Ballooniad, The Strolliad, The Craniad, The Lentiad, The Gymnasiad, The Puffiad, and The Whiskeriad.
posted by Iridic at 12:17 PM on October 14, 2015 [29 favorites]

Seriously, anyone with a cat and a scanner should know that you just lift up the lid and hold your cat down while you press the "scan" button and then...

No, no. You get someone to do that for you.

Delegate, kiddo. Delegate.
posted by zarq at 12:21 PM on October 14, 2015 [5 favorites]

Iridic, I've always assumed it's both. Also I had to look and see if you were making some of those titles up, and I am 100% delighted with what I found.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 12:22 PM on October 14, 2015 [15 favorites]

This is a bizarre coincidence! After seeing that "Grauniad" thing for years, I finally got up the gumption to wonder what the hell it meant, and looked it up online a couple hours ago before just now coming to MeTa and seeing this thread.

FWIW, I have no strong opinion on the matter. I'm just happy to have resolved the mystery.
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:24 PM on October 14, 2015

My pet peeve is users who disagree with me. If you lot could cut that out, would appreciate it.
posted by Chrysostom at 12:24 PM on October 14, 2015 [11 favorites]

No.
posted by zombieflanders at 12:25 PM on October 14, 2015 [5 favorites]

jayder: dude that kiddo thing is like nails scratched across a chalkboard for me. there was a comment recently that used it so many times, I couldn't decide whether it was sincere or a sly parody.

Peak Kiddo = 28x.
posted by zarq at 12:26 PM on October 14, 2015 [3 favorites]

Also I had to look and see if you were making some of those titles up

Ah, so now we know what the mods are doing while on duty...
posted by Melismata at 12:26 PM on October 14, 2015

How does everyone feel about the fart emoji? 💨

I use it to make my 🚗 go vroom!

🚗💨
posted by Celsius1414 at 12:28 PM on October 14, 2015 [11 favorites]

I use it to make my 🚗 go vroom!

🚗💨

Fast and Furious: Emoji Drift
posted by zombieflanders at 12:29 PM on October 14, 2015 [38 favorites]

The Grauniad is my favorite epic poem about a warrior from drowned Doggerland who finds his way to Greece only to become embroiled in the struggles of the gods to his everlasting detriment.
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 12:29 PM on October 14, 2015 [6 favorites]

One word reviews:

The Macaroniad

Cheesia
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:30 PM on October 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

🍑💨
posted by griphus at 12:31 PM on October 14, 2015 [4 favorites]

You know what else? Fuck that plum poem straight to hell.
posted by showbiz_liz at 12:35 PM on October 14, 2015 [68 favorites]

So cold.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:36 PM on October 14, 2015 [89 favorites]

Fast and Furious: Emoji Drift

Today I learned you can italicize emoji, and in this particular case it works to make them look like they are vrooming even faster.
posted by valkane at 12:36 PM on October 14, 2015 [12 favorites]

This one doesn't bother me so much but I'm sympathetic to people who find it irritating out of solidarity because I find almost EVERYTHING* irritating including at least two-thirds of the stuff I do and say which is part of the reason I find it so hard to fall asleep and, ironically, so hard to get out of bed in the morning.

*God that fucking "Tears in the Rain" speech, and the Sam Vimes "boots" theory of economics (and I like Terry Pratchett AND Sam Vimes!), and anything labelled "obligatory" because trust me, it isn't and yeah, the "is it getting dusty in here?" -- just fucking own your feelings for God's sake.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 12:39 PM on October 14, 2015 [19 favorites]

But italicizing this ghost 👻💨 makes it vroom slower: 👻💨

(Unless it's being flattened by G forces?)
posted by Iridic at 12:41 PM on October 14, 2015 [6 favorites]

I take grim solace in the incontrovertible fact that people (and you know who you are) who don't read the articles before commenting are going to the special hell.

...via a Twilight Zone purgatory-lobby featuring two doors, one of which is pearly and pillowy and the other is on fire and in between is a placard, in legible type, but LOTS of it, all about the doors and their construction and meaning and also the fact that this whole setup is supernatural, and well, sorry you should have read TFA all those times when you had the chance, because now you're Effed well and truly no matter what you do -- read on to learn just how well and truly -- and because the Universe is an ironic Universe, you can stay here and read this placard which just goes on and on to eventually include all the FA's you skipped but should have read, plus an endless scroll of new ones to keep you occupied RTFAing for eternity so you can remain here in this comfortable, climate controlled space pretty much for as long as you like or until the end of time, which may or may not ever occur, or as will probably happen -- this is why you're here, after all -- you'll go for the pearly, pillowy door because -- DUH! it's obvious! -- except that door leads to the same place as the flaming door does, which is the fiery pit of eternal damnation, where you'll serve out eternity (as a Reddit moderator, perhaps, or a hot steel typesetter), aflame and suffering.
posted by notyou at 12:42 PM on October 14, 2015 [5 favorites]

it makes me smile just a little every time

This is the first time I can even remember seeing it, so I am like this guy. Most people don't do the thing that really tans my hide which is inserting [via] links that were not put there by the OP. Nice work mods, the site is slightly less annoying to me personally!
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 12:43 PM on October 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

The Vimes boots thing irritates me mainly because I am 99% sure it's an actual, recognized economic principal that was put forward by a real person, but I can't ever figure out who or when, argh.
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 12:43 PM on October 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

Or at least have the common decency to claim you're linking to that Bill Hicks bit and link to Carrot Top instead.
posted by griphus at 12:44 PM on October 14, 2015 [4 favorites]

Hick-rolled.
posted by octobersurprise at 12:46 PM on October 14, 2015 [8 favorites]

I had come away with the impression that "The Grauniad" was a take on the French Old Guard's nickname of "les Grognards" ("the grumblers").
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 12:47 PM on October 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

I was over Bill Hicks when he was still calling himself Denis Leary.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:50 PM on October 14, 2015 [5 favorites]

HOLY SHIT, iridic, you have blown my mind! I had no idea you could italicize emoji! 😮💫✨🎉
posted by ignignokt at 12:51 PM on October 14, 2015 [3 favorites]

... link to Carrot Top instead.

Now that's evil.
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:52 PM on October 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

Also, while I feel bad that we've gotten off-topic, the thread is great as enumeration of the tropes of MetaFilter!
posted by ignignokt at 12:52 PM on October 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

If we're on the subject of the actual names of British newspapers:

To be pedantic and repetitive, the name of the upmarket newspaper published by News International in London is The Times, not The Times of London or The London Times. If you want to be specific about which Times it is you're referring to (as opposed to The New York Times or The Times of India), you can call it the London Times or The Times of London, but its name, that appears on the masthead, is The Times.

That said, all its articles are behind a paywall, so they don't really exist.

Prince's rival's band in Purple Rain was, of course, The Time. The Times were an English band who released I Helped Patrick McGoohan Escape in 1982.

I hope you're making notes. This is important.

(I'm fairly sure this is going to go as well as it did last time.)
posted by Grangousier at 12:53 PM on October 14, 2015 [22 favorites]

See, guys, Norm MacDonald's roast of Bob Saget wasn't for the people in the audience, who all laughed anyway. It was for the comedians onstage, and the real connoisseurs of comedy like me and the three posters who made this same observation in this same thread in the last hour.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 12:58 PM on October 14, 2015 [13 favorites]

Jim Hacker: Don't tell me about the Press. I know *exactly* who reads the papers. The Daily Mirror is read by the people who think they run the country. The Guardian is read by people who think they *ought* to run the country. The Times is read by the people who actually *do* run the country. The Daily Mail is read by the wives of the people who run the country. The Financial Times is read by people who *own* the country. The Morning Star is read by people who think the country ought to be run by *another* country. The Daily Telegraph is read by the people who think it is.

Sir Humphrey: Prime Minister, what about the people who read The Sun?

Bernard Woolley: Sun readers don't care *who* runs the country - as long as she's got big tits.

Actually, while we're on the subject, this is the kind of thing I mean (not trying to pick on you specifically, Nevin) -- it's funny, sure, but it's long and it's been posted a billion times. I don't really mind a quick "Yes, Minister [or Terry Pratchett or whomever] articulated this really well." with a link to a longer source if you really think people haven't seen it but lengthy copy/paste quotations that have been posted numerous times on the site really irritate me. I don't mind referencing them for people who haven't seen them but it just gets to be too much and I think it detracts from the site because it's not original or particularly thoughtful.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 1:02 PM on October 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

I, I've been awtching yuo
I think, I wnana know ay
Said I, m'I a little andgerous
London, love to hsow ya

My jumble love, eyah
I think, I wanna nokw ya
Jumble loev
irGl, I'd love to hsow ya
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 1:02 PM on October 14, 2015 [8 favorites]

... link to Carrot Top instead.
posted by octobersurprise at 1:03 PM on October 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

I think it detracts from the site because it's not original or particularly thoughtful.

In this case, however, it was in direct reply to someone who seemed to be asking about it (although it turned out to be something else they were remembering).
posted by Celsius1414 at 1:04 PM on October 14, 2015 [4 favorites]

I have a great sense of humor. That's why I hate comedy.
posted by naju at 1:06 PM on October 14, 2015 [6 favorites]

... link to Carrot Top instead.

I said Carrot Top not Gallagher.
posted by griphus at 1:07 PM on October 14, 2015

Realizing Saget is an absolutely filthy comic really helped me appreciate his previous acting work that much better.
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 1:07 PM on October 14, 2015 [8 favorites]

I called it the Grauniad in a comment here a few years ago and someone here got really upset. Like "how-dare-you" upset. Such an odd thing to get upset over, but I guessed he didn't know the paper's history.
posted by a lungful of dragon at 1:07 PM on October 14, 2015

Comedy is tragedy plus
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 1:08 PM on October 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

WHEREAS,
(a) some posting conventions and insider-y jokes annoy people, BUT
(b) everyone has their own hobby horses and axes to grind, AND
(c) moderation policy needs to reflect the wishes of as much of the community as possible,
BE IT RESOLVED THAT
(a) people need to chill the fuck out over stupid shit on the Internet, AND
(b) flag it and move on
posted by tonycpsu at 1:14 PM on October 14, 2015 [23 favorites]

Man, I hate ordered lists.
posted by Chrysostom at 1:23 PM on October 14, 2015 [10 favorites]

I said Carrot Top not Gallagher.

Gallagher?
posted by octobersurprise at 1:24 PM on October 14, 2015

Grundian for me. Mrs Grundy?

Please yourselves.
posted by Segundus at 1:27 PM on October 14, 2015

No, no, no -- it should be "Metafilter: perfectly delightful."
posted by wenestvedt at 1:28 PM on October 14, 2015 [3 favorites]

Gallagher?

No, Gallagher.
posted by griphus at 1:29 PM on October 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

Funny, I thought the Grauniad was a pretentious literary journal that gets printed on a quarterly schedule with a textured paper cover that kind of smells featuring black and white photographs of trees or rusted farm equipment or solemn old people with weathered faces that occasionally publishes worthwhile nonfiction. The name just instantly calls that to mind. And apparently the interval between reading an FPP blurb and waiting for the link to load is more than enough time for me to forget what site I'd been told I was being sent to. But yes, all of our careworn ~~injokes~~ internet traditions* are tedious and awful, except when I have an exceptionally clever hot take on them. Like the plum poem! Totally! I got as far as "I have fucked/the plum poem/straight to hell" and then I didn't know where else to go with it. Clearly it's time to shelve that one!

*eh? eh? remember when the guy said the thing that time?
posted by prize bull octorok at 1:36 PM on October 14, 2015 [8 favorites]

I'm totallay down wit this.
posted by clavdivs at 1:37 PM on October 14, 2015

showbiz_liz, I love "that plum poem," and now I respect you a little less.

In fact I would write one this very minute except that I know it would be wasted on you. *goes off in a huff*
posted by wenestvedt at 1:37 PM on October 14, 2015 [3 favorites]

Not to be pedantic or repetitive or anything but I vote we change it to the Grangousieriad.
posted by y2karl at 1:39 PM on October 14, 2015

Comedy is tragedy plus

...........................................................
...........................................................
...........................................................
...........................................................
...........................................................
...........................................................
...........................................................timing?
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:40 PM on October 14, 2015 [4 favorites]

showbiz_liz, I love "that plum poem," and now I respect you a little less.

The poem itself is fine. Every """parody""" of the poem I see kills my soul a little more.
posted by showbiz_liz at 1:42 PM on October 14, 2015 [6 favorites]

I have my share of pet peeves, but I try to let them slide because I still find things like the doge meme funny. Let he who is without amaze cast the first do not want.
posted by Metroid Baby at 1:46 PM on October 14, 2015 [30 favorites]

Comedy is tragedy plus

tragedy plus is deprecated. Everybody is using Tragedy++ now.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 1:47 PM on October 14, 2015 [15 favorites]

Your favorite in-joke sucks.
posted by Rock Steady at 1:48 PM on October 14, 2015 [4 favorites]

I think I kind of like the Grauniad thing because I think that words with an "a" right next to another vowel often look pretty on the page.

I also like the plum poem parodies and that "I've seen things you wouldn't believe" speech, even though "washed away like tears in the rain" is fucking terrible. Who doesn't want to let their imagination dally a little bit in the sparkly dark of space? I personally think of the Tannhauser Gate as an embattled wormhole portal thing during some great SFnal battle, and I enjoy envisioning it, so there.

I have never cared for doge, but I feel that tolerating doge is the least I can do in exchange for the attack ships.
posted by Frowner at 1:49 PM on October 14, 2015 [9 favorites]

so much depends
upon

a plum poem
parody

caged with quotation
marks

beside the soul
hicksians
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 1:51 PM on October 14, 2015 [6 favorites]

timing?

....pation.
posted by capricorn at 1:54 PM on October 14, 2015 [14 favorites]

Also what we definitely need more of here at mefi is any time anything even remotely related to advertising comes up everyone should simultaneously post that bill hicks thing because no one here has ever heard of it ever and you will be the first smart and clever person to share it.

That's ancient history on this site by this point. The really annoying thing is the predictable backlash to the Hicks thing that smart-asses post here preempting the Hicks thing (which nobody really posts anymore anyways).

In conclusion: no, you're annoying.

Sincerely,
FartCar
posted by Xavier Xavier at 1:54 PM on October 14, 2015 [4 favorites]

I opine that grauniad is fine.
Plate of beans? A bit trite but 's alright.
Hamburger for sarcasm? I'll suffer no spasm.
Metafilter, colon? My rage is not swollen.
But special snowflake details inside? I'll tan your hide. And dust in your eye? I'm sorry, it's time to die.
posted by aydeejones at 1:55 PM on October 14, 2015 [11 favorites]

Speaking of old overused MeFi tropes, I will go to my grave insisting that I was the first person to say "now this broom, you say it vibrates?" when everyone was posting about it way back when, but Mathowie deleted my original comment so I never got the credit I so richly deserved.
posted by yhbc at 1:56 PM on October 14, 2015 [9 favorites]

I was gonna say "dust in your eye? Then surely you must die" but I figured it's a bit heavy. No one must die for having dust in their eye. Or even for braying instead of just saying. I forced the rhyme. I do it often, even perhaps for all of the minutes.
posted by aydeejones at 1:57 PM on October 14, 2015

> Oh, while we're on the subject: some extremely helpful UK person here explained the differences between all the newspapers

Was it this comment by GNFTI? That went on to become the seed of the Wiki's Reputability of the media entry.
posted by yuwtze at 1:57 PM on October 14, 2015 [5 favorites]

I think boing boing vibrated first until George Lucas made Metafilter the bad guy because he is a weiner schnitzel.
posted by aydeejones at 1:58 PM on October 14, 2015

Are we registering pet peeves?

Make sure to spay and neuter them too, or we'll just end up with Metas full of peeves before you know it.
posted by Kabanos at 2:00 PM on October 14, 2015 [12 favorites]

Yes yes yes yuwtze, thank you!!!! *hugs*
posted by Melismata at 2:00 PM on October 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

Russell Howard on (British) newspapers.
posted by Wordshore at 2:00 PM on October 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

Ok in all seriousness though, my middle school teacher friend told me recently that his students were all talking about a viral video from nine years ago because someone put part of it up on Vine. We are now entering an era where vintage memes can make a comeback with the next generation.

Hold me.
posted by showbiz_liz at 2:02 PM on October 14, 2015 [24 favorites]

It's "like tears in rain." NOT "like tears in THE rain." Everyone who gets that wrong has to go up to Harrison Ford and ask him to autograph your lightsaber.
posted by Chrysostom at 2:04 PM on October 14, 2015 [10 favorites]

Wazzzaaaaaaaap
posted by aydeejones at 2:09 PM on October 14, 2015 [12 favorites]

MetaTalk: In conclusion: no, you're annoying.

(see what I did there?)
posted by MCMikeNamara at 2:10 PM on October 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

~~See what I did there?~~I like farts

FTFY
posted by aydeejones at 2:11 PM on October 14, 2015 [3 favorites]

We are now entering an era where vintage memes can make a comeback with the next generation.

I teach college kids. They make web pages as part of class. One of them is totally into the More Cowbell meme. Has never seen Saturday Night Live.
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 2:12 PM on October 14, 2015 [32 favorites]

octobersurprise: "And FWIW, if I never saw "Metafilter: ..." again it would be perfectly delightful."

Metafilter: perfectly delightful
posted by chavenet at 2:15 PM on October 14, 2015 [5 favorites]

This Is Just To Say

I have eaten
the pulms
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so clod
posted by chavenet at 2:17 PM on October 14, 2015 [61 favorites]

Like tears in the rain on your wedding day.
posted by Kabanos at 2:21 PM on October 14, 2015 [14 favorites]

We are now entering an era where vintage memes can make a comeback with the next generation.

There's a graduation ceremony coming up at the local university. I may go as have been given an invite by one of the students. In chatting, turns out she was born after I constructed and made live my first website. She's also older than the bank manager who deals with my business account. Neither of them were aware that there were things before Google, nor what they were. They may both think that when I talk, it is the exaggerated ravings of an old lunatic.

Codicil: she showed me how to optimize the settings on my android (until last month I was an iPhone user) while I muttered about how cool snake was on my flip phone back in the day. I am an old lunatic.
posted by Wordshore at 2:25 PM on October 14, 2015 [6 favorites]

Time to dironic.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 2:25 PM on October 14, 2015 [7 favorites]

In my day, we'd gather around the wood stove while grandmamma would use a 2400 baud modem to FTP a text file passed down in her family for generations so she could favor us with the story about how Mr T would eat our balls. That was all the meme we needed and we liked it.
posted by prize bull octorok at 2:28 PM on October 14, 2015 [32 favorites]

I have no opinion one way or the other on the Grauniad/Guardian issue, I just wanted to say that I find pulms to be an incredibly pleasing non-word and now I can't stop saying it.

pulms pulms pulms.

Thnak yuo, chavenet.
posted by divined by radio at 2:30 PM on October 14, 2015 [11 favorites]

Mark me down as another American who assumed Grauniad was like a British Vice or Buzzfeed and apparently in all these years I've never bothered to check any slGrauniad links.
posted by muddgirl at 2:30 PM on October 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

people need to chill the fuck out over stupid shit

And here I thought we were all just having a bit of fun.
posted by kanewai at 2:32 PM on October 14, 2015

I just had a plumonary embolgasm.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 2:33 PM on October 14, 2015 [12 favorites]

Since Rusbridger left the Grauniad deserves less respect by the day.
posted by adamvasco at 2:34 PM on October 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

Tame Trifle
Mate Filter
Meat Lifter
Mare Elf Tit
Ream Felt It
Lit Tram Fee
Melt After I
Lame Fitter
Time Falter
Let Fat Mire
Trim Fat Lee
Fame Litter
El Firm Teat
Fetal Timer
I Fret Metal
Flame Trite
Emit Elf Tar
posted by Wordshore at 2:39 PM on October 14, 2015 [3 favorites]

"Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when *you* fall into an open sewer and die."
posted by Chrysostom at 2:41 PM on October 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

comedy is tragedy plus butts
posted by prize bull octorok at 2:43 PM on October 14, 2015 [21 favorites]

That word you keep using. I do not think it means what you think it memes.
posted by Celsius1414 at 2:51 PM on October 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

Our parents never had any parental control software. They used to just let us roam the internet freely, as long as we were off the phone line before supper.
posted by Kabanos at 2:54 PM on October 14, 2015 [5 favorites]

That word you keep using. I do not think it means what you think it memes.

But what if the meme chose itself?
posted by jamjam at 2:57 PM on October 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

Since Rusbridger left the Grauniad deserves less respect by the day.
posted by adamvasco at 2:34 PM on October 14 [+] [!]

Rubbisher, you mean.
posted by chavenet at 2:59 PM on October 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

Trim Fat Lee

Is that Bruce's grandson who became a butcher? You know, the one who uses the edge of his hand instead of a cleaver?
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:02 PM on October 14, 2015 [4 favorites]

It's how the flavor in a pork chop hides on the opposite of the lean side.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 3:05 PM on October 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

Where is flavor town? It's on the trim fat lee.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 3:06 PM on October 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

They used to just let us roam the internet freely, as long as we were off the phone line before supper.

kids today don't know the heartbreak of having to close a dirty jaypeg download that was just two and a half minutes away from completion because your parents were at the door
posted by prize bull octorok at 3:12 PM on October 14, 2015 [8 favorites]

"Plus: stale"

We can't call Slate stale anymore? Silenced all my life.
posted by bswinburn at 3:13 PM on October 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

TOTALLY INTO THE
MORE COWBELL MEME

😃

HAS NEVER SEEN
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE
posted by Kabanos at 3:14 PM on October 14, 2015 [11 favorites]

FTFY

from now on until the end of all time this shall always mean Farted That For You
posted by poffin boffin at 3:18 PM on October 14, 2015 [7 favorites]

from now on until the end of all time this shall always mean Farted That For You

For a not insignificant amount of time, I surmised "QFT" was "Quit Fucking Talking".
posted by Celsius1414 at 3:22 PM on October 14, 2015 [23 favorites]

for pretty much all of 2008 i thought everyone in askme was weirdly revealing unnecessary personal details with IANAL
posted by poffin boffin at 3:28 PM on October 14, 2015 [32 favorites]

For a not insignificant amount of time, I surmised “QFT” was “Quit Fucking Talking”.

I read “SMH” as “So Much Hate” for quite a while. Still do, sometimes. Not always wrong, but waaaay more aggressive.
posted by Going To Maine at 3:30 PM on October 14, 2015 [10 favorites]

Since I tend to skip those types of fpps, today I learned that Grauniad isn't actually its own high-producing media site. I seriously thought it was like its own longform thing. Just me?

Not at all. Thanks for admitting it first, though!
posted by mudpuppie at 3:34 PM on October 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

SMH = Short for "Smuh", some sort of expression of disdainful apathy?
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:36 PM on October 14, 2015

I cannot believe I got to the bottom and there was no
Metafilter: Fuck that plum poem straight to hell.
posted by immlass at 3:36 PM on October 14, 2015 [5 favorites]

SMH = Short for “Smuh”, some sort of expression of disdainful apathy?

“Shaking My Head”, as in disdainful disbelief.
posted by Going To Maine at 3:40 PM on October 14, 2015

I get a brain wrench every time someone uses CBT in Ask because I first saw that abbreviation years ago as an initialism for Cock and Ball Torture.
posted by Mitheral at 3:44 PM on October 14, 2015 [27 favorites]

smh stands for "samhain," a term of witchcraft that serves as a rallying cry for millenials who have given themselves over to the Devil. The traditional response is "ikr," which means "I kill the righteous." If you see your children and their friends exchanging these code-words you should be very alarmed
posted by prize bull octorok at 3:46 PM on October 14, 2015 [52 favorites]

see also
posted by poffin boffin at 3:55 PM on October 14, 2015

Clearly I am not ready to jam with the console cowboys.
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 3:57 PM on October 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

ikr
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 3:57 PM on October 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

ahh, back in the day, the young 'uns asked me all manner of things they wanted to know; now all they do is google this and google that or ask that duck thang. But when they come jabbering about "free reign" and "chomping at bits" I tells 'em "ur doin it rong."
posted by a humble nudibranch at 3:59 PM on October 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

“Shaking My Head”, as in disdainful disbelief.

I know, but I'm trying to make "Smuh" happen.
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:04 PM on October 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

I can't define Smuh, but I know it when I shake it.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:07 PM on October 14, 2015

in which case you can use that script thingy which changes word A to word B.

I wrote a user script like this. You do have to manually add this line to the source code, though:

v = v.replace(/\b(G|g)rauniad\b/g, "$1uardian");

I've tested it on Firefox with Greasemonkey, so if anyone uses it, please let me know if it doesn't work for you.
posted by Rangi at 4:11 PM on October 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

This comes, as can be seen from Cortex's link upthread, from Private Eye, and there are 94 Eye readers here. So no, not when the Grauniad did it to its own name:

"The paper's nickname The Grauniad (sometimes abbreviated as "Graun") originated with the satirical magazine Private Eye. This anagram played on The Guardian's early reputation for frequent typographical errors, including misspelling its own name as The Gaurdian"

Also that thing with initialising things and its a long string of meaningless characters: IANOPQFAUYT - that sorta thing.

Also, well beaten to the Metafilter: "Metafilter..." gag. thanks.
posted by marienbad at 4:12 PM on October 14, 2015 [3 favorites]

I never post in MeTa but this has been grating me enough that I almost considered posting something about it. Something about that particular purposeful misspelling of Guardian makes my brain want to stop and sound it out/figure out how to pronounce it so I can't just scan past it, and it's very jarring. I would happily welcome with open arms every other Mefi inside joke and quirky turn of phrase if just this one would stop.
posted by misskaz at 4:20 PM on October 14, 2015 [3 favorites]

I agree that the whole "Grauniad" thing is stale and dumb.
posted by Aizkolari at 4:25 PM on October 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

honestly 90% of my posts are cobbled together by a script using a custom Metafilter dict file
posted by indubitable at 4:27 PM on October 14, 2015 [5 favorites]

Oh man, I remember HoTMetaL.
posted by mbrubeck at 4:29 PM on October 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

For a not insignificant amount of time, I surmised "QFT" was "Quit Fucking Talking".

QFT
posted by Potomac Avenue at 4:37 PM on October 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

🍔
posted by Potomac Avenue at 4:38 PM on October 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

Wait it's not so much hate?
posted by winna at 4:41 PM on October 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

Grangousier: "To be pedantic and repetitive, the name of the upmarket newspaper published by News International in London is The Times, not The Times of London or The London Times. If you want to be specific about which Times it is you're referring to (as opposed to The New York Times or The Times of India), you can call it the London Times or The Times of London, but its name, that appears on the masthead, is The Times. "

Soulmates!
posted by stet at 4:41 PM on October 14, 2015

Like a few commenters above "Grauniad" is on the level of "The Beeb" or "Auntie" for me. I'm fine with it.

As for the abbr derail, I've mentioned it before but I used to think that "brb" was a mournful farting noise, semantically equivalent to the sad trombone.
posted by comealongpole at 4:43 PM on October 14, 2015 [16 favorites]

I had no idea that "The Grauniad" was a nickname for The Guardian and seriously thought it was some high-concept online magazine like McSweeney's or something that I just never happened to bother looking into because none of its content seemed particularly noteworthy.

Seriously. No idea. Your joke was running away with you, people.
posted by Mars Saxman at 4:44 PM on October 14, 2015 [4 favorites]

I like stale jokes and I cannot lie.
posted by h00py at 5:03 PM on October 14, 2015 [5 favorites]

Old jokes never fade away. They simply die.
posted by valetta at 5:04 PM on October 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

i hahe a fisv. in ma pynts.
posted by quonsar II: smock fishpants and the temple of foon at 5:05 PM on October 14, 2015 [4 favorites]

It's one of those things. Everyone is saying it's been common as dirt forever, but I've never noticed it here until two or three days ago, when I wondered if it was a reference to the Guardian or its own thing, and I looked it up. Now I'm going to see it everywhere for a while.

It bugs me a little too, mainly because of search, but if people still enjoy it that much that's fine. I think of it as a little different than our MetaFilter in-jokes and "coterie speech," which serve to define the site community - since it's something more widely used (like "the Beeb") it is more an example of slang/jest from elsewhere arriving here. And though I love and read the Guardian it isn't that widely read or known in the US except for people of the kind who might read MetaFilter, so that joke needs explaining to many of us. But since that's a UScentric reason I wouldn't defend it. Clearly as harmless as every other joke that some of us like and some of us don't.

I would just hope that when people link to it maybe they'd add the real name of the paper in the tags to render it more searchable.
posted by Miko at 5:07 PM on October 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

The plum poem never ceases to amaze me, because I should be tired of it. And I think I am tired of it. So whenever I see:

I have eaten
the ...

I kind of groan internally. And, yet, by the time I finish the poem, I'm always laughing. Every time. It doesn't make sense.
posted by Bugbread at 5:09 PM on October 14, 2015 [15 favorites]

MetaTalk: a mournful farting noise, semantically equivalent to the sad trombone.
posted by Rock Steady at 5:22 PM on October 14, 2015 [6 favorites]

The plum poem in 2015 is basically mefi's equivalent of a coffee mug that says "you don't have to be CRAZY to work here... BUT IT HELPS!!!!"

This is just to say
That was
way harsh, Tai.

So cold.
posted by Spathe Cadet at 5:24 PM on October 14, 2015 [7 favorites]

So, clod, I would favrit this fifteen times if I had the identities.
posted by Oyéah at 5:26 PM on October 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

Rnagi: I wrote a user script like this.
You do have to manually add this line to the source code, though:
v = v.replace(/\b(G|g)rauniad\b/g, "$1uardian");

v = v.replace(/\bCBT\b/gi, "cock and ball torture");
v = v.replace(/\bQFT\b/gi, "quit fucking talking");
v = v.replace(/\bFTFY\b/gi, "farted that for you");
v = v.replace(/\bSMH\b/gi, "so much hate");
v = v.replace(/\bspecial snowflake\b/gi, "🍑💨");

I farted that for you.
posted by kanewai at 5:35 PM on October 14, 2015 [3 favorites]

about as entertaining as stoned teenagers shouting BRING ME A SHRUBBERY!!! for the 50,000th time.

Honestly The Big Lebowski has achieved Monty Python and the Holy Grail status now as Thing Which Used To Be Hilarious Until Everyone Couldn't Shut The Fuck Up With Quoting It All The Time.
posted by shakespeherian at 5:35 PM on October 14, 2015 [21 favorites]

"now this broom, you say it vibrates?" when everyone was posting about it way back when"

I'm gonna vote for a yeah on that for commish there.

I do believe I was the first to call Migs: Migs

Only the data knows.
Let the data
FLO!
posted by clavdivs at 5:37 PM on October 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

Honestly The Big Lebowski has achieved Monty Python and the Holy Grail status now as Thing Which Used To Be Hilarious Until Everyone Couldn't Shut The Fuck Up With Quoting It All The Time.

They got us working in shifts!
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 5:48 PM on October 14, 2015 [6 favorites]

I farted that for you.

you are the hero gotham needs
posted by poffin boffin at 5:55 PM on October 14, 2015 [3 favorites]

God I would love to AV SNL to a class that had not seen it. Like when my Soc. teacher showed "Dr. Stranglove"
By the war room scene, only he and I were gasping for air and literally crying from the irony of not only the movie, but my classmates boredom.

👤☎️🐩🔇😕📞📡✈️💺😼🔫💵💷💊💉🍫🙏 "a fella could a good time in Vegas with this"🙈🙉🙊🆘⌛️🚀✈️🏮🔽💥🔥🔥🔥🔥
🎼
🎬
posted by clavdivs at 5:56 PM on October 14, 2015 [4 favorites]

There are plenty of MeFi words and phrases that get picked up and repeated so often that I get tired of them. (For example, we seem to have so many hill-related deaths around here that I feel like we should consider moving to lower ground. Likewise, I'm impressed by how well many people can type after rolling their eyes so hard that they apparently injured them quite badly. Yes, I can touch-type too, but don't you think you should see a doctor?)
And there are other words/phrases that don't bother me much, or that I like. "Grauniad" (which isn't even a MeFi invention) I happen to like, if only for the echoes of "Dunciad" et al. and because I kind of like the Guardian as a paper.
Other people probably have more or less opposite feelings. So my point is: I'm not sure this rises to the level of a MeTa complaint. It's not like you had a stupidly-framed FPP deleted or something.
That said, it's been a fun thread to read so far...
posted by uosuaq at 6:00 PM on October 14, 2015 [3 favorites]

about as entertaining as stoned teenagers shouting BRING ME A SHRUBBERY!!! for the 50,000th time.

I know it's bad, but I tend to judge people who shriek "But I don't like SPAM!" in a mock falsetto.
posted by Nevin at 6:02 PM on October 14, 2015

Honestly The Big Lebowski has achieved Monty Python and the Holy Grail status now as Thing Which Used To Be Hilarious Until Everyone Couldn’t Shut The Fuck Up With Quoting It All The Time.

Yeah, well, that’s just, like, your opinion, man.
posted by Going To Maine at 6:02 PM on October 14, 2015 [29 favorites]

shakespeherian: Honestly The Big Lebowski has achieved Monty Python and the Holy Grail status now as Thing Which Used To Be Hilarious Until Everyone Couldn't Shut The Fuck Up With Quoting It All The Time.

Holy Grail status won't be reached until you have pitched your tent at the Roskilde music festival next to a bunch of Swedes who sit in a circle day and night reciting the ~~burn the witch sketch~~ nihilist fight scene, no matter what time it is, what other people around them are doing, seemingly never going to shows, just sitting there reciting the same lines over and over again while drinking beer and laughing at the same lines over and over again.

And when you finally go to them, asking them about their love of the ~~burn the witch sketch~~ nihilist fight scene, they just keep on reciting, like they have been doing for days now, when you fall asleep, when you wake up, and their only acknowledgement of your presence is a glance in your direction, behind which you catch a spark of terror, quickly extinguished, as if inside the quote automaton of a human there's a being trapped by a memetic loop on the verge of independent consciousness.

In the summer of 2001 I pitched my tent at the edge of the singularity, and it was annoying as fuck.
posted by Kattullus at 6:06 PM on October 14, 2015 [18 favorites]

My nails on a chalkboard is foo and baz.

I LOVE chalkboard fingernails compared to those 2 words that I just typed and hope to never type again.

just ugh ugh ugh
posted by futz at 6:15 PM on October 14, 2015 [8 favorites]

A plüüm once bit my sister
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:21 PM on October 14, 2015 [20 favorites]

Kattullus: See one comment above yours.
posted by shakespeherian at 6:25 PM on October 14, 2015 [3 favorites]

Kabanos: "Like tears in the rain on your wedding day."

Hot metal typesetting is gone like yesterday's farts.
posted by double block and bleed at 6:27 PM on October 14, 2015

I kind of groan internally. And, yet, by the time I finish the poem, I'm always laughing. Every time. It doesn't make sense.

Surely, Bugbread, you mean you graun internally?
posted by a halcyon day at 6:40 PM on October 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

I hate everything. Stop doing it.
posted by briank at 6:50 PM on October 14, 2015 [10 favorites]

My nails on a chalkboard is foo and baz.

Ah. Yes, well, then you'll want to stay far away from anything related to the hacker ethic, such as for example unix, or the web, or really computers in general, at all.

I'm sort of morbidly curious as to why it is you hate the first and third of the canonical metasyntactic variables without having noticed the second.
posted by Mars Saxman at 7:02 PM on October 14, 2015 [4 favorites]

I was rereading a thread on dad jokes here and what soothes my ire toward most of these is that they have in the same way passed through being witty, to annoying, to finally annoying but comforting.

So basically MeFi is a dad.
posted by solarion at 7:03 PM on October 14, 2015 [18 favorites]

I often want to refer to more obscure Python bits, but usually manage to suppress it.

Baseless arguing always reminds me of the "TV4 or Not TV4?" one.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:05 PM on October 14, 2015

Are we registering pet peeves?

Make sure to spay and neuter them too, or we'll just end up with Metas full of peeves before you know it.

What about declawing them?
posted by shiny blue object at 7:05 PM on October 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

I actually think MeFi often does nerd quotery very well. It's often done creatively, at least, and references are often buried rather than simply parroted.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 7:05 PM on October 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

Time Falter

Feta milt-er.
posted by zippy at 7:11 PM on October 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

I often want to refer to more obscure Python bits, but usually manage to suppress it.

What a senseless waste of human life.
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:17 PM on October 14, 2015 [5 favorites]

I'm sort of morbidly curious as to why it is you hate the first and third of the canonical metasyntactic variables without having noticed the second.

Maybe every variable fails to meet their bar bar bar…
posted by Pinback at 7:18 PM on October 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

I'm sort of morbidly curious as to why it is you hate the first and third of the canonical metasyntactic variables without having noticed the second.

That's just barbaric.
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:35 PM on October 14, 2015 [3 favorites]

My son is severely intellectually disabled. I went through our entire codebase at work and replaced every reference to herp, derp, etc. with foo, bar, etc. I also did away with the 17 occurrences of "retarded" in the comments.
posted by double block and bleed at 7:37 PM on October 14, 2015 [25 favorites]

I have no strong feelings on the use of "Grauniad" either way, but I'm a little surprised that it's unfamiliar to so many. I suppose that makes me one of those intolerably annoying American anglophiles.
posted by octobersurprise at 7:44 PM on October 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

What if somebody attacks you with a pulm?
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 7:45 PM on October 14, 2015 [3 favorites]

You beg forgiveness, half heartedly.
posted by notyou at 7:48 PM on October 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

Well then they've clearly pitted themselves against you.
posted by Kabanos at 7:53 PM on October 14, 2015 [5 favorites]

Metafilter: I pitched my tent at the edge of the singularity, and it was annoying as fuck.
posted by Kabanos at 7:56 PM on October 14, 2015 [3 favorites]

since this thread has comfortably descended into madness i feel okay stating that we should add a new profile contact category and that category is JAEGER COPILOT

thank you and good day
posted by poffin boffin at 7:58 PM on October 14, 2015 [10 favorites]

It seems like one of those in-jokes that Matt would just as soon delete, so I am surprised it happens enough to be an issue.
posted by TedW at 8:01 PM on October 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

I hate it when people start comments with a single-word line that says "sigh"
posted by ultraviolet catastrophe at 8:02 PM on October 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

I don't think Matt's doing much comment management at this point.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:04 PM on October 14, 2015

Now that I have been informed that the Grauniad is not, in fact, it's own distinct entity, I think the proper response would be to create a high-concept glossy magazine with that title. Let the insanity come full circle.
posted by AdamCSnider at 8:04 PM on October 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

It might be because I'm primed to expect them, or it might be a joke I'm not getting, but I really do notice more spelling and grammatical errors in That Paper than in Other Papers.
posted by Joe in Australia at 8:05 PM on October 14, 2015

Oh, shit. Forgot Matt's not running things any more. Excuse me, I have a bunch of vibrating pancake overlord camera comments to make before I review the Treaty of Westphalia.

Also, what's wrong with Gallagher?

"sigh"
posted by TedW at 8:11 PM on October 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

TedW: "before I review the Treaty of Westphalia"

Review me for what, exactly?
posted by Treaty of Westphalia at 8:34 PM on October 14, 2015 [12 favorites]

23 minutes, pretty impressive!
posted by Chrysostom at 8:43 PM on October 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

Review me for what, exactly?

Typographical errors, of course. Isn't that what this thread is abuot?
posted by TedW at 8:48 PM on October 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

(* breaks into cold sweats *)
I well, uh, hum! ha ha oh, hee
posted by boo_radley at 8:51 PM on October 14, 2015

My heart aches and a drowsy numbness pains
My senses, as though an anteater I'd seen
A nasty long-nosed brute
With furry legs and sticky darting tongue
I seem to feel its cruel jaws
Crunch crunch there go my legs
Snap snap my thorax too
My head's in a twain, there goes my brain
Swallow, swallow, swallow, slurp
posted by the uncomplicated soups of my childhood at 8:59 PM on October 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

Wow, I rarely click on the links and don't read the Guardian, so I legitimately thought for probably the last 10 years that there was a British newspaper called "The Grauniad".

Yeah, let's call things what they actually are please.
posted by mmoncur at 9:00 PM on October 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

'When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’
posted by Chrysostom at 9:21 PM on October 14, 2015

... I'm about to ruin the image and the style that you're used to.

And thus was born a soft-vs-hard-'g'-gif war where one had never existed before.
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:46 PM on October 14, 2015

but my cat's breath really does smell like cat food
posted by nom de poop at 11:02 PM on October 14, 2015 [3 favorites]

Comedy is tragedy pl-Timing!!
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:03 PM on October 14, 2015 [3 favorites]

I don't think Matt's doing much comment management at this point.

At some point, a newer MeFite is going to ask "Who is Matt?", and those who know will be abstractly sad / feel a little older.
posted by Wordshore at 11:14 PM on October 14, 2015 [19 favorites]

Unfurl the Banner!
posted by clavdivs at 11:38 PM on October 14, 2015

I thought The Grauniad was like The Onion, but newer and hipper.
posted by zippy at 12:19 AM on October 15, 2015

Comedy is a banana peel plus time.
Delicacy is a potato plus thyme.
posted by solarion at 1:19 AM on October 15, 2015

My dad would always twist the names of various newspapers he'd read, the Globe and Mail was the Grope and Flail, the Chronicle Herald was the Chronically Horrid.

So Guarniad just seems like fun wordplay and hating on it is a good way to tell me we probably can be friends, but not, like, friends friends.
posted by Space Coyote at 2:03 AM on October 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

Not specifically about the Grauniad joke, but what's sort of interesting is the "everything that goes around comes around" aspect of "SLYT" and variations thereof. In The Beginning, the acronym came about because a) many people were dealing with slower dial up modems or download charges or caps and didn't want to blindly click on a high bandwidth link like a YouTube video, and b) a lot of people complained about posts that were just a link to a single YouTube video either because of "a)" or because they thought it was lazy posting ("we can browse YouTube on our own, thanks"), or they just weren't interested in video links, so posters began warning people if it was a resource-heavy link, plus adding the self-aware "sl" part to sort of say, "yeah, I know it's just one link to YouTube, but it's a really good one!"

Eventually almost everyone had high speed internet and video was common, so it seemed not quite so urgent as a warning for most members, but of course some people still just weren't interested in video links. I never really understood adding stuff like SLNYT etc. (especially since the site ethos has never been "you must post more than one link," despite some individual preferences), but it just sort of became a Mefi thing that people would reflexively add, and time carried on doing what time does, which is pass. Eventually many people were using mobile devices to access the site, so warnings for resource heavy links were again quite apropos, though, to me, warnings that it was a link to The Guardian or NYT, for example, still seemed odd.

However recently I saw this: Want longer battery life? Avoid the New York Times and The Grauniad, that's actually about the idea of global power consumption from this blog post: Energy labeling for web sites (one guy's interesting exploratory noodling with a few tests): It was sort of a joke. Think European Union energy labeling. Would a random site get an A++ or a D energy efficiency label? Based on what? What a thought!

His own tests showed some not entirely expected results...

Low power group: New Scientist, BBC, Apple, YouTube, Google Forbes

Medium power group: Vimeo playing a video, YouTube video in fullscreen mode, Vimeo video in fullscreen mode, The Guardian, YouTube video

High power group: The New York Times

So it's interesting to think of that sort of labeling, and its application not just for user convenience but also from an ecological perspective. Hey, hey, hey, maybe we've just been ahead of the curve all along! :P
posted by taz (staff) at 2:08 AM on October 15, 2015 [18 favorites]

I have enjoyed this thread.

You can pry my Grauniad from by cold dead hands. Yes it's so important to me that I have to remind everyone of an awful NRA phrase in a semi-serious manner without a hint of self awareness, irony or sarcasm.
posted by asok at 3:12 AM on October 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

So I guess you're saying they can pry your cold dead hands from your cold dead hands? In that case, here's yet another: "it's cold dead hands all the way down!"
posted by taz (staff) at 3:16 AM on October 15, 2015 [6 favorites]

Goddamn hipsters.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 3:39 AM on October 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

For the longest time, I would see "The Grauniad" and think the misspelling was a comment on the paper's content or accuracy or something and wonder why anyone would be bothered to click through.
posted by BibiRose at 5:44 AM on October 15, 2015

how about we use "grauniad" to refer to the paper that used to be? the one that would have supported a left-wing leader of the labour party?
posted by andrewcooke at 5:53 AM on October 15, 2015 [8 favorites]

For what it's worth, I find US version of the Guardian website to better for news about America than our native newspapers.
posted by octothorpe at 6:06 AM on October 15, 2015 [6 favorites]

From my cold dead hands...

Graundian is a shadow of it's former self anyway... all click baiting editorial articles. And still pro Lib Dem. I wish the only thing wrong with it were typos
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 6:08 AM on October 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

The final straw was when they started putting spoilers in their entertainment / media news headlines
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 6:09 AM on October 15, 2015

Steve Bell is still awesome though
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 6:09 AM on October 15, 2015

Going to Maine, I prefer MetaFilter: perfectly delightful.

I just started noticing Grauniad and googled it yesterday. I thought annoying in joke and also fond nickname, and moved on. Makes me feel quite zen, that does.
posted by theora55 at 6:19 AM on October 15, 2015

Honestly The Big Lebowski has achieved Monty Python and the Holy Grail status now as Thing Which Used To Be Hilarious Until Everyone Couldn't Shut The Fuck Up With Quoting It All The Time.

SMH
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 6:34 AM on October 15, 2015 [5 favorites]

Soulmates!

Oh! I missed that when it first went, as it were, out. Gratified to discover that I am in the same corner as yourself and Languagehat.
posted by Grangousier at 6:42 AM on October 15, 2015

I'm a very much a Guardian reader and I was happy to see this MeTa because the joke isn't that funny anymore. I usually regard it as a sign the poster wants to signify they're in the MeFi "in crowd" (whatever that is) and probably also like making "Metafilter: " jokes too. It's all ignorable in small doses, but when the concentration of twee wit over powers actual discussion of the link it's tedious.

This MeTa has been a really interesting embodiment of the phenomena and I've learned a lot about the site and myself.
posted by kendrak at 7:27 AM on October 15, 2015

I never thought of it as a Mefi thing, but more a old school Guardian (or just UK) reader thing, and likewise, Daily Fail and Faux News, Gray Lady*, etc. aren't Mefi things, though they show up here, obviously.
posted by taz (staff) at 7:40 AM on October 15, 2015 [6 favorites]

Am I the only one who hates "Grauniad" for the way it sounds in my head? It's a horrible word, makes my skin crawl!
posted by Omnomnom at 7:46 AM on October 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

Like, an evil alien spaceship would be called "The Grauniad". Or a zombie conspiracy. Or a Stephen King novel.
posted by Omnomnom at 7:48 AM on October 15, 2015

Speaking of which, the "cabal" comments get a bit tiresome. They're so self conscious.
posted by Omnomnom at 7:49 AM on October 15, 2015 [3 favorites]

No, I understand the Holy Grail comparison. Big Lebowski's most annoying quote is the one that is predictably evoked anytime anyone says they did not think it was the greatest film ever made. "Look! I am dismissing your opinion! With a quote from the self-same movie! CheckMATE!" It's become the xkcd "wrong on the internet" panel of movie quotes, as unfunny as it is worn out.
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 7:49 AM on October 15, 2015 [4 favorites]

The Grauniad - an epic tale of love and discovery as depicted by first dog on the moon.
posted by h00py at 7:55 AM on October 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

probably also like making "Metafilter: " jokes too. It's all ignorable in small doses, but when the concentration of twee wit over powers actual discussion of the link it's tedious.

I like making Metafilter: jokes, and if it means you think I'm twee, I guess I'll just to bear that burden.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:55 AM on October 15, 2015 [3 favorites]

Any time you have the urge to quote Lebowski at someone, replace the quote with another one from a different Coen bros. movie:

"Boy I sure am going blood simple over here."
"This whole thread is full of intolerable cruelty."
"That comment sure shows some true grit."
posted by griphus at 8:02 AM on October 15, 2015 [4 favorites]

I'm quite fond of the "Metafilter: [something something, I won't say 'foo' or 'baz' here]" goofiness. If I'm not mistaken, I think we had some of those running randomly as site subtitles for a while? Like where it used to say "the plastic.com it's okay to like"? Or maybe I dreamed that, in a wish-fulfillment way.
posted by taz (staff) at 8:03 AM on October 15, 2015 [3 favorites]

kendrak: "I usually regard it as a sign the poster wants to signify they're in the MeFi "in crowd""

Really? Grauniad jokes? I could understand "hamburger" or "it vibrates" or "Metafilter:", but google "Grauniad", and Metafilter.com doesn't even show up until the 310th search hit.
posted by Bugbread at 8:04 AM on October 15, 2015 [5 favorites]

taz: "If I'm not mistaken, I think we had some of those running randomly as site subtitles for a while?"

Yep, that's where the whole thing originated.
http://web.archive.org/web/20130115042227/http://mssv.net/wiki/index.php/Banners
posted by Bugbread at 8:08 AM on October 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

plastic.corn
posted by griphus at 8:11 AM on October 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

Bugbread, right! But I was thinking we had collected a lot of the user comments that quote something from a recent previous comment, like, Metafilter: concentration of twee wit over ... actual discussion and used them, but, yes, I think I'm conflating two things: the early changing subtitles, plus the big compiled list of "Metafilter:" comments in threads.
posted by taz (staff) at 8:14 AM on October 15, 2015

MetaFilter: the big compiled list of "Metafilter:" comments in threads
posted by grouse at 8:20 AM on October 15, 2015

MetaFilter: comments in threads
posted by taz (staff) at 8:24 AM on October 15, 2015 [15 favorites]

"That comment sure shows some true grit."

I'm tired of all this traffic. I sure wish I could get out of Africa.
posted by shakespeherian at 8:26 AM on October 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

i am super embarrassed to admit this but I never understood what "Metafilter:" jokes meant; are they supposed to be taglines for the site?
posted by thetortoise at 8:28 AM on October 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

Yeah there used to be a handful of different taglines which appeared under the logo on the front page. I.e. you could refresh the Blue several times and each time there'd be a different tagline shown, chosen randomly from a list somewhere. The Metafilter: jokes are tongue-in-cheek suggestions for additions to the list.
posted by shakespeherian at 8:38 AM on October 15, 2015 [3 favorites]

I'm a second-generation Guardian reader. (Grandad favoured Soviet Weekly.) Some time back in the 80s, my mum and dad got matching promotional t-shirts with "The Guardian" across the front. It used to tickle my mum to wear hers when she picked us kids up from school. I'll read Private Eye, too, when I can get one, which is less often since I moved away from the UK and the grad café at my old uni.

I call it the Grauniad or even the Graun when I'm feeling fond, and I don't intend to stop -- sorry, mostly-Americans whom it confuses.

andrewcooke: how about we use "grauniad" to refer to the paper that used to be? the one that would have supported a left-wing leader of the labour party?

Ouch. Too on-the-mark.
posted by daisyk at 8:39 AM on October 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

THANK YOU SHAKESPEHERIAN I have always been too embarrassed to ask thetortoise's question and your explanation is perfect!
posted by Melismata at 8:47 AM on October 15, 2015 [3 favorites]

I have eaten
the lumps
that were on
the counter

Forgive me dear Mefi, they were delicious.
will I now die?
posted by Namlit at 8:48 AM on October 15, 2015 [7 favorites]

I know it's in minuscule type at the bottom of the page, but there is a link to the Wiki, which does have a page for in jokes. Worth checking out if you ever aren't getting one. Or adding to it!
posted by Chrysostom at 8:50 AM on October 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

You can see the list in Bugbread's link above.
posted by shakespeherian at 8:50 AM on October 15, 2015

Never change, you beautiful lot of crankypants.
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 8:52 AM on October 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

No, I understand the Holy Grail comparison. Big Lebowski's most annoying quote is the one that is predictably evoked anytime anyone says they did not think it was the greatest film ever made. "Look! I am dismissing your opinion! With a quote from the self-same movie! CheckMATE!" It's become the xkcd "wrong on the internet" panel of movie quotes, as unfunny as it is worn out.

I said, “YEAH, WELL, THAT’S JUST, LIKE, YOUR OPINION, MAN.”
posted by Going To Maine at 8:55 AM on October 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

Also not to be mistaken for the periodical devoted to intestinal parasites, The Giardian
posted by bread crumbs at 8:57 AM on October 15, 2015 [12 favorites]

I actually think MeFi often does nerd quotery very well. It's often done creatively, at least, and references are often buried rather than simply parroted.

/Michael Palin as Bicycle Repair Man hears word "parroted" from a continent away, runs toward MeFi thread, transforming over the thousands of miles of superhuman running into a bedraggled, hermit-like character who might also be a pet shopkeeper, hoping against hope to make a "Norwegian Blue" or "Notlob" reference in reply to a perfectly placed setup line, then finally arrives at MeFi just in time to say...

"It's..."

/...but the comment ends abruptly, leaving him, as it were, bereft.
posted by Celsius1414 at 8:59 AM on October 15, 2015 [9 favorites]

The plum poem never ceases to amaze me, because I should be tired of it. And I think I am tired of it.

This is just to say...

I have re-written
the plum poem
that was on
the Metafilter

and which
you were probably
tired
of seeing

Forgive me
it is a tired meme
so stale
and so old
posted by nubs at 9:01 AM on October 15, 2015 [12 favorites]

Please let Mate Filter be the name of the long-anticipated MeFi dating subsite.
posted by Gordafarin at 9:11 AM on October 15, 2015 [16 favorites]

“MaFi is for MeFites”
posted by Going To Maine at 9:14 AM on October 15, 2015

Or MeDate.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:20 AM on October 15, 2015

not Date Me?

but really, no, no, no; I cannot even begin to express the profound horror the idea of moderating a dating site inflicts upon me
posted by taz (staff) at 9:37 AM on October 15, 2015 [24 favorites]

[not everyone needs a hug]
posted by griphus at 9:53 AM on October 15, 2015 [21 favorites]

I cannot even begin to express the profound horror the idea of moderating a dating site inflicts upon me

Fear of an overabundance of "I regularly sport pinstripes and a fedora, and I'm informed that pictures of me prompt girly coos"?
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 9:54 AM on October 15, 2015 [13 favorites]

DateMe, colloquially referred to as "the Banjo"
posted by griphus at 10:01 AM on October 15, 2015 [10 favorites]

Where are people getting this bizarre idea that "Grauniad" is a MetaFilter in-joke? It's a publishing-world thing. Here's a comment from a recent Language Log thread, a comment by an American journalist (with an excellent blog): "I think some Grauniad subs are regular readers here, and they can speak more authoritatively than I can on British hed evolution." (N.b.: "hed" is not a misspelling, it's journalist-speak for "headline." Those who hate jokes and jargon will doubtless hate it as well.)
posted by languagehat at 10:07 AM on October 15, 2015 [12 favorites]

What concerns me is, I would click on the Grauniad links which went immediately to The Guardian, and I never even wondered about it.

I have lacked
The aplomb
That puts me
In the chill zone.

And which
You were probably
Hoping
I'd manifest.

Forgive Mefi
You are so numinous,
So sweet
And so cold.
posted by Oyéah at 10:44 AM on October 15, 2015 [3 favorites]

I have affection for Grauniad because I first read it in Private Eye like 20 years ago, (how I love Private Eye), and because it's just what it's called in my head by now. I feel like if it's annoying to US Mefites then that's just a result of allowing a few of us foreigners onto the site, but we're worth it. And you'll get your revenge by posting seventy thousand US election FPPs for the next year so it's all good, yeah? Oh and this thread has taught me that I have no sense of humour at all since I basically love all the jokes that are apparently just so lame but then I already knew that so HA!
posted by billiebee at 10:46 AM on October 15, 2015 [16 favorites]

of allowing a few of us foreigners onto the site

I seem to recall from some Mefi survey that UK Mefites are actually over-represented by population, which does sometimes lead to fun bits of cultural misunderstanding from time to time.
posted by muddgirl at 11:00 AM on October 15, 2015

Or MeDate.

Or, in my case, MeDated.

Of course, then again, that could the name of MetaPeeple:

*Triple Plus UnGood -- Would rather cut off my own hand than date again*
posted by y2karl at 11:01 AM on October 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

I mean, obvs. Americans are also over-represented - not that UK is the most-represented country or anything.
posted by muddgirl at 11:02 AM on October 15, 2015

DateTMFA.metafilter.com
posted by Kabanos at 11:03 AM on October 15, 2015 [7 favorites]

MetaFlirter
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 11:04 AM on October 15, 2015 [15 favorites]

Wordshore: "At some point, a newer MeFite is going to ask "Who is Matt?", and those who know will be abstractly sad / feel a little older."

This has happened at least once years ago where some noob went off on Matt (re: something stupid like criticizing non-threaded posts) completely ignorant of his relationship with the site. Completely impossible to search for of course but it was hilarious at the time.
posted by Mitheral at 11:04 AM on October 15, 2015 [4 favorites]

Overrun by injokes
posted by Kabanos at 11:05 AM on October 15, 2015

While we're talking about the injokes we hate, put me down for "eponysterical". Its literal only function is to point out that someone's user name is humorously relevant to the post they made, but since you have to quote the user name in question so everyone knows which post you're talking about, every post with "eponysterical" essentially follows this format:

"[user name that is humorously relevant to the post they made]
[THAT USER NAME IS HUMOROUSLY RELEVANT TO THE POST THEY MADE!!]"

Really, a much more parsimonious and less grating way to express that would be the following:
[relevant part of post in italics]
posted by relevant user name in bold at time on date [1 billion favorites +][!]
posted by J.K. Seazer at 11:42 AM on October 15, 2015

>Overrun by injokes

I dunno, it seems to me that there are fewer injokes on the site than there used to be in, say, 2007. (Does no one remember Portobello mushrooms?)
posted by Nevin at 11:52 AM on October 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

but really, no, no, no; I cannot even begin to express the profound horror the idea of moderating a dating site inflicts upon me

Where it would get interesting is if a date between two MeFites who met through Mate Filter went badly wrong, and both of them wrote different versions of their date as different posts on AskMeFi, meaning potentially triple problems for the Mods, especially if one disgruntled dater noticed the opposing post and started "No YOU talked about your ex all evening and eyed up the staff" cross-commenting. That would be a fun shift for whichever Mod was on duty.

Taz quietly sends a "We. Are. Not. Adding. This. Feature. To. MetaFilter." email to Cortex
posted by Wordshore at 11:56 AM on October 15, 2015 [4 favorites]

Searching for the matt flamage though led me to this assemblage of linkage which I never knew about before.
posted by Mitheral at 12:00 PM on October 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

While we're talking about the injokes we hate, put me down for "eponysterical".

I made an eponysterical this one time when languagehat was talking about the Russian for Fedora and it is one of the highlights of my MeFi career and you will not take that from me godammit!
posted by billiebee at 12:01 PM on October 15, 2015 [27 favorites]

“Shaking My Head”, as in disdainful disbelief.
SMH is the Sydney Morning Herald, which inspires much the same reaction - a once decent newspaper that's sadly succumbing to clickbait.
posted by une_heure_pleine at 12:06 PM on October 15, 2015

J.K. Seazer: "since you have to quote the user name in question so everyone knows which post you're talking about, every post with "eponysterical" essentially follows this format"

Oh no. You cannot complain about eponysterical and then say "post" when you meant "comment." Uh uh.
posted by Chrysostom at 12:09 PM on October 15, 2015 [6 favorites]

In conclusion, Metafilter is a land of contrasts.
posted by paper chromatographologist at 12:25 PM on October 15, 2015 [5 favorites]

Speaking of eponysterical, does the technology exist to find the most eponysterical user of all time?
posted by Lorin at 12:32 PM on October 15, 2015

Speaking of eponysterical, does the technology exist to find the most eponysterical user of all time ?

That, sir, would send you on a fool's Errant.
posted by y2karl at 12:43 PM on October 15, 2015

that seemed rude.
posted by zutalors! at 12:52 PM on October 15, 2015

The plum poem in 2015 is basically mefi's equivalent of a coffee mug that says "you don't have to be CRAZY to work here... BUT IT HELPS!!!!"

MetaFilter: First they came for the plums...
posted by The Bellman at 1:04 PM on October 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

Speaking of eponysterical, does the technology exist to find the most eponysterical user of all time?

This annoys me.
posted by grouse at 1:24 PM on October 15, 2015 [8 favorites]

Speaking of eponysterical, does the technology exist to find the most eponysterical user of all time?

I'm afraid that's a double
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 1:26 PM on October 15, 2015 [6 favorites]

Speaking of eponysterical, does the technology exist to find the most eponysterical user of all time?

*_*_*_*_*_*単純で優柔な矛盾も手に入れたつもりでも *_*_*_*_*_*_*
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 1:31 PM on October 15, 2015 [3 favorites]

Some of us are basically incapable of writing eponysterical comments. Spare a moment to think of us, won't you
posted by prize bull octorok at 1:32 PM on October 15, 2015 [12 favorites]

La la la la la la la la la la la la la
posted by Melismata at 1:33 PM on October 15, 2015 [4 favorites]

I'm afraid that's a double

A double, indeed. For the record I predict it's empath if anyone does run those numbers.
posted by Lorin at 1:41 PM on October 15, 2015 [3 favorites]

that seemed rude

He and I have met, conversed convivially in person, and I would like to think we have a great deal of respect for each other's intelligence. It was a silly pun of which your interpretation seemed less than generous. Which is no big deal to me. Carry on.
posted by y2karl at 1:44 PM on October 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

Οὐδεὶς ἄξιος τῶν συνδεδεμένων ταῖς σαρκικαῖς ἐπιθυμίαις καὶ ἡδοναῖς προσέρχεσθαι ἢ προσεγγίζειν ἢ λειτουργεῖν Σοι, Βασιλεῦ τῆς δόξης· τὸ γὰρ διακονεῖν Σοι μέγα καὶ φοβερὸν καὶ αὐταῖς ταῖς ἐπουρανίοις Δυνάμεσιν.

How's that?
posted by Chrysostom at 2:12 PM on October 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

Hah, I don't know if you realised this, but you're actually quoting a Greek hymn as relayed by a Byzantine Father of the Church and Archbishop! Which would make your username quite relevant!
posted by Joe in Australia at 2:39 PM on October 15, 2015 [4 favorites]

Let's go Mets!
posted by jonmc at 2:40 PM on October 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

I Go Pogo
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 2:48 PM on October 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

Some of us are basically incapable of writing eponysterical comments. Spare a moment to think of us, won't you

That's some prize bull, octorok.
posted by jamjam at 2:59 PM on October 15, 2015 [6 favorites]

Some of us are basically incapable of writing eponysterical comments. Spare a moment to think of us, won't you

Especially those of us with real names. They'll have paved paradise and put up a parking lot before I get an appropriate chance.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 3:02 PM on October 15, 2015 [19 favorites]

My handle is Going To Maine.
posted by Going To Maine at 3:34 PM on October 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

I've seen Errant aggressively called out many times so I stand by my incredibly mild "seems rude" observation thanks.
posted by zutalors! at 3:46 PM on October 15, 2015

Wow, I thought I had aclimated here somewhat but what a thread. These post-hips-modern take offs on takeoffs on takenoffs of oblique references, just zowie (insert emoj here)!

Pony Request: A hidden sub-site: couldbeaclassiczippyquote.metafilter.com

pretty please
posted by sammyo at 4:00 PM on October 15, 2015

I have seen the FUN
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:08 PM on October 15, 2015

I remember the Portobello Mushrooms. AFAIR it was related to a woman trying to buy mushrooms (possibly Portobello) and the checkout girl offered her an alternative (possibly Portobello.) My memory is hazy on the details, it was a long time ago though. Sure there was a thread on the blue about it.

Also, eponyhilarious was decided upon in a thread on either the blue or the grey, hence its popularity. Further, there was a thread the other day about reel to reel tape machines, and one of the commenters, who commented eloquently about sound actually had the username vibratory manner of working, and no-one made the eponyhilarious joke. Were you all asleep or something? Has it fallen out of fashion? I was, as per usual, so late to the thread that everyone had moved on by the time I arrived.

I wondered when certain things happened on Mefi. One day, I was killing time before going somewhere; I only had a short time so clicked the random button and the FPP had a [more inside] at the end but it wasn't a link, just text, and it got me wondering when it changed to a link?
posted by marienbad at 4:11 PM on October 15, 2015

They'll have paved paradise and put up a parking lot before I get an appropriate chance.
posted by Jon Mitchell

Unless you count "Chill Men Jot" or "Loch Men Jilt" -- the latter of which puts you in fine shape the next time a Scottish philanderer thread comes up.
posted by Celsius1414 at 4:22 PM on October 15, 2015

Pony Request: A hidden sub-site: couldbeaclassiczippyquote.metafilter.com

Six of one, twelve dozen of another as the sage Grouse once observed.
posted by y2karl at 4:29 PM on October 15, 2015

I have an enduring love of in-jokes. The plates of beans cooled by special snowflakes and turned into a subheading - it all makes me so happy. I believe in jokes are the sign of a healthy community, a place where some few notable things endure and are shared through repetition. Repetition makes us feel safe, and exclusive repetition (which the Grauniad seems to not be; it is a shibboleth of another color) serves as a quiet marker of inclusion. One of my favorite moments in a healthy community is when I look confused and someone explains to me the in-joke: I have arrived, I think! And I love these kinds of threads where people share the shibboleths they've learned, the plums and crouton petters and proper pronunciations of MeFi.

But I grew up with people where we used to Play At Questions a la R&G are Dead, and I learned l33tsp34k and lolCats and Doge with glee. I find myself wondering if there might be some temperamental and experiential differences which set us apart - those of us who love that No One Expects the Spanish Inquisition, and those who would rather Monty Python's Flying Circus fly elsewhere.
posted by Deoridhe at 4:33 PM on October 15, 2015 [13 favorites]

Repetition serves as an intrusive marker of mindlessness. It's like a blatant advertisement for the complete absence of wit.
posted by Wolfdog at 4:42 PM on October 15, 2015 [3 favorites]

That's what she said!
posted by prize bull octorok at 4:45 PM on October 15, 2015 [8 favorites]

Wolfdog: "Repetition serves as an intrusive marker of mindlessness. It's like a blatant advertisement for the complete absence of wit."

I'm not sure "advertisement" is the word you're looking for, but perhaps you were just being mindless for a second.

As a person with a complete absence of wit, I can live with in-jokes. I mean, imagine a person with no wit who uses in-jokes. Annoying, right? Now imagine a person with no wit who uses no in-jokes either. That's just depressing. Better to be the guy with the "You don't have to be crazy" mug than to be the guy who never ever jokes.
posted by Bugbread at 4:52 PM on October 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

In-jokes are just fine in communities this large and diverse. They've led me to some entertaining threads anyway. Really don't see the harm.
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 5:08 PM on October 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

I would rather suffer fools in silence than try to control what other people are saying or how they are saying it. I used to say this place was like Harrison Bergeron meets Lord of the Flies but lately it seems more like a clone army of mini Metaween are heckbent on overminding other people's manners. Creeping Edna Lovejoyism, that's what irks me.

That, and autocorrect.

Then I remember I haven't eaten for some time.

I am not running for hall monitor. If elected, I will nap.

And clavdivs for proconsul.

He'll put the Visigoths in their place.
posted by y2karl at 5:19 PM on October 15, 2015 [3 favorites]

I thought SMH meant "smack me harder." Shaking my head is an interesting twist.

In terms of pet peeves, there are too many acronyms on the site that don't get explained. Someone says, "I work for SMUYU" and I don't know WTF that means. I'm too lazy to google, hence "shock moves up you unrelentlessly."

???
posted by bendy at 6:12 PM on October 15, 2015

marienbad, there is [more inside] the wiki. MiHail (RIP) wondered what had become of "Amerika" that we weren't properly educating our grocery clerks on mycology. All of this happened well before last year, so I'm not surprised you don't remember it precisely.
posted by Rock Steady at 6:15 PM on October 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

I like the Warshington Post.
posted by 4ster at 6:23 PM on October 15, 2015

Shaking my head is an interesting twist.

"SMH" stands for "Sydney Morning Herald, oh no that can't be right, oh yeah it's that new thing now..."
posted by pompomtom at 7:42 PM on October 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

“Shaking My Head”, as in disdainful disbelief.
SMH is the Sydney Morning Herald, which inspires much the same reaction - a once decent newspaper that's sadly succumbing to clickbait.

You mean The Smage?

Leaves that one hanging without explanation just to annoy all the non-antipodeans...
posted by Pinback at 7:44 PM on October 15, 2015 [4 favorites]

Hmmm, non-antipodeans should just be...podeans, I guess.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:47 PM on October 15, 2015 [4 favorites]

...podeans

Sounds like a proper name for southern Gennulman o' Breedin': "Why, PoDean Belvedere Armstrong - how yo go awn, Ah do dee-clayah."
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:37 PM on October 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

Ah, fuck you all. Fuck you all to hell.

- Guy Frowney
posted by Guy Smiley at 8:45 PM on October 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

This has me pondering about how many American news outlets have pejorative/endearing nicknames. We just don't seem to have many. It's customary to call a town local paper "The [TOWN NAME] Fishwrap," and there's a halfhearted joke in saying the NY Times prints "all the news, print to fit" or the "[great] Grey Lady," but when it comes to major dailies, at best they get affectionate nickames, like the Inky for the Philadelphia Inquirer or the Trib for the Chicago Tribune. Can anybody think of a US daily - or even weekly or monthly glossy - that gets an injoke nickname that's near-universally recognized? I mean, even papers that are widely derided here (NY Post/Daily News, Boston Herald) don't seem to get demeaning nicknames. Unless I don't know or am just not remembering them right now.

Maybe the closest thing is not an actual paper but broadcast stations: I hear people try to get "Faux News" for Fox to catch on, for instance, and I have been amused to hear EPSN referred to as "Endless Stupid Parade of Nothing."

It might be a UK kind of humor thing. We'll call a crappy useless paper a trashy rag, but I'm not sure we'll recast it with a nickname. Like, I remember when I first read about Cockney rhyming slang, and thought, OK, that's sort of funny, but geez it seems like a real lot of work bordering on trying-too-hard. "Grauniad" strikes me the same way.
posted by Miko at 9:00 PM on October 15, 2015

Years ago when I lived in Tallahassee FL, the daily Democrat was referred to as the "Dummycrap". Especially by Democrats.
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:12 PM on October 15, 2015

Everyone's podean.
posted by pompomtom at 9:13 PM on October 15, 2015

Yeah, it just seems very English/British (sorry, not sure which applies). Which is fine. It may also be a tired joke in England, but even if that's the case, it seems silly to try to wage that war here.
posted by jaguar at 9:15 PM on October 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

warnings that it was a link to The Guardian or NYT, for example, still seemed odd.

For NYT it is helpful because you only have so many articles per month you can click on before you have to right click and open in a private window.
posted by save alive nothing that breatheth at 9:15 PM on October 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

heck, I always like seeing a paper's name credited so we can remember at least that those news organizations are out there and still generating fantastic work that we reference daily, here and elsewhere.
posted by Miko at 9:17 PM on October 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

Repetition serves as an intrusive marker of mindlessness. It's like a blatant advertisement for the complete absence of wit.

! |\/|4`/ |83 |\/|!|\|o||_355, |8 ! +`/|o 3|_\/3|\| |_33+.
posted by Deoridhe at 1:30 AM on October 16, 2015 [1 favorite]

Not to get off the topic of in jokes, but anyone here know how much a month's subscription to the Guardian costs? If purchased in a remote locale?
posted by NikitaNikita at 1:58 AM on October 16, 2015

Peak Grauniad: How to make the perfect kale crisps
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 2:54 AM on October 16, 2015 [1 favorite]

This page suggests a US subscription for physical delivery is £1066 pa. Download seems to be £12 a month wherever you are (as far as I can tell).
posted by biffa at 4:02 AM on October 16, 2015

Thanks, Rock Steady. Man, that Portobello thing was a decade ago!

The [more inside] metas linked on the wiki are interesting.

Metafilter: ! |\/|4`/ |83 |\/|!|\|o||_355, |8 ! +`/|o 3|_\/3|\| |_33+.
posted by marienbad at 5:17 AM on October 16, 2015 [1 favorite]

Miko: "Can anybody think of a US daily - or even weekly or monthly glossy - that gets an injoke nickname that's near-universally recognized?"

Maybe not universally recognized, but apparently it's a thing.
posted by Rock Steady at 5:20 AM on October 16, 2015

fearfulsymmetry: "Peak Grauniad: How to make the perfect kale crisps"

I'm not sure that I get the joke here. Don't most newspapers have recipes?
posted by octothorpe at 5:31 AM on October 16, 2015

Skipping the thread b/c I just got called into work early, but have to say I actually went back into the archive and compiled stats on how often it occurs in front page posts just 2 days ago, and was waiting to make a similar post here. Insulting the journalists who produced the content you're linking to is unseemly at best.
posted by mediareport at 5:31 AM on October 16, 2015

...Eponysterical!

I would be interested in those stats, mediareport.

It's really not an insult, though, and certainly not to the journalists.
posted by daisyk at 5:47 AM on October 16, 2015 [1 favorite]

MetaFlirter

MetaMcFlirtypants
posted by y2karl at 5:50 AM on October 16, 2015

Without in-jokes, what would we populate the Metafilterest tumblr with?

Personally, I usually only look at the kittens.
posted by cynical pinnacle at 5:54 AM on October 16, 2015

Insulting the journalists who produced the content you're linking to is unseemly at best.

The joke is ancient. Nobody is insulted. Nobody cares. As a matter of some small passing interest, there is at least one Guardian journalist who has commented in this thread.
posted by Wolof at 5:56 AM on October 16, 2015 [12 favorites]

The joke is ancient.

That's why it's so annoying. You're still beating them up over misspelling something thirty years ago. It's a weird grudge to hold.
posted by octothorpe at 6:08 AM on October 16, 2015 [2 favorites]

I'm not beating anyone up, nor do I bear a grudge of any sort in this matter.
posted by Wolof at 6:12 AM on October 16, 2015 [5 favorites]

don't they have nicknames in america?
posted by andrewcooke at 6:14 AM on October 16, 2015 [5 favorites]

apparently it's a thing.

Great link, thanks!

don't they have nicknames in america?

We do of course but I think there's less general wordplay and as I said above, it's not super common for media outlets to get nicknames.
posted by Miko at 6:27 AM on October 16, 2015

I don't think I have ever spelled it Grauniad when I have linked to it. But maybe I will now. There's too much of this stamping on cultures and cultural reference points that are outside the American experience on this site.
posted by biffa at 6:31 AM on October 16, 2015 [13 favorites]

Regarding our local newspaper that can't possible employ many editors and is riddled with small typographical and grammatical errors, I blame the journalists, like, every day.

But the Guardian may be different...and also, in an European context, wordplays (even stale ones) are not usually seen as insults (unless they're crude).

That said, this particular one seems like beating a dead herso.
posted by Namlit at 6:54 AM on October 16, 2015

Private Eye also routinely refers to Piers Morgan as Piers "Morgan" Moron and it will never not amuse me. That's not really relevant to the thread but I just felt like leaving it here.
posted by billiebee at 7:25 AM on October 16, 2015 [4 favorites]

I do get the impression that wordplay plays more of a role in British culture than American, but I'm not in a very good position to judge as I've never lived in the USA and grew up in a wordplay-filled British household. Perhaps the relatively low popularity of the cryptic crossword (SLGraun) in the USA versus the UK is germane here.
posted by daisyk at 8:00 AM on October 16, 2015

(I've only spotted one typo in that article, though there may be more...)
posted by daisyk at 8:04 AM on October 16, 2015

In conclusion, Metafilter is a land of contrasts.

Speaking of in-jokes, seeing "land of contrasts" prompted me to do a Google search to confirm/deny my hazy memory that "in conclusion... land of contrasts" is a Simpsons reference. (Because I stopped watching quite a while back, and I thought it was, but couldn't be sure.)

And yes -- confirmed -- it is a Simpsons reference. But the very first link is to the MeFi in-jokes Wiki page. That makes it a meta Meta in-joke, I think?
posted by mudpuppie at 8:21 AM on October 16, 2015 [2 favorites]

Also, threads like these sometimes make me want to just start egregiously employing the word/phrase/in joke that annoys people so much. Because I'm a special snowflake. And I ate your plums. Forgive me.

Metafilter: SLGRAUNIAD.
posted by mudpuppie at 8:22 AM on October 16, 2015 [4 favorites]

Private Eye also routinely refers to Piers Morgan as Piers "Morgan" Moron

yeah... someone repeatedly pointed out to me that the name of a mutual acquaintance he didn't like auto-corrected to "Bison" on his computer. Oh. ha. ha.
But that's the difference, isn't it: to extract insult from individual person's actual names is a whole 'nother category of hollow-headed snark. It's what civilised people stopped doing at sixteen.

I feel less obliged to behave when it comes to a name of a newspaper (no matter whether I like it or not, in general), but hollow headed the device remains...
posted by Namlit at 8:23 AM on October 16, 2015

I want to be a better person, and I happen to have a silly name myself... but I intend to refer to Ross Douthat as Ross Douchehat for as long as he has a career.
posted by thetortoise at 8:30 AM on October 16, 2015 [2 favorites]

Being able to buy The Guardian every weekend was one of the joys of moving to Britain. The other was being able to subscribe to Private Eye. Calling it the Graun - because we Aussies love abbreviated nicknames even more than nicknames - is a sign of my affection for both organs (as is describing them as organs), and in no way a mark of disrespect, or insulting its journalists, or anything like that. Even if I've disagreed with their editorial line on the Lib Dems or Corbyn, that doesn't come close to cancelling out the work of Nick Davies on phone hacking, or all those involved in bringing Snowden's leaks to the world's attention, to name but two.

Vive la Grauniad!
posted by rory at 8:32 AM on October 16, 2015 [8 favorites]

Insulting the journalists who produced the content you're linking to is unseemly at best.
posted by mediareport at 5:31 AM on October 16
[+] [!]

I love it when someone comes along and says, so perfectly simply, the idea I have been grasping for but couldn't express.

but wait ... won't someone think of the people it "makes smile"? {{barf}}
posted by jayder at 8:36 AM on October 16, 2015

I know! People smiling is teh worst.

to extract insult from individual person's actual names is a whole 'nother category of hollow-headed snark. It's what civilised people stopped doing at sixteen

I did not get that memo. Thank God for Donald Trump! (trump means fart in American English too, right?)
posted by billiebee at 8:46 AM on October 16, 2015 [7 favorites]

Alas, no.
posted by Going To Maine at 8:47 AM on October 16, 2015 [2 favorites]

It's still not an insult no matter how many people it makes smile, sorry jayder.
posted by daisyk at 8:49 AM on October 16, 2015 [10 favorites]

You can tell because, by and large, the people who use it are the ones who like the Guardian and feel at least somewhat sympatico about it. That's why there's a certain air of bafflement in a lot of the comments here.
posted by daisyk at 9:02 AM on October 16, 2015 [15 favorites]

Yeah. I also think of the BBC as the Beeb-Beeb-Ceeb, because I grew up listening to The Goons (who jokingly called it that) and will love the Beeb forever for bringing them to us. Not an insult.
posted by rory at 9:18 AM on October 16, 2015 [1 favorite]

"Grauniad" has appeared 20 times on the front page and 400 times in comments, yet this MeTa is the first time I've seen the word. I guess my brain was filling in "Guardian" the whole time. From that perspective it seems clear to me that this is an affectionate nickname that is not directed towards any particular person or persons, or even the institution as a whole. At this point, defending the paper feels a lot like crouton petting, but's that kind of endearing.

It's customary to call a town local paper "The [TOWN NAME] Fishwrap

On Le Show, Harry Shearer refers to the L.A. Times as the "Los Angeles Dog Trainer" during the segment where he reads the previous week's corrections.
posted by Room 641-A at 9:29 AM on October 16, 2015 [1 favorite]

In addition to the US/UK divide, I think the locus of the concern is causing part of the dissension. We've spent a lot of time and effort here over the years (ad astra per aspera) getting to the point of realizing that we should respect when people complain that something is personally insulting, whether we find it insulting ourselves or not.

But that respect is for things that insult someone's person (whether that be based on gender, race, etc., etc.). joseph conrad is fully awesome's complaint is about something that is seen as insulting to a third party, a newspaper. The newspaper itself (or even its employees) is not here complaining. That's not to say the original complaint wasn't valid, but I think it helps explain why there's more scope for pushback.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:35 AM on October 16, 2015 [3 favorites]

deconflicted borborygmi
posted by y2karl at 9:58 AM on October 16, 2015 [1 favorite]

I read “SMH” as “So Much Hate” for quite a while.

As someone who can barely see a misspelling at the best of times, It took a long time to register that it wasn't SHM, obv: So Help Me. Thus, I read SMH as Smo Hepme.

It makes about as much sense in context most of the time.
posted by bonehead at 10:51 AM on October 16, 2015 [2 favorites]

"Beware the Grauniad, my son!
The metal that's hot, the typos that twist!"
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:02 PM on October 16, 2015 [8 favorites]

I play the Klute!
posted by clavdivs at 4:52 PM on October 16, 2015

"Corporations are not people, that's ridiculous. Now, stop using the wrong name for this newspaper, you're going to hurt its feelings."
posted by Bugbread at 4:53 PM on October 16, 2015 [3 favorites]

I write for it occasionally and call it the Grauniad or even the Graun. It doesn't mind !
posted by Mistress at 2:28 AM on October 17, 2015 [14 favorites]

The notion that riffing on the relatively common typos of bygone eras in the Gaurdian is insulting to the journalists is... baffling to me, to say the least. Firstly, I do not see it as in any way insulting, and secondly, if it were, it would be directed at the editors and typesetters, not the journalists. It has firmly just become a thing at this point, much like the BBC is the Beeb, postmen are posties, high-powered diesels are rolling coal. The Guardain is the Grauniad. It's just a nickname at this point, if anything it implies a love more than a disdain.

Also, Metafilter: if I never saw "Metafilter: ..." again it would be perfectly delightful.
posted by Dysk at 4:00 AM on October 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

comealongpole: "As for the abbr derail, I've mentioned it before but I used to think that "brb" was a mournful farting noise, semantically equivalent to the sad trombone."

I have been laughing helplessly at this for the last five minutes and can't really stop. The best (worst) part is that it caught me by surprise, so when I first burst into laughter, I accidentally passed gas at considerable volume, and scared both cats off the couch and into the hinterlands of the house.

I think it's the "mournful" that gets me. It's half past four in the morning and I'm laughing hysterically because all of my past IM conversations have suddenly become hilarious to me in previously unimagined ways.

I think this might be what MetaFilter in general is for.
posted by scrump at 4:35 AM on October 17, 2015 [13 favorites]

Completely unrelatedly, I just discovered the lovely Guardian style guide Twitter account and thought people in this thread might enjoy it.
posted by daisyk at 5:08 AM on October 17, 2015 [7 favorites]

Love that Twitter account. I absolutely never noticed about the B-52's, the GoGo's et al.
posted by Miko at 5:18 AM on October 17, 2015

Completely unrelatedly, I just discovered the lovely Guardian style guide Twitter account and thought people in this thread might enjoy it.

Thank you! Just read their linked piece on "maiden names." I've been fighting against that phrase for a while and am somewhat comforted to know that the alternatives are still a bit awkward. I've settled on "Is that the name you were born with?" (I need to ask for official bureaucratic reasons, though we probably don't actually need as much of the information as our system requires us to enter.)
posted by jaguar at 6:23 AM on October 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

> Completely unrelatedly, I just discovered the lovely Guardian style guide Twitter account and thought people in this thread might enjoy it.

Many thanks! I never heard of The La's, but I'm glad to know that the name is "an abbreviation of Lads, so the apostrophe signifies missing D, not a plural" and it's pronounced The Lazz.
posted by languagehat at 6:50 AM on October 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

I would quibble with that pronunciation, its more like lars or larz than lazz.
posted by biffa at 7:21 AM on October 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

You might remember their song, "There She Goes" which was used in So I Married An Axe Murderer, and has been covered a lot.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:25 AM on October 17, 2015

> I would quibble with that pronunciation, its more like lars or larz than lazz.

That's how you say it, and I imagine that's how lots of people say it, but it seems to be wrong. From the Twitter feed:

Steve Ashby @SteveAshby11
@guardianstyle @JohnDSeymour So it's pronounced The Lazz, not The Lars? Mind. Blown.
Guardian style guide ‏@guardianstyle 16h16 hours ago

Guardian style guide
That's how it's pronounced. There she goes ...

posted by languagehat at 7:31 AM on October 17, 2015

The plum poem

This Is Just To Repost

(trump means fart in American English too, right?)

No, we use the non-contracted form, "butt trumpet".
posted by cortex (staff) at 12:13 PM on October 17, 2015 [6 favorites]

I shall henceforth only ever refer to him as Donald Butt-Trumpet. My gratitude knows no bounds.
posted by billiebee at 12:20 PM on October 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

“Donald Toot”
posted by Going To Maine at 12:29 PM on October 17, 2015

Completely unrelatedly, I just discovered the lovely Guardian style guide Twitter account and thought people in this thread might enjoy it.

I did enjoy it, and thank you very much, but I went through it back to the beginning of September and did not find an explanation for a headline that persisted for at least a few hours and which described the recent bake-off winner as "... an Muslim ...".
posted by jamjam at 12:41 PM on October 17, 2015

Oh, I get it. MeFite seriously asks for particular joke to be discontinued. Commenters take this as invitation to make all sorts of variations on said joke and other tangentially related jokes. Hilarity ensues. MeFites who had never heard of said joke decide they will henceforth make said joke themselves. An example of a comedy boomerang.
posted by Sir Rinse at 1:09 PM on October 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

I shall henceforth only ever refer to him as Donald Butt-Trumpet. My gratitude knows no bounds.

Some of his relatives are, let's just say not fond of him, and refer to him as An Asal.
posted by Wordshore at 1:14 PM on October 17, 2015

Treacle Can Trumpet toes, two hours toggling tumbleweed tension on t.v.
posted by clavdivs at 2:09 PM on October 17, 2015

Sir Rinse, a MeTa saying something like "I don't think this joke is funny, can we stop making it?" is perfectly valid, but it's open to people saying "Actually I think it is funny and I want to keep making it." If that's the majority consensus, no individuals are disrespected, and the joke stays alive then the system works. That a lighthearted thread results rather than a shit-storm is a bonus as far as I'm concerned. I don't think anyone is being wilfully obtuse, but barring genuine offensiveness you can't legislate for sense of humour (especially for a joke whose provenance is outside of MeFi itself). Also Donald Brb.
posted by billiebee at 2:24 PM on October 17, 2015 [4 favorites]

Not to get off the topic of in jokes, but anyone here know how much a month's subscription to the Guardian costs? If purchased in a remote locale?

The Guardian Weekly is the traditional solution to this problem. One of my college application essays may have been partly about the Weekly.

In addition to the US/UK divide, I think the locus of the concern is causing part of the dissension.

I think it's more subtle than that. Maybe this is what you're referring to as the "US/UK divide", but I think people are reading this post not as about the Guardian, but as being told their cultural practice, even a trivial one, is somehow unacceptable. No one who calls it the Grauniad thinks it's actually funny, so being told it's insulting by people seemingly lacking the context feels kind of, uh, insulting.
posted by hoyland at 2:39 PM on October 17, 2015 [9 favorites]

Ah, I see.

Somehow the word 'Asian' was removed from "That an Asian Muslim woman in a headscarf ..." in the version of the headline that appeared on the front page of the website.

I suspected that 'an' had originally appeared before a word starting out 'Islam..' in place of 'Muslim', but I couldn't think of any such word that would fit; I wasn't completely comfortable declaring it an error because I found quite a few examples of 'an Muslim' used over a span of years, and some were in sections written by the authors in stories from the BBC.
posted by jamjam at 2:55 PM on October 17, 2015

If you think the Graun's version is bad, the Torygraph probably used the old spelling of Muslim, for the lulz for their readers.
posted by marienbad at 3:38 PM on October 17, 2015

butts lol!
posted by Melismata at 6:31 PM on October 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

I don't think any one media outlet deserves any more respect, collectively, than any other. If people want to make fun of the Guardian, it shouldn't be treated as somehow different than when people make fun of the Daily Mail or Fox News.
posted by corb at 7:06 PM on October 17, 2015

Ha!
posted by shakespeherian at 7:13 PM on October 17, 2015

Or maybe we can continue to distinguish between shades of gray.
posted by tonycpsu at 7:51 PM on October 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

I will say one of the super-best things about the internet is not only the Guardian's amazing website, but that we in the US can read it. It's a great news/info org.
posted by Miko at 8:31 PM on October 17, 2015 [4 favorites]

Super late to the party, but isn't the joke that the Grauniad is an epic poem of complaint and critique, by metonymy with the Iliad? To groan in UK usage means to complain, to, er, whinge, yeah?

So the joke is that the left-of-center paper is a constant source of groaning complaint as opposed to cheery boosterishness. It's amusing and takes its form from the title of a warhorse of classical lit, tarring it with the brush of school day required reading. It is pejorative, but I read it as affectionately so.

I had not previously encountered the typo explanation; as a former (photo) typesetter I find it suspect as one would note the misplaced 'd' immediately. Also, you know, I'm not a Brit so my explanation here has no basis in native source materials that I know of - I could have just retconned it. Whatever. I like my version better.
posted by mwhybark at 9:48 PM on October 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

Miko: "Can anybody think of a US daily - or even weekly or monthly glossy - that gets an injoke nickname that's near-universally recognized?"

Well, here in Austin, most people know what you mean when you call the Austin American Statesman the "Snakesman" The in crowd goes one further with "Snakesperson".
posted by a humble nudibranch at 1:31 AM on October 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

and Cortex your madlib plum poem generator is brilliant:

This Is Just To Say

I have beaned
the restaurants
that were around
the bureau

and which
you were probably
blowing
for death

Forgive me
they were filthy
so sulky
and so living
posted by a humble nudibranch at 1:36 AM on October 18, 2015

languagehat: That's how you say it, and I imagine that's how lots of people say it, but it seems to be wrong.

That's interesting, I'm just not clear on how they get from La' (which is a word I'm pretty familiar with as I was brought up just outside Liverpool) with its drawn-out hard ending to the softer sound necessary to get to lazz when its pluralised.
posted by biffa at 3:35 AM on October 18, 2015

everybody needs a hgu
posted by Coaticass at 4:52 AM on October 18, 2015 [3 favorites]

This thread is like a drunk guy at a party who keeps telling tired old jokes and then gets mad at you for not laughing and calls you a prig.
posted by octothorpe at 5:37 AM on October 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

Can we still call The Daily Mail The Daily Fail?

You mean the Daily Heil.
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 6:32 AM on October 18, 2015 [3 favorites]

octothorpe: "This thread is like a drunk guy at a party who keeps telling tired old jokes and then gets mad at you for not laughing and calls you a prig."

Metafilter is like a bunch of drunk people at a party telling jokes that make each other laugh, and this thread is like a drunk guy at a party getting mad because the jokes don't make him laugh, so everybody should stop telling those jokes and start trying harder to amuse him.
posted by Bugbread at 6:37 AM on October 18, 2015 [8 favorites]

Also, I've heard a few different local refer to the (stodgy and often notably editorially conservative) Oregonian as the Boregonian, but I have had so few conversations about the newspaper in my life that I can't start to attest to how common that is.
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:39 AM on October 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

Many thanks! I never heard of The La's, but I'm glad to know that the name is "an abbreviation of Lads, so the apostrophe signifies missing D, not a plural" and it's pronounced The Lazz.

It's Liverpool slang though, so the 'a' is longer and flatter than you might expect. More like 'The Laars' than The Lazz.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 8:05 AM on October 18, 2015

It's Liverpool slang though, so the 'a' is longer and flatter than you might expect. More like 'The Laars' than The Lazz.

Calm down, la!
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 9:08 AM on October 18, 2015

I had not previously encountered the typo explanation; as a former (photo) typesetter I find it suspect as one would note the misplaced 'd' immediately.

Well yes, it's a joke riffing on their (at the time) frequent typos, not a reference to an actual typo they made.
posted by Dysk at 9:24 AM on October 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

I still think if that explanation is accurate, the nickname would be more "Guardina" - the pun remains compelling, in my ears anyway.
posted by mwhybark at 9:43 AM on October 18, 2015

There is actually no debate at all about it. The Grauniad nickname definitely comes from a particular publication - Private Eye - as a specific play on The Guardian's (at that time fully deserved) reputation for typographical errors. By Richard Ingrams, Peter Cook or one of the other early Eye staff. I realise we keep repeating this point, but it doesn't seem to be getting through.

I wonder if anyone on the Eye has seen this thread.
posted by Grangousier at 10:09 AM on October 18, 2015 [18 favorites]

I wonder if anyone on the Eye has seen this thread.

Lord Gnome sees all
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 10:43 AM on October 18, 2015 [5 favorites]

> There is actually no debate at all about it.

One of the annoying/endearing aspects of this place is that there is a substantial contingent of users who are so impressed with their own powers of observation and deduction that they feel entitled, nay obliged, to dissect anything posted here—even if it's some convoluted problem in a field they have only glancing acquaintance with, one that actual experts in that field have struggled with for years; even if it's an acknowledged fact that you can Google in a few seconds—and produce their own patented skeptical commentary, because they are clearly the smartest people in any room. And of course these same people (whose comments look laughable to actual experts) are the first to mock religion. If only those fools would blindly trust me, the smartest person in any room, rather than their imaginary god!

tl;dr: Though there shouldn't be debate about it, there is, because MetaFilter.
posted by languagehat at 11:48 AM on October 18, 2015 [26 favorites]

What he said.
posted by y2karl at 11:53 AM on October 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

I love the nickname Grauniad because it sounds like an epic (as others have pointed out above: Illiad, Aeneiad, Grauniad), I just hope they all make it home safely.
posted by Coaticass at 12:40 PM on October 18, 2015 [4 favorites]

[Burr] Why do you assume you're the smartest in the room?
Why do you assume you're the smartest in the room?
Why do you assume you're the smartest in the room?
Soon that attitude may be your doom...

#hamiltunes
posted by corb at 12:41 PM on October 18, 2015

pulms
posted by lokta at 5:07 PM on October 18, 2015

octothrope
posted by andrewcooke at 4:54 AM on October 19, 2015

How late am I to this thread, and how dear it is to my bleak old journo heart.

Here's my personal style guide, with reference to the nomenclature of the UK national newspaper in question.

1. The Guardian. To be used in formal speech, when broadcasting to laity, or when in conversation with a bishop, archbishop or member of the House of Windsor with whom one is not well-acquainted.

2. The Manchester Guardian. Preferred when pretending to be a journalist over the age of 80, or when engaged in a particularly recherché parody.

3. The Grauniad. The publication's true name.

4. The Graun. Preferred casual reference. "Done anything lately?" "Not much, a couple of bits in the Graun and a quick telly."

I too have written for the Graun, on and off, for a long time, it has thrice turned me down for a job, I have friends there, I have seen editors come and go, and I've taken the paper for the totality of my adult life.

The Grauniad/Graun is simply how it is. It's not a joke, although it started as one, it is an endemic nickname which I could no more stop using than I could permanently abandon 'mum' for 'mother'. Like many Private Eye in-jokes, it has entered the lexicon and is part of the culture.
posted by Devonian at 5:31 AM on October 19, 2015 [46 favorites]

Whenever I see the nickname "Grauniad", I think of eating grunion in Goliad.
posted by TedW at 7:45 AM on October 19, 2015

Arthur Dent was a regular Guardian reader. This seems relevant, somehow.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:00 AM on October 19, 2015 [5 favorites]

languagehat: "tl;dr: Though there shouldn't be debate about it, there is, because MetaFilter."

...but tell us how you really feel.

(I agree with your comment entirely)
posted by scrump at 11:38 AM on October 19, 2015

Arthur Dent was a regular Guardian reader. This seems relevant, somehow.

Arthur Kent was the Scud Stud. This is only relevant because recently I've had this nagging, recurring mental blip that happens when I'm driving that goes like "Scud Stud. Scud Stud. Why am I suddenly remembering the words 'Scud Stud'? What was that guy's name, anyway? Arthur. Arthur something. Was it Arthur Kent? I think it was Arthur Kent. Why do I know that? Why am I remembering that right now? Was that really his name?" Then my brain mercifully moves on to something else. This has been going on for a couple weeks now.

But now, THIS THREAD. THIS THREAD is the thing that finally made me remember to look it up. And yup, it was Arthur Kent. Scud Stud. Scud Stud. Scud Stud.
posted by mudpuppie at 7:26 PM on October 19, 2015 [4 favorites]

On the one hand, I'm on the fence. On the other hand, I'm of two minds about this.
posted by turbid dahlia at 12:11 AM on October 20, 2015 [1 favorite]

On the third hand, you have different fingers.
posted by maryr at 10:02 AM on October 20, 2015

That's the *gripping* hand.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:17 AM on October 20, 2015 [1 favorite]

Arthur Kent. Scud Stud. Scud Stud. Scud Stud.

And then within like 10 years he was just The Guy Who Stands In a Field Somewhere to Solemnly Introduce History's Mysteries While Making Belt-Level Gestures with His Left Hand.
posted by Copronymus at 2:30 PM on October 20, 2015

I have plummed
the plums
that were plum
plum me
so plum
and so plum
posted by Sebmojo at 5:13 PM on October 20, 2015 [6 favorites]

The Grauniad strikes again today, talking about San Francisco Hippy culture, and not really talking about fat asses, per se...
posted by Oyéah at 10:52 AM on November 1, 2015

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/hippy
posted by andrewcooke at 11:28 AM on November 1, 2015

Dendrochronology dating is the most romantic type of dating, mostly.

Dead tree news is perhaps the most romantic type of news.

That's about all except to say; this is my first time hearing about a hat that can subsume language, but below will be a multi-axis Perpendracula Eigen table of the ways they are wrong.
(None)
None ways are they wrong in.
Also, my profile has always been a daft draft work in progress for the eventual coming of "date me"; a site that will actually tell you precisely how long ago you should have eaten it/thrown it out. <3
posted by infinite intimation at 1:27 AM on November 10, 2015 [1 favorite]

...time.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 10:19 AM on November 11, 2015 [1 favorite]

Timing?
posted by maryr at 12:01 PM on November 11, 2015 [2 favorites]

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