Oh Bother

[rebeccmeister]

I just wrote a long post on Jared Diamond's talk last night, and then I accidentally closed the browser and lost the entire thing. So, instead of giving you some gems from the whole thing, I'll just tell you the funniest part of the whole talk. Diamond was talking about a society on the verge of collapse, where people had resorted to cannibalism to keep from starving. In that society, he said that the worst possible insult was, "The flesh of your mother sticks between my teeth!"

Anyway, if you don't know who Jared Diamond is, get acquainted with him.

Comments

[popcultureicon.livejournal.com]

that was a very strange thought to have bouncing around my head in the shower this morning.
now i am going to eye his books suspiciously all day at work.
(as they sit on a shelf right across from me)

[rebeccmeister.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's not a statement that one can use freely as an insult out of the original context. I'm always happy to contribute to the warping of young minds--that's why I teach.

I should eventually read Diamond's latest book, although he pretty much summarized the whole damn thing for the audience last night, so I'm not sure I'll learn anything new from it. He is a good writer, though.

[popcultureicon.livejournal.com]

so i have gathered.
his books fly off the shelf.

[boolean263.livejournal.com]

If I know I'm going to have a long LJ post, or I realize it's starting to get out of control, I copypaste it into a text editor so I can save it as I go along, to avoid such tragedies.

That's some insult!