Does It Trouble Anyone Else . . .

[John Cole]

that news of Saddam's capture is greeted by what appear to be 15-30 year old Iraqi males shooting rifles in the air?

[MMMMMM]

What do you make the odds, John, that Zeno celebrated Saddam's capture in similar fashion?

[HDPM]

Yes, not only is the practice dangerous, those AK's were fully automatic. I am very upset they have the ability to get a fully automatic version and I am limited to some post ban romanian semi auto version. It's not fair. I want my gun rights restored. /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[Phat Mack]

Yeah, it seemed a little weird to me. We hear all these news reports about attacks on US troops, and how we are cracking down--but apparently not to the extent that they can't walk around shooting AK-47's.

[Zeno]

[ QUOTE ]
....15-30 year old Iraqi males shooting rifles in the air?

[/ QUOTE ]

They were shooting bullets into the air, not rifles. Let's tighten up the grammar John. You are starting to write like me. /images/graemlins/blush.gif

-Zeno

[Zeno]

Damn, completely slipped my mind. I was reading Emerson. That fool Mr. Emerson is causing me more trouble than he is probably worth.

I'll have to fire off my 45 auto next Sunday for the ‘weekly celebration festivities’.

Don’t have, but certainly do need, an AK-47.

I was elated that the human trash ball called Saddam was captured.

-Zeno

[daryn]

the funniest part about all of this was on the daily show on comedy central. first they showed a group of iraqis celebrating saddam's capture by firing their rifles into the air in triumph..

then they showed the other side of things in saddam's hometown of tikrit, where protestors angry with saddam's arrest were... firing their rifles into the air in anger

[andyfox]

They're pretty fast and loose with those guns and rifles over there, you're right. I saw some old tape of Saddam himself handling a rifle one-handed pretty, shooting it pretty close to the idiot standing in front of him.

But we all know guns, and being near guns, is for idiots anyway. Guys who like guns and cars and football and John Wayne have small penises.

[Zeno]

If we like just guns and cars but are ambivalent about football and John Wayne do we have medium size penises?

-Zeno

[brad]

sorry but not quite.

they were shooting rifles in the air. (but stilted)

they were (however) shooting bullets into the air. (good)

[Gamblor]

It's called Arab Fireworks.

They do it at funerals, parades, celebrations, basically any time they get together in public (unless they're too busy playing Shesh-Besh, dominoes, and smoking hooka).

[Ray Zee]

john, dont let these other fellas make a mockery of you with this post. i too find it very troubling. i am losing sleep over this issue.

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

...must come down.

[John Cole]

Zeno,

"Shooting rifles" is, of course, perfectly acceptable; I am using synecdoche and drawing on perhaps countless instances of similar usage. When have you ever heard, "I shot a bullet for the first time in my life today"?

[MMMMMM]

"I shot an arrow in the air..."--sounds fine

er..."I shot a bow in the air..."?!??

Q: Why do rifle/bullet/arrow sound OK, but not bow?

[Zeno]

John,

I knew I should have kept my big mouth shut. I muck my hand. I've been synecdoched. /images/graemlins/blush.gif

-Zeno

[Boris]

No I don't find it troubling. Look what happened in Bosnia when one group of people had guns and the other had none. That was troubling.

[HDPM]

he was also kind enough not to quote you on this."'ll have to fire off my 45 auto next Sunday" /images/graemlins/laugh.gif

[andyfox]

When Clint Eastwood was on The Actors Studio, he told a great John Wayne story. Wayne was working with the director Don Siegel on a movie. In one scene, Siegel tells Wayne you climb out the window and approach the bad guy from the back and shoot him.

There's a bit of silence and Wayne says, "You mean I shoot him in the back?" [Eastwood did a real good Wayne voice here, you'll have to imagine it.] Siegel says yes. Wayne says no I don't, I don't shoot people in the back.

Siegel says it's a movie, Duke, and I just finished a western with the biggest star in the world, Clint Eastwood, and he shot people in the back.

Well calling Eastwood the biggest star in the world (which he was at the time) obviously didn't go over well with Wayne. He turned red and said, "I don't care what the little sonofabitch did, John Wayne doesn't shoot anyone in the back."

And they rewrote the scene so that he didn't.

There were some good reasons, I think, why Wayne was such a big star for such a long time despite the fact that he couldn't act. Minding his image was probably near the top.

[Deelah]

Hi Ray!

You don´t accept private messages but I have to contact you, can you send your e-mail address to me (as a private message) please?

Thank you!

[Ray Zee]

i just changed things so i can accept private messages. go ahead and try it. i dont know much about how it works.

[brad]

'I shot an arrow in the air..."--sounds fine '

wow nice shot. could u tell u hit it right away or only from picking it up and examing the markings or somethning?

[andyfox]

Meter. Bow is one syllable and breaks up the da-DA-da-DA-da-DA-da-DA pattern.

[Gamblor]

da-DA-da-DA-da-DA-da-DA

That's called an Iamb, or an Iambic meter.

As opposed to, say, trochee, or a trochic meter
(DA-da-DA-da-DA-da-DA-da)

[MMMMMM]

"in the air", brad...not "at the air."

[MMMMMM]

Good, that's one reason. But does it also seem more awkward in other ways or am I just imagining that? In other words "arrow" seems preferable to "bow", but "bullet" does not seem preferable to "rifle"--perhaps less preferable, even. The most "natural" choices seem "arrow" and "rifle" but they are not congruent choices.

[andyfox]

Yeah, I remember all that nonsense from poetry and music. Iambic pentameter and all that. Forcing you to learn that stuff probably turned more people off to poetry than anything else. What a shame.

[Gamblor]

you to learn that stuff probably turned more people off to poetry than anything else.

Truer words have not been spoken here

[brad]

my mom used to tell me not to run in the house, but i ran in the house anyway.

my dad told me to stay outside/inside but i ran into the house and back out a lot anyway.

[andyfox]

yeah, and you probably never closed the door too.

Why do kids never close the door?

[John Cole]

Andy,

Actually, iambic pentameter requires ten syllables, not eight; da DA da Da da Da da Da is iambic tetrameter. Glad you asked. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[John Cole]

Boris,

It looks like one group does have the guns.

[brad]

im beginning to worry no one is getting my comparison/contrast of in/into