Antenora
Detriment Deleter 
Fiendish Philologist
Put down that harpoon gun, in the name of these wonderful birds!
Posts: 15,891 
Likes: 113
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Post by Antenora on Jan 11, 2012 11:29:09 GMT -5
I came up with this: -- Little Lizzie was on the deck of her family's yacht, idly counting her pocket money and thinking of all the candy she'd buy later. Suddenly the boat lurched, and she dropped all of her coins, losing them forever in the deep ocean. -- Which could be accompanied by this picture. |
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Post by B. on Jan 11, 2012 13:21:38 GMT -5
I love both the stories by Antenora and Sherry-Ann, particularly the one written for the "birthday cake bomb" by Antenora.
A Hairdresser who doesn't follow your requests (suggested by F.D)
Going to the hairdresser can often be an interesting experience. You can stare at your face in the mirror, read gossip magazines or watch as your hair is cut horribly. After my visit to the hairdressers, I wept for two days straight.
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Post by Hermes on Jan 11, 2012 15:40:24 GMT -5
Are we meant to be writing stories already? I thought we were first going to collect ideas, and then sign up for stories when we had a list. It looks as if 'all 42 words' is winning by a large margin (good heavens, 42 is short isn't it?), so we don't need to worry about that, but we still have to coordinate the stories wth the message.
Anyway:
- losing your keys
- people who tell you your shoelace is undone. (Sorry, pet peeve of mine.)
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Post by Dante on Jan 11, 2012 15:55:09 GMT -5
We aren't meant to be writing stories already, but some of us are inspired, and why not. The poll looks like it's swinging that way anyway, and it's good for people to have an idea of what will be asked of them. As for co-ordinating the stories with the message, I'm content that we can detect that issue later, once we decide on a message itself. With any luck some of the present stories will slip in without a need for change.
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Post by s on Jan 11, 2012 17:37:39 GMT -5
i mean, some series-inspired unfortunate items would be, what,
- one's fourth cousin three times removed (or third cousin four times removed)
- itchy sweaters
- eye tattoos
- reptiles
- misnomers
- research assistants
- realtors
- telephones
- stoves
- leeches
- splinters
- hypnotism
- crabs
- fungi
- bad violinists
- gym teachers
- aqueous martinis
- parsley soda
- pinstripe suits
- red herrings
- crows
- tacky sunglasses
- couplets
...et cetera
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Post by Christmas Chief on Jan 11, 2012 19:03:33 GMT -5
- people who tell you your shoelace is undone. (Sorry, pet peeve of mine.) I empathize. - losing a game (potential pun) - making a mathematical error crucial to the entire problem |
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Post by csc on Jan 11, 2012 21:46:28 GMT -5
-a delayed flight
-repetitive noises
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Post by csc on Jan 13, 2012 9:32:47 GMT -5
I don't want to double-post, but it's been a while since anyone posted an idea.
-Burning your tongue with a hot beverage
-Eating something you are allergic to (aSoUE reference)
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Post by Dante on Jan 13, 2012 11:33:29 GMT -5
Inspired by F.D.'s signature: The consequences of refusing to ask for directions.
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Post by BSam on Jan 13, 2012 14:20:35 GMT -5
Non-specific ennui.
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Post by Dante on Jan 14, 2012 16:02:08 GMT -5
It's just been suggested to me that some of these problems resemble the "first world problems" memes, so if any of you are familiar with those, perhaps that can be a source of inspiration.
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Post by csc on Jan 14, 2012 16:23:51 GMT -5
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Post by Christmas Chief on Jan 14, 2012 17:38:20 GMT -5
The word limit also lends itself well to the telegram format, I think. I came up with this misfortune:
~
UNDERCOVER IN CANDY FACTORY STOP SEND HELP STRAIGHTAWAY STOP CANDIES POISONED STOP WILL DAMAGE CONSUMER STOP HAS FATAL SIDE EFFECTS STOP MANAGER COMING STOP
GOOD CANDIES ARE STOP VERY UNDERCOVER WELL COMING WORK STOP WORKING BRAIN FINE STOP PREVIOUS TELEGRAM IGNORE STOP
~
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Post by allegedly bryan on Jan 15, 2012 1:00:33 GMT -5
Maybe not those exact samples, but the general idea is that they are problems that aren't really problems, which is kind of what we're looking for. |
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Post by Dante on Jan 15, 2012 4:30:35 GMT -5
In the meantime, the poll, and, I think, our opinions, are settled on stories of forty-two words only, so if anyone else wants to write a story rather than just an idea, you know what word limit to aim for.
We still need to settle on a secret message to be spelt out by the very first letter of each story, though; I'm hopeful that any stories we do write or have already written before deciding on this message won't require much modification, since it is only the very first letter of each that matters. As a reminder, the suggestions so far are: "WE WISH YOU A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR DANIEL HANDLER" (me), "HAPPY BIRTHDAY! MORE GIFTS NEXT YEAR! SO PLEASE LIVE!" (tk), "DON'T GET ANY OLDER, WE'RE WARNING YOU: IT GETS WORSE" (F.D.), "A HAPPY BIRTHDAY! LIFE GOES ON WITH MORE MISFORTUNE" (Brunch). Personally, I think the secret message, being most likely one of the last things that'll be read in the birthday gift, should be unambiguously positive, as a reward for experiencing misfortune on the way; not going to lie, I prefer mine for this reason, but if anyone else has a different opinion or different possible secret message, please put them forward.
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