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Post by Sora on Apr 27, 2012 9:53:36 GMT -5
New email. Discuss!
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Post by Dante on Apr 27, 2012 9:56:48 GMT -5
The new subject line pattern: Not actually questions?
There are a couple of things that the subject line "It's for thee" points to - "For whom the bell tolls," for one. "It tolls for thee." But if the bell tolls for thee - "when does the bell ring?"
Also, if you were to get a telephone call at an unexpected time, wouldn't you ask "Who could that be at this hour?"
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Post by B. on Apr 27, 2012 10:13:11 GMT -5
Thank God, a new promotion. I was getting bored.
The subject line does indeed seem to indicate a new cycle of emails (probably not questions). It follows the same artistic style and is blue, as seems to be the colour for this novel. "It's for thee" could refer to the fact that the email is for the reader, thus indicating new promotions with a new pattern. The start of something more?
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Antenora
Detriment Deleter
Fiendish Philologist
Put down that harpoon gun, in the name of these wonderful birds!
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Post by Antenora on Apr 27, 2012 10:40:31 GMT -5
It seems that instead of wrong questions, we're now getting wrong answers-- wrong in that they don't answer the questions we've seen. This one doesn't seem to work as an answer to any of the WH-question lines, but the implied question is something like "Who's the phone call for?" or "For whom does the bell toll?"
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Post by Christmas Chief on Apr 27, 2012 17:19:44 GMT -5
It isn't on graph paper this time, which is interesting. My first reaction to the subject line was, in fact, that this was a reply to "Who could that be at this hour?"
The interesting metaphor about this image, however, is that you can't know who it's from until you answer it. (Well, unless you have Caller ID, which this corded phone appears to be missing.)
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Post by KlausBaudelaire833 on Apr 27, 2012 21:50:05 GMT -5
I can't think of any conclusions with this e-mail. I think this isn't an answer; it just leads us to more questions.
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Post by Kensicle on Apr 27, 2012 23:23:04 GMT -5
This promotion, I think, out of the ones we've had so far, has the most obvious link between text, subject line and picture. (The only other promotion would be "why would anyone want to steal this statue?")
I agree that it will start another cycle of wrong answers.
My first reaction to the subject line was that it was the answer to "who is this letter for?" or "who is this present for?". Those two questions suddenly jumped into my head, and I have no idea why.
I find the subject line odd, because "it's" is colloquial and "thee" is almost obsolete. Why isn't it "it's for you? " or "it is for thee?"
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Post by Dante on Apr 28, 2012 2:39:24 GMT -5
I agree that "it's" and "thee" don't go together, but I think that's just part of the joke, punning on both "it tolls for thee" and the common phone-call related line "it's for you." Phrasing it differently would phase out one of the two references.
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Post by Kensicle on Apr 28, 2012 4:39:58 GMT -5
True. Puns are ever-present in Snicket's world, and Hachette wouldn't miss an opportunity to include one. They're almost part of his marketing identity.
Well now that that's been answered, I'm wondering why someone wouldn't know who a question was from. The question would be received via an anonymous telegram or letter, perhaps? Or how about an email? Should we try to work out who is asking each wrong question?
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Post by Dante on Apr 28, 2012 5:03:42 GMT -5
Again, I think the caption is a bit of a joke in that regard; we can never know who a telephone call is from until we answer it (er, at least if we're using this sort of old-fashioned telephone), so too is it nearly impossible for us not to know who is asking us a question. With that said, if somebody telephoned you to ask you a question, that might satisfy both aspects. But I don't think it's a statement we should be reading too literally.
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Post by Harriet on Apr 28, 2012 16:29:10 GMT -5
"Who wants to know?" is often the response when a person is asked a question from someone they don't know. Perhaps that's what this message is referring to? So it could potentially be related to the "Who is this man?" email, as it's to do with asking someone their identity, although it's a rather tenuous link.
I'm glad that they sent another email where there's an apparent link between the title, text and picture. It gives you a bit more the go at.
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Fiona Fanboy
Catastrophic Captain
Klaus' rival for the affections of Fiona Widdershins
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Post by Fiona Fanboy on Apr 29, 2012 2:13:46 GMT -5
It's as if the call is from the great unknown itself.
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Post by Dante on Apr 29, 2012 3:46:29 GMT -5
I'm glad that they sent another email where there's an apparent link between the title, text and picture. It gives you a bit more the go at. Yes, it's often hard to tell, isn't it? Especially if we start asking how much of the e-mail is actually taken from the book - are the pictures final chapter art, excerpts, concept sketches? Are the subject lines quotes or made-up? I think that "It's for thee" is an awkward enough pun that I'd be surprised to see it in a real conversation, even in fiction, but with Snicket you can never be sure. Thank you for the comment, Harriet; I hope you'll decide to register an account at some point.
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Post by Sora on Apr 29, 2012 6:37:06 GMT -5
I guess another question this email poses is what happens when you answer a question and you don't know who it is from? I think as Kensicle suggested, answering an anonymous telegram or letter seems to be the only ways in which this possible, unless of course the question is asked over the phone from a person you haven't met.
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ziggy
Bewildered Beginner
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Post by ziggy on May 1, 2012 12:07:07 GMT -5
Well now that that's been answered, I'm wondering why someone wouldn't know who a question was from. The question would be received via an anonymous telegram or letter, perhaps? Or how about an email? Should we try to work out who is asking each wrong question? Maybe it's somebody communicating in code, such as morse code or the Sebald code, and you don't know who it is.
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