Preposed FAQ re Chez Watt Awards
catshark
they?) here is a proposed FAQ on the Chez Watt Awards. I don't know if
this is properly a FAQ, since the Chez Watts aren't kept in the Archive, or
whether it should go in the jargon file or on the page about posting to
t.o. Nor am I sure that the last section, giving the references to the
original posts proposing the Chez Watts, is necessary, but I thought some
people might be interested. Anyway, here it is:
======================================================
Q: I have seen people talking about a "Chez Watt" in talk.origins. What
is it?
A: Chez Watt is an informal monthly "award" by the denizens of the
talk.origins news group.
It differs from the Post of the Month Award
<http://www.talkorigins.org/origins/postmonth/> (or "POTM"), which is
reserved for "an article posted to the Usenet newsgroup talk.origins that
comes closest to capturing what the newsgroup is all about," in that the
"Chez Watt" is more whimsical in intent. It is dedicated to highlighting
the humorous things posted to t.o. (intentionally or not).
The idea for the award was originally suggested in September 2002 by
"Ferrous Patella," a t.o. regular, who now administers it by gathering and
posting, at the beginning of each month, all the items nominated (see
below) during the previous month, and asking for a vote on which is the
"best."
The name is a play on the phrase "Say What?" (originally suggested by
another regular, John Wilkins) and became "Chez Watt" partly as the result
of a pun by Ferrous ("We could house the winners at Chez What") and partly
to make it an unusual phrase, easier to find in a Google search.
What is a fit subject for a Chez Watt nomination? As Ferrous put it, "Chez
Watt is where 'we' house all of those posts and quotes on TO that make you
ask "Say what?". They can be bad puns, boneheadism, vivid verbal
visionisms, pity quotes, in short, items we wish to preserve but not as a
"Post of the Month". The identities of the posters of the nominees are
not revealed "to protect the (not so) innocent."
Anyone, newcomer or grizzled t.o. veteran, creationist or evotee, may make
a Chez Watt nomination of anything that tickles his or her fancy. It is a
simple 2 step process as follows: First, change the "Subject" line in your
nominating post to add the words "Chez Watt." Next, making sure you quote
the post being nominated, either snip away all but the particular part that
is being nominated or otherwise highlight it. Adding a notation such as
"Chez Watt nomination" to the body of your post is not necessary but may be
helpful to others reading it, who may not always see the change in the
Subject line. There is no need, as there in the case of the Post of the
Month, for someone to second the nomination in order for it to be valid,
though you are free to express your approval of the nomination in that or
any other way you wish.
Unlike the Posts of the Month, Chez Watts are not kept in the Talk Origins
Archive. To see the past Chez Watt votes and winners, go to the Google
Groups Advanced Search page
<http://groups.google.com/advanced_group_search?dq=&num=25&hl=en&lr=&group=talk.origins>
and, in the field "Find message with the exact phrase," enter "Chez Watt
vote" and click on the "Google Search" button.
For those wishing to see for themselves the history behind the Chez Watt,
the following posts, and the thread they are a part of, is where it all
began:
Ferrous Patella suggests we have a new category to recognize things that
don't quite fit POTM:
<http://makeashorterlink.com/?G6DD24BE2>
Wilkins suggests "Say What?" for the name of the new award:
<http://makeashorterlink.com/?T20831BE2>
Ferrous agrees with the name and suggests that the winners be housed at
"Chez What":
<http://makeashorterlink.com/?W62852BE2>
<http://groups.google.com/groups?q=g:thl3568432120d&dq=&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&selm=3cc97212%240%2410997%24724ebb72%40reader2.ash.ops.us.uu.net>
---------------
J. Pieret
---------------
Cogito sum, ergo sum, cogito.
- Robert Carroll -
Dan Day
>Because of the overwhelming demand (2 people count as "overwhelming," don't
>they?) here is a proposed FAQ on the Chez Watt Awards.
Thank you! I was on the verge of making it 3...
Dan Day
>ask "Say what?". They can be bad puns, boneheadism, vivid verbal
>visionisms, pity quotes, in short, items we wish to preserve but not as a
>"Post of the Month".
Um, "Chez Watt"? "Pity quotes"? Is that where we pity some
creationists' inability to quote verbatim and in context?
(Should I presume "pithy" was the intended word?)
ObPity: "He would have finished Goddam off then and there, but
pity stayed his hand. 'It's a pity I've run out of bullets',
he thought" -- from "Bored of the Rings", by the Harvard Lampoon
Ferrous Patella
My only comment would be to add something like this in the how to nominate
bit:
When making nominations, consider how well they will stand up out of
context and anonymously. Many ironies in T.O. only hold up if one knows
who said it.
--
Ferrous Patella
"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President,
or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not
only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the
American public."
--Theodore Roosevelt
May 7, 1918
Ferrous Patella
<cats...@yahoo.com>:
> The idea for the award was originally suggested in September 2002
April 2002
catshark
<mail1...@pop.net> wrote:
>news:8b4tgvo3bsng697ag...@4ax.com by catshark
><cats...@yahoo.com>:
>
>> The idea for the award was originally suggested in September 2002
>
>April 2002
Doh! I don't know where that came from . . .
Oh, and I'll incorporate your suggestion about considering how they will
stand up out of context and anonymous.
catshark
wrote:
>On Fri, 11 Jul 2003 10:36:27 +0000 (UTC), catshark <cats...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>Watt is where 'we' house all of those posts and quotes on TO that make you
>>ask "Say what?". They can be bad puns, boneheadism, vivid verbal
>>visionisms, pity quotes, in short, items we wish to preserve but not as a
>>"Post of the Month".
>
>Um, "Chez Watt"? "Pity quotes"? Is that where we pity some
>creationists' inability to quote verbatim and in context?
Sounds about right . . .
>
>(Should I presume "pithy" was the intended word?)
It was a cut-n-paste quote but (unless Ferrous jumps up and down and swears
he meant "pity") I'll do a little discrete editing.
>
>ObPity: "He would have finished Goddam off then and there, but
> pity stayed his hand. 'It's a pity I've run out of bullets',
> he thought" -- from "Bored of the Rings", by the Harvard Lampoon
---------------
catshark
wrote:
>On Fri, 11 Jul 2003 10:36:27 +0000 (UTC), catshark <cats...@yahoo.com> wrote:
Now, if I can just get Hershey to demand it, I'll have a majority . . .
---------------
J. Pieret
---------------
Nunc Id Vides, Nunc Ne Vides
- Unseen University Motto -
Harlequin
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=8b4tgvo3bsng697agjdjs1u24trvkt08g0%404
ax.com
http://tinyurl.com/hiku
I wonder if this would be best if put into the Jargon file?
Or maybe a larger FAQ on the t.o. newsgroup?
--
Anti-spam: replace "usenet" with "harlequin2"
"...Everybody has opinions: I have them, you have them. And we are all
told from the moment we open our eyes, that everyone is entitled to
his or her opinion. Well, that's horsepuckey, of course. We are not
entitled to our opinions; we are entitled to our _informed_ opinions.
Without research, without background, without understanding, it's
nothing. It's just bibble-babble...."
- Harlan Ellison