The meaning of fuzzy dice
Karen J. Cravens
blogs), I run across all the search terms that people have used to find
it. Sometimes they're funny, sometimes surreal, and sometimes they're
actually accurate. We have a few recurring themes, though, and one that's
come to my attention makes me wonder if there's a sort of shoes-over-
power-lines UL attached to it.
I've gotten, from a variety of search engines and source domains, a
moderately large number of searches for "meaning of fuzzy dice" (or
variants thereof... if it's ask.com it'll usually be "what do fuzzy dice
mean" or "what is the meaning of fuzzy dice" or sometimes "will you please
tell me what fuzzy dice mean?")
Actually performing the search myself doesn't turn up anything
particularly enlightening, but that's okay, I'm not really curious about
what fuzzy dice mean, I'm curious about what people think fuzzy dice mean.
Or rather, if/why they think fuzzy dice *might* mean something.
L0nD0t.$t0we11
>
> Actually performing the search myself doesn't turn up anything
> particularly enlightening, but that's okay, I'm not really curious about
> what fuzzy dice mean, I'm curious about what people think fuzzy dice mean.
> Or rather, if/why they think fuzzy dice *might* mean something.
1. Dice for softcore gamblers?
2. The manufacturer, Andrew Inc, ran out of dice clay?
3. Invented by Heisenberg?
4. The brown ones are actually called Fozzie Dice?
On a more serious note, first time I recall seeing them was about the
same era as the notorious J. C. Whitney Suicide Knob [or Necker Knob]
and from the same source. Hung from the rear view mirrors, typically
a convertible in the adverts.
--
Boys are stupid, throw rocks at them...
Alan Follett
<snip>
> I'm not really curious about what fuzzy dice
> mean, I'm curious about what people think
> fuzzy dice mean. Or rather, if/why they think
> fuzzy dice *might* mean something.
I recall my father cautioning me, circa 1958, to give wide berth to
anyone with fuzzy dice hanging from their rear-view mirror, this being,
in his view, a sure sigil of dubious social antecedents, and,
consequently, dubiouser driving skills. Of course, since then, fuzzy
dice have had a further stratum of nostalgic or ironic subtext laid down
over them.
Alan "much as with plactic lawn flamingos" Follett
Karen J. Cravens
4065E...@storefull-3134.bay.webtv.net:
> I recall my father cautioning me, circa 1958, to give wide berth to
> anyone with fuzzy dice hanging from their rear-view mirror, this being,
> in his view, a sure sigil of dubious social antecedents, and,
> consequently, dubiouser driving skills. Of course, since then, fuzzy
> dice have had a further stratum of nostalgic or ironic subtext laid down
> over them.
There's that, of course, but I would imagine the searchers would be
looking for something that the *buyers* of the fuzzy dice are trying to
convey.
Bill Schnakenberg
I eschewed the fuzzy dice, or anything else hanging from the mirror, since it was against the Vehicle and traffic law in my state.
I wonder what the little blue insert in the taillights meant.
I painted the round taillights of my 56 Ford convertible with black paint so that the only part that was clear red was an Ace of Spades. I wonder what that meant?
And what's with those Chia Pets?
-- Bill
Karen J. Cravens
news:EGm9c.942$ti6...@news01.roc.ny:
> Karen J. Cravens wrote:
>>There's that, of course, but I would imagine the searchers would be
>>looking for something that the *buyers* of the fuzzy dice are trying to
>>convey.
>>
> That they were 'cool'?
But why would anyone do a web search to find that out?
Crashj
<>
> I'm curious about what people think fuzzy dice mean.
> Or rather, if/why they think fuzzy dice *might* mean something.
An old guy in an old hotrod. In my case it is a 1973, 455 cubic inch
engine, four barrel, dual exhaust, hot rod with plumbing and fuzzy
white dice. Also front wheel drive and six wheels, 26 feet long.
--
Crashj
Karen J. Cravens
news:aa83a82f.0403...@posting.google.com:
That's what *you* think it means, but not, apparently, what the web
searchers *thought* you thought it meant. Or else they wouldn't have had
to search the web to find out what you thought it meant.
Mary Shafer
Tuck and roll? Dingleberries? Dago rake?
Mary
--
Mary Shafer Retired aerospace research engineer
mil...@qnet.com
Alan Follett
That's what /you/ think they thought he thought, I think.
Alan "I think I'll just lie down with a cold compress on my head now"
Follett
John Francis
Lady Penelope? Is that you?
--
Hello. My name is Darth Vader. I am your Father. Prepare to die.
R H Draney
>
>Actually performing the search myself doesn't turn up anything
>particularly enlightening, but that's okay, I'm not really curious about
>what fuzzy dice mean, I'm curious about what people think fuzzy dice mean.
>Or rather, if/why they think fuzzy dice *might* mean something.
Observation: the total number of pips on a pair of dice is 42...this is also the
constant sum of the smallest (3x3x3) magic cube...and the largest number with
the property that it and all smaller positive integers are mentioned somewhere
in the Bible....
R H "the fuzzy part I'm still working on" Draney
Thomas Prufer
wrote:
>Or else they wouldn't have had
>to search the web to find out what you thought it meant.
They are searching the web to find out what's cool? Either they are
geeks, or I am older than I thought. Or the world got younger, or
something.
I remember well when a friend bought a "Penthouse" air freshener to
dangle from the rear view mirror of his Ford Capri. This (the freshener,
not the Capri) was a cardboard snippet with a nude woman printed on it,
drenched in some sickly-sweet "freshener". Even he who'd shelled out
cash for the stupid thing found it so cloying that he banished it under
the rubber floor mat. The manufactured had anticipated this, because the
smell was still too powerful. The thing ended up in the trash.
Thomas Prufer
Keith Willis
<"L0nD0t.$t0we11"@ComcastDot.Net> wrote:
> On a more serious note, first time I recall seeing them was about the
> same era as the notorious J. C. Whitney Suicide Knob [or Necker Knob]
> and from the same source. Hung from the rear view mirrors, typically
> a convertible in the adverts.
I was trying to figure out what on earth "fuzzy dice" might be, and
which area of probability theory might use them, but now I see it's
just a WIAVBP thing. "Fluffy dice" they always were on the right side
of the pond. Normally to be found hanging from the rear view mirrors
of Ford Cortinas and later Capris. In Essex.
--
http://www.bytebrothers.co.uk
PGP key ID 0xEB7180EC
netOBSESSIVE
> Observation: the total number of pips on a pair of dice is 42...this is also the
> constant sum of the smallest (3x3x3) magic cube...and the largest number with
> the property that it and all smaller positive integers are mentioned somewhere
> in the Bible....
And the answer to the Question of Life, The Universe and Everything...
Charles Wm. Dimmick
> Observation: the total number of pips on a pair of dice is 42...this is also the
> constant sum of the smallest (3x3x3) magic cube...and the largest number with
> the property that it and all smaller positive integers are mentioned somewhere
> in the Bible....
>
> R H "the fuzzy part I'm still working on" Draney
So the dice represent the answer to Life, the Universe, and
everything?
Charles "for the fuzzy part, ask the mice" Dimmick
--
"And some rin up hill and down dale, knapping the
chucky stanes to pieces wi' hammers, like sae mony
road-makers run daft -- they say it is to see how
the warld was made!"
Karen J. Cravens
news:025d605fuq248c799...@news.individual.de:
> Normally to be found hanging from the rear view mirrors
> of Ford Cortinas and later Capris. In Essex.
Actually, it's the probability thing that made them find the Phoenyx site;
if they'd Googled for "'fuzzy dice'" instead of "fuzzy dice" they wouldn't
have found us.
*My* Capri never had fuzzy dice hanging from the rear view mirror. A
graduation-cap tassel, yes, at least for a couple years, but that was
about it.
Olivers
I saw some....Pink four inch cubes hanging from the Mirror of a bright
purple w/much chrome new Peterbilt easing up US290 as it sweeps North of
Six Shooter Junction.
Whupping back from Houston the other evening (funeralizing, the great
USAian social experience, to which we're more attuned than were the
Aegypti, and for what else would you rise from a spartan breakfast, drive
200 miles, funeralize, post-funeral partake of a few shreds of funeral
meats and funereal gloom, stand with the men in the yard for a wee dram of
Auld Popskull - guiltily followed by a mug of Java from the Estoppe &
Shoppe - and drive 200 miles back, too late to enjoy supper were there any
cooked, but remembering the groaning board of "homemade" traditional
comfort foods you didn't have sense enough to load up on?).
Fuzzy dice and lavish post-funeral spreads of homemade specialties are both
relics of ancient cultures, preserved in tiny xenophobic enclaves. I knew
one era was past when the lemon meringue pies were replaced by those
souvenier of the 50s made with pineapple and whupped topping, but one of
the younger and not quite right up top cousins apparently brought a damn
store-bought cake this time.
Cousin Archie was heard to remark that he had drove clear up from the
ranch, a hard run after an early ride out checking to see if all the new
calves was up, and he sure didn't come that far for any g*ddamn store
bought cake. Little Betty saved the day though, and had brought about
a washtub of that Dirty Rice of hers, the one with chopped gizzards,
livers, jalapenos, garlic and green onions.
TM "A drumstick and a couple of second joints for the road" Oliver
David Winsemius
> . Or rather, if/why they think fuzzy dice *might* mean
> something.
Search stategy designed to get at what that which people are currently
obsessing:
"fuzzy dice" blog
Many hits for the dangling foam dice....
A superficial take; just retro-hip :
"Life may be a craps shoot, but you don't have to gamble with the
accessories you add to your car. Our retro Fuzzy Dice are the perfect
addition to any interior."
------------------
A bit of possible history was found on a 404ed but G-cached page:
"The History of The Fuzzy Dice
"The tradition of placing dice in a vehicle may have begun during World War
II. Pilots would place dice on their instrument panel with sevens showing
to bring them good luck on their missions. After the war, cars begin
hanging plastic dice from the rear view mirrors. But, as the story goes,
the plastic dice often melted, and were eventually replaced with flocked
material... and so the Lucky Fuzzy Dice was born!"
------------------
A slightly different version where they are more an emblem of danger than a
talisman against it:
"Why do so many people hang fluffy dice from their rear-view mirrors?
"Fuzzy dice first appeared during the late 1940s and early 1950s, with the
birth of the American hot-rod culture. Young returned servicemen with money
to burn and hotted-up older cars would participate in illegal street races.
It was this "dicing with death" and play on words that inspired the
creation of dashboard dice.
"Chris Lewis, Warradale, SA"
-----------
Fuzzy Dice by Paul Di Filippo. PS Publishing. 296 page hardback. Price
(hardback): £35.00 (UK), $90.00(US). ISBN: 1-902-880-66-X (deluxe
hardback);
It also appears to have acquired a new meaning as cute graphics on web
pages (http://trishwilson.typepad.com/blog/2003/12/that_giant_suck.html)
03/31/02 - "so you wanna try acid" guest animation on threebrain.com. Music
by The Fuzzy Dice, Sung by Todd Baran
Michael Jackson lyrics were mentioned on one website.
--
David "" Winsemius
L0nD0t.$t0we11
> I was trying to figure out what on earth "fuzzy dice" might be, and
> which area of probability theory might use them, but now I see it's
> just a WIAVBP thing. "Fluffy dice" they always were on the right side
> of the pond. Normally to be found hanging from the rear view mirrors
> of Ford Cortinas and later Capris. In Essex.
Or much earlier, on the mirror of a chopped and channelled '49 Merc.
The things were also a prize in those little steam shovel games at
travelling carnivals, dunno if that predated the J. C. Whitney era
or not.
Thomas Prufer
wrote:
>Actually, it's the probability thing that made them find the Phoenyx site;
>if they'd Googled for "'fuzzy dice'" instead of "fuzzy dice" they wouldn't
>have found us.
Er, ah -- Schrödingers 'R' Us?
Thomas "here today, gone tomorrow" Prufer
L0nD0t.$t0we11
> On Sun, 28 Mar, L0nD0t.$t0we11 wrote:
>
>>Roughly 3/28/04 01:03, Keith Willis's monkeys randomly typed:
>>
>>
>>> I was trying to figure out what on earth "fuzzy dice" might be, and
>>> which area of probability theory might use them, but now I see it's
>>> just a WIAVBP thing. "Fluffy dice" they always were on the right side
>>> of the pond. Normally to be found hanging from the rear view mirrors
>>> of Ford Cortinas and later Capris. In Essex.
>>
>> Or much earlier, on the mirror of a chopped and channelled '49 Merc.
>
> Mercedes Benz in Essex.
You either already know the answer or you'll never know the answer.
David Winsemius
> Roughly 3/28/04 10:34, O J's monkeys randomly typed:
>> On Sun, 28 Mar, L0nD0t.$t0we11 wrote:
>>
>>>Roughly 3/28/04 01:03, Keith Willis's monkeys randomly typed:
>>>
>>> Or much earlier, on the mirror of a chopped and channelled '49 Merc.
>>
>> A chopped and channeled '49 Mercedes? A Merc is what they call a
>> Mercedes Benz in Essex.
>
> You either already know the answer or you'll never know the answer.
Merc's were outboards where I grew up.
But "channeled"? 'Zat the same as "bored and stroked"?
--
David "had an Evinrude myself" Winsemius
Rick Tyler
wrote:
6+5+4+3+2+1=42?
HIBT?
- Rick "While the sum of any two opposing faces is 7, you don't get to
count each pair twice" Tyler
--
"Ignorant voracity -- a wingless vulture -- can soar only into the
depths of ignominy." Patrick O'Brian
Paul Tomblin
>On 27 Mar 2004 22:14:47 -0800, R H Draney <dado...@earthlink.net>
>wrote:
>6+5+4+3+2+1=42?
>
>HIBT?
Dunno. Is your failure to read his fault?
--
Paul Tomblin <ptom...@xcski.com> http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
"Posting at the top because that's where the cursor happens to be is like
shitting in your pants because that's where your asshole happened to be."
- Andreas Prilop takes OE top posters to task.
Bob Ward
>On Sun, 28 Mar, L0nD0t.$t0we11 wrote:
>
>>Roughly 3/28/04 01:03, Keith Willis's monkeys randomly typed:
>>
>>
>>> I was trying to figure out what on earth "fuzzy dice" might be, and
>>> which area of probability theory might use them, but now I see it's
>>> just a WIAVBP thing. "Fluffy dice" they always were on the right side
>>> of the pond. Normally to be found hanging from the rear view mirrors
>>> of Ford Cortinas and later Capris. In Essex.
>>
>> Or much earlier, on the mirror of a chopped and channelled '49 Merc.
>
> A chopped and channeled '49 Mercedes? A Merc is what they call a
>Mercedes Benz in Essex.
>
>O J "My other car is a Mercedes" Gritmon
Yes, but in Essex they are all confused about hoods and boots and
wings and tyres and stuff like that, too.
Bob Ward
Channelled is when you lower the body on the frame. Usually the sled
would also be nosed and decked, with frenched taillights, as well.
Rick Tyler
(Paul Tomblin) wrote:
>In a previous article, Rick Tyler <rht...@comcast.net> said:
>>On 27 Mar 2004 22:14:47 -0800, R H Draney <dado...@earthlink.net>
>>wrote:
>>>Observation: the total number of pips on a pair of dice is 42...this is
> ^^^^
>>6+5+4+3+2+1=42?
>>
>>HIBT?
>
>Dunno. Is your failure to read his fault?
Yeah, well, so's your mother.
- Rick "Innumerate" Tyle
Paul Tomblin
>On Sun, 28 Mar 2004 21:02:15 +0000 (UTC), ptomblin...@xcski.com
>(Paul Tomblin) wrote:
>>In a previous article, Rick Tyler <rht...@comcast.net> said:
>>>On 27 Mar 2004 22:14:47 -0800, R H Draney <dado...@earthlink.net>
>>>wrote:
>>>>Observation: the total number of pips on a pair of dice is 42...this is
>> ^^^^
>>>6+5+4+3+2+1=42?
>>>
>>>HIBT?
>>
>>Dunno. Is your failure to read his fault?
>
>Yeah, well, so's your mother.
She very probably is.
--
Paul Tomblin <ptom...@xcski.com> http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
Failure is not an option. It comes bundled with your Microsoft product.
-- Ferenc Mantfeld
R H Draney
>
<stuff about fuzzy dice in fine literature, culminating in:>
>
>Michael Jackson lyrics were mentioned on one website.
And leave us not forget:
"I whistled for a cab and when it came near
the license plate said 'fresh' and it had dice in the mirror,
if anything I could say this cab was rare
but I thought now forget it, yo home to Bel-Air
I pulled up to a house about seven or eight
and I yelled to the cabby 'yo home, smell ya later,'
I looked at my kingdom, I was finally there
to sit on my throne as the prince of Bel-Air"
R H "was Carlton the kid from the Mean Joe Greene Coke commercial?" Draney
Crashj
> On 27 Mar 2004 16:38:13 -0800, cra...@mindspring.com (Crashj) wrote:
>
> > "Karen J. Cravens" <silve...@phoenyx.net> wrote in message news:<Xns94B97BFA...@130.133.1.4>...
> > <>
> > > I'm curious about what people think fuzzy dice mean.
> > > Or rather, if/why they think fuzzy dice *might* mean something.
> >
> > An old guy in an old hotrod. In my case it is a 1973, 455 cubic inch
> > engine, four barrel, dual exhaust, hot rod with plumbing and fuzzy
> > white dice. Also front wheel drive and six wheels, 26 feet long.
>
> Tuck and roll? Dingleberries? Dago rake?
Negative on the new upholstry, but a good idea for the windows. We may
have to look into it.
Rake is provided by turning the air bags to the full upright position,
and it can kneel to almost touch the pavement in back with them down.
Being old isn't all its cracked up to be, but neither is being dead.
--
Crashj
TeaLady (Mari C.)
news:c45qg...@drn.newsguy.com:
Well, that's obvious - some diety, or perhaps an abesent minded
lesser being, left the things in the back of the fridge too
long. Long enough, in fact, that they weren't any good for
meatloaf filler, and long enough to suck any life that might
have tried to creep in right back out of 'em.
--
Tea"a fiver year old's five year old fungus collection"Lady /
mari conroy
"The adjectivisation of our nounal units will be greeted with
disconcertion by elders" Simon on the status of English as she
is spake.
"Stated to me for a fact. I only tell it as I got it. I am
willing to believe it. I can believe anything." Sam Clemens
Crashj
> In article <