Paraphrased: "....all die. Oh the embarassment."
John Källén
the story name/author name where the phrase above occurs. It is spoken by
aliens expressing apologies, escalating the consequences of their actions
until they finish off their litanies with [paraphrased] "...all die. Oh the
embarassment". Could someone be kind and tell me who the author is and what
story it is so I can sleep again!
Thankyew,
--
John Källén -- johnkal at microsoft dot com
My opinions. Mine, MINE, *MINE*!
Joe Slater
>%^*$%^*. My grilf [sic] and I have been racking our brains trying to recall
>the story name/author name where the phrase above occurs. It is spoken by
>aliens expressing apologies, escalating the consequences of their actions
>until they finish off their litanies with [paraphrased] "...all die. Oh the
>embarassment". Could someone be kind and tell me who the author is and what
>story it is so I can sleep again!
It's "A !Tangled tale" and I think it's by Joe Haldeman.
jds
Budwebster
Close; it's "A !Tangled Web". You got the Haldeman part dead on, though.
Bud Webster
Writer - Editor - Proofreader: Think of me as an infinite number of monkeys.
"Bubba Pritchert and the Space Aliens" is now at Singularities,
www.wwco.com/scifi
"The Three Labors of Bubba" is now at Mind's Eye, www.tale.com
Joe Slater
>>It's "A !Tangled tale" and I think it's by Joe Haldeman.
>
>Close; it's "A !Tangled Web". You got the Haldeman part dead on, though.
Oh well. Bonus points for anyone who can identify the author of "A
Tangled Tale"?
jds
The Blue Rose
Curiosity is killing me - can someone PLEASE post the whole damn thing
:-)
Stacey - itching to know what it is!
Stacey Hill (note 2 spambusters in my address if replying by e-mail)
"A woman has the last word in any argument.
Anything a man says after that is the beginning of a new argument"
Check out my Gardening and Rose website at
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Valley/9544/index.html
Joe Slater
>I remember this phrase from something someone posted ages ago.
>Curiosity is killing me - can someone PLEASE post the whole damn thing
>:-)
>
>Stacey - itching to know what it is!
I die. Terry Austin salutes my death by starting another gun control
debate. So many messages are posted that the thread achieves ultimate
density and becomes a black hole, sucking everybody in. All die. Oh,
the embarrassment.
jds
Glenn P.,
> Curiosity is killing me...
Meow? :)
--_____ _____
{~._.~} * >>>>>>>>>> [ Glenn P., c128...@GTI.Net ] <<<<<<<<<< * {~._.~}
_( Y )_ /| ------------------------------ |\ _( Y )_
(:_~*~_:) \| "I'm not asleep; I'm checking my eyelids for holes." |/ (:_~*~_:)
(_)-(_) * --Heard on "Deep Space Nine." * (_)-(_)
Steve Furlong
Joe Slater <joeDEL...@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au> wrote:
>Oh well. Bonus points for anyone who can identify the author of "A
>Tangled Tale"?
Lewis Carroll.
I attempted to write and sell a newspaper series similar to the
knots in _A Tangled Tale_. None of the locals near me would touch
it because they didn't see an audience.
Regards,
Steve Furlong
Zvi Gilbert
>>It's "A !Tangled tale" and I think it's by Joe Haldeman.
>Close; it's "A !Tangled Web". You got the Haldeman part dead on, though.
More details: It's in Haldeman's short story collection 'Dealing in
Futures' (Penguin HB 1985; Ace pb 1986) and the credit page says it was
originally published in 'Analog'.
"...all die. O the embarrassment." seems to be, among other things, the
!tang's way of refusing to reply to a direct question, as the following
passage should make clear:
===
Human: Did my brother say what tribe he represented?
!tang: I die. O my hair falls out and my flesh rots and my bones
are cracked by the hungry ta!a'an. He drops me behind him
all around the forest and nothing will grow where his
excrement from my marrow falls. As the years pass the forest
dies from the poison of my remains. The soil washes into the
sea and poisons the fish, and all die. O the embarrassment.
Human: He didn't say?
!tang: He did but said not to tell you.
===
A very funny story with weirdly alien aliens (perambulating haystacks?)
and aliens speaking their own language (not 'system english', 'esperanto',
'galactica' or using a 'universal translator').
--Zvi
z...@interlog.com
ma!ryso'ta
Christopher K Davis
> More details: It's in Haldeman's short story collection 'Dealing in
> Futures' (Penguin HB 1985; Ace pb 1986) and the credit page says it
> was originally published in 'Analog'.
_Dealing in Futures_ was republished in 1993, as well; the reprint may
be easier to find (i.e. still in print). Amazon lists it as "usually
ships within 24 hours", anyway.
--
Christopher Davis * <ckd...@ckdhr.com> * <URL:http://www.ckdhr.com/ckd/>
Put location information in your DNS! <URL:http://www.ckdhr.com/dns-loc/>
Klyfix
In article <3625ba05....@news.onaustralia.com.au>,
joeDEL...@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au (Joe Slater) writes:
>
>I die. Terry Austin salutes my death by starting another gun control
>debate. So many messages are posted that the thread achieves ultimate
>density and becomes a black hole, sucking everybody in. All die. Oh,
>the embarrassment.
>
>
LOL!! Right in the style of the story, too.
V.S. Greene : kly...@aol.com : Boston, near Arkham...
A whole paragraph in "Piercing the Darkness" (Ramsland)
wow, Fame! :)
Eckzylon: http://members.aol.com/klyfix/Page1.html
RPG and SF, predictions, philosophy, and other things.
Klyfix
In article <70512m$4...@shell1.interlog.com>, z...@interlog.com (Zvi Gilbert)
writes:
>
>More details: It's in Haldeman's short story collection 'Dealing in
>Futures' (Penguin HB 1985; Ace pb 1986) and the credit page says it was
>originally published in 'Analog'.
>
>
>A very funny story with weirdly alien aliens (perambulating haystacks?)
>and aliens speaking their own language (not 'system english', 'esperanto',
>'galactica' or using a 'universal translator').
In _Analog_ it was rather nicely illustrated; picture haystacks with an
elephant trunk and stout legs as I recall.
Michael Straight
On Thu, 15 Oct 1998, The Blue Rose wrote:
> I remember this phrase from something someone posted ages ago.
> Curiosity is killing me - can someone PLEASE post the whole damn thing
I die. No one can figure out why. Curiosity kills them. All die. Oh
the embarassment!
SMTIRCAHIAGEHLT
Louis Sivo
Auugh, I know this. Of course I can't remember the title. It's definitly
a short story. The race that spoke these words were during negoitiating
I think, business dealings.
Of course how I'm going to find this in my small collection of 1000 books
is beyond me.
Now you have me curious about this. I do remember I liked the story, and
this phrase was hilarious. If it comes to me I'll post of course.
--
Louis Sivo
lou...@nafohq.hp.com
The opinions expressed here are my own, and do not necessarily represent
those of Hewlett-Packard.
Timothy C. Eisele
: "....all die. Oh the embarassment."
: Auugh, I know this. Of course I can't remember the title. It's definitly
: a short story. The race that spoke these words were during negoitiating
: I think, business dealings.
It was "A !tangled Web", by Joe Haldeman (pronounce the ! as a glottal
click). I can't remember the title of the collection that I read it in,
but I think it was something like "Dealing in Futures" (then again, maybe
not . . .)
Tim Eisele
tcei...@mtu.edu
Christopher K Davis
> Louis Sivo <lou...@nafohq.hp.com> wrote:
>> "....all die. Oh the embarassment."
> It was "A !tangled Web", by Joe Haldeman (pronounce the ! as a glottal
> click). I can't remember the title of the collection that I read it
> in, but I think it was something like "Dealing in Futures" (then again,
> maybe not . . .)
No, it definitely was. Conveniently enough, _Dealing in Futures_ was
reprinted fairly recently (past few years) so it should be not totally
impossible to find (single-author short story collections fall off the
shelves *so* fast, alas).