Who's got the best signature?

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

Yours is quite smashing. Related to any particular thread in these parts?

Sure is. I fell absolutely in love. The girls who were with me didn't understand how I could be so enthused about 'knightly knock eternally wood he make' so they got stuck listening to me read a few pages of Finnegan's Wake aloud.

[Bêthberry]

Morthoron the Moriquendi has a boffo siggie from Rabelais. I'd sure like to know who did the translation, as that must have been a mighty job.

I adore "slapsauce fellows." I think it belongs as the name of fan club dedicated to the SaucepanMan: The Slapsauce Fellows. I think it could rival The Inklings.

Originally Posted by Morthoron

Morthoron the Moriquendi

"...lickorous gluttons, shyte-a-bed scoundrels, slapsauce fellows, slabberdegullion druggels, ninny lobcocks, fondling fops, flutch calf-lollies, and other suchlike defamatory epithets."
-- François Rabelais (1494-1553)

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

Morthoron the Moriquendi has a boffo siggie from Rabelais. I'd sure like to know who did the translation, as that must have been a mighty job.

I adore "slapsauce fellows." I think it belongs as the name of fan club dedicated to the SaucepanMan: The Slapsauce Fellows. I think it could rival The Inklings.

*The Dark Elf bows*

Thanks, Bethberry. Actually, the list of insults is much longer, but because of the sig limitations I could only chose my favorites. My copy of the book is translated by Sir Thomas Urqhart of Cromarty, which is the English standard version, I believe. The full quote is....

"The bun-sellers or cake-makers were in nothing inclinable to
their request; but, which was worse, did injure them most outrageously,
calling them prattling gabblers, lickorous gluttons, freckled bittors, mangy
rascals, shyte-a-bed scoundrels, drunken roysters, sly knaves, drowsy
loiterers, slapsauce fellows, slabberdegullion druggels, lubberly louts,
cozening foxes, ruffian rogues, paltry customers, sycophant-varlets,
drawlatch hoydens, flouting milksops, jeering companions, staring clowns,
forlorn snakes, ninny lobcocks, scurvy sneaksbies, fondling fops, base
loons, saucy coxcombs, idle lusks, scoffing braggarts, noddy meacocks,
blockish grutnols, doddipol-joltheads, jobbernol goosecaps, foolish
loggerheads, flutch calf-lollies, grouthead gnat-snappers, lob-dotterels,
gaping changelings, codshead loobies, woodcock slangams, ninny-hammer
flycatchers, noddypeak simpletons, turdy gut, shytten shepherds, and other
suchlike defamatory epithets..."

The book 'Gargantua and Pantagruel' is absolutely hilarious, but not for the faint of heart.

[Lhunardawen]

Originally Posted by Lindale

My feet thread the halls of Palma and the lowlands; my heart wanders to the city in the mountains.

Halls of Palma...surely not AS? *gasp* There's another Downer in my beloved university?! (Besides Nilp, that is.)

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by Morthoron

. Actually, the list of insults is much longer, but because of the sig limitations I could only chose my favorites. My copy of the book is translated by Sir Thomas Urqhart of Cromarty, which is the English standard version, I believe. The full quote is....

"The bun-sellers or cake-makers were in nothing inclinable to
their request; but, which was worse, did injure them most outrageously,
calling them prattling gabblers, lickorous gluttons, freckled bittors, mangy
rascals, shyte-a-bed scoundrels, drunken roysters, sly knaves, drowsy
loiterers, slapsauce fellows, slabberdegullion druggels, lubberly louts,
cozening foxes, ruffian rogues, paltry customers, sycophant-varlets,
drawlatch hoydens, flouting milksops, jeering companions, staring clowns,
forlorn snakes, ninny lobcocks, scurvy sneaksbies, fondling fops, base
loons, saucy coxcombs, idle lusks, scoffing braggarts, noddy meacocks,
blockish grutnols, doddipol-joltheads, jobbernol goosecaps, foolish
loggerheads, flutch calf-lollies, grouthead gnat-snappers, lob-dotterels,
gaping changelings, codshead loobies, woodcock slangams, ninny-hammer
flycatchers, noddypeak simpletons, turdy gut, shytten shepherds, and other
suchlike defamatory epithets..."

The book 'Gargantua and Pantagruel' is absolutely hilarious, but not for the faint of heart.

Thanks, Dark Elf.

Sir Thomas out-Rablaised Rablais! He reminds me a bit of our Squatter, with his love of wordplay and even possibly his political bent. I read excerpts of Rablais in French class (the French are made of more exuberant stuff than the English, for only Swift and Sterne could come near Rablais, although Chaucer had a bit of poke at it), and it was a dastardly grind, trying to suss out all those nefarious innuenoes in a foreign language. Just about ruined the fun of it, all that linguistic lucubriation.


cozening foxes is doubly delicious, but I'm not even going to let my fancy stray to consider the implications of drawlatch hoydens.

I wonder if we could turn this into a Mirth thread--you know, a challenge to write creative insults about Tolkien characters. We could title thread with Urquhart's phrase "recreative lies."

And speaking of a fan club for SpM, I notice that today is his birthday. If only I could figure out how to start a "Slapsauce Fellows" thread in his honour and stay within the rules of the mods and admins.... And without causing any disappointment to others who have not been roasted with such threads.

I might even recommend Urquhart/Rabelais' description of childhood for our good Father alatar.

And ever mindful of the thread-topic, I see that Urquhart has provided other material for a great siggie:

Originally Posted by Sir T U

One inch of joy surmounts of grief a span;
Because to laugh is proper to the man

[piosenniel]

I just wanted to stick a little reminder in about acceptable length for sigs on the Barrow-Downs:

Originally Posted by Mister Underhill: FAQ's in N&N

Please note that the Downs policy is that all signatures must be three lines or less as they appear in your posts on the board. Be kind to your fellow forum members and keep your sig short and sweet, or you may find it cut down to size for you by a moderator. Pictures and fancy effects or colors are distracting and generally not allowed.

~*~ piosenniel

[Lalwendë]

Oooh, a quick question for Oro while she's online?

Are you by any chance another Whovian? I was just looking at something and I noticed your sig - nice choice! I didn't know it aired in the US! Now back to what I was doing

[Orominuialwen]

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

Oooh, a quick question for Oro while she's online?

Are you by any chance another Whovian? I was just looking at something and I noticed your sig - nice choice! I didn't know it aired in the US!

My local PBS station is currently showing season 1 of the new series, but I have a sneaking suspicion that the station didn't buy any episodes after Father's Day, since they showed all the episodes up to that one, then went back and repeated them again from the beginning! I'll find out this weekend if they're actually going to show The Empty Child, or just start over again. Unfortunately, Wisconsin Public Television has a long history of buying shows from Britain, only to leave off in the middle of a season. So frustrating!

[Lalwendë]

Ooooo, fingers crossed, as The Empty Child is an excellent episode - so creepy...

Blimey, you have so many good episodes just waiting to be seen I feel quite jealous, the last series was even better than the other two!!! I don't know what I will do later - saturday evening and no Doctor to watch! Noooooooooo.........

[Celuien]

My signature is a favorite quote from season three, which has just started airing on the Sci-Fi channel.

So many great episodes!

[Lalwendë]

we don't need lists of rights and wrongs, tables of do's and don'ts: we need books, time, and silence. Thou shalt not is soon forgotten, but Once upon a time lasts forever

Well now, the self-styled Time Lord (meh ) cannot be without a Whovian signature too so it is time to retire the above, which was from one Mr Pullman, if you didn't know

And it was hard to choose one quote, as this last series was that good...I liked that wibbly wobbly time one because that's how I explain Time...with lots of pointy hand gestures and that, but no diversions into custard experimentation.

Oh yes, and what's that new option on signatures? Anyone tried it yet?

[Hookbill the Goomba]

Oh yes, and what's that new option on signatures? Anyone tried it yet?

What, this one?

[Lalwendë]

There's only one thing to say to that:

[Lalaith]

Oh ...in mourning for my Saturday evenings....I have to join the Whovians.

[Lalwendë]

Heh! This is awesome! Whovians crawling out of every corner like the March of the Cybermen!

I want a poll on how many Whovian Downers there are - Fordim???

[The Barrow-Wight]

Sorry, no images allowed in sigs. I've turned that option off.

[Hookbill the Goomba]

Thanks, Mr. Wight. I thought it was odd that it was there. I'm not much of a complainer, so I thought the sooner I used it, the sooner you'd realise the mistake. Which is why I used such a ridiculous one.

Speaking of Doctor Who signatures, I thought I should have one too.

[Lalwendë]

I'd rather have a fast loading site than fancy whizz-bangs* anyway!







*actually, these sound good....

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

Originally Posted by The Barrow-Wight

Sorry, no images allowed in sigs. I've turned that option off.

Good call, they are way too disturbing and take up too much space.

On some football boards people have 3 major images in their sigs which means that your finger is hurting from scrolling before you are done with the first page.

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by Rune Son of Bjarne

Good call, they are way too disturbing and take up too much space.

On some football boards people have 3 major images in their sigs which means that your finger is hurting from scrolling before you are done with the first page.

It's them whizz bangs...nasty things they are...

And they can be distracting too when people get these fancy ones - they're not all clever like Hookbill's! Some of them are, dare I say it, a wee bit cheesy and just a bit too geek I like our pithy little sigs better.

[Estelyn Telcontar]

I would say our signatures are like our forum - focused more on the word than the picture!

[Lhunardawen]

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
-(various)

Menel, that's hilarious! Nilp and I used to say this line in as many different ways we've heard it said as we can.

[Orominuialwen]

Originally Posted by Esty's sig

"Why, a woman can think of a hundred different things at once, all of them contradictory!" (Georgette Heyer)

I'm quite a fan of this one. Being a girl myself, I find it to be all too true! Besides, I've loved Georgette Heyer's books ever since reading Arabella several years ago.

And for all my fellow Whovians, WPT did air The Empty Child on Saturday, so I will have my fix of the Doctor at least through the end of the first season!

[Folwren]

Oh! lol! I have not see Menel's signature, but if it's still what Lhuna just quoted...that's hilarious! My sister and I do the same thing...quoting "NOOOO!" from many different movies...

Anyway, I got on here to say that I really like Lhuna's signature.

"I believe in Christianity as I believe the sun has risen. Not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else." ~ C. S. Lewis

Excellent one. C.S. Lewis tended to say a lot of excellent things.

-- Folwren

[ninja91]

And Folwren's is a classic one, too.

"A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to believe in him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word "darkness" on the walls of his cell. ~C.S Lewis"

[Nimrodel_9]

Ooo, yes, I love Oro's and Folwren's. C.S. Lewis certainly knew how to say it.

[Lhunardawen]

From our birthday boy (yesterday), Legate:

...And Rufus Scrimgeour said: "By the authority of the Ministry of Magic, execute Order 66."

If this has anything to do with the seventh book, well, I don't understand it yet, but it's impossible to combine Harry Potter and Star Wars in one sentence without anyone noticing.

Oh, and Werewolf XXXV is indeed a tale to remember.

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by Lhunardawen

If this has anything to do with the seventh book, well, I don't understand it yet

Not actually. And for all who read it, don't worry, no spoilers from me...

Originally Posted by Lhunardawen

Oh, and Werewolf XXXV is indeed a tale to remember.

It has to be, if even a defeated wolf says it

[Lhunardawen]

Originally Posted by Legate of Amon Lanc

It has to be, if even a defeated wolf says it

Well, that might be the precise reason it's a tale to remember.

[The Might]

After reading the signature I suddently am in the mood for a Gandalf - Dumbledore or maybe Palpatine - Voldemort duel...

[Elmo]

I Love Bethberry's, I was actually thinking of using that quote from Deathly Hallows, but she made it funnier then I could have.

Wit beyond measure is a man's greatest pleasure. Some hat urn thingy

[Lhunardawen]

Really, what's with all the Harry Potter siggies?

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Not sure. Btw yours one is nice too, Luna ( )

'After all this time?'
'Always.'

It reflects the most beautiful part of the whole story, in my opinion.

[The Sixth Wizard]

Legate... I happened to have a rusty little Bible in the bookshelf and looked up the passage; sure enough, it was there... How did you find that? Is it well known? Sorry, I'm not that religious...

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by The Sixth Wizard

Legate... I happened to have a rusty little Bible in the bookshelf and looked up the passage; sure enough, it was there... How did you find that? Is it well known? Sorry, I'm not that religious...

Well, I don't think it's that well known, but I knew it is somewhere in there. I had to seek it for some time, but I knew more or less that it's in some of the Epistles, I thought either Thessalonians or this one, and I eventually found it. The same goes with the "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also", which I think is a little more known (Matthew 6:21 and maybe somewhere else as well).

EDIT: Just to make anyone who reads this understand, we are speaking here now of my signature I had at that time this conversation went. It was that one:

"Isn't that a Death Eater idea? Why is that there?"
1 Corinthians 15:26

And that's what Six was talking about.

[Gil-Galad]

Which version did you use Legate? i am looking through the King James version and all it states is "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death"

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Yes, that's it. You haven't read Harry Potter 7, did you?

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Originally Posted by Gil-Galad

Love never blows up and gets killed

Brilliant. Absolutely wonderful. Everybody should have a quote from such a great source. I am, in fact, thinking of changing my sig to "Who wants pizza rolls?"

[Lhunardawen]

Originally Posted by Legate of Amon Lanc

Not sure. Btw yours one is nice too, Luna ( )

It reflects the most beautiful part of the whole story, in my opinion.

--> does Merisu look dreamy enough?

I completely agree with you.

And nice spotting with that verse! Sent shivers down my spine, for some reason. I had no idea at all it was in the Bible, but maybe because I was too busy putting it in the story's context. I could go on about this, but I might be overstepping some *ehem* boundaries...

EDIT: Ah! I just encountered a couple of days ago this verse somewhere in Revelation that says that death and Hades will be thrown into the lake of fire, which is the second death... Weird, isn't it, death dying? Not that this has anything to do with best signatures. *shuts up*

[Mithalwen]

I was sure he was doomed but hoped he would be redeemed so I second the nomination of Lhuna's sig and offer darling Phantom's


...he was probably the bravest man I ever knew.

Lhuna, there is a very famous poem by Donne on the death of death.



Death be not proud, though some have callèd thee
Mighty and dreadful, for, thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou think’st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me;
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and souls delivery.
Thou’art slave to Fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy,’or charms can make us sleep as well,
And better then thy stroke; why swell’st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And death shall be no more, Death thou shalt die.

I have taken the liberty of modernising the spelling for the benefit of non native speakers but other wise it is the Gardner edition ("Helen Gardner is a scholar!" )with the less hysterical punctuation in the last line. The film of "Wit" by Margaret Edson with Emma Thompson explains it beautifully but I must admit it is a harrowing thing to watch - at least I found it so, but the subject matter does have particular significance for me...