alps

September 4th, 2008
└ Tags:

Discussion (18)¬

  1. Cretin « Freunde der offenen Gesellschaft says:
    September 4, 2008 at 2:54 am

    […] Jesus and Mo » Archive » alps. Dieser Eintrag wurde von Daniel Fallenstein am Do, 4. Sep 2008 um 13:00 geschrieben, abgelegt […]

  2. Gavin says:
    September 4, 2008 at 4:00 am

    Oooh! Oooh! Can I be the one who takes glee in pointing out a spelling mistake today? 😀 The third panel appears as though it should say “found in” not “found it”.

  3. alex says:
    September 4, 2008 at 4:27 am

    wow, you learn something new every day.

  4. author says:
    September 4, 2008 at 4:51 am

    Thanks, Gavin.

  5. OneLess says:
    September 4, 2008 at 5:14 am

    I like that Mo is looking up ‘cretin’ in the dictionary 🙂

  6. Atheist in Sheba says:
    September 4, 2008 at 7:25 am

    In French, “Christian” is “chrétien”, pronounced very much like “cretin”. But, in fairness, our Gallic friends do have a separate word for cretin (crétin), so they at least pay lip service to making a distinction.

    For those who are interested, Muslims are still called Musulmans in France, which always makes me think of the World’s Strongest Man competition rather than rug-butting. It’s a funny old world…

  7. JohnnieCanuck says:
    September 4, 2008 at 8:40 am

    And the equivalent in English was Musselman. Funny old world, indeed.

  8. JoJo says:
    September 4, 2008 at 1:38 pm

    Odd, since mussels are known for having a hard shell rather than tissue thin skin…

  9. Poor Richard says:
    September 6, 2008 at 5:22 am

    APPLESAUCE!

  10. JohnnieCanuck says:
    September 6, 2008 at 10:00 am

    Well, upon a little thought, the mussels around here are usually seen crowded tightly together in their thousands, completely surrounding a rock… They will cling to anything near the surface of the water and become quite firmly attached, whether it is ancient garbage or whatever.

    Also, they are thin shelled. Treading on them will usually leave them broken and expelling the contents of their guts. At this point they are dangerous as the thin shells are sharp can result in a nasty slice.

    The lives of the mussels are regulated by the moon and the sun. They must fast whenever the tide is out and open themselves sometimes four times a day to feed as the surf line moves past them.

    Barnacles compete with the mussels for territory. They too will use a rock for their foundation. Sometimes they will be found nearby each other on the same shore, but they keep themselves segregated for the most part and there is a line where a quiet but deadly battle slowly takes place.

  11. Toast in the machine says:
    September 6, 2008 at 5:15 pm

    ‘…firmly attached, whether it is ancient garbage or whatever…’

    Indeed. ‘…Also, they are thin shelled…At this point they are dangerous as the thin shells are sharp…’ Mmm…

    Might almost think there could be two meanings here.

    Never tried them with applesauce, but fresh mussels with white wine and garlic are pretty good. Don’t think you could get them in the Alps though. I’d stick with the fondue. I believe it is an ongoing moot point, whether mussels (and other shellfish) are haraam or not.

    Iodine deficiency, btw, I believe – the cause of cretinism.

  12. Atheist in Sheba says:
    September 8, 2008 at 8:59 am

    When I was living in Yemen, the shellfish/haram debate centred largely on whether the creature ever crawled on the sea bed or not. If it did, it was haram. If not, then bon appetit. Prawns were always big in favour (although I personally have no idea whether prawns do much crawling or not), as were lobster (a definite crawler if there ever was one), so the extent to which the average Yemeni musulman always practiced whatever the fatwa-of-the-week ordained is somewhat debatable.

    They tended to save their outrage for the really important things in life, like whether a woman whose feet could be seen below the abaya was guilty of inflaiming passions or not, or whether a huge riot over a Westerner touching a Koran (yes, just touching) was justified. As I recall, the Frenchman concerned lost an eye in the incident.

    Thin shelled? Not a bit of it…

  13. JohnnieCanuck says:
    September 8, 2008 at 9:33 am

    Ah, the wonders of religious logic. First decide on the wished-for result, then find arguments to support it.

    Prawns are primarily bottom dwellers. One rather destructive method of catching them involves a boat slowly dragging a chain across the sea floor to make them swim up a little, into the mouth of the following net. I’m not sure if efforts to ban this method around here ever came to anything.

    Thank you for not inflaming my uncontrollable passions with the sight of your shoe?

  14. Poor Richard says:
    September 8, 2008 at 12:29 pm

    FEET! YUMMY!

    APPLESAUCE! (Mussellman’s or Motts’, no matter)

    Poor Richard declares applesauce to be great with prawns, especially while playing
    footsie under the table.

    Interesting new format, folks. I’m learning more about superstition all the time.
    Does anyone know any effective formulas for catching panfish? Spitting on the
    bait isn’t working very well right now.

    By the way, didn’t we have a cartoon on this site a few comments ago? Something about dwarfed and specially deformed idiots? I wonder what was special about those deformities? You show me yours, I’ll show you mine.

  15. Colonel Leisure says:
    September 8, 2008 at 11:36 pm

    Wow, new layout! Very nice. Can we have another cartoon now? 😉

  16. Anton Sherwood says:
    September 21, 2008 at 10:07 pm

    Last time I called someone a cretin, he replied, “Non, athénien.”

  17. Accolyte of Sagan says:
    July 10, 2012 at 7:27 pm

    Rug-butter, like peanut butter but with loads more fibre.

  18. OtterBe says:
    March 1, 2020 at 3:46 am

    Really, AoS?
    Even eight years later, I am obliged to suggest that you go sit in a corner and think about what you’ve done.

    – a simple ‘test’ would have sufficed

Comment¬

NOTE: This comments section is provided as a friendly place for readers of J&M to talk, to exchange jokes and ideas, to engage in profound philosophical discussion, and to ridicule the sincerely held beliefs of millions. As such, comments of a racist, sexist or homophobic nature will not be tolerated.

If you are posting for the first time, or you change your username and/or email, your comment will be held in moderation until approval. When your first comment is approved, subsequent comments will be published automatically.