T/S Food Snobs vs Grammar Pedants

Anyway I voted Grammar Pedants cos they usually mix an exciting amount of RONG into their Olympian pronouncements.

grammar pedants in a motherfucking heartbeat.

You should've capitalised the first word of that sentence.

what, we're voting which one of these we *want* to be?

Fucking neither of them thanks.

No we are voting for which of them is the biggests dicks I was being snarky.

i right, i voted for grammer fiends. but finking about it, i want to change my vote.

"i right" = "oh right"

oh then to clarify: food snobs are the worst.

T/S: scum of the earth vs dregs of humanity

grammar pedants: pretty much useless in this 133t txt nang era
food snobs: often overbearingly precious or irritatingly knowitall but still useful

They both ruin things that are lovely.

at least we can call grammar pedants Linguo now.

fuck off.

I voted for food snobs because I would prefer to be one, as specified in the instructions. I did not feel the "snark".

i think trucker hats should be included as an option

gimme ten grammar pedants over one insufferable fucking food snob - I don't think there's anything wrong with liking good food and being enthusiastic about it but I fuckin hate ppl who're like "oh the only place in town that makes a decent cappucino is joe's, go there on tuesday, maxine makes the best ones"

I voted grammar pedant because I understood the question to be "which one do you prefer," too

foodies are the worst. tell me again why i should give up vegetarianism and eat beef rare.

fuck off.

?

not you specifically, sorry: was more at the thread in general and the very notion of daring to diss grammar pedantry :)

i voted for the third choice, natch.

I took heat the other day for not liking bargain burgers, b/c the cheap ground beef has bits of bone and gristle in it. SO SHOOT ME, you want to eat chips of bone that have been power-washed off the spine of a factory-raised cow? Not fucking likely. That has to be like the bottom basement of food snobbery, it's like saying "I prefer my food not rotting and fly larvae-infested, thanks anyway" and someone being like "OMG you rockist."

I voted grammar pedant because I understood the question to be "which one do you prefer," too

lol I'm sorry grimly I forgot you had a penchant for this cobblers

and a paycheck too

we call them paySLIPS here

the 'hang out with' factor tips it for the food people -- IF they're like kitchen-bod foodie types and not restaurant habitues. every now and again you might get a pretty great meal. what do you get hanging with grammar pedants? a sore jaw from gritting your teeth every time you want to deck the sob

s.o.b. you mean

grammar pedants generally operate on the basis of weird 19th century rumors abt language that would get them laughed out of linguistics 101.

food snobs are at least sometimes right.

also food is delicious.

rumors!!

"linguistics"!!

No-one would even be able to communicate recipes and therefore cook without the gift of language, of which grammar is a fundamental component.

u cant eat a rumor am i right!

don't like food snobs? don't eat or talk about food in front of them. don't like grammar snobs? don't talk to them. ever.

both seem totally removed from and unconcerned by how their obsessions are actually used by normal people

eat your words ledge

both seem totally removed from and unconcerned by how their obsessions are actually used by normal people

-- n/a, Wednesday, January 9, 2008 3:50 PM (11 seconds ago) Bookmark Link

actually this is only true about grammar pedants. food snobs sometimes worry about "authenticity" which i guess equals how food is consumed by normal people

u cant eat a rumor am i right!

high five

also, gff otm: i had a "foodie" buddy in Montana who could be snobby about food, but all that really meant is that i got at least one phenomenal meal a week with a big bunch of fun people, for the price of an OK bottle of wine. also, he liked greasy spoons and mcdonald's as much as the next guy, so i guess he wasn't that snobby.

grammar is an aspect of language which like all other aspects needs no correction from and certainly evolved with out any input from lame-ass schoolmarmin jerks.

I think the reason I find a food snob more irritating than a grammar pedant is most language ppl I know would be the first to tell you they know they're being annoying, they just can't help themselves. Food snobs are like Geirbots, they seem to think their pleasure is somehow on a higher level just because they've crawled up their own asses about it.

That said when I go to another country I do my best to find a food snob type to lead me around because those assholes know where all the good restaurants are

It's the snob part that really hurts me. Being into ultra-obscure delicacies unsampled by most people is fine. Pretending that food enjoyed by millions of people every day is somehow inedible dogshit that will kill you on the spot is sucky.

food snobs sometimes worry about "authenticity" which i guess equals how food is consumed by normal people

hahaha this is the worst quality of food snobs and what prevents them from just enjoying meals (food rockism!)

oops i voted for grammar pedants b/c i did not read the question through

Prediction on number of votes for Option 3: 15

i guess the advantage of grammar pedants is that they can at least technically be "right" about grammar, whereas food and taste is totally subjective so food snobs are not only annoying, they're inevitably wrong

yas but food snobs sometimes impart valuable information

yeah they are all pretty awful in totally unique ways

oh shit I took the "which do you want to be" at face value

Food snobs should be beaten.

w/r/t food snobs are we talking people who only eat at fancy, most expensive restaurants, or exploradining types who are always out to discover the hole-in-the-wall in elmhurst, queens with the best such and such authentic specialty? type 2 is infinitely more useful to me.

and a paycheck too

yes, this is key. i mean, i'm fighting a losing battle and i'm pretty much done caring. but hey, it pays the bills. for now.

but that's the point: i get paid for this shit. and sure, i'll weigh in on the copyeditors and grammar fiends thread (even though i want to unleash a cry of pure rage every time i see andrew's original post) because, well, lol ILX and all that. yet if i sat in the pub going: "actually, i think you'll find you should be adopting the subjunctive mood there", or started picking holes in obviously unedited text (eg ILX posts), i'd expect to get chinned [1].

bottom line: i'm an editor. if i'm editing something, i'm a professional pedant. but amateur pedantry can suck it till it bleeds.

as for food snobbery: in the west of scotland, certainly, it is almost always bound up with smug, patronising, upper-middle-class wankery, which renders a lot of otherwise sensible arguments (ie don't eat that shit; eat this, it's nicer) instantly loathable.

[1] yeh, two cheers for whoever goes off and finds a lame example of me picking holes in somebody's grammar on ILX.

grammar pedants, to me, just aren't getting the point of language and seemed to have missed out on the 20th century.

I am talking about "foodies", particularly people who go gaga over adequate and/or shitty food in an effort to make themselves look "cultured".

Grammar pedants are trying to make sure people are speaking the same language and therefore are advancing world harmony.

que?

People seem to be managing to speak the same languages without Lynn Truss laughing at them for being poor and misusing apostrophe's.

yas but food snobs sometimes impart valuable informationyas but food snobs sometimes impart valuable information

so do grammar pedants if the people they're talking to aren't hopelessly insecure lol

how do I shot c/p

lynn(e -- sorry, couldn't resist the corr) truss can fuck off harder than anyone has ever managed in the history of fucking off.

woah, that's pretty hard

fuck off hard with a vengeance

food snobs have made my life immeasurably better.

and they are way more fun to hang out with and feed you way better stuff than grammar pedants.

food snobs go!!!

the whole foodie thing is really annoying too. theyre not necessarily snobby but like you go to dinner w/someone and they talk abt the food and other restaurants the whole time. to me a meal can be a lovely opportunity to enjoy yrself w/some good people. it gets kinda gross when its just abt compulsion.

and im really into restaurants and cooking and knowing things but when i sit down to eat i like to just flow.

i think it was susan sontag wrote this funny cranky piece right before she died abt how young people in her day were busy having sex but now they just know the names of 30 types of sushi.

yeh, hmm, might have over-reacted there. (which, obviously, i hardly ever do, eh?) still. conditioned response to the mere mention of her name, etc.

music nerds complaining about food snobs. what a world.

Rong board.

music nerds complaining about food snobs. what a world.

food snobs don't even know the difference between hard house and happy hardcore

savages

TS: hard house vs smokehouse

yeah but for the best happy hardcore you obviously have to look to the asian communities in the north. the stuff they listen to at home is light years ahead of what you would hear in a typical london gastrotheque.

Grammar pedants are trying to make sure people are speaking the same language and therefore are advancing world harmony.

this central conceit of grammar pedantry could only be believed by those who have had all common sense educated out of them. language dont need no cops. unless you think there was some sort of caveman tribal council that met and invented language.

see also: not understanding that writing and speaking are two different things.

TS: happy hardcore vs. Happy Meal

Emo tempura can fuck off.

xpost: lol you can't speak your native language

breaks vs breakfast

Dan you're killing me

i think it was susan sontag wrote this funny cranky piece right before she died abt how young people in her day were busy having sex but now they just know the names of 30 types of sushi.

she thought that was a bad thing?

I think you'll find that the Happy Hardcore they listen to in Mumbai is nothing like the stuff served up in Wakefield.

DAN PERRY SO RONG

everyone can speak their native language - this is no coincidence

TS drum 'n' bass vs. jungle curry

everyone can speak their native language - this is no coincidence

excuse me, everyone can speak his native language

lol

No capital, no full stop.

rotisserie connection

honestly, at this point, food is the thing in life i derive the most pleasure from (or from which i derive the most pleasure? fuck off) and i would in no way consider myself a snob (i luv hotdogs) but i definitely spend more time talking and thinking about food than about anything intellectual or artistic. and it's really the only thing that is a constant! so i can't really get mad at foodies. it seems like a natural thing to obsess over.

Like I said, it's not the obsession, it's the superciliousnes's.

of these hypothetical people.

do people actually call people themselves foodies? rocking that label alone is grounds for a beatdown

Sorry s1ocki you're right of course nobody in real life has ever experienced a supercilious food snob.

better than calling yourself a GRAMMIE

Sorry s1ocki you're right of course nobody in real life has ever experienced a supercilious food snob.

-- Noodle Vague, Wednesday, January 9, 2008 4:32 PM (12 seconds ago) Bookmark Link

well at least they're not SNOB SNOBS like you people, deriding other people for the snobs they like.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42970000/jpg/_42970777_confused_203.jpg

do people actually call people themselves foodies? rocking that label alone is grounds for a beatdown

o my, they most definitely do. come to the west end of glasgow, carne asada, and we'll go on an organic-dinner-party rampage. i'll provide the baseball bats.

xpost: TS -- snobs v nobs

do people actually call people themselves foodies?

yes omg!

i'm such a foodie that i cook at home -- my discerning palate is too sensitive for even the couthest restaurants -- it's kinda like gigs -- who can enjoy the pure sensation of music around these cretins?

LOL! that's great

i'm into indie food

im into not really caring what other people care too much about

that's why i love all the films you hate

I DONT CARE IM A NOT CARING SNOB.

I just cook what I cook and if anybody else likes it, that's a bonus.

jhøshea otm. It's all about shutting the fuck up talking about food while i'm trying to eat 'food'

I just cook what I cook and if anybody survives, that's a bonus.

:)

Prime example of foodie snobs on UK TV: Masterchef with John Torode and the other twat who's name I don't even know.

10 years ago that show had famous everyman popist Lloyd Grossman presenting

so arrogant he had to start selling his own Italian and Indian jar sauces to show 'em how it's really done (NB: I BUY THESE)

i dig going out trying new and interesting foods and cooking at home with great fresh ingredients when i can afford it.all the shit is cool but WTF at being a snob about it. then some yuppie fuck calls himself a foodie!?! come debate the finer points of this Top Ramen i've been eating all week and I’ll punch you

The problem with foodies happens at both ends of the spectrum - the people who fetishize cheap ethic food served in dingy storefronts who wouldn't touch a chain restaurant are just as bad as those who only eat high end/organic/seasonal meals with proper stemware. Luckily the other 80% of the people I've come across who are obsessed with food enjoy pretty much everything.

And yeah, death to anyone who doesn't think the most important part of a meal is the company.

also remembering that the point of going out is to enjoy yrself - wtf people who get pissed off if every little thing isnt perfect - dont u see u r the impediment to yr own enjoyment

Thanks to the supercilious foodies I know, I have:

- been to a dessert restaurant where the cheapest thing on the menu was $20 and the size of a quarter;
- eaten a chicken pasta with gorgonzola sauce dish that was prepared with three times the amount of gorgonzola specified in the recipe, rendering it "orgasmic" to them and "inedible" to me;
- eaten the blandest paella you could possibly imagine that was somehow better than any other paella ever made because someone brought smoked paprika (!) imported from Hungary especially for it.

I do not eat with these people anymore.

wow i wish every food snob could read this thread and learn all these wonderful life lessons.

excellent example of not caring :P

thanks to grammar pedants i know, i have:

- tried to use big words in mixed company and gotten a flat reaction
- overspent on dictionaries
- misused the term "anomie" at a company dinner

lol you pay for dictionaries

because someone brought smoked paprika (!) imported from Hungary especially for it

that paprika needed to be blasted right up that person's anus, really.

they were supposed to be heirloom dictionaries.

smoked paprika is great! and so is hungarian paprika! why is that weird??

You should start a thread to bitch about people who start threads to bitch about people.

don't blame a wonderful seasoning for the work of a bad cook.

do you guys always accidentally end up hanging out with jerks all the time?

Great sitcom premise.

the smoked paprika was most likely spanish. your friends sound like bad cooks, if anything.

- the people who fetishize cheap ethic food served in dingy storefronts who wouldn't touch a chain restaurant

yeah, i pretty much do this. but, you know, only the places that are exceptionally good!

btw, do vegan hippie folks like "ethic food"?

just cause u make one subpar paella doesnt make u a bad cook or person god

hungary is paprika capital of the world!

ya but it shouldn't condemn a wonderful spice to mockery by scotsmen either.
xp

thatsracist.gif

i just got this new clay paella pan brought back from spain(snobby??)i'm putting that thing to work this weekend.

thatshungarian.org

btw, do vegan hippie folks like "ethic food"?

was this a typo or not?

ewww god you brought back something from your travels??? get out of my FACE

ogod i want paella now (my fav dish as a child - im an og food snob)

hungary is paprika capital of the world!

but spain produces the smoked stuff! and it's great.

lol you pay for dictionaries

admit that u r jealous of my OED

ewww god you brought back something from your travels??? get out of my FACE

no man it was a gift

one time @ my birthday party i made paella for 40 but it didnt turn out too good :(

it's tricky makin it in large quantities

my tip: smoked prozac

yah i have experience cooking for way more than 40 but the facilities in my home were a bit lacking

what is best paella ingredients?

http://www.pg.com/common/image/04_news/country_news/paella1.jpg

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryspanish/images/learn_more/food/image4.jpg

I've been to one of these parties it rocked bells.

rice, seafoods, saffron, onion, wine , stock, etc

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryspanish/images/learn_more/food/image4.jpg

would attend x10000000000

I like chorizo and stuff in my paella too.

Tiny little crabs are kind of fucked up and have little meat value tho.

this isnt the vd thread

yah sure def chicken chorizo etc

ever have teh black squid paella !

i was thinking you got to have some chorizo to go along with the seafood

ever have teh black squid paella !
nice, they throw some squid ink in there.

its one of those dishes like pizza that was borne of leftovers and became a legend

this thread is making me want to go have a really food snobbish lunch.

for realz

yah

where teh good paella in downtown brooklyn? anyone?

No the only good paella comes from this little village in Majorca everything else is unfit for human consumption.

where teh good paella in downtown brooklyn? anyone?

smoked prozac is a great cocktail mixer

i.e. "jack and 'zac"

free range organic vicodin

due to the prep time paella is one of the few dishes that's usually better at festivals or home than at restaurants

gbx, if you like saffron and someone brings you an enormous ziplock bag of it for like $10 from THEIR TRAVELS IN TURKEY or wherever, you will be VERY GRATEFUL.

Srsly what the hell? You are all being shitty about other people getting EXCITED about things, knowledge, information, acquisitions they want to share with you.

Yes, that is exactly what we are being shitty about.

i think gbx was funning laurel.

ya but it shouldn't condemn a wonderful spice to mockery by scotsmen either

hahah. look, laddie, i live off fray bentos pies and deep-fried whisky.

(actually, i don't. and i'm not even a scotsman. but hey. i dunno: i'm just a wee bit suspicious as to why anyone would actually make a big deal about the point of origin of their bloody paprika, of all things. still. horses, courses etc.)

especially -- and this is U&K -- if it did fuck all for the taste.

Like okay I am terrified of I DIED as a food snob, and moderately afraid of Lauren as well (in that capacity) and I am afraid to expose any of my family-style and very rustic cooking to either of them, but that's not THEIR fault for having taste buds/brains and putting them to use. I just have different priorities and that seems fine to me...?

Also I can't afford to go to drinks with I DIED, I'm pretty sure. I've SEEN the cocktails he orders.

haha it is true I am so willing to try $2 food and so afraid of $2 drinks

aw, laurel.

Lauren I told my mother's Polish friend about the buffalo grass vodka and she was like "YES YES ZUBROWKA, sometimes we get babysitter on Saturday night so husband and I can sit at home and we like drink vodka." I love her.

food shouldn't be about anything other than food. not service, not decor, not 'drinks' (wine and to a lesser extent beer, which are part of the meal, are different), not fads, not class signifiers one way or the other, and not waspy etiquette bullshit. food, bitches.

service decor and drinx totally matter

Uh restaurant dining is DEFINITELY about all those things, although maybe here we are separating restaurant "reviews" from food as such.

maybe here we are separating restaurant "reviews" from food as such

right, just the way we might separate, say, a family dinner from food qua food

I am afraid to expose any of my family-style and very rustic cooking
most often this is the best kind of stuff

why would you want to separate food from its context?

I mean, maybe it's not about "class signifiers" or "waspy bullsuit" but service, decor, seating, a steady room temperature*, comfort levels of all kinds...THAT is as much of a nice restaurant as the food.

* I say this cos I was in a midtown restaurant last month where our table got a draft/cold wind every time the door opened.

yah or if a place is laid out weird

Yes, the coat check was directly behind the hostess table, so to get to your table you had to walk THROUGH the clump of people checking their coats. I swear to god.

most important things at a restaurant:

1. the people you're with
2. the service
3. the food
4. the atmosphere

(of course if any one of these is TERRIBLE it will throw everything off)

how could the service be more important than the food? i can overlook some really shitty service if the food is good.

I can overlook average food if the service is good

all four of those things impact how good a time you might have. only one of them has to do with how good the food is.

service ultimately is more important to supporting the social role of the meal, which I think is ultimately the point of a restaurant

yeah, i guess i really don't care about the service as long at some point i get food.

u crazed.

1) food
2) price
3) service / atmosphere

the CAN'T TALK, EATING school of dining.

it can be difficult to separate the elements, though, as you go up the price ladder. the worst service i've had in recent memory was at a restaurant that served excellent food, and though it was delicious i'm never going back.

'company' is the most important coefficient of a restaurant experience

r = qcs

restaurant experience (r)
quality of restaurant (q)
satiation / satiety after meal (s)
(q is aggregate value of f=food, 2=price, 3=service/location)

food shouldn't be about anything other than food. not service, not decor, not 'drinks' (wine and to a lesser extent beer, which are part of the meal, are different), not fads, not class signifiers one way or the other, and not waspy etiquette bullshit. food, bitches.

the entirety of human history and cultural norms involving food, both in the home and at restaurants, says U R RONG

(i just woke up, sorry for that)

ever notice families gathering at a thing at a similar time of day to have the food all at the same time? congratulations, that thing is called the table and the event is called dinner and it's about lots more than the food

eating at home /= eating in a restaurant

J0hn is totally OTM, but I keep going back to food, bitches. which is in itself a very persuasive argument.

i wonder if some people on this thread have ever had really bad service--it can destroy the meal

man, if my heart weren't fucked up i would totally go and gorge myself on in-n-out for lunch

eating a pricey restaurant meal alone is something i'm not sure i'd do.

why? if you're too broke to take somebody else ...

i wonder if some people on this thread have ever had really bad service--it can destroy the meal

this is very true. also, sitting next to loud abusive frat-boy assholes can ruin the meal. (cf. my dinner last night)

worst service ever = a waiter trying to charge one of our friends an $80 drink bill from another table who skipped out, because he sat there for a few minutes (didn't really know the people, who had seen him at a gig).

didn't make our food less delicious, though.

Worst service ever = a waitress who took everyone's drink order except for the two black people's (me and my wife), disappeared for 25 minutes, then came back and took everyone's food orders except for the to black people's (ditto) and disappeared again for 25 minutes without bringing us the drinks.

http://img30.picoodle.com/img/img30/4/1/9/f_supperm_c7db14a.jpg

ever notice families gathering at a thing at a similar time of day to have the food all at the same time? congratulations, that thing is called the table and the event is called dinner and it's about lots more than the food

yeah, i already said that myself. it's irrelevant to my point.

as for service, i just don't get off inherently on the idea of being served or paying someone to interact with me in the course of the meal. good service is functional - someone brings you your food/drink/etc. at the times you would get them if you were doing it yourself. great service operates principally to enhance your enjoyment of the food by acting as a knowledgeable critical aid - your friend in the food-enjoying process (not the socializing process, imo) - preferably in a manner that you find pleasing.

^^^^^^ food, bitches.

worst service ever=very stoned waiter would not stop talking to me about baseball AFTER he served me my lentil soup. talking to me WHILE i was trying to eat and would not shut up. plus i was really sick to my stomach that day and made the mistake of telling him and he told me the solution was to drink some straight bourbon and three cold beers. then he broke two glasses while de setting the table next to us and went and fetched the broom and swept up the pieces and was talking to himself the whole time

Wait, I misremembered; she brought all of the white and Asian people their drinks and took their food orders before taking our drink orders.

jesus. what did you do?

wow

that's fucked up. did you leave?

want Letterman style top 10 ways Dan could've responded

The entire table got up to leave without paying. She of course ran over to ask what was going on and the big white guy unloaded on her a vicious stream of invective that was astonishing to watch. We ended up talking to the manager about her; I think she was fired. ^_^

worst eating experience ever:

no server for 20 minutes sitting at table

host comes over and apologizes, says server is having a 'rough night' and buys us a round of drinks

server comes and reels off specials list too quickly to hear. my co-diner says 'could you say that again, i didn't quite catch it' and server responds 'i don't need this shit' and asks us what we want. we both order, a little shell-shocked, and wait for the food.

an hour later the host comes out and apologizes, says our order was never put on the line. it'll be another 45 minutes before we get fed.

meal comes, food is pretty darn good. server comes back with check. it is astronomically high. thankfully, i can pay using the gift certificate that brought me to this crappy restaurant.

server says 'we don't accept those any more.' i say 'it's only seven weeks old.' server says 'sorry, management has changed.' so i pony up a wad of money i can't afford (+$115 for two diners) and prepare to leave. on the way out i am stopped by a large manager-looking guy.

'you gotta pay for the round of drinks' he says. 'they were comped because our service was slow' my co-diner responds. 'who comped 'em?' says the big man. 'host' says my co-diner. 'host doesn't have that authority. that'll be $31' says the big man.

my co-diner pays. as we walk out to the street the door swings open and the manager sticks his head out. 'you're not invited back' he says, 'if you can't be bothered to leave a tip.'

"I don't need this shit"

lololol

favorite recent service - clearly tripping waiters free association rant abt teeth nuclear war skateboarding etc followed by many free drinks and foods!

hilarious and a great deal!

okay that's fucked up

xpost

woah, remy got served by Danny Glover

i'm amazed remy both stayed and paid.

La Laiterie at the Farmstead, Providence, in case they'd like to google themselves.

I wouldn't have paid.

our worst service involved being told by the wait captain, AFTER he took order for a bottle of dessert wine and served it, that he needed our table back immediately. he graciously offered to carry our glasses upstairs for us so that we could stand by the host station to finish it.

you didn't give up the table did you?

that would have made me stay there even longer

the manager came over. it was bad. he backed up the server, said "we do turn tables here," and told us that we could have one of the upstairs cafe tables if one opened. we did argue a bit but got nowhere. i sent a letter to someone about it but got fuck-all response. the bill was like $350 as well, so annoying!! people, boycott yauatcha!

and i have to say, the food was wonderful. you'd never get me into that place again, though, for love nor money.

did you pay for the wine?

uh remy that story makes you sound kind of spineless! i usually don't give a fig about 'service' and put up with a lot. but wau.

i've been a server, i've been a busboy, i've been sous, prep, and baker at a half-dozen restaurant ... i always try to give the benefit of the doubt to the people who are working. and truthfully, the company was so engaging that i didn't really pay much attention to the staff until the final series of insults.

Did you get laid?

^_^

if my tab is 350 there better be either cocaine or sex included with the food

beignets dusted with "powdered sugar"

Coca Leaf Cuisine

omg "Peruvian Chef Looks Beyond Cocaine"

Well but how far are you guys willing to go on the "I'm not paying for this" tip, when someone's trying to bully you into it?

(I had this conundrum a couple weeks ago: I had a cab driver who missed and turn and went way past where I wanted, then slammed into another guy and kinda left me hanging next to the Holland tunnel; he's trying to argue with the guy he just nearly killed, I'm trying to slink off and look for another cab, but ... the guy was really insistent that I pay him for stranding me and nearly getting my neck broken, and the fact that cab drivers do sometimes carry guns made me agree to pay half the fare, something I am still mad about.)

That was a bad story -- point being that 5 minutes into the "I'm not paying you" argument, it gets hard to feel out whether you can successfully just walk away without something bad happening

remy i hope you at least left them a mean yelp review

i don't use yelp, sadly. but i did write a letter to the BBB.

Once I was waiting table on some douchies who got really drunk and smeared mashed potatoes on the wall, then put $1.00 in quarters in their 'art' before leaving. My boss (ex-marine, one-eyed, 6' 5") went to the parking lot and stood behind their car. he told them he felt i needed an especially good tip for dealing with their shit, and that he wouldn't move out of the way until they gave it to him. one guy handed him a tenner, and my boss didn't move. next drunkie pulled out a tenner, too, and slapped it in my boss's hand. boss took two steps away, then moved back. 'still not enough' he said. after receiving a total of, like sixty-five dollars, he came inside. pulled me off my tables and handed me $20. 'here you go' he said, 'that's a good tip' and then he proceeded to pocket the rest.

he got hauled off on RICO charges like a year later, btw.

RICO SUAVE charges?

he was such a fascinating guy, except for his habit of beating up his employees.

Food snobs have "supertasters". Grammar snobs don't have "superspellers". Cogito ergo sum!

Grammar snobs don't have "superspellers"

*waves*

s - u - p - e - r

duh

surely that'd be super-spellers?

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

mods: can we add 'vinyl "junkies"' to options?

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

inconclusive

wow shocked about the last placing. or am i?

Without grammar pedants, the world would not have my favorite (or a favorite) Onion article, Nation's Educators Alarmed By Poorly Written Teen Suicide Notes.

"One Florida boy who recently shot himself in the head wrote, 'I cant talk to anyone about my problems.' 'Cant'? Is he referring to the noun defined as 'the whining, singsong speech of beggars and thieves'? Somehow, I don't think so. We're talking about a serious inability to communicate here."