Some of your favorite stories in the Writing Challenge -- NOT for voting.

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Mouse, if you mean that you still don't get Parson's story, Google "Parable + The Rich Man and the Beggar" and that should take you to the story which inspired Parson's.
 
Thanks, Teresa, just read the story on Wiki. I'd never heard of that before. :)
 
I thought Parson's was a story about lobsters. :(

Looks like we're definitely on for the tie-break, then. Unless someone goes crazy and breaks the tie.
 
TheDustyZebra said:
Ok, since we're discussing things we don't understand, I'll throw mine out there and then duck. At least I know there are a couple of other people who also don't understand it, as I haven't gained any information from discreet queries. :)

What the heck is the secret stuff in Harebrain's story? I know there's something I'm missing, but I think it is something British and it went right over my head. I finally figured out (I think) that "pants" is just an exclamation, not part of the secret stuff, but I'm still not even entirely sure of that. Help!
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The Judge has given an accurate, if not overly admiring, precis of my story. But I'm intrigued as to why anyone would think there was anything secret in it?

I'm pretty chuffed though that there have been "discreet enquiries" flying about as to its hidden meanings. I might publish it as an occult pamphlet.
 
HareBrain said:
Well, you're out of the running for a job as my publicist ...
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HareBrain said:
The Judge has given an accurate, if not overly admiring, precis** of my story.
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Serves you right. Here's everyone else offering all kinds of things for my vote, trips to Europe and what-have-you, and all I get from you is that you don't think I'm a bigoted old woman...

... and less of the old...


** can it be a precis, when it's almost twice as long as the original??
 
I'm 100% sure there's nothing secret in HareBrain's. The story basically: a man is in a burning building with no hope of escape. He decides to have a last drink and takes up an old never-before-opened bottle, which in fact contains a genie who offers him, his supposed master, his one remaining wish, the other two having been used already. Being greedy the man insists on three wishes because he wants more than simply to escape so (instead of demanding three more wishes as his one wish which any woman would have done) he says he isn't the genie's master and is therefore entitled to three. On the basis he isn't his master, the genie is under no obligation to him so leaves. The man is therefore condemned to die by his own greed -- but the genie has escaped its bottle. "Pants" has a dual meaning of something which isn't very good eg "That story was pants" and as an exclamation of disgust/annoyance, perhaps a little stronger than "damn" but not as strong as "sh*t", but is something of a younger person's word.
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Oh, well, I got all that, then!

The Judge has given an accurate, if not overly admiring, precis of my story. But I'm intrigued as to why anyone would think there was anything secret in it?

I'm pretty chuffed though that there have been "discreet enquiries" flying about as to its hidden meanings. I might publish it as an occult pamphlet.
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Sorry, Harebrain--I was trying to be discreet about my inquiring because I felt silly having to ask what something was about, and I didn't want to hurt your feelings OR look like an idiot, but I've probably succeeded in doing both now. I must be a double idiot for looking for meanings that weren't even there! I think the "pants" thing was part of what started me off looking for hidden things, because I didn't understand it--and I felt like there was something between that and the "demand a fresh three" that had a double meaning, probably because of the genie's accent. It felt like a story that was playing with words, and I couldn't figure out exactly how. Maybe because I play with words and look for hidden wordplay automatically--which is why I saw Parson's immediately, I'm just naturally suspicious of unusual word configurations. Like when I come across an odd name, I automatically turn it around backward and inside out to see if it's hiding something. :)

For what it's worth, I liked the story for the level I understood--and as it turns out, that was the right one all along!
 
Hello, me again. I'm chasing my own tail, here.

Just wanted to say that I have finally managed to cast my vote...whew!

My shortlist ended up one longer, after reading the parable referenced in Parson's story--I had never heard that one, oddly enough, and once I found out what Parson's story was really about, I had to add it to the list for being even more clever than I previously thought!

But in the end, after being torn in half between the Edgar Allen Poe-try of Sephiroth and the lyrical flitting shadows of digs, which was quite literally a photo finish in my mind, I had to vote for the shadows. Or the children..."do it for the children!" I'll probably get to vote for Sephiroth soon anyway. :)

I still wish I could have voted for the rest of my list, too. Arrrrgh!
 
Harebrain,

It is time to come clean. I was also flummoxed by your story. I thought I understood it (turns out I did) but the word "pants" turned out the lights for me. I was sure that it was a nuanced story with a "British" sensibility. When DZ told me he had run across it in "Dr. Who" as a mild pejorative I was sure that it was an inside joke I had no access to.

Mouse, does that dunce cap fit a Parson?:eek:
 
I only learnt what 'pants' (in that context) meant here on these forums sometime in the last year or so. It seems a very British thing, indeed, and it really demonstrates how even the simplest word choice has the power to either draw in or isolate a reader. I guess this is not so big a deal for Americans, as American culture (ie films, TV, books) is so widespread that most people can decipher most Americanisms. Not so easy for Brits or us Australians, never mind the rest of the world...

I was going to end on a uniquely Australian note, and in my Monday afternoon lethargy I can't think of any...

(If anyone says, 'Throw another shrimp on the barbie', keep in mind that under Australian law I'm quite legally allowed to kill you.)
 
Re Pants.

I thought in the deep deep recesses of my mind that "pants" has an origin of fundamental significance.

Urban Dictionary: Liar Liar Pants On Fire

Although this suggests that HB's tale ending is incorrect I think over time "pants" has come to be as Judge implied, an expression of general futility, disgust and hopelessness all rolled into one word.

I think I have to disagree about it's ranking in the damn... etc.

I seem to remember many occasions where, in the early years of child rearing (every pun intended), "pants" was used to express the exact meaning of Judge's asterisked word. :eek::(:eek:
 
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My story last month seems to have confused people who thought that "Mars" might refer to the planet rather than the confectionery company; now I seem to have done the same with a throwaway childish "expletive".

Next month I'm going to use no word that doesn't regularly appear in Eastenders, Skippy the Bush Kangaroo and Bonanza.
 
Oh my god, I just noticed - someone voted for me! I'd stopped watching for votes days ago, so that was a nice surprise to see this morning. My most appreciative thanks to whichever kind person threw me a bone!
 
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