So… I had to look up ruru because I didn’t know any of the three definitions. Either of the other two would have gotten her at least a questioning look from her teacher. I never did understand all these strips that have a kid sent to the principal’s office, though, for something the teacher would definitely handle.
The word ‘ruru’ is connecting to an old joke. The punchline — much debated on the old Usenet alt.jokes group — was either “The sentence then will be death — death by ruru!!” or else “But first … a little ruru!!”
That made less sense than usual, Night-Gaunt49.Bad in a school context (and context is key here) means scatological, sexual, racist, bullying, or disrespectful.
Chill, dude!“Less sense than usual” means that usually you make sense, and I didn’t know where you were headed this time.If I wanted to imply that you never made sense, I would say “Even less sense than usual”. And I didn’t do that.1. I wasn’t thinking about religion when I wrote “disrespectful”. That’s your issue that isn’t necessarily germane to this strip. I meant disrespect to teachers, staff, and other students. (Teachers and principals are often hypersensitive to perceived disrespect.)2. Words are tools for communication. As such, they are not inherently good or bad. Context (circumstance and intention of use) is key. Human communication with words involves transfer of information and emotional content. For you and for me, the information transfer is primary. For much of humanity, the emotional content is primary. This can be abusive, and the abuse usually involves specific combinations of words. Freedom of expression is usually good, but it has its limits. I don’t think that either the Westboro Baptist Church’s protests or the recent GamerGate assaults are examples of expression where the intent or results are good.
Randy B Premium Member almost 10 years ago
Morepork!
ozed almost 10 years ago
We call them mopokes in Oz.
cdward almost 10 years ago
So… I had to look up ruru because I didn’t know any of the three definitions. Either of the other two would have gotten her at least a questioning look from her teacher. I never did understand all these strips that have a kid sent to the principal’s office, though, for something the teacher would definitely handle.
Dana Kuhar Premium Member almost 10 years ago
The word ‘ruru’ is connecting to an old joke. The punchline — much debated on the old Usenet alt.jokes group — was either “The sentence then will be death — death by ruru!!” or else “But first … a little ruru!!”
katzenbooks45 almost 10 years ago
Ankh-Morpork!
ChessPirate almost 10 years ago
“Ruh Ro!”
wynot almost 10 years ago
Why would they give Prince Charles an owl?
Randy B Premium Member almost 10 years ago
That made less sense than usual, Night-Gaunt49.Bad in a school context (and context is key here) means scatological, sexual, racist, bullying, or disrespectful.
Randy B Premium Member almost 10 years ago
Chill, dude!“Less sense than usual” means that usually you make sense, and I didn’t know where you were headed this time.If I wanted to imply that you never made sense, I would say “Even less sense than usual”. And I didn’t do that.1. I wasn’t thinking about religion when I wrote “disrespectful”. That’s your issue that isn’t necessarily germane to this strip. I meant disrespect to teachers, staff, and other students. (Teachers and principals are often hypersensitive to perceived disrespect.)2. Words are tools for communication. As such, they are not inherently good or bad. Context (circumstance and intention of use) is key. Human communication with words involves transfer of information and emotional content. For you and for me, the information transfer is primary. For much of humanity, the emotional content is primary. This can be abusive, and the abuse usually involves specific combinations of words. Freedom of expression is usually good, but it has its limits. I don’t think that either the Westboro Baptist Church’s protests or the recent GamerGate assaults are examples of expression where the intent or results are good.