Interesting Things That Nick and I Discussed in the Shopping Centre Tonight
Posted 18 September 2008 in Life, the Universe, and Everything by Catriona
1. Why chocolate coins aren’t available in the shops until Christmas, even though it’s International Talk Like a Pirate Day tomorrow and, also, chocolate coins are brilliant.
2. Whether memes can be de-memed or memed out. The example we were debating was pirates vs ninjas, which I think has been memed out. Nick suggested it had been de-memed, but I maintain that that construction suggests active demotion, which a brief scan of the Internet suggests is definitely not the case.
3. Whether Nick would be better buying a plain black pirate skullcap, a brown one in artificial leather, or a black one with a curiously smiley skull and crossbones on the front.
4. Whether I could justify buying a long, black, female pirate wig with an inbuilt head scarf. Sadly, we decided that September in Brisbane is probably too warm for a fake pirate wig. Plus, I already have a bright green, ’60s-style bob that I never wear.
It was a pretty awesome wig, though.
5. While Nick was wistfully eying Fallout 3, which hasn’t been released for the Wii, whether people who buy games for consoles they don’t own are engaging in a cargo cult or whether it’s an example of sympathetic magic.
I argued that it’s a cargo cult, since they seem to believe that if they simply build up a critical mass of games, the relevant console will appear.
Nick suggested it was sympathetic magic, but I maintain that sympathetic magic more accurately describes inert protective magics, like teddy bears (which I think is an idea I drew from Diana Wynne Jones, originally).
We got some odd looks during that conversation.
6. Whether Nick was better off buying a (plastic) flintlock that was awesome but inert or a cutlass that lit up and had sound effects.
I argued for both, but was overruled.
The conversations were a little pirate themed, admittedly, but that’s hardly surprising under the circumstances.
Share your thoughts [7]
1
John wrote at Sep 18, 09:54 am
Re: 2. I can state for a fact that today a certain nationally influential centre for cultural studies and critical theory at a major metropolitan university, received a call from persons unknown (but suspected to be a journalist) for information about pirates and ninjas, and the cultural significance thereof.
Unfortunately, the professor was out, and I was too drunk…
2
Catriona wrote at Sep 18, 10:31 am
That’s just disturbing. I know they rang my sister-in-law once to ask for confirmation of the mediaeval origins of the Easter bunny (whereupon she, of course, debunked the entire thing, with close reference to the sources that supposedly link the Easter bunny to a pagan fertility goddess, and then featured in the newspaper as the historian who broke the hearts of children Tasmania-wide).
But were they actually planning a piece on the cultural significance of pirates vs ninjas? They’re even further behind the meme than I am!
(I hope you at least told them that pirates are directly responsible for global warming.)
3
Nick Caldwell wrote at Sep 18, 10:35 am
“the professor was out, and I was too drunk…”
Good times at the [redacted] Centre!
4
Tim wrote at Sep 18, 01:04 pm
Isn’t cargo cult behaviour essentially a kind of sympathetic magic?
5
Catriona wrote at Sep 18, 01:07 pm
Very possibly. But that would then make “cargo cult” a sub-category of the broader category of sympathetic magic—which would still mean that “cargo cult” is a more precise description of the behaviour.
Plus, I just like saying “cargo cult.”
6
Tim wrote at Sep 18, 01:10 pm
It would mean you were both right!
7
Catriona wrote at Sep 18, 01:18 pm
Oh, Tim. A healthy relationship isn’t founded on both of us being right. It’s founded on me being right all the time, and Nick acknowledging that.
Wait, that doesn’t sound quite right . . .
Eh, it’ll do as a working philosophy.