The Reading Vent & Rant Thread

[maddz]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

It's supposed to be an 800 pound gorilla. D&D must have missed its saving throw...

More a case of diets on the brain...

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

It's supposed to be an 800 pound gorilla. D&D must have missed its saving throw...

Wild male gorillas weigh 136 to 227 kg (300 to 500 lb), while adult females weigh 68–113 kg (150–250 lb)

Certainly a 400 lb one would be male and 800 lb unusual.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Certainly a 400 lb one would be female and 800 lb unusual.

Two gorillas in a trench coat.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Certainly a 400 lb one would be female and 800 lb unusual.

Which is why the 800 pound gorilla gets what they want.

And really, are we going to fact-check aphorisms now?

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Certainly a 400 lb one would be female and 800 lb unusual.

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Which is why the 800 pound gorilla gets what they want.

And really, are we going to fact-check aphorisms now?

My (possibly faulty) lifelong memory of the phrase is 600 pound gorilla with the connotation as you write. Since 500 pounds is the top of the normal range, a hypothetical 600 pounds is plenty for the aphorism.

There are plenty of search results for both, and wikipedia and dictionaries look to have gone with 800 punds. So it looks like somewhere along the way, the mythical 600 pound gorilla has put on some weight.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

My (possibly faulty) lifelong memory of the phrase is 600 pound gorilla with the connotation as you write.

I've always heard it as 800 pounds.

...it looks like somewhere along the way, the mythical 600 pound gorilla has put on some weight.

Haven't we all?

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Which is why the 800 pound gorilla gets what they want.

And really, are we going to fact-check aphorisms now?

I hope not. But we could give a certain pedantic curmudgeon the job if it must be done.

Reminds of Terry Prachett's Discworld. I think Vetinari (sp?) employed someone to check and people could get into trouble for it.

How well does water run off the duck's back? How crooked is the hind leg of a donkey? How do you get the elephant into the room? Do grannies know how to suck eggs?

[issybird]

In the book I'm reading right now, the kepub footnote popup is misaligned, linking to the wrong footnote. Which means I have to click on the footnote and then navigate to the footnote page and find the relevant footnote. And then remember to click on the wrong footnote in order to navigate back to the right place. Most of the book was fine, but this section is consistently off.

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by issybird

In the book I'm reading right now, the kepub footnote popup is misaligned, linking to the wrong footnote. Which means I have to click on the footnote and then navigate to the footnote page and find the relevant footnote. And then remember to click on the wrong footnote in order to navigate back to the right place. Most of the book was fine, but this section is consistently off.

I just finished Too Brief a Treat: The Letters of Truman Capote and it 80% of the footnotes were fine, but the same thing happened near the end of the book. I wondered if it was because the footnotes were in the hundreds for each section of the letters.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

I just finished Too Brief a Treat: The Letters of Truman Capote and it 80% of the footnotes were fine, but the same thing happened near the end of the book. I wondered if it was because the footnotes were in the hundreds for each section of the letters.

Probably. Mine is Margot Asquith's Great War Diary 1914-1916: The View from Downing Street, so the same sort of thing; a multitude of footnotes to explain or expand on references in a personal account. But still, while it's an explanation, it's not an excuse....

Oh, well. While it's annoying, it's a minor nuisance.

[Quoth]

I hate footnotes even on paper. Needed in some scholarly works, but a seriously bad decision for fiction. Breaks flow of reading. Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett often amusing, but I liked Pratchett's later work which had less footnotes or none.

[Renate]

I wish that they'd be a warning about footnotes to tell you if they are just scholarly references or nuggets of amusing anecdotes.

[JSWolf]

The recent D&D movie is quite good.

I used to play D&D and I cannot see it going away. Stranger Things started with a game of D&D.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Renate

I wish that they'd be a warning about footnotes to tell you if they are just scholarly references or nuggets of amusing anecdotes.

I think the kind of book is a hint?

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by Quoth

I hate footnotes even on paper. Needed in some scholarly works, but a seriously bad decision for fiction. Breaks flow of reading. Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett often amusing, but I liked Pratchett's later work which had less footnotes or none.

Originally Posted by Renate

I wish that they'd be a warning about footnotes to tell you if they are just scholarly references or nuggets of amusing anecdotes.

I'm a washed up academic - I love a good footnote. And I especially like the ease with which I can navigate to them on my Kobo.