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Anyway, that golf course looks like the world's greatest driving range for seeing how far you can lob your mortar. I can't imagine there'd be smooth grassy fairways for more than a day. What an idiotic idea!
by ne plus ultra on Tue May 06, 2008 at 11:13:28 AM PDT
[ Parent ]
course hazards!
"The fifth hole would be a par 3 if it weren't for the mortor fire..."
This is CLASS WAR, and the other side is winning.
by Mr X on Tue May 06, 2008 at 11:18:27 AM PDT
Otherwise - it shows that the top 1% are further out of touch than I thought.
by Kdoug on Tue May 06, 2008 at 11:21:02 AM PDT
Definitely looks like an Onion story to me!!
by MD patriot on Tue May 06, 2008 at 11:25:11 AM PDT
does he win the green flak jacket?
NNSL '08 and D&D at NN 08
by Moody Loner on Tue May 06, 2008 at 11:27:28 AM PDT
by cosette on Tue May 06, 2008 at 11:44:38 AM PDT
I actually give them credit for the pun. I'm a sucker for them.
by heliosfootball on Tue May 06, 2008 at 12:18:50 PM PDT
by Rei on Tue May 06, 2008 at 12:51:08 PM PDT
but this isn't quite right. Saddam is from Tikrit, on the Tigris, and the word is actually related to our word Tiger, so the pun does work quite well. It's a cognate in Persian, and most Iraqis would recognize the name Tigris as another name for the river.
by ne plus ultra on Wed May 07, 2008 at 10:51:23 AM PDT
As for Tikrit (orig, Tagrit): "Chicago" comes from the Miami-Illinois "shikaakwa", meaning "wild leek", named after the wild onions that used to grow there. But I don't expect most Americans to associate Chicago with wild onions.
by Rei on Wed May 07, 2008 at 11:43:50 AM PDT
near the Chicago River do recognize that.
And there are loads of things scattered around Chicago with names like the Wild Onion, and while some may not get the joke, enough do, and when somebody doesn't, somebody else fills them in.
So it really is the same sort of thing. And that in a setting where basically NO ONE knows any Algonquian indian languages, whereas there are lots of people in Iraq who ARE familiar with Farsi. Not every country is like this one, where people are utterly ignorant of all languages but their own. Just as people in France might understand a joke related to a German name in Alsace, people in many people in Iraq would get a joke based on a Farsi word for their river. So it's really not that much of a stretch.
Not so much trying to contradict you as just carry along a discussion of one of my favorite geeky interests - etymology.
by ne plus ultra on Thu May 08, 2008 at 11:48:10 AM PDT
It used to only be stranger than fiction. Stephen Colbert would never have become such a hit if he wasn't so close to reality.
I can see Prez McVain now strolling on a shopping trip through the new Green Zone w/ VP JoeMentum by his side...Just like they'd do in Phoenix or Hartford.
Some men see things as they are and ask why. I see things that never were and ask why not?
by RFK Lives on Tue May 06, 2008 at 11:29:06 AM PDT
be plausible. People have to look at it and be willing to suspend disbelief.
Reality doesn't play by those rules.
We need not think alike to love alike -- Ferenc Dávid
by ogre on Tue May 06, 2008 at 11:48:56 AM PDT
and it's not there so apparently it's real. Thank God the US government is going to invest 5 billion dollars on this rather than waste the money trying to save peoples homes here.
No being has inherent power, only the illusion of power granted by others who similarly have none.
by Mark701 on Tue May 06, 2008 at 12:09:50 PM PDT
Can you imagine trying to think of something too ridiculous for this administration to come up with? At least Jon Stewart can get away with just reporting the truth in order to earn his laughs.
Now, go spread some peace, love and understanding. Use force if necessary. - Phil N DeBlanc
by lineatus on Tue May 06, 2008 at 12:34:10 PM PDT
... but with Laura Bush and her "let them eat wedding cake" moment today, probably not.
"People should not be afraid of their government; governments should be afraid of their people." --V
by MikeTheLiberal on Tue May 06, 2008 at 12:36:23 PM PDT
My late father LOVED to play golf.
One summer, on a trip to Texas, he found a brand-new course that hadn't had time to plant grass yet, and the "greens" were made of sand.
I'm not sure how that affects your play, but he did play it! And sand greens would certainly be more environmentally friendly. You don't have to water them, and there is no pesticide or fertilizer run-off.
(PS -- I hate golf courses for all the environmental damage they cause.)
by Brooke In Seattle on Tue May 06, 2008 at 11:26:57 AM PDT
Just wonderin'.
You can have your "Under God" back when I get my "Liberty and Justice For All" back.
by karateexplosions on Tue May 06, 2008 at 11:34:13 AM PDT
Some days I don't know if I suffer from depression or if everything just sucks.
by The Gryffin on Tue May 06, 2008 at 11:38:38 AM PDT
Could I get a ruling on this?
by ColoTim on Tue May 06, 2008 at 11:42:09 AM PDT
I remember that the "greens" were tan-colored sand like desert or beach sand, and the "traps" were white, like on traditional golf courses.
We have photos of them in the family album, but I was a 12-year-old girl, so I wasn't up on much of the finer points involved. My favorite part of golf courses is the clubhouse.
Not to sound too elitist or anything.
by Brooke In Seattle on Tue May 06, 2008 at 11:39:51 AM PDT
wide narrow
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