[lbo-talk] Zot!

kelley at pulpculture.org kelley at pulpculture.org
Thu Mar 25 13:31:10 PST 2004


this is even better and brings back memories of, guh, what is only ten years ago but feels like decades.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Oracle

The Internet Oracle [1], formerly known as The Usenet Oracle, is a collaborative effort at collective humor in a pseudo-socratic question and answer format. ...

A representative (and famous) exchange is:

The Usenet Oracle has pondered your question deeply.

Your question was:

> Why is a cow?

And in response, thus spake the Oracle:

} Mu. ....

A complex Oracle mythos has also evolved around the figure of an omniscient, anthropomorphic, geeky deity and a host of grovelling priests and attendants. Other staples in conversation with the oracle include:

A *ZOT* is earned when the Oracle is irritated. *ZOT*s are something like lightning strikes and are usually fatal.

Woodchuck questions are a sure way to earn a *ZOT*. The Oracle will often censor the word "woodchuck" as "w..dch.ck", or simply refer to it obliquely ("rodent of unusual size"). This is a reference to "The Woodchuck Question": "How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?"

Traditionally, questions to the Oracle open with a suitable grovel such as "High and Mighty Oracle, please answer my most humble question," although grovels are often very creative and can be very long, or even part of the question. Answers from the Oracle traditionally contain a request for payment such as "You owe the Oracle a rubber chicken and a Cadillac."



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