First place I heard that question was on a Jasper Carrott concert from the late 70s. :)
If you unscrew your belly button, your bottom will fall off
101–106 of 106 posts
Re: If you unscrew your belly button, your bottom will fall off
#102One of my dad's favorite stories:
Once upon a time, all the dogs went to a big party. But because dog butts are smelly, they were required to remove them at the entrance and hang them up on the wall. Halfway through the party a sneaky cat pulled the fire alarm so all the dogs just grabbed whatever butt they could find, attached it, and ran out. Ever since then they've been smelling each other's butts so that they can try find their own.
We had a family dog whose butt/tail was a different color than his body, so of course this story just made perfect sense to us.
Re: If you unscrew your belly button, your bottom will fall off
#103One of my dad's favorite stories: Once upon a time, all the dogs went to a big party. But because dog butts are smelly, they were required to remove them at the entrance and hang them up on the wall. Halfway through the party a sneaky cat pulled the fire alarm so all the dogs just grabbed whatever butt they could find, attached it, and ran out. Ever since then they've been smelling each other's butts so that they can…
Michael Leunig did a cartoon of this, so maybe that's where the story comes from. (I tried to find it but my google foo failed me)
Re: If you unscrew your belly button, your bottom will fall off
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can't recall the exact lines but Thomas Pynchon's V. has an interesting variation of this story.
"Somehow it was all tied up with a story he’d heard once, about a boy born with a golden screw where his navel should have been. For twenty years he consults doctors and specialists all over the world, trying to get rid of this screw, and having no success. Finally, in Haiti, he runs into a voodoo doctor who gives him a foul-smelling potion. He drinks it, goes to sleep and has a dream. In this dream he finds himself…
Thanks for the reply. I tried to search for the passage but couldn't find it myslef.
Re: If you unscrew your belly button, your bottom will fall off
#105Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I don’t know how to complain properly Oh I don't know, I think you're doing a fine job of it. All of those things you complain about not being able to do, you know that you can't do them. If you know you can't do them, and want to do them, then you can learn how. Alternatively, you can lay your issues at your parents feet and mope about how hard your life is as a millionaire.
>> I don’t know how to complain properly > Oh I don't know, I think you're doing a fine job of it. :D If I knew, I would address the issues with the right person and solve them. So I ended up speaking to computers instead. The rest is so dark that I shouldn’t tell it online, but honestly, you should stop being hateful towards anybody. Any human. Anyone. Don’t do that. Hard no. You are creating hate when you hate peop…
> you should stop being hateful towards anybody.
Explain to me how I am being hateful? I do not hate you, I do not know you. I am merely pointing out that you are complaining about problems you know that you have. If you just want to complain, that's fine, but if you want to fix these problems then it might be good to seek out counselling, a psychologist, a medical professional, someone who can help you
> Wasn’t born with a silver spoon either,
I never said you were.
> So I’m gonna go back to my computer and try forgetting about how people like you intentionally ruined my life.
If you view people who critique your opinions as "ruining your life", then that problem lies with you, not them. You are giving them power over you that they do not really have.
It is nobody's responsibility to make you happy. Only you have that power. You are the master of your own destiny.
Here is a youtube channel I highly recommend, I implore you to watch this man's videos. I found them enlightening.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UeJzbx1iu0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1G4JFuLlO8
Re: If you unscrew your belly button, your bottom will fall off
#106Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ignoring the moping millionaire part he's got some truth to what he's saying. I'm confronting this now as a new parent while thinking about how I want to raise my son vs. how I was raised by my father. OPs point to all the distracting tricks rings true for me. Very much a "my way or the highway" household I grew up in, and although I don't feel there was major harm from the upbringing, I can see where the gaps in my…
> I want to raise my son vs. how I was raised by my father. What many (most?) people do is overcompensate to not make the same obvious errors their parents made, and thereby make a different series of errors.
Oh, certainly. I've sorta tried to tune into the generational "style" of parenting I've seen and it swings like a pendulum. Overprotected parenting, absent parent, etc.
My parents had different parenting styles from each other (they ultimately separated) and my friends had different experiences from their parents too. My wife had an abusive upbringing while mine was both neglectful in some ways and overbearing in others. The wife and I joke at times about what type of broken our son will end up being but recognize we're trying to fix what we see as generational trauma while still providing a foundation for him to grow from.
So for me it is about repairing the emotional stunting I've developed. I want my son to be able to express himself in healthy ways without being afraid of confrontation. My wife recognizes how her upbringing lead her to hide and avoid her family, to be self-reliant and forced to navigate the world without a support structure to fall back on. What will develop after that? I just hope he is able to grow confident and know he is loved. What branches out from there is to be figured out when the time comes I suppose.