The belly button joke is very old and widespread, I believe my father was warned by his father.
It’s interesting to find this out!
If you unscrew your belly button, your bottom will fall off
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Re: If you unscrew your belly button, your bottom will fall off
#92> the ancient Lancastrian martial art of Ecky Thump I thought Ecky Thoomp was from Yorkshire (via the Goodies).
My father was originally from Manchester and there is a good chance he borrowed heavily.
Re: If you unscrew your belly button, your bottom will fall off
#93The belly button joke is very old and widespread, I believe my father was warned by his father.
My parents told me that you get a hole in your belly if you eat gum. As a child I panicked once because I accidentally swallowed some gum, it's a mean thing to lie about :(
My wife was terrorized by her older siblings, who told her if she swallowed a watermelon seed she would wake up dead the next morning.
Re: If you unscrew your belly button, your bottom will fall off
#94Earlier quoted context omitted.
You don't see the utility of pointing out that being in a position to "play with food" is not a given, paired with a real life counterexample? Stop seeing racism in everything. If you keep holding ypur mind like that, it'll freeze that way.
The need to educate a person not to waste food or about one's privileged life has absolutely no dependence on your example, nor is the latter inherently about racism, unless that is your actual motivation, or a real life counterexample. You just pointed to a convolution of stereotypes about a continent, which is quite the irony when you wish to teach about privilege. And your lame counter-accusation is basically a co…
More over, the original “don’t waste your food” trope hides hypocrisy, because those parents don’t necessarily care about African children. They care about cleaning up. Some actually care about Africa, but it’s disjoint from keeping kids clean.
Re: If you unscrew your belly button, your bottom will fall off
#95> This, along with the “lying still game” and many other “games” ensured hours of peace and quiet for adults trying to It’s funny how fathering is about using a thousand tricks to make kids go through life even when they don’t want. And another part is politeness rules teach kids to be convenient for the parents, for example “don’t play with food, there’s kids in Africa” was never about African kids and more about cl…
> 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 people. And man millionaires can be as violent as any other man, as uncaring, as ... We’re no special race. Wasn’t born with a silver spoon either, I was making the point that it was hard work and no life balance that led me here, not privilege or inheritance, just good sustained work, moving until it worked, and lacking social attachment. So I’m gonna go back to my computer and try forgetting about how people like you intentionally ruined my life.
Don’t.
Re: If you unscrew your belly button, your bottom will fall off
#96My grandfather told me a version of this story and I have been lucky to tell my kids (who loved it). Our version: There was once a boy that was born with a golden screw where his belly button should be. This made him very self-conscious about it. The kids at school would tease him about his golden screw and lack of belly button. It was so bad that he didn't want to remove his shirt when swimming. One day his class to…
ChatGPT is the best: Once upon a time, there was a young man named Jack who had a golden screw in place of his belly button. Jack was very self-conscious about this unique feature, but he soon discovered that it had some incredible powers. One day, Jack was walking through the forest when he came across a beautiful fairy. The fairy was in distress and begged Jack to help her. She explained that she was being held cap…
The story doesn't matter, it's the that makes it good.
Re: If you unscrew your belly button, your bottom will fall off
#97My grandfather told me a version of this story and I have been lucky to tell my kids (who loved it). Our version: There was once a boy that was born with a golden screw where his belly button should be. This made him very self-conscious about it. The kids at school would tease him about his golden screw and lack of belly button. It was so bad that he didn't want to remove his shirt when swimming. One day his class to…
A variant of this version is in The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss:
> “Once upon a time,” I began. “There was a little boy born in a little town. He was perfect, or so his mother thought. But one thing was different about him. He had a gold screw in his belly button. Just the head of it peeping out.
> “Now his mother was simply glad he had all his fingers and toes to count with. But as the boy grew up he realized not everyone had screws in their belly buttons, let alone gold ones. He asked his mother what it was for, but she didn’t know. Next he asked his father, but his father didn’t know. He asked his grandparents, but they didn’t know either.
> “That settled it for a while, but it kept nagging him. Finally, when he was old enough, he packed a bag and set out, hoping he could find someone who knew the truth of it.
> “He went from place to place, asking everyone who claimed to know something about anything. He asked midwives and physickers, but they couldn’t make heads or tails of it. The boy asked arcanists, tinkers, and old hermits living in the woods, but no one had ever seen anything like it.
> “He went to ask the Cealdim merchants, thinking if anyone would know about gold, it would be them. But the Cealdim merchants didn’t know. He went to the arcanists at the University, thinking if anyone would know about screws and their workings, they would. But the arcanists didn’t know. The boy followed the road over the Stormwal to ask the witch women of the Tahl, but none of them could give him an answer.
> “Eventually he went to the King of Vint, the richest king in the world. But the king didn’t know. He went to the Emperor of Atur, but even with all his power, the emperor didn’t know. He went to each of the small kingdoms, one by one, but no one could tell him anything.
> “Finally the boy went to the High King of Modeg, the wisest of all the kings in the world. The high king looked closely at the head of the golden screw peeping from the boy’s belly button. Then the high king made a gesture, and his seneschal brought out a pillow of golden silk. On that pillow was a golden box. The high king took a golden key from around his neck, opened the box, and inside was a golden screwdriver.
> “The high king took the screwdriver and motioned the boy to come closer. Trembling with excitement, the boy did. Then the high king took the golden screwdriver and put it in the boy’s belly button.”
> I paused to take a long drink of water. I could feel my small audience leaning toward me. “Then the
> high king carefully turned the golden screw. Once: Nothing. Twice: Nothing. Then he turned it the third time, and the boy’s ass fell off.”
> There was a moment of stunned silence.
> “What?” Hespe asked incredulously.
> “His ass fell off.”
Re: If you unscrew your belly button, your bottom will fall off
#98My grandfather told me a version of this story and I have been lucky to tell my kids (who loved it). Our version: There was once a boy that was born with a golden screw where his belly button should be. This made him very self-conscious about it. The kids at school would tease him about his golden screw and lack of belly button. It was so bad that he didn't want to remove his shirt when swimming. One day his class to…
A variant of this version is in The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss: > “Once upon a time,” I began. “There was a little boy born in a little town. He was perfect, or so his mother thought. But one thing was different about him. He had a gold screw in his belly button. Just the head of it peeping out. > “Now his mother was simply glad he had all his fingers and toes to count with. But as the boy grew up he realize…
Seeing a masterful Rothfuss excerpt right next to its lesser, AI-generated counterpart (in a sibling comment) gives me pause, today.
Re: If you unscrew your belly button, your bottom will fall off
#99Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you know you can't do them, and want to do them, then you can learn how. Some people learn how and just do it. Other people learn how and just do it. You can’t see a difference until you get in these “other” shoes and realize how much unreasonable, irrational, disorienting discomfort they give. But minds aren’t shoes so you can’t just try on that.
Assuming they are otherwise physically and mentally capable, they can do it if they want to do it. The hardest thing about life is not knowing. Once you know that you don't know something, then you can try to know it. I am talking as someone who spent a significant amount of my life thinking that I had to live and was consigned to living in one particular way, because I didn't know any other choice was open to me.
Right, but the assumption in this argument is too narrowing. When people get anxious of e.g. complaining, it’s their mental inability, not just lack of a proper method. People get anxious and procrastinative (which may be a result of unnoticed anxiety) a lot. It’s not something affecting only around 1%.
Re: If you unscrew your belly button, your bottom will fall off
#100My grandfather told me a version of this story and I have been lucky to tell my kids (who loved it). Our version: There was once a boy that was born with a golden screw where his belly button should be. This made him very self-conscious about it. The kids at school would tease him about his golden screw and lack of belly button. It was so bad that he didn't want to remove his shirt when swimming. One day his class to…
ChatGPT is the best: Once upon a time, there was a young man named Jack who had a golden screw in place of his belly button. Jack was very self-conscious about this unique feature, but he soon discovered that it had some incredible powers. One day, Jack was walking through the forest when he came across a beautiful fairy. The fairy was in distress and begged Jack to help her. She explained that she was being held cap…
lol, I'm sure you could shaggy-dog any joke this way.
I remember the Leisure Suit Larry punchlines, and wonder if you could reverse engineer jokes from the punchline, or make up punchlines and see if there's a joke to be made.
"...and there stood the pig and the cow!"