You can learn a lot on the internet
For instance, there was a post on metafilter today about odd confluences of jargon. You know that Far Side strip about the collision of herpetology and boating, in which the panel is divided into two, diagonally, and each sub-panel has a dude saying something like "she's a beaut, Norm. What is she, a 24-footer?"? Well, it was like that, except in real life.
One of the most interesting, because it had to do with the same phenomenon observed from two different perspectives which nevertheless came up with the same term to describe the relevant aspect for that perspective concerned inbreeding. Y'see, in the first place, it makes the family tree, if it's carried out along multiple generations, a mess of crisscrossing lines, such that you can practically turn it sideways and read it as legibly as when it's rightside up (and that can even help you get a perspective on relations that would otherwise be obscured). It also makes it harder for geneticists to track emergence of traits and ancestry using DNA, because of the limited pool of contributors. (I didn't understand that part as well, I have to confess, and metafilter's timing out for me AOTW.) Here's the thing: both genealogists and geneticists refer to what's produced—the tree in the former and the DNA record in the latter case—as a "palimpcest". Neat, huh?
Comments
on 2005-06-16 16:38:50.0, tammy commented:
actually they refer to it as a "palimpsest"
and, further, on 2005-06-16 16:39:30.0, ben wolfson commented:
and, further, on 2005-06-16 16:44:54.0, tammy commented:
sorry, i'm not a careful reader. this is why you did so much better in school.
and, further, on 2005-06-16 16:49:17.0, ben wolfson commented:
My "joke" is a failure.
and, further, on 2005-06-16 16:52:38.0, ac commented:
It is The Unknown Masterpiece, Ben.
and, further, on 2005-06-16 16:54:22.0, ben wolfson commented:
Yes, but not how I imagined it.
and, further, on 2005-06-16 16:54:50.0, tammy commented:
It seems experience has made everyone more eager to correct your spelling than get your jokes.
and, further, on 2005-06-16 16:56:27.0, ac commented:
When really, if they were all deductive and Sherlock Holmesian about it, they would realize your spelling is likely to be correct, and seek explanation elsewhere.
and, further, on 2005-06-16 17:59:50.0, ben wolfson commented:
Well, my jokes typically aren't good (by the criteria that one normally uses to evaluate jokes, which I reject as bourgeois), and my spelling is, at least, better. So.
and, further, on 2005-06-16 19:32:00.0, ogged commented:
I've thought more about this, and the problem (insofar as so many people not getting your "joke" is a problem) is that "palimpsest" and "palimpcest" sound exactly alike so there's no "squaw that broke the camel's back"-like cue; moreover, "-cest" isn't very strongly or uniquely associated with "incest" in same way that, for example, anything ending with the sound "rbate" makes one think of "masturbate."
and, further, on 2005-06-16 19:36:45.0, ben wolfson commented:
As for the first: yes, it's a strictly visual thing. But it's not just -cest, "impcest" isn't that far off from "incest". Plus, you know, the nominal topic is incest.
But four people we can reasonably assume to be intelligent missed it, so...
and, further, on 2005-06-16 19:48:05.0, Standpipe Bridgeplate commented:
Counterexample! Potassium sorbate.
and, further, on 2005-06-16 19:49:30.0, Standpipe Bridgeplate commented:
And if I'm wrong, remind me not to touch the cereal boxes at your house.
and, further, on 2005-06-16 21:46:43.0, ogged commented:
That's a cheat, SB. Here: "Let me get my sorbate out of the cabinet."
See? Perv.
and, further, on 2005-06-16 22:43:07.0, Standpipe Bridgeplate commented:
Sorbate is when you do it too vigorously.
and, further, on 2005-06-16 23:23:20.0, tammy commented:
But it's not just -cest, "impcest" isn't that far off from "incest".
I think the primary difficulty is that palimpsest is just too distracting a word for the context. It raises a "big word!" flag that obscures its possible punnic applications. You might have more success incorporating impcest into a joke about little devils, or something.
and, further, on 2005-06-16 23:25:42.0, tammy commented:
Or wimpcest. Or limpcest. Endless, the possibilities are.
and, further, on 2005-06-17 3:55:14.0, ac commented:
I think you're giving in to peer pressure here. Stand by your joke. I got it.
and, further, on 2005-06-17 6:20:46.0, ben wolfson commented:
Thanks for your support, ac.
You might have more success incorporating impcest into a joke about little devils, or something.
There was an incredibly long alt.possessive.its.has.no.apostrophe thread based around "imp"-puns. A scar in my memory to this day.
and, further, on 2005-06-17 7:12:31.0, Joe Drymala commented:
Ligeti split was funnier.
and, further, on 2005-06-18 16:03:47.0, Matt Weiner commented:
Conurbation?
and, further, on 2005-06-18 17:02:25.0, Standpipe Bridgeplate commented:
What you do with Connor is your own business.
and, further, on 2005-06-18 17:08:11.0, Matt Weiner commented:
Which reminds me of something I thought of (and said) during last night's meetup: "Conor Oberst" is an anagram of "Corn Booster."
and, further, on 2005-06-18 17:24:22.0, Standpipe Bridgeplate commented:
Also "boron corset", the secret to his girlish figure, and the world's shapeliest source of welding flux.
and, further, on 2005-06-18 17:27:58.0, Matt Weiner commented:
"Ronco strobe," the power behind his band's psychedelic light shows, purchased when watching late-night TV drunk (and a reflection of his otherwise well-concealed Weird Al Yankovic fixation.
and, further, on 2005-06-18 17:29:56.0, ben wolfson commented:
And "grebey shit" (closely related to loony shit) is an anagram of "Bright Eyes".
and, further, on 2005-06-18 17:32:23.0, Matt Weiner commented:
)!
and, further, on 2005-06-18 21:27:06.0, rone commented:
I immediately associated 'palimpcest' with 'incest'. However, it could be argued that i'm a pervert.
and, further, on 2005-06-19 18:24:17.0, Mitch Mills commented:
"Conor Oberst" is an anagram of "Corn Booster."
And Conor O'Burst (stage name: Bright Eye) is the name of ogged's massive emo schlong.
and, further, on 2005-06-19 21:58:26.0, dave zacuto commented:
I got the joke as well, but I filed it mentally in the (voluminous) ideal cabinet marked Ben's Puns.