Prepare yourself for about 400 replies.

And check out the "for YOU people" thread-- do a search for it, I'm too lazy. It's got all the info on any and all FR jargon.

BTTT

You have to be here for at least a year before we can allow you to know the secret meanings behin these acronyms. 2 years before you're allowed to learn the secret handshake. With 3 years membership, you get the decoder ring.

Bump, Ping, BTTT!

CUTE : ))

Yeah and first you gotta go through the initiation. Now when I turn the lights off, you and all the other newbies gotta strip. Ready?

(Hey, I'm three months old. I already went through all this crap. Got the cigar-burns on my a$$ to prove it too.)

\_/ \_/ \_/

I have encountered 3 items of jargon, used in postings and replies, that I can't define, or the usage doesn't seem to match the jargon definitions I'm aware of. They are "Bump", "Ping", and "BTTT".

I am a relative newcomer, but I should be able to define these for you.

1. Bump

Articles with the most recent replies appear at the top of the "Latest Posts" page. When you reply, that thread goes to the top. The practice of "bumping" is a short way of saying "this is important to me, so I want this thread to go to the top so others will see it."

2. Ping

This is the practice of putting the screen names of people you want to read the thread in the "Reply To" field. There is a function called "Self Search" that shows you posts you made, or replies made to you. Pinging someone brings the thread to their attention by putting that thread in the "Self Search" list of the replied parties.

3. BTTT

Similar to "bump" see #1 above. Stands for "Back To The Top."

I'd tell ya, but then I'd have to kill myself. Wait a minute. Dang, that can't be right.

just like a liberal classic to take the fun out of it for a bunch of mean spirited conservatives.

zig.

Hey g, who wrote the stuff on your profile? Almost reminds me of Tate...

Did I spoil his initiation, or something? He still doesn't know the secret handshake. :)

NEWCOMERS: Welcome Center and Information Desk

Welcome to FR. You will also need a tin foil hat, maybe a colander, in order to block the evil radio signals that the people in the black helicopters use to control our minds. A great sense of humor and tolerance is also necessary around here.

Everytime a story is posted, or a comment is added to a story, it can be seen here:

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/latest/

If you think a story is noteworthy, and you want to see it listed on the very top of this page, you must type in a response to the story. Often times, a reader will find something a really good read, but may not have the time to respond, they'll type in bump or bttt (back to the top), thus insuring more eyeballs see the story. You can think of this as a loose form of story moderation. Those stories from poor sources, or lacking informative content, aren't commented on, and quickly fall off of http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/latest/

Every time your post is responded to, it can be found here:

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/latest/latest?ss=1

Many freepers will be working a few threads at the same time, and use this page to find out when someone has responded to their point, thus allowing them to reply to the response. This page does a lookup on your user name Tamly and shows all posts (either to or from) that contain that user name.

If you want to let other fellow freepers know about a story, you put their names in the "reply" field and type in anything (usually ping) so that the story will show up on their http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/latest/latest?ss=1 page.

So, in short, Bump and BTTT to put a story to the top of this page:
http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/latest/

ping with the usernames of the individual freepers you would like to read it, will put the story on their "self-search" page here:

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/latest/latest?ss=1

I hope this helps, and welcome to the forum. we look forward to your insughtful input, and interesting comments. freepmail me if I can be of any help at all.

Before I answer that, who is Tate?

Hehe, James Tate. American poet.

Lemme read you the back cover of one of his collections, Shroud of the Gnome:

"James Tate won the Pulitzer Prize and the William Carlos Williams Award in 1992 for Selected Poems and the National Book Award in 1994 for Worshipful Company of Fletchers. In 1995, the Academy of American Poets awarded him the Tanning Prize. He teaches at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst."

Well I don't know what is William Carlos whats-it and all that crap but Tate's stuff, unlike most dreck that's published in the name of intellectual literature these days, is a refreshing read, IMHO... Fletchers, especially, is enjoyable. Check it out sometime if you haven't already.

Ok. I'll check it out. If you like the verses on my page, I wrote them all. If you didn't like them, I can't imagine where they came from. :) (Thanks)

...And here's a short selection from Shroud:

LAFCADIO

He was never mean to me.
I never once heard him speak ill of another.
And he was always good by his word.
If he said he was bringing over a brace of quail
you set the table then and there.
Best of all, he was punctual,
a virtue I dearly love in a dog.
And he never crept, never crept, never crept.

Or how about this one:

FAULTY DICTION

My, but don't you look positively zodiacal today!
I shall maintain the stakeout for a while
if you would care to table-hop. I'm working
on a runic alphabet based on a secret discussion
I had yesterday with a paramilitary hot potato.
At least he was some kind of luminaria
in the Druze lumber business he insinuated.
He was also something of an expert in echolocation
so that when I dropped my comb we whistled
it back to me trippingly. Moussaka! I exclaimed.
Farkle, farkle, little star, he said with a smile.
I half expected him to vaporize right there, but
he didn't, and then he sort of did, at least
I didn't see him again. He was a nonparametric
nonsystem as far as I was concerned, in the grand
manner.
Margaret, are you feeling alright? You're looking
a wee bit malarious. Perhaps you should try
hip-hopping about the tables, good for the circulation,
and I'll keep a watch out here for the malefactors
all the while ruminating rumbustiously on my new
runic alphabet, mellifluent memorandum whack whack.

Hey hey g, I dig, I dig. You should write more. Who influences you?

This is interesting.  I am essentially the
same age as Tate, and do not look
disimilar to him.  What you have
posted has a feel to me of some
things I have written, though a little
more manic.  There are Kafka
non-sequiters that really are not,
Hemingwayesque blockiness,
and  humor.  I thank you for the
comparison.

little more manic

Yeah that's the idea I was trying to put my finger on...

I really don't know anything about literature; I find an author I like and stick wi' that, pretty much, making my literary experience highly sporadic and charmingly eclectic, haha. Trying to think of recently-- Theroux-- read a bunch of his shorts when I was flat-on-my-back dog-sick in Paris; Mosquito was good stuff too... Enjoyed Hornby's High Fidelity as well. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas-- all-time kick-a$$ favorite... Read some W. S. Burroughs lately as well-- always an interesting experience... As you're probably catching on to, I don't get into poetry as a rule. Always liked what I've read of Eliot though.

These days it's all physics journal articles and FR, of course... :)

Could probably get into your stuff, though-- ever published?