Re: The Power of the SCOTUS III: Roberts' Rules of Order
Routine name-calling is so unimaginative, it reveals more about the speaker than the target. if you are trying to persuade it's definitely a non-starter, and if you are trying to show off, you've automatically failed at the outset!
On the other hand, something like "were all your parents' children born brain-damaged?" is slightly better, but not by much.
Then there's the story about the three-handed economist....
Best is when you lay a trap for the other person, have a two-step process in which the first comment induces a reply, for which you already have your retort ready and waiting.
The classic is the story about George Bernard Shaw (apparently not a very nice person), who at a dinner party asked the young woman next to him if she'd have sex with him for 250,000 pounds. She blushed demurely, flitted her eyelids, and said, "Oh, Mr. Shaw!"
Then he asked her if she'd have sex with him for two pounds six shillings half-pence. She replied "Of course not! What kind of woman do you think I am?"
and he calmly replied, "We've already established that earlier. Now we are merely negotiating price."
This story is repeated from a thread called "creative personalized insults" which has about 2 dozen good entries. It petered out but feel free to revive it!
Some of my other favorites are "person of pallor" and "adipose Americans" when describing special-interest groups....
Routine name-calling is so unimaginative, it reveals more about the speaker than the target. if you are trying to persuade it's definitely a non-starter, and if you are trying to show off, you've automatically failed at the outset!
On the other hand, something like "were all your parents' children born brain-damaged?" is slightly better, but not by much.
Then there's the story about the three-handed economist....
Best is when you lay a trap for the other person, have a two-step process in which the first comment induces a reply, for which you already have your retort ready and waiting.
The classic is the story about George Bernard Shaw (apparently not a very nice person), who at a dinner party asked the young woman next to him if she'd have sex with him for 250,000 pounds. She blushed demurely, flitted her eyelids, and said, "Oh, Mr. Shaw!"
Then he asked her if she'd have sex with him for two pounds six shillings half-pence. She replied "Of course not! What kind of woman do you think I am?"
and he calmly replied, "We've already established that earlier. Now we are merely negotiating price."
This story is repeated from a thread called "creative personalized insults" which has about 2 dozen good entries. It petered out but feel free to revive it!
Some of my other favorites are "person of pallor" and "adipose Americans" when describing special-interest groups....
Last edited:
