creation myths
Sep. 19th, 2003 09:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deviSo I've got myself a set of poi, having had a lot of fun twirling the glowstick variety at the birthday party for the two Adams in Norfolk (and admittedly a lot of glowstick-shaped bruises on my legs the next day). They've got long white tails and when in mid-air they remind me of Haku in his dragon-form in Spirited Away. I went online yesterday to search for lessons.
The amusing thing is that everyone seems to have a different story as to who invented poi and why. One site makes vague noises about Eastern mysticism, whirling dervishes and the like. Another says they were used by Maori warriors to increase coordination in training. The funniest one says there's a plant in Hawaii called the poi root which was softened to an edible state by tying a string to it and repeatedly swinging it against a rock. "Two were done at once to prevent one side of the body becoming overdeveloped." Hmmm.
Your challenge, readers, is to choose a common household object, well-known game or hobby and invent a completely fictitious origin story for it, the sillier the better. Off you go.
(Those of you who invent games -![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kauket, strange_powers and the_heiress, I'm looking at you - feel free to tell me where you got your ideas from, or indeed how you were handed down your game by an old and wise relative who invented it in a bomb shelter in the Blitz etc etc.)
The amusing thing is that everyone seems to have a different story as to who invented poi and why. One site makes vague noises about Eastern mysticism, whirling dervishes and the like. Another says they were used by Maori warriors to increase coordination in training. The funniest one says there's a plant in Hawaii called the poi root which was softened to an edible state by tying a string to it and repeatedly swinging it against a rock. "Two were done at once to prevent one side of the body becoming overdeveloped." Hmmm.
Your challenge, readers, is to choose a common household object, well-known game or hobby and invent a completely fictitious origin story for it, the sillier the better. Off you go.
(Those of you who invent games -
kauket, strange_powers and the_heiress, I'm looking at you - feel free to tell me where you got your ideas from, or indeed how you were handed down your game by an old and wise relative who invented it in a bomb shelter in the Blitz etc etc.)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2003-09-19 01:11 pm (UTC)Hmm, I'll have a try.
Date: 2003-09-19 01:38 pm (UTC)It is a little known fact that Charles Strite, who filed a patent for his pop-up toaster, (which incorporated springs and a variable timer), on 29th May 1919 was a devout worshiper of Ceres, the Roman Goddess of grain and agriculture. The variable timer is easily explained on account of the diverse opinions as to what properly constitutes toast. But why the pop-up action? surely a discreet bell, could have sounded to have alerted the 'artosphile'. The excuse Strite provided was his devotion to Ceres, and her festival, the Cerealia, which was celebrated on April 19. Simply the springing-up action of the toaster is in praise of the goddess, symbolising the growth of all things. However, recent research suggests that Strite's passion for hunting and the inordinate amount of gunshot damage in Strites kitchen may suggest that his devotion was actually to Diana.
References and notes:
http://www.toaster.org/
Artosphile to my limited knowledge means bread-lover.
Sorry, the best I can do at the moment.
Re: Hmm, I'll have a try.
Date: 2003-09-19 01:52 pm (UTC)Re: Hmm, I'll have a try.
Re: Hmm, I'll have a try.
Date: 2003-09-19 01:57 pm (UTC)Re: Hmm, I'll have a try.
Date: 2003-09-19 02:11 pm (UTC)Re: Hmm, I'll have a try.
Date: 2003-09-19 02:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-09-19 01:40 pm (UTC)You mean Call My Bluff then?
Heist! The hilarious game of armed robbery set in Linslade! was actually inspired by real life events. I once stole a giant diamond from the post office in central Leighton Buzzard and got into a lot of trouble for it. Luckily, I had a 'your henchmen have been watching Buffy and feel inspired - they break you out of jail' card, and so all was well.
no subject
Date: 2003-09-19 02:01 pm (UTC)I told them UPS were more reliable. Tsk!
Any chance of having the diamond returned? Or do you need it for your planet-destroying laser?
no subject
Date: 2003-09-19 02:10 pm (UTC)But then again, it looks so pretty hanging in my 'crimelord HQ' window...
I'm in two minds! What would you use it for?
no subject
no subject
Date: 2003-09-19 02:51 pm (UTC)Re: the balloon - a brief history
Date: 2003-09-19 05:02 pm (UTC)Anyone?
Hello? *echo* Hello?
Re: the balloon - a brief history
Could I enquire about the whereabouts of Keith of Harris and hope that he met a grisly end?
Re: the balloon - a brief history
Date: 2003-09-21 10:06 pm (UTC)(Having said all that I rather respected Keith Harris' drunken outbursts in the twilight of his career.)
Re: the balloon - a brief history
Date: 2003-09-21 06:31 pm (UTC)Wait until you hear the story of Roderick of Hull and how, while inventing the chimney, was pecked off his roof by a giant blue bird.