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Workplace Stories, or: Is there such a word for...

 
 
Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero
22:38 / 16.04.06
Not sure if I really want to post this, as it is quite tasteless, but I can't find an answer anywhere else. Help me barbelith, you're my only hope...

So the other day at work, I was arguing with a friend about wether or not a word exists whose definition is the act of causing a bowel movement in another person. He says No, because it is impossible to do such a thing. I replied Yes, in fact a martial-arts savvy co-worker claims it is possible through activation of pressure points, and besides my friend Brian claims to have actually done it (not through activation of pressure points, he "just hit a dude really hard right about...here" [indicates area of abdomen usually covered by a belt buckle]. It was during football practice, a perfectly legal tackling manouver went horribly awry).

He countered by saying that these aren't really recognized as techniques, martial arts or otherwise, so they don't have names beyond what Brian, who is a crazy anime ninja, gives them ("The Bowel Crusher" and so on).

I brought up reports that the military at one time was attempting to build a machine that utilized ultra-low frequencies to cause enemy soldiers to void their bowels. That machine would have a name, I said, and it would no doubt include the word I believe exists. If there were a machine that caused people to be thrown through windows, it would no doubt include the word "defenestrate" in its title somewhere, right?

He still refuses to believe that such a word exists. All attempts to confirm or deny my claim have been futile. Help us settle a bet: where would we go to get this information?
 
 
Jack Fear
23:28 / 16.04.06
Don't know about verb forms, but there are plenty of nouns and adjectives for things that cause you to void your bowels: cathartic, purgative, aperient, evacuant...
 
 
Jack Fear
23:31 / 16.04.06
Ah. Purge: 1. To cause evacuation of (the bowels), to induce evacuation of the bowels in (an individual).
 
 
Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero
23:39 / 16.04.06
Huh, I never knew that was the literal definition of "catharsis". Just the other day my english professor was telling me that Aristotle once said good theater existed to provide a catharsis for the audience.

Further research has revealed that the Unities gave a lot of trouble in terms of translation to the Italians during the Renaissance and their French followers, which may explain the quote (which sounds a little strange now).
 
 
Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero
23:45 / 16.04.06
Ah, so it would be correct, grammatically, to say that my friend purged his unfortunate teammate? And the machine could be called a "catharsis device", I suppose.
 
 
Mourne Kransky
23:49 / 16.04.06
Purging device or purgative device would do better. I think you're coining a new noun there with purgery.
 
 
Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero
23:58 / 16.04.06
I've just had it edited to "catharsis device" which, while perhaps not as grammatically correct, sounds flashier (and is probably more likely to be used by the military anyway).

Anyway...Sweet! I win ten bucks or a gram of marijuana, whichever I choose. Thread's over, go home.

Actually, I suppose it could be used as a thread for strange stories heard at work, if anyone wants.
 
 
STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK
13:02 / 17.04.06
I brought up reports that the military at one time was attempting to build a machine that utilized ultra-low frequencies to cause enemy soldiers to void their bowels.

Throbbing Gristle used to do that, you know.
 
 
Slim
13:40 / 17.04.06
I was at a Ben Folds show a couple weeks ago and he said that he had a friend who played with Morris Day and the Time. Folds claimed that either this friend or one of the band members (I can't remember which one) attempted to play that exceptionally low note that gives people bowel movements at a show one night, and that it caused the first row of people in the audience to run to the restroom. I wonder if this is true or something Ben Folds made up.
 
 
matthew.
13:42 / 17.04.06
I think Ben Folds is known to bullshit people, but for fun.
 
 
Slim
13:43 / 17.04.06
Probably so, but it was such an entertaining concert that I didn't care.
 
 
Jack Fear
13:51 / 17.04.06
Stoats: Never heard that about Throbbing Gristle—nor about Morris Day and the Time, for that matter. I always heard that it wasd the Butthole Surfers who tried to build a sound system that would make the audience shit themselves.

Too bad Aeschylus did it first, eh?
 
 
STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK
14:03 / 17.04.06
You know, I've never thought the phrase "classically trained" would apply to Genesis P-Orridge...
 
 
Mike Modular
15:15 / 17.04.06
I think the musical term we require here is The Brown Note...
 
 
Sina Other
20:37 / 17.04.06
Here it is: Brown Noise. Enjoy.
 
 
Sina Other
20:39 / 17.04.06
N.B. Not to be confused with Third Eye Opening. Very different eyes.
 
 
ibis the being
22:29 / 17.04.06
They already have and have used those low tones as weapons and as crowd control. Sadly, the rather boring name of "infrasonic device" or "LFA sonar" is what they go by. Different frequencies can cause pleasure, discomfort, pain, purging of the bowels, and even fatalities... so the machine doesn't have one specific name for the one specific purpose of purging or catharsis. I suppose you could invent one of those yourself though.
 
 
Mistoffelees
23:04 / 17.04.06
The professor in the Tintin comics invented those machines. They stole his plans by kidnapping him.
 
 
Triplets
23:36 / 17.04.06
You know, I want a belt-fed all-terrain defenestrator.
 
  
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