Hi, James!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

[re Freud]
JB>  I know his theories were ridiculed relentlessly by
JB>  scholars.


           Hmm.  I imagine there was some academic debate over them &
feelings may have run high.  As for ridicule, however, I'm not sure. 
Perhaps the movie makers thought their audience would find the latter more
entertaining....  :-)



JB>  Speaking of puns... (I know. We weren't. |-) Wouldn't
JB>  slapstick supersede(/subside) it as the lowest form of
JB>  humour?


           I'm inclined to think so.  Whenever someone throws a pie in
someone else's face I'm reminded of the food fights I enjoyed in grade
eight.  Gallows humour is for those who have been there.  Puns are for
those who have at least some awareness of the subleties of language.  It
seems to me that not everyone does... unless you hang out a sign saying
"THIS IS A JOKE.  LAUGH HERE."  :-))



[re fear-mongering in the media about earthquakes etc.]
JB>  'Smokers in California will have the last laugh. When the
JB>  next "big one" hits, they will all be in a doorway smokin'
JB>  a butt.'


           Meanwhile, BC smokers will hide in the alley because smoking is
now forbidden near windows & doorways.  AFAIC the alley may be safer...
[chuckle].



JB>  How does this affect me? Your last shaker closed off
JB>  the geothermal pipe to our Banff Springs, and now we
JB>  can't take a soothing mineral bath in our hot springs.


           Wow.  I didn't know that!  The news is rife with gloomy
predictions about natural disasters & with heart-rending tales about
such occurrences, yet we hear very little about what is going on between BC
& Ontario... [wry grin].




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+