Dueling

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GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
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Cambridge, Ohio
f25eeb9f1acbf0234d570674a4b4953213028d9ac5d12ec67af81935fd3a53df_1.jpg
 

PatInTheHat

GOOBER MEMBER
Dec 19, 2007
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Lair of the Great Kentucky Nightcrawler
Dueling ain't just an American west thing, happens in Victorian lit allatime. Pistols at dawn, and all that sort of rot. Before guns they did it with swords.

Just sayin.
No but we're the one's that romaticized it, the western(ized) 'style' shall we say, of "dueling leading to this thread, being the best example I'm thinkin'.
 

PatInTheHat

GOOBER MEMBER
Dec 19, 2007
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Lair of the Great Kentucky Nightcrawler
Dueling-Pistols-from-1830.jpg
[\spoiler]
My old pal Dead Dave had a set of dueling pistols, very ornate like most were, reckon the best in aristoocratic homes had 'em, you know, just in case some popped smack about your fine port wjne or stared at squeezed up amble cleavages too long...or popped smack about amble cleavages after too much fine wine.
 

not_nadine

Comfortably Roont
Nov 19, 2011
29,655
139,785
Behind you
Mark Twain almost had a duel. But a poor bird died instead.

twain.jpg


While living in Virginia City, Nevada, sharp-witted satirist Mark Twain was up to his usual pot stirring, writing such outrageous editorials for The Territorial Enterprise that locals dubbed him “The Incorrigible.” When Twain wrote a piece erroneously accusing a rival paper, The Virginia City Union, of reneging on a promised pledge to charity, the publisher of the paper, James Laird, made such a stink over the false accusation that Twain challenged him to a duel. Twain’s second, Steve Gillis, took Twain to practice his shooting, only to find that the man’s pen was truly mightier than his pistol; Twain couldn’t hit the side of a barn. Filled with fear, Twain collapsed. As Laird and his men were making their way over, Gillis grabbed a bird, shot his head off, and stood admiring the corpse. Laird’s second asked, “Who did that?” and Gillis responded that Twain had shot the bird’s head off from a good distance and was capable of doing it with every shot. Then he gravely intoned, “You don’t want to fight that man. It’s just like suicide. You better settle this thing, now.” The creative ploy worked, and the men reconciled. Tom Sawyer would have been proud.
 

blunthead

Well-Known Member
Aug 2, 2006
80,755
195,461
Atlanta GA
...Hmmm, yeah but not really.
Duels were between "gentleman", and a common man partcipating in a "duel" over perceived slighted honor would likely be strung up for murder...
Those additions to the mano a mano inherent in the human condition are secondary. They don't distinguish. They're like fancy frosting on a basic cake, a way to pretend to be civilized. A showdown is a duel is a violent confrontation is warfare.
 
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amaunder

Abby
Feb 19, 2016
156
591
What was?
Oh everything from the Declaration of Independence..."ALL men are created equal"...a phrase the *esteemed* Thomas Jefferson used, BUT we were not told that Jefferson owned slaves (or about the three-fifths compromise that declared slaves to be the equivalent of three-fifths of a full vote in the Constitution.) never mind Jefferson screwed at least one enslaved woman, but to be fair this was not revealed while I was in school. We were not taught that the Constitution was written by elite, white men for other elite white men. And of course the oppression of the Native Americans and Blacks. I could go on and on but the history that was shoved down our throats was just a bunch of glossed over horsesh*t... the facts twisted or excluded.
 
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PatInTheHat

GOOBER MEMBER
Dec 19, 2007
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Lair of the Great Kentucky Nightcrawler
Those additions to the mano a mano inherent in the human condition are secondary. They don't distinguish. They're like fancy frosting on a basic cake, a way to pretend to be civilized. A showdown is a duel is a violent confrontation is warfare.
Well yeah, when we apply rules to the killing of stuff, including ourselves, it's to makes us feel we're "civilized", I mean look at we did with death penalties, and in our wars, the absolute stupitest thing us talkin' monkeys do, we have articles of war with reams of rules concerning all the dos and don'ts...civil, um, ized.
So listen up kiddos, ya can't go 'round killin' all willy nillys less'n y'all follows all the rules dammt!!!