Whoops

February 28th, 2008 at 9:44 pm by David Farrar

Had a very pleasurable few hours at a nice wee Wellington wine bar, with some acquaintances.  The wine kept flowing (Pinor Noir of course) and our conversations got louder and shall we say more blunt about people and organisations.

Then the manager slips over to us and says how she doesn’t mind the fact we are loud as we are obviously enjoying ourselves, and she doesn’t mind the fact that our language was somewhat blunt but could we please refrain from referring to “f**king useless c**ts” when our voices reached over 30 decibels.

The weird thing is none of us could actually recall using that phrase.  Then we had to go back over all the topics and people and groups we had talked about, and finally we worked out what the target of the said epitah was.

Believe it or not -it was all related to a debate over the merits of Arial 12 over Times New Roman 10, and the role of PRINZ in this weighty matter!

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31 Responses to “Whoops”

  1. Andrew W (1,629) Says:

    Speaking of wine, what happened with the cork count-up?

    [DPF: WIll blog results shortly]

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  2. Michaels (1,304) Says:

    I can just imagine the riviting conversation now. Must have been exiting.

    [DPF: Oh it was. You fail to realise the context]

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  3. infused (552) Says:

    lol. That gave me a laugh.

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  4. bustedblonde (137) Says:

    Lake Hayes is nectar . Eat eggs and charismatic mega fauna. Plant trees then chop them down .What is left should be discarded and then all will be right in the world…….

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  5. george (398) Says:

    “f**king useless c**ts””

    You shouldn’t waste your life talking about Helen Klark and her evil henchmen Cullen, Hodgson and Mallard.

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  6. Michaels (1,304) Says:

    George your an exciting little fuck, thank you so much for the compliments.
    Your a hunny.

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  7. Buggerlugs (1,609) Says:

    george – I think the “f.u.c.” was probably directed at PRINZ…an organisation dedicated not to improving PR practice in NZ, but to anything else so long as it involves pissing up. I gave up on them a long time ago and got affiliated with the UK and US professional groupings, but I still get the “Friday Night Drinks At…” emails. I have been to a few in the past, but the collective IQ never really matched that of your average cemetery. I was able, once, in Christchurch at PRINZ drinks, to pass myself off as the Minister of State for Ireland – all night. Says it all really.

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  8. Peak Oil Conspiracy (2,391) Says:

    “… the merits of Arial 12 over Times New Roman 10…”

    One of the last acts of the outgoing Clark Government was to enact the Font Standardisation Act 2008. An unintended (but much-lauded) side-effect of that Act was Philu’s punctuation quota.

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  9. Paul (1,315) Says:

    See if the debate was about dear old Mrs Eaves 12pt or the classy Helvetica Neue 12pt, then the language would have remained dignified, one can understand the use of such strong language with the likes of Arial or Times New Roman.

    I have to agree with http://typographica.org though, Garamond Premier Pro is a stunning piece of typography and a long way from being overused.

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  10. Rex Widerstrom (4,965) Says:

    Buggerlugs, I never thought of imposter… ising(?) to liven up a PRINZ function. Damnit, many a coma would have been averted if only I’d read this piece of advice sooner. If I ever find myself at one again, I’ll go for something like Undersecretary of State for Covert Surveillance of Enemy Nations and see if it flies.

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  11. Buggerlugs (1,609) Says:

    POC – they won’t bother with that because they’re going to confiscate all the computers, nationalise all land, give all right wingers a coolie hat and some jandals, and make us work in the rice paddies of New Zealand. There will be no need for broadband (or Telecom, for that matter), and all borders will be closed. Helen will take to wearing dark sunglasses and making pronouncements such as “I shot 18 on the golf course today, and by the way, bash a conservative.”

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  12. Buggerlugs (1,609) Says:

    rex – the funniest bit was that I called myself Liam Lynch (one of Michael Collins’ mates in the IRA) because I thought Michael Collins might ring too many bells. As the night wore on, I realised I could have called myself Mary McAleese and the fuckers would have tried to nod sagely and say “nice to have you here, Minister.”

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  13. Peak Oil Conspiracy (2,391) Says:

    Buggerlugs:

    POC – they won’t bother with that because they’re going to confiscate all the computers…

    What would become of Whoar.co.nz, I wonder? Philu would have to find another way to broadcast his “breaking news” (in his inimitable style) to the world :)

    Oh, and Buggerlugs, are you saying PRINZ is likely to teach “liquid lunching” (undoubtedly an important PR skill) at this event:

    Professional Development Seminar in Auckland 12-13 March.
    Designed to enhance the skills of PR/Communications practitioners.

    It’s probably to be expected – witness Ian Wishart and the (in)famous liquid lunch with JT.

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  14. dc (156) Says:

    Comic Sans can arouse the passions too (contains swears). Pedant: 30 decibels is really quiet.

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  15. francis (711) Says:

    shudder: Times New Roman ANYTHING.

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  16. Camryn (385) Says:

    I was going to say “Neeeerrrds!” for the font conversation, but then I saw dc’s comment made me realize I have a burning passion too… Comic Sans must burn in hell!

    [DPF: We were not seriously debating fonts. We were shall we say taking the piss out of PR professionals who think PR is about which Font to use as your brand identity]

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  17. sean (392) Says:

    POC @ February 28th, 2008 at 11:05 pm

    - nice.

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  18. dad4justice (7,339) Says:

    By the sounds of it a jolly good time was had by all and I hope nobody whacked anybody in the head with a handbag and punched the window out in the shithouse?

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  19. ross (1,454) Says:

    So what was the consensus on which font was best, and why? Personally, I like Palatino Linotype.

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  20. Fletch (4,305) Says:

    According to the experts, a serif font (such a Times New Roman or something a little nicer like Garamond Pro) is easier to read and recognize than a sans-serif font in printed material. I think people have got more used to reading sans-serif fonts in pretty much all online media like nzherald site and here. I think Microsoft’s new sans-serif font Calibri (which is default in the new Office) is quite nice.

    If you want to read more check out the FREE pdf here called What’s The Right Typeface For Text? . It’s written by the people at the brilliant (just read and you’ll agree) Before and After Magazine. They have a number of free pdfs on their site, but I actually subscribe.

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  21. philu (13,393) Says:

    dpf..you didn’t ‘handbag’ anyone..?..did you..?

    phil(whoar.co.nz)

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  22. bustedblonde (137) Says:

    last night was fun, but this morning fun had morphed into the hairy arse of a dead rat wedged between my tongue and the roof of my mouth. And Arial 12pt rocks.

    [DPF: Yeah indeed red wine with no food is evil. But hell was a hilarious night]

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  23. philu (13,393) Says:

    busted blond..

    i got ‘ripped to the tits’ last night..

    ..and awoke bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 5.30..am to start my days work..

    ..ditch ‘the demon gin’..

    and bend the knee to ‘the ‘umble ‘erb’..

    and get that ‘hairy arse of a dead rat’..

    ..out of your mouth..

    phil(whoar.co.nz)

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  24. philu (13,393) Says:

    and ‘fonts’..?

    i know..!..i know..!..

    nothing else is talked of in the ‘salons’ of auckland..either..!

    (good grief..!..)

    are we nearing the apex of ‘nerd-dom’ here..?

    phil(whoar.co.nz)

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  25. dad4justice (7,339) Says:

    Please philu, why do you bother getting out of bed, as your non existent work is a delusion and riddled with psychiatric dots of insanity?

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  26. philu (13,393) Says:

    have you noticed the spread of the — and the …. in other media outlets..?

    it’s all about letting words/phrases breathe…

    ..and giving them the space to transmit the import they contain..

    ..quite simple really..!

    phil(whoar.co.nz)

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  27. ZenTiger (342) Says:

    Don’t get me started on the absolute affront to aesthetics that is the font Times Roman…

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  28. Grant Michael McKenna (1,126) Says:

    Bring back Fraktur!

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  29. Swampash (114) Says:

    Arial vs Times New Roman? What sort of lame-ass debate is that?

    It should have been Helvetica vs Times.

    When the waitress came over you should have told her that what you were discussing was “kerning useless fonts”. It might have worked…

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  30. Rex Widerstrom (4,965) Says:

    Swampash… very clever. I have this childlike fascination for wordplay and that’s one I’m going to remember. Now all I’ve got to do is somehow recreate this entire sequence of events so that I might regurgitate your wit as my own :-D

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  31. Swampash (114) Says:

    :)

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