OYSTER, n. A slimy, gobby shellfish which civilization gives men the hardihood to eat without removing its entrails! The shells are sometimes given to the poor.
Interpretation
The quote humorously critiques civilization's penchant for eating oysters, highlighting societal norms around consumption and poverty.
Ambrose Bierce's quote uses satire to comment on the strange yet accepted practice of consuming oysters, which are portrayed as slimy and unappetizing. It reflects a critique of how civilization encourages people to eat such things without considering their unpleasant nature, and juxtaposes this with the idea that shells, the discarded remains, are offered to the poor, hinting at deeper societal issues regarding wealth and resource distribution.
In practice
A humorous caption for a food blog discussing the peculiarities of gourmet dining.
PALM, n. A species of tree . . . of which the familiar "itching palm" ("Palma hominis") is most widely distributed . . . . This noble vegetable exudes a kind of invisible gum, which may be detected by applying to the bark a piece of gold or silver.
Human nature is pretty well balanced; for every lacking virtue there is a rough substitute that will serve at a pinch--as cunning is the wisdom of the unwise, and ferocity the courage of the coward.
Indigestion: A disease which the patient and his friends frequently mistake for deep religious conviction and concern for the salvation of mankind. As the simple Red Man of the Western Wild put it, with, it must be confessed, a certain force: 'Plenty well, no pray; big belly ache, heap God.'
Disobey n:To celebrate with an appropriate ceremony the maturity of a command
NOUMENON, n. That which exists, as distinguished from that which merely seems to exist, the latter being a phenomenon. The noumenon is a bit difficult to locate; it can be apprehended only by a process of reasoning - which is a phenomenon.
PARDON, v. To remit a penalty and restore to the life of crime. To add to the lure of crime the temptation of ingratitude.
I think one of the basic tasks in life - one of the nice things we can do for each other - is to take things that are horrible and scary and make them acceptable and less frightening and, if possible, funny. It feels great to succeed at that.
There is a thin line that separates laughter and pain, comedy and tragedy, humor and hurt.
A lot of comic actors derive their main force from childish behavior. Most great comics are doing such silly things; you'd say, 'That's what a child would do.
I have seen what a laugh can do. It can transform almost unbearable tears into something bearable, even hopeful.
If you ever start taking things too seriously, just remember that we are talking monkeys on an organic spaceship flying through the universe.
Picturesque meant - he decided after careful observation of the scenerey that inspired Twoflower to use the word - that the landscape was horribly precipitous. Quaint, when used to describe the occasional village through which they passed, meant fever-ridden and tumbledown. Twoflower was a tourist, the first ever seen on the discworld. Tourist, Rincewind had decided, mean 'idiot'.
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