Rum Doings Episode 17
by John Walker on Feb.17, 2010, under Rum Doings, The Rest
In our seventeenth episode of Rum Doings we don’t ask the question: Who will diffuse Britain’s ticking immigration time-bomb? Instead we focus on more pressing matters: plum jam and ketchup.
Before we start, just to say, last week only one person bothered to retweet the Rum Doings new episode announcement. It’s all we ask listeners to do – just help us promote it. It’s pretty bloody sad when people can’t be bothered to do just that. So please, help out. Onto the episode…
We briefly recognise how awful the Simpsons is, before tucking into a glass of plum sake, and moving on to the dominant subject of the episode: Britain’s miserly distribution of tomato ketchup. This episode, recorded on Monday, refers to the harrowing events of the preceding Valentine’s Day. Along the way we explore the options for entertainment available at Cheddar Gorge for a remarkable bargain price!
When we finally get to the restaurant story you can enjoy Nick’s precise use of the word “niggardly“, and then join us in our celebration of British service culture.
This then moves on to the distribution of crisps on aeroplanes, volumes of tea, and a mysterious newspaper clipping from 1997.
There’s a few things we ask for in return for this present. Could you retweet about it, or find a way to tell new people to listen? And writing a review on iTunes helps us a great deal. We’d appreciate it.
To get this episode directly, right click and save here. To subscribe to Rum Doings click here, or you can find it in iTunes here.
February 17th, 2010 on 13:11
I always retweet. [polishes halo]
February 17th, 2010 on 17:40
What about if the only people that follow us are bots? I managed to get one real person and she was some porno actress from Bristol. I retweeted Rumdoings and now she’s gone. Coincidence? I think not.
February 17th, 2010 on 17:45
I don’t retweet because my status is linked to Facebook and other things. I do tell people looking for new podcasts (in person usually) that Rum Doings is hilarious and informative and they should listen. I’m sure other people are in the same boat.
February 17th, 2010 on 18:00
I’d retweet but I don’t use Twitter. Does that excuse me Mr Walker Sir? I did write you a review on iTunes though.
And I’m expecting a discussion about pancakes next time though, recording on the day before the best holiday ever lets you off this week.
February 17th, 2010 on 18:05
Don’t use either Twitter or iTunes; usually Facebook status-ify it when it comes out though, making as many people aware of the rummy goodness as possible.
February 17th, 2010 on 18:12
I think the general response is “tell all your friends, and tell them to tell their friends”. Whether you use Twitter or your local town crier doesn’t matter.
Why do we want this? It’s not simple ego, but the more people who listen, the more feedback we get, and the more feedback we get, the more opportunity we have to respond to it and thus go ever more off topic! Feedback is like the semi-random entropy of our random-number-generator seed.
February 17th, 2010 on 18:16
Yes, clearly if you don’t use Twitter, then I wouldn’t ask you to use Twitter. But it’s still fairly shocking how few who do can be bothered.
February 17th, 2010 on 18:44
Ok OK you guilted me into “retweeting” but I only have 8 “followers” and one of those is a museum…
February 17th, 2010 on 19:56
AND as far as feedback goes: I’d like more words (like niggardly) that a lot of people think are highly offensive but aren’t really identified.
I know Americans claims “spaz” isn’t anything to do with people with CP but I think that’s a load of rubbish.
February 17th, 2010 on 20:28
If people genuinely find niggardly offensive, then they are bloody idiots and deserve to be offended. One might as well find the words jewel, country and packing offensive because of the potential homophonous but orthogonal epithets they could contain. Tsk.
February 17th, 2010 on 21:33
Don’t be ridiculous Nick, that analogy is meaningless. Some words just sound suspicious regardless of their actual meaning. Must be a cultural thing; I’d never use niggardly because it sounds offensive, and the same goes for most Americans; I don’t think I’ve ever heard it in ordinary conversation.
Take the example from that wikipedia article:
“He expected a number of “pinheads” to be asking “black waitresses not to be ‘niggardly’ with the coffee.””
That sounds more offensive to me than just straight out calling her a nigger.
(but of course “spaz” to me doesn’t sound offensive at all.)
February 17th, 2010 on 22:14
Harrumph! Just because you can’t follow the hashtags doesn’t mean we’re not spreading the word, Laura’s Boyfriend.
(I’m aware you’ve dealt with this one by now but I’d pent up some rage before hitting the comments and I don’t want you to think I don’t care. bit.ly reports one paltry click on the link I be-statused though, so it’s swings and roundabouts really.)
Incidentally, what are your feelings on board games? I know there’s animosity on their televisual cousins, just that amongst the folk I know only a handful care about comp-uter games but all will happily nudge up to a table for a similar experience. Or rather, my taste in videogames has leaked into the board games I present to anyone who’ll listen.
February 17th, 2010 on 22:17
For goodness sake: the word niggardly comes from a completely difference source (and, indeed, language)! I am aware you would not be able to use it because of the number of OVERLY SENSITIVE IDIOTS who would hurt you, but this is something to be sad about, not celebratory of. If the First Amendment doesn’t *actually* protect even irrelevant homophones, you’re in trouble.
February 17th, 2010 on 22:31
Interestingly, ume plums are actually botanically closer to apricots than the Western plums we know and love. Pickled ume are also extremely delicious buried at the bottom of a noodle dish as a hidden treat.
I am not an experienced sake drinker, but shouldn’t it be served hot, not on ice?
February 17th, 2010 on 22:51
Jsutcliffe: The bottle suggests either hot or very cold is acceptable.
February 17th, 2010 on 23:05
To bring the quality of refreshment a lot lower from sake, I recently noticed Frijj Chocolate Fudge Brownie Milkshakes suggested they could be served hot. Which just sounds terrifying.
I also agree with Nick – people who get offended over the meaning of words they don’t understand irritate me intensely, especially now that my girlfriend is in her second year of her English degree, and has turned into something of an ‘etymologist’, as it were.
February 18th, 2010 on 19:17
I started a couple of threads on some forums I frequent. I hope you’re happy with yourself.
February 18th, 2010 on 20:40
Freudian Trip: I’d like to point out that I “retweeted” “Rum Doings” and now I have an extra (seemingly) real follower. Though she does appear to have highly questionable sexual morals so she possibly used to follow you.
Also her surname is Tobin so I think she may just be following me because of my distasteful Peter Tobin joke which really makes me question her morals generally…
February 20th, 2010 on 06:59
Perhaps the reason that Starbucks charges more for a larger cup of hot water is because they plow so much of their profits back into cardboard cup R&D.
February 21st, 2010 on 13:34
hey this is good!
i feared it might be shit, but you and your entertainingly accented chum work really well together. downloading the rest now!