British Humor and Made-up words.

First I would like to explain why Monty Python (specifically, in Holy Grail form) turned me away from British humor, assisted greatly by the fanboys/girls of the series.

The word spam, aside from being a food-like substance that feeds the poor, was otherwise created to describe a form of joke – one that is incessant and has a tendency to run itself into the ground before anyone even finishes it, started by the Monty Python television show. Thus, it is not funny at all to incessantly quote something that is already intended to be annoying and overdone. Spam e-mails were derived from this form of skit, and no one ever finds them amusing (except for the first time you get an e-mail prescribing Viagra for your dog.)

Basically, saying “it's just a flesh wound” in a very poor fake-British accent, is not funny. I tell you this story, because for years I refused to watch, or participate, in any event related to Monty Python or British comedy because of the fanboys verbally 'spamming' me.

After liberating myself from groups of those fans that would hang around my job, or unfortunately worked there – I have learned to appreciate the other, better, forms of British Humor. One of them, being Red Dwarf.

To sum up, Red Dwarf was an 80's sci-fi comedy made on the budget of approximately $26.32 (American - with inflation and exchange rate, I'm not sure what the running rate would have been in £'s,) featuring the last human being alive, an uptight hologram, a quirky computer, and a mutated cat-human. Follow their adventures, something something, its hilarious.

Anyway, Red Dwarf picked up a cult following in the last 2 decades, and its most recognizable contribution to its followers is the word smeg. Smeg is a “futuristic” swear word, generically four-letters long to represent every swear word they couldn't put on Television.

This may be crossing the fangirl boundary, but I purchased the license plate for my motorcycle yesterday, and it randomly looks like this;



I was a little more excited about this than I am proud to admit – I gigglesnorted when the clerk handed me my new license plate. She looked at me like I probably shouldn't legally be allowed to drive or ride anything and hesitated letting go of it. In my defense, I have always been obsessed with plates from various states and countries, and what they say. I have never been one of those that had a cool abbreviation on mine, thats the only excuse I have.

Hopefully I can maintain composure, and not ever cross that line again, and no – I won't be replacing my swear words with “Smeg,” that would be going too far. I prefer the more subtle geek references.

Now, imagine me, only riding a motorcycle through space.