9 votes

Offbeat Fridays – The thread where offbeat headlines become front page news

Tildes is a very serious site, where we discuss very serious matters like recurring, wifi and james earl jones. Tags culled from the highest voted topics from the last seven days, if anyone was conducting research.

But one of my favourite tags happens to be offbeat! Taking its original inspiration from Sir Nils Olav III, this thread is looking for any far-fetched offbeat stories lurking in the newspapers. It may not deserve its own post, but it deserves a wider audience!

8 comments

  1. [2]
    mycketforvirrad
    Link
    Statue of Queen Elizabeth II derided as looking more like Mrs Doubtfire The Guardian – Rory Carroll – 11th September 2024

    Statue of Queen Elizabeth II derided as looking more like Mrs Doubtfire

    One critic said it made the late queen look like Mrs Doubtfire. Others faulted the shape of the face, the posture and the wellies. Some called it offensive and ridiculous, and demanded it be melted down.

    Mockery and indignation began within hours of the unveiling of the bronze statue of Queen Elizabeth II at Antrim Castle Gardens in Northern Ireland on Friday.

    The Guardian – Rory Carroll – 11th September 2024

    6 votes
    1. jredd23
      Link Parent
      Everyone is a critic! As a non-British citizen I am of course more than qualified to provide my opinion on this controversy; Mrs Doubtfire was cool. Anyway, it's better than Cristiano Ronaldo, so...

      Everyone is a critic! As a non-British citizen I am of course more than qualified to provide my opinion on this controversy; Mrs Doubtfire was cool. Anyway, it's better than Cristiano Ronaldo, so there is that to compare.

      2 votes
  2. [4]
    patience_limited
    (edited )
    Link
    Based on tweets, the U.S. uses more swear words than any other country in the world. Speaking as a particularly foul-mouthed denizen of a top swearing state in our cursed country, this shit is...

    Based on tweets, the U.S. uses more swear words than any other country in the world.

    Speaking as a particularly foul-mouthed denizen of a top swearing state in our cursed country, this shit is fucked up. I mean, we're overconsuming expletives to the point that less fortunate countries might run out of epithets.

    Also, witchcraft is Vice President Kamala Harris' new superpower.

    5 votes
    1. DefinitelyNotAFae
      Link Parent
      Well fuck. Also though is this a weighted number because I feel like the way scertain countries use C*** should be counted more heavily. I just, this is such dangerous rhetoric against a...

      Based on tweets, the U.S. uses more swear words than any other country in the world.

      Speaking as a particularly foul-mouthed denizen of a top swearing state in our cursed country, this shit is fucked up. I mean, we're overconsuming expletives to the point that less fortunate countries might run out of epithets.

      Well fuck.

      Also though is this a weighted number because I feel like the way scertain countries use C*** should be counted more heavily.

      Also, witchcraft is Vice President Kamala Harris' new superpower.

      I just, this is such dangerous rhetoric against a Caribbean, brown skinned woman in particular. I've somehow heard of this guy before too. Just... Ick

      9 votes
    2. first-must-burn
      Link Parent
      I wonder if this would be the same if one looked at data before the Xification. No surprise if it is the same, just curious. That reminded me of the progression of swear words in Taylor Swift...

      I wonder if this would be the same if one looked at data before the Xification. No surprise if it is the same, just curious.

      That reminded me of the progression of swear words in Taylor Swift albums.

      • The top comment on the reddit post slays me:

      If you extrapolate this data, 5 albums from now she will have to release an album that says “fuck” roughly 24,000 times

      • the uptick starts with her label change in 2018, so that plus her shift in style plus the aging of her fanbase all doubtlessly contribute, but I believe one of her superpowers is the ability to read the zeitgeist, so I wonder if this a reasonable proxy for swearing acceptability change over time

      • I question whether "whore" should be considered a swear word. The line is "they call her a whore", but she's describing a situation, not saying, "you are a whore". With our kid, we are mostly in the "it's okay to use the swear words to talk about swear words, but not to direct them at people" camp. Which leads to conversations that make my inner ten-year-old cringe with expected recrimination, even though it's the outcome we wanted, which is open communication. Example (said in a casual, offhand manner): "Dad, is it okay to say gosh darn? I say it so that I don't say God damn."

      2 votes
    3. jredd23
      Link Parent
      Living in the USA, in the #3 most happy state of the USA, NJ; You don't f'ing say! Just saying. My experience has been as I've gotten older, I seem to be cursing more, and more freely. Must be...

      Living in the USA, in the #3 most happy state of the USA, NJ; You don't f'ing say! Just saying.
      My experience has been as I've gotten older, I seem to be cursing more, and more freely. Must be something in the water.

      2 votes
  3. [2]
    CannibalisticApple
    Link
    A mystery that gripped the internet for years has been solved: Meet 'Celebrity Number Six' I thought about posting about this as its own topic, but decided it would be a great fit for the Offbeat...

    A mystery that gripped the internet for years has been solved: Meet 'Celebrity Number Six'

    If you are not a frequent inhabitant of social media sites like Reddit, you may have never heard of the infamous "Celebrity Number Six," the unidentified face printed onto a piece of fabric showcasing otherwise familiar figures like Jessica Alba, Ian Somerhalder and Orlando Bloom.

    Years of investigation produced countless posts, videos, searches, hand-recreated photos and beyond. Still, nobody could produce a solid answer.

    Then, just a few days ago, along came users StefanMorse and IndigoRoom.
    ...
    IndigoRoom took over from there, tracking down the photographer of the original image that matched that of Number Six and confirming what the internet perhaps thought it would never know: Celebrity Number Six had a name, and it was Leticia Sarda.

    I thought about posting about this as its own topic, but decided it would be a great fit for the Offbeat thread. This has been an ongoing mystery since 2020, and I got pretty invested too. Guesses were all over the place (we couldn't even fully agree on the gender), and people spent a lot of time trying to nail down the person and photo. I myself spent a couple hours looking through photos of some of the contenders. I actually whooped out loud when I saw we finally identified her!

    In the end, it turns out it was a Spanish model named Leticia Sardá, who is basically completely unknown. The specific photo used also seems to have never been uploaded online. The fact this got solved is pretty cool though! The article goes into more detail on how she was identified.

    I hope she enjoys her fifteen minutes of fame!

    3 votes
    1. DefinitelyNotAFae
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      I'm so stoked to read through this. I think i found it on Tiktok on a "Niche Tea" or related series first and I love how this has been such a mystery Edit: that picture is such perfection, if I'd...

      I'm so stoked to read through this. I think i found it on Tiktok on a "Niche Tea" or related series first and I love how this has been such a mystery

      Edit: that picture is such perfection, if I'd seen it without the context I think I'd have gone NUMBER SIX

      2 votes