<Dom> heh - a-ha! I suspected that.

I like the story - told, I think, by Kurt Vonnegut - about a visit to the old East Germany when it was officially an atheist state. His driver/interpreter was amiable, and said "I hope we meet again..." - then paused, knowing every word would reach the Stasi, and not wanting to say anything that was openly religious or implied a desire to visit the West. So he came up with "... if the accident will", which pleased Vonnegut greatly.

You *could* say "thank goodness", I suppose, but for us that would be exactly the same sort of 'just an expression, literally meaningless' exclamation as "thank God", mostly, so why bother with the longer form.

Anyhoo, that particularly cute "I'm an Atheist, thank God" twist is something I've stolen from elsewhere, but I can't find that page online anymore.

<dakkie: <Would rather think she's an admirer of John Mayer :)>>

Nah. Too young. :p

<Dom> who ya callin' a square, eh?!

I mean, I know I am, but did you have to tell? :(

I knew that, I saw it at his Wiki page when I looked up who the hecque he was. ;)

Maybe one of these days <dakkie> will actually process the information about my complete disconnection from the celebrity scene. Speakina "hip"... :p

<If I'd known that I might have called Ed "cicatrice" rather than "triceratops".>

On behalf of all felines, I really must object. I mean, I would have had to have objected. ;s

That said, I only knew that a guy with that name was into the singing-business. Like, for money. So not just in the shower. Annnnd-uhm.. then I did a quick wiki-search and it turned out I didn't really know anything by him.

< my complete disconnection from the celebrity scene> This, I fear, is an affectation. A pose, even. *Nobody* is entirely disconnected, much as we might wish to be. There's simply too much data trash in the semiotic environment.

I watch almost no TV. Celeb pages in tabloid newspapers are baffling. And yet I find myself knowing stuff... or maybe I just know how to know stuff? There's a difference?

<Dom: <I watch almost no TV. Celeb pages in tabloid newspapers are baffling. And yet I find myself knowing stuff... or maybe I just know how to know stuff? There's a difference?>>

But, my dear, you just admitted hereby that you <look> at newspapers. You may find them baffling, but you look at them. You do that a few times, eventually some names and related data will stick in your memory, see?

I watch <no> TV - without "almost". I don't <keep> a TV. And I haven't opened a paper newspaper, tabloid or otherwise, in years. This helps, believe me. ;)

I do catch some celeb stuff in passing through meme references, from other board and site chat, from YouTube clips, and very rarely via direct recommendation by a friend - as in "hey, Annie, you gotta check out this Paul Potts / Susan Boyle video, he/she's a sensation, really you gotta!" Sometimes I even keep the friend. :p

One probably doesn't need to know anything about politicians, but it makes the cartoons and satires more amusing if you do.