Do Letters to the Editor ever piss you off?

[Nora]

I get miffed in general by idiots. Usually I see moronic letters like this in the newspaper, but today I was kinda surprised to see the following letter in Cook's Illustrated. I know this is not earth shattering news or anything, but good fucking Lord is this guy petty or what?

The instructions for frying taco shells in the May/June 2002 issue of the magazine call for corn, vegetable, or canola oil. Aren't corn and canola oils made from vegetables? How about safflower or peanut oil? In the same issue, you also list "vegetable oil" in the recipes for jambalaya and garlic-lemon potatoes. What is what with these different oils?

<deleted name>
Anaheim, California

Ok, now MAYBE if this guy was from somewhere where possibly "vegetable oil" was unheard of...oh, say THE FREAKING MOON, this would piss me off less, but I'm fairly certain that they sell vegetable oil in Anaheim. I hear Mickey and Minnie use it extensively in their sex-play, but that's another story all together.

A reader of Cook's Illustrated has presumably cooked before, and one can only hope has actually set foot inside of a supermarket. Does anyone NOT know that vegetable oil is a type of oil that's mass marketed?

My guess is that this guy has an axe to grind with the FDA and is taking it out on the poor editors of Cook's Illustrated. Dumbass. I wanna hunt this fuckhead down and bitchslap him after giving him a guided tour of the oil aisle in his local mega-mart. Fucktard. GRR.

On the bright side, the editors at Cook's Illustrated gave a very full and interesting answer regarding different oils. My favorite part of their answer is this:

...In the more narrow confines of recipe writing, it usually refers to one of the more popular brands of cooking oil in the supermarket whose front label reads "Vegetable Oil" in large type...

I love them. I still wanna bitchslap the dumbass, though.

 

[penguindance]

 

[tswyk]

Did you do anything about it?

She posted this thread....

 

[Nora]

She posted this thread....

And mentally pointed and laughed. Don't leave that part out!

 

[Carp]

Hi Nora

Can a fish stalk someone?

 

[penguindance]

 

[Stout chap]

I read a particularly funny letter in a recent Sunday Telegraph. It ran thus:

Dear Sir,

I may not be a military expert on the situation with Iraq and going to war, but I think we may have lost the element of surprise.

 

[Carp]

Hey Stout Guy, are you following me around?

 

[Nora]

Carp! Would you pretty please go smack this guy upside the head with a cold, dead um..distant cousin? Pleeeeaaaaaase!!!??

I dun wanna stalk him, pls, I wanna pull him by the ear to the cooking oil aisle and ask him (using a bullhorn placed roughly 2 centimeters from his ear) if he was born stupid or if it was a condition developed later in life.

 

[Agent99]

Did you read this yourself or did hubby do it for you?

ducking the flying frying pan

 

[Carp]

Nora, for you I'd do 'bout anythin. Just point me to him!
Better yet, let me right a letter back to the editor.

Dear Sirs:

Following is an open letter to the idiot who went off on you regarding the vegatable oils in last months letters to the editor.

Listen here, buddy, get a grip, take a cooking class, whatever you need to do, but quit pissing off Nora, or I'm gonna...why I otta, you just betta...


Carp

 

[Nora]

LMAO 99!! I actually got to read something all for myself, for a change!! WOOHOO! It was exciting!

Carp. I just gotta say it. I really like you.

 

[Carp]

Carp. I just gotta say it. I really like you.

 

[Nora]

The dancing banana is good, right?

 

[Carp]

Oh yeah. That's me, jumping up, dancing around, saying "She likes me, she really likes me."

 

[Carp]

By the way, I like the new AV. Very romantic. Wanna replicate it? Like he does on the show that follows Letterman- not Connan, the other one. Yeah, that one.

 

[Nora]

hrm...dancing bananas...sally field....now I'm getting worried!

There's a show that follows Letterman that's not Conan? Damn, I knew I shouldn't have given up tv! But I'm a BIG fan of replication! *nodsnods* Well, not in that scary sci-fi way where you end up with a mutant who feeds off of puppies or anything. More like in a tech support kinda way where if you can do it again and again then it's definitely um.. problematic. Or in an experimental kinda way where if you can show the same results over and over then you're definitely on the right track! *grins*

 

[Carp]

Oh, some things you replicate, and you want a different result each time, for example, if we duplicate the picture, sometimes I would want to go down on you first, other times, you could be first, the variations are simply endless. And fun.

 

[LC Rough Caress]

I read a particularly funny letter in a recent Sunday Telegraph. It ran thus:

Dear Sir,

I may not be a military expert on the situation with Iraq and going to war, but I think we may have lost the element of surprise.

Jebus on a stick, that was fucking hilarous. You made my day chap.

On the subject of letters to the editor, their specific purpose isn't to piss people off, but to show that the magazine or newspaper in question actually does listen to what the public has to say. It shows that media dosen't ignore people who have complaints about the way journalists and editors deal with their job.

Or at least that's in theory.

Of course, showing the stupidity of the human race is always a good way to get people to read more.

 

[PhxPlay4n6]

The funniest thing about letters to the editor is the emphasis....I read a psychological study one time about people that write letters to the editor...they tend to be either mentally ill or delusional...

 

[Nora]

Oh, some things you replicate, and you want a different result each time, for example, if we duplicate the picture, sometimes I would want to go down on you first, other times, you could be first, the variations are simply endless. And fun.

*swoons* See? I just love a flexible mind! *grin*


You're right, LC. On all counts. It just surprised me to have such an incredible show of stupidity in a magazine for afficianados. If it were in Good Housekeeping that's geared more for less experienced cooks it would be a different matter entirely.

 

[Nora]

The funniest thing about letters to the editor is the emphasis....I read a psychological study one time about people that write letters to the editor...they tend to be either mentally ill or delusional...

I admit I did sort of envision this guy sitting in his apartment (in which he's got 12 years back-issues of Cook's Illustrated, Gourmet and Bon Appetit stacked in every available bit of floor space) while wearing a tin-foil hat babbling about government conspiracies...

 

[Carp]

ROFLMFAO

 

[Temptress_1960]

I hate letters to the editor.

I proofread for a local newspaper, and I am sooooooo tired of all the political letters.

I'd like to write a letter to the editor myself....

"To all you letter writers...
Kindly cease pestering our editor, proofreader, and readers with your crazed and opinionated letters. Your lack of spelling and grammar skills are extremely annoying to our proofreader, and your loony opinions are offensive on a more personal level.
Get a different hobby."

 

[curious2c]

First of all, where in the world does one find a 'canola' plant...hehhehheh..check it out. they do not exist. (naturally that is)

Secondly, I llike to write to the editor and express my leanings...it always is good for feedback from the public in general.

Thirdly, some letters to editors do piss me off. That is why I write in to get in my two cents worth. heh heh (local editor just loves me)