riddlemay wrote:An alternative would be for me to start a different thread for all of us Bagel-fanciers (and all those who have some fondness for the place on some level), with a positive thread title to match, and I can certainly do that, but I thought I'd make this request of you first.

I'm a bit surprised there is no individual discussion thread for The Bagel, given the popularity of the restaurant(s), and other comments over time. Rather than lead-off such a discussion with the initial comment here, a separate thread probably ought to be started . . . if someone feels strongly enough about it. There are examples of multiple threads concerning a particular restaurant - including ones which present specific complaints, together with others - including "general purpose." Sun Wah and Xoco are two restaurants where multiple threads exist, and which come to mind quickly.

riddlemay wrote:... the only thing that continues to trouble me is the subject heading you gave this thread.

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a witty poster in possession of a dry sandwich, must be in want of a scolding.

mrbarolo,

Clearly, you are a rube and a tourist of the ugliest variety. What kind of self-respecting adult doesn't know better than to stock his/her briefcase, backpack or purse with an array of condiments? Do you also leave your home each morning without pants? Probably so - ha!

Next, you'll be telling us that you were without your own rye bread and corned beef too, which would prove for once and for all that you were clearly to blame in this supposed mess. What exactly do you expect from The Bagel? Should they have chewed the sandwich for you, too? It must be nice to walk through life so effortlessly relying on the kindness of strangers. That's chutzpah, my friend.



=R=

Giusto ciel!
Gevalt.
I could never have imagined such a long volley from so weak a serve.

Amata: Brava. I was trying to work up something along your line and came up...er...dry. Two points and a doffed cap.

Riddlemay: I'm torn. As a man of peace I would rather be banned from Manny's than know that a thread of mine left lingering bitterness within the LTH family.
And yet, it was the word "contempt" that, to some degree, drove the ensuing conversation. To change it now, would render any future reading of the thread misleading. Further, while I never intended "contempt" as a permanent, sweeping condemnation of all things Bagel, harsh as it may seem, it did reflect my response to that incident---that moment---when a counterman at a deli refused to put mustard on a CB on rye, then added injury to insult by failing to provide even the promised packets. At, and for, that moment, I felt contempt.

On the challah, chicken-in-a-pot, chopped liver and other Bagel delights untasted I make no pronouncement, intend no inference.

As to the "we," again, i did not intend to imply a fictional consensus, it was merely consistent with the vein of pastiche I was working in the title. (I've certainly learned my lesson there.)

Finally, as I have always believed that more speech is a better answer to controversy than controlled speech, I would heartily endorse a pro-Bagel thread which would offer a home to earnest, injured Bagel lovers amongst us whose voices have not been heard and who would, perhaps, remain silent rather than contribute to a thread with this title.

Should such a thread appear, I will even return to the Bagel, take a table, order up some specialties and with all good will attempt to pluck out the heart of its mystery, that I may contribute to the more positive thread: "Rugalach Heights?" "Blintz and Blintzability?"

Yes, I support a new thread also. Each restaurant should have a thread of positive reviews, a thread of negative reviews, and a thread for people who have strongly held opinions but haven't yet made it to the restaurant.

Darren72 wrote:... and a thread for people who have strongly held opinions but haven't yet made it to the restaurant.

Isn't that, in the end, what we really are all about here, anyway?



(I've only been to The Bagel once - the one on Broadway - and was kind of Meh about it, though people my mom knows rave about it)

mrbarolo wrote:...While I never intended "contempt" as a permanent, sweeping condemnation of all things Bagel, harsh as it may seem, it did reflect my response to that incident---that moment---when a counterman at a deli refused to put mustard on a CB on rye, then added injury to insult by failing to provide even the promised packets. At, and for, that moment, I felt contempt.

Should such a [positive] thread appear, I will even return to the Bagel, take a table, order up some specialties and with all good will attempt to pluck out the heart of its mystery, that I may contribute to the more positive thread: "Rugalach Heights?" "Blintz and Blintzability?"

Thus would your relationship with the Bagel mirror Darcy and Elizabeth's. You planned this, didn't you?

As an Austenite, I was especially amused by the title of this thread and heartily oppose changing it.

Amata wrote:

riddlemay wrote:... the only thing that continues to trouble me is the subject heading you gave this thread.

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a witty poster in possession of a dry sandwich, must be in want of a scolding.

Well done. {One of the wittiest, tongue-in-cheek opening lines in British literature, IMO.}

aschie30 wrote:

Amata wrote:

riddlemay wrote:... the only thing that continues to trouble me is the subject heading you gave this thread.

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a witty poster in possession of a dry sandwich, must be in want of a scolding.

Well done. {One of the wittiest, tongue-in-cheek opening lines in British literature, IMO.}

I'm just starting to get that there's an Austen thing going on in the thread title and in Amata's comment; give me a demerit in the cultural literacy department. But for the record, my request for a less vituperative thread title wasn't a scolding--it was a request. Other readers as woefully illiterate as I am may not get the joke, in which case the joke would be on The Bagel.

riddlemay wrote:I'm just starting to get that there's an Austen thing going on in the thread title and in Amata's comment; give me a demerit in the cultural literacy department. But for the record, my request for a less vituperative thread title wasn't a scolding--it was a request. Other readers as woefully illiterate as I am may not get the joke, in which case the joke would be on The Bagel.

You're right; from here on out, we should proceed on the assumption that people will read only the thread titles and not the thread itself.

As for your "request," riddlemay, I think Mrbarolo responded to it above - he declined.

I'm suddenly longing for more threads about fast food burger joints. Even a new Ohio House picture would do at this point.

aschie30 wrote:

riddlemay wrote:I'm just starting to get that there's an Austen thing going on in the thread title and in Amata's comment; give me a demerit in the cultural literacy department. But for the record, my request for a less vituperative thread title wasn't a scolding--it was a request. Other readers as woefully illiterate as I am may not get the joke, in which case the joke would be on The Bagel.

You're right; from here on out, we should proceed on the assumption that people will read only the thread titles and not the thread itself.

As for your "request," riddlemay, I think Mrbarolo responded to it above - he declined.

I got that, aschie. I was merely pointing out that the word "scolding" didn't apply.

Darren:

and a thread for people who have strongly held opinions but haven't yet made it to the restaurant.

That's not just a new thread, that's a whole new permanent board. A brilliant paradigm-shifting innovation.
Ronnie: bless you for introducing the unmistakable Second Ave. note into the proceedings.
Grits: I fear the Bagel and I will never be Elizabeth and Darcy. We're sliding sadly toward something gloomy, twisted, even Strindbergian. We're like 2 scorpions in a pickle barrel now.
Kennyz: Well, if that's what you want. Surely the Kuma's well hasn't run dry after only 9,000,000,000 posts; my work here is done. I shall head over there and begin heaping contumely upon them. That should get me ridden out of town on a pretzel bun.

And to all a good night.

Darren72 wrote:...a thread for people who have strongly held opinions but haven't yet made it to the restaurant.

That's not just a new thread, that's a whole new permanent board. A brilliant paradigm-shifting innovation.
Ronnie: bless you for introducing the unmistakable Second Ave. note into the proceedings.
Grits: I fear the Bagel and I will never be Elizabeth and Darcy. We're sliding sadly toward something gloomy, twisted, even Strindbergian. We're like 2 scorpians in a pickle barrel now.

Kennyz wrote:I'm suddenly longing for more threads about fast food burger joints.

Well, if that's what you want. Surely the Kuma's well hasn't run dry after only 9,000,000,000 posts; my work here is done. I shall head over there and begin heaping contumely upon them. That should get me ridden out of town on a pretzel bun.

And to all a good night.

mrbarolo wrote:Of course, everyone should eat at Toons. Great food, great prices, and an atmosphere awash in mensch-keit. (Awkward, I know, but how often do you get even an lame attempt at a Yiddish neologism these days?)

Oy, boobie* (spelled thus to distinguish it from bubie, an altogether different kettle of fish): menschlichkeit.

* a diminutive of a diminutive. Thus: according to Leo Rosten, our maven in heaven, boobie (my spelling; he unaccountably renders it 'bubee'--and in either case it is pronounced so as to rhyme with 'goody') derives from bubeleh (his spelling). In either event, for our non-Yiddish-speaking brethren/schwestren, boobie is a term of endearment. Bubie (my spelling to Rosten's clearly farpatsch/fartootz 'bubbeh') means grandmother.
**In an appropriate bow to mrbarolo's avocation, Rosten does point out that boobie/bubee is also used "amongst members of the theatrical profession surprisingly soon after they begin to work together."

Genug!

mrbarolo wrote:Grits: I fear the Bagel and I will never be Elizabeth and Darcy. We're sliding sadly toward something gloomy, twisted, even Strindbergian. We're like 2 scorpions in a pickle barrel now.

Ah well. I'll revise this to Elizabeth and Mr. Collins then.