This is the best blood that we've ever had
Aug. 2nd, 2004 02:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ventaAs I reported the other day, the ladies' toilets here are becoming the chic place to reside if you're a brisk young spider who's going places.
This is becoming more apparent as today a fifth Spider, Mr. Jackson, has moved in, making the angle of the toilet door and the wall his home. He's chosen a rather loftier website, around two feet off the ground, giving him a very commanding location. It's clearly prime territory; he must be rather wealthier than the other residents.
"But what's this?" you cry. "A fifth Spider ? Surely Messrs. Smith, Jones and Wesson only make three?"
Well, on Friday things got a little complicated. I observed that Mr. Smith's home, unlike the others, was a complicated thre-dimensional affair housing not one but two Spiders. Mr. Smith, and... AN Other.
Now, obviously this renders the whole business rather more complicated. Are they merely sharing a property, or actually co-habiting ? A bachelor webpad, or a happy couple ? I have no idea of the social niceties of such things among the spider community. Perhaps Spider 4 was merely visiting, or even attempting robbery.
Up til now I've been tacitly assuming that all the Spiders are male (possibly to do with some confused notion about the term "daddy long legs"). Since I have now way of telling, arbitrarily treating them all as the same gender seemed safest.
But now, of course, the temptation is to assume that Spider 4 is Mrs. Smith. However, I'm also unwilling to start forcing (potentially incorrect) roles on the Spiders. Mr Smith and Spider 4 may or may not be a couple, and of course even if they are, this doesn't guarantee Spider 4 is female.
Obviously, it would be rude to continue referring to someone as Spider 4. To choose a gender-neutral name also seems wrong, since I have been assigning all others the title of "Mr". As a bunch of informed, broad-minded people (including some reasonably well informed in entomology): what do you suggest I call Spider 4 ?
Let no one say I don't encourage cutting-edge debate about the most important of subjects.
This is becoming more apparent as today a fifth Spider, Mr. Jackson, has moved in, making the angle of the toilet door and the wall his home. He's chosen a rather loftier website, around two feet off the ground, giving him a very commanding location. It's clearly prime territory; he must be rather wealthier than the other residents.
"But what's this?" you cry. "A fifth Spider ? Surely Messrs. Smith, Jones and Wesson only make three?"
Well, on Friday things got a little complicated. I observed that Mr. Smith's home, unlike the others, was a complicated thre-dimensional affair housing not one but two Spiders. Mr. Smith, and... AN Other.
Now, obviously this renders the whole business rather more complicated. Are they merely sharing a property, or actually co-habiting ? A bachelor webpad, or a happy couple ? I have no idea of the social niceties of such things among the spider community. Perhaps Spider 4 was merely visiting, or even attempting robbery.
Up til now I've been tacitly assuming that all the Spiders are male (possibly to do with some confused notion about the term "daddy long legs"). Since I have now way of telling, arbitrarily treating them all as the same gender seemed safest.
But now, of course, the temptation is to assume that Spider 4 is Mrs. Smith. However, I'm also unwilling to start forcing (potentially incorrect) roles on the Spiders. Mr Smith and Spider 4 may or may not be a couple, and of course even if they are, this doesn't guarantee Spider 4 is female.
Obviously, it would be rude to continue referring to someone as Spider 4. To choose a gender-neutral name also seems wrong, since I have been assigning all others the title of "Mr". As a bunch of informed, broad-minded people (including some reasonably well informed in entomology): what do you suggest I call Spider 4 ?
Let no one say I don't encourage cutting-edge debate about the most important of subjects.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-08-02 06:48 am (UTC)Spider Robinson.
no subject
Date: 2004-08-02 11:31 am (UTC)Damn! He beat me to it! Damn the 5 hour time difference!
How about replacing the honorific "Mr." with "Sp." for Spider?
As in "Greetings Sp. Smith! How is Sp. Smith?"
-= Me