[color=#000000
ost_uid0]>> Picard: Discommendation? What does that mean?
Worf: There is no greater shame in Klingon society. The closest human equivalent is being forced to relinquish the key to the
executive washroom.
Good one, Marc. <<
Thanks.
This joke originated with a friend a full thirteen years ago, when we were watching this episode in its first run. Worf doesn't pronounce his "discommendation" line very clearly in the episode; it sounds more like "discommodation". When he said this, my friend remarked, "Discommodation? What is he doing, getting thrown out of the executive washroom?" (As in "dis" + "commode" [toilet] + "ation.") I couldn't resist using that line in the fiver, since I always think of it whenever I hear Worf talking about this subject.
As an aside: Some places take washroom stratification *very* seriously. I've visited the Canadian Forces Fleet School several times, and its residence has *six* types of public washrooms on the ground floor: male and female washrooms for commissioned officers, male and female washrooms for chiefs and petty officers, and male and female washrooms for enlisted sailors. Woe betide anyone who should walk into the wrong facility -- and I'm not just talking about getting the gender right. Civilian guests like myself, by the way, get to use the officer's washroom, and eat in the officer's section of the mess hall, which is a minor thrill.
>> Duras: If I cannot turn you, then perhaps my sisters will. Here -- look at their photograph!
Kurn: Nice try...but it takes more than a little cleavage to distract a Kling--GAK!
Duras: Heheheh. <<
Funny coincidence on this one: I wrote this gag as a Return of the Jedi reference, connecting Leia to the Duras sisters, and in turn using this to explain how Kurn got stabbed. Then I read Zeke's "Redemption" fiver (about which more in a moment) and saw that the joke also unintentionally alluded to Zeke's running gag that the Duras sisters were campainging on a "cleavage for all" platform, which turned out to be an added bonus.
>> And I simply love the phrase "suitable displacement activities". When my computer crashes next time (like today - its little Christmas
present to me), I think I`ll apply suitable displacement activities on it... <<
The punchline to this joke comes in "Redemption," where Zeke has a recurrent joke about exactly what Worf ended up doing as a "displacement activity". Hilarious stuff, including one particularly clever sound effect followed by a deadpan comment from Worf that's priceless.
>> Oh, the "outer darkness" reference in the last scene sounds very cool, and familiar, but I can`t remember where have I heard it originally... [...] I think it's a Silmarillion reference. <<
Actually, I have no idea where I got that expression either. I've known it for years, but can't recall where I picked it up. The Simarillion does, however, I think, state that Morgoth (Sauron's ex-boss) got cast into the Timeless Void, through the Door of Night and beyond the Wall of the World. (Kind of reminds me of how a former university professor of mine once described the fall of Satan in Paradise Lost: "Lucifer exclaimed. 'I am better than God!' and right away a trap door opened under his feet. The next thing he knew, he was picking himself up, looking around and asking 'Where the hell am I?' ").
>> I have it on good authority (from the horse's mouth, as it were) that Marc will be off travelling for the next day or two <<
Leaving aside for now the matter of this unfortunate horse metaphor, you are quite correct.
I have now retured, having been -- to coin a phrase -- there and back again.
Happy holidays, everyone.[/color
ost_uid0]