[Fictionary] Pope - oh no!

[Jim Moskowitz]

He was making a very old reference, as ancient as the very yurt 
itself. Which was in turn a reference to an earlier joke between 
Elliott and me from circa 1986.


To: fictionary at plover.com
Date: Tue, 3 Aug 1999 01:50:47 -0600
Subject: "paphian" - The Finale
From: Jeff Hutchinson <jeffhutch at juno.com>
[...]
Elliot mentions some kind of odd story about "pope smoke." Did I miss
something? Or should Elliot be forced to tell "Jim Moskowitz's Pope Smoke
Canard" to us all?
[...]
paphian - n - the white smoke which heralds the election of a new pope
Nova Myhill & James Kushner - 1
Aussie Meyer - Nah, papal defs are too easy.
Elliot Moreton - Also, next time I tell people about Jim Moskowitz's Pope
Smoke Canard, the one about the pope smoke will come in very handy. One
point.



From: Jim Moskowitz <jimmosk at netaxs.com>
Date: Mon, 16 Aug 1999 12:49:02 -0400 (EDT)
To: fictionary at plover.com
Subject: Jim weighs in on the Pope

As I tell the canard now (I'm not going to guess whether Elliott is 
misremembering or I've altered the setup in the intervening years), 
the white smoke that goes up when a decision has been reached come 
from the cardinals burning their ballots, and the black smoke that 
signifies an inconclusive vote is their ballots along with a piece of 
the old pope. This adds an urgency to the election, especially when 
they start running low on parts.  Encourages consensus to a wonderful 
degree.

[maybe I just like the idea of 'playing hangman in reverse']

-Jim




At 1:17 AM -0500 2/14/13, Hutch wrote:
>Did I miss something? J-J, were you responding to something I don't see?
>
>BB,
>Hutch
>
>
>On Tue, Feb 12, 2013 at 12:57 AM, Jim Moskowitz <jim at jimmosk.com> wrote:
>>  At 11:49 PM -0500 2/11/13, J-J Cote wrote:
>>>
>>>  How will they make the white smoke this time?!
>>
>>
>>  Remember, it's the *black* smoke that's canardially made by burning a piece
>>  of the previous pope.
>>
>>  I suppose this time they'll have to get it on the first try?