The Molasses Disaster: Horrific or Hilarious?

[TheLastMohican]

In Boston in 1919, it was proven that molasses in January actually moves at about 35 miles per hour:

To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

So, your thoughts? Was it a comedy or a tragedy?

I think it was a tragedy, but I cannot help but find it comedic. I shouldn't laugh by most standards, but I do anyway. Is this humor too dark?

[sriv]

In Boston in 1919, it was proven that molasses in January actually moves at about 35 miles per hour:


Needless to say (I don't even know why I am typing it), there are many other variables affecting the speed.

So, your thoughts? Was it a comedy or a tragedy?

It was absolutely hilarious. Comedy :cheesy:.

I think it was a tragedy, but I cannot help but find it comedic. I shouldn't laugh by most standards, but I do anyway. Is this humor too dark?

Why not laugh? They didn't die for us to mope about them. Plus, they tried to blame it on the anarchists. LOL

[TheLastMohican]

Needless to say (I don't even know why I am typing it), there are many other variables affecting the speed.
Well, duh. It's dripping with irony; that's the point.



Why not laugh? They didn't die for us to mope about them. Plus, they tried to blame it on the anarchists. LOL
I guess...I think most people would frown on it, though.

[sriv]

I guess...I think most people would frown on it, though.

Having Fi conforming ideas? :) The change is coming!

Anyway, I would like to remind you there are more things to be worried about. Dozens of thousands dead in China, over a hundred thousand dead in Myanmar.
It would make more sense to be frowning about them.

It wasn't that significant of an event either. Only 200 casualties. (Plz don't flame me, I am just drawing relatives)

[Mozzes]

I don't find it all that comedic. Talk about an ignoble death.

[TheLastMohican]

Having Fi conforming ideas? :) The change is coming!

What change?

Talk about an ignoble death.

I would disagree. You might as well die in an interesting way, rather than some generic and everyday death, like one caused by a heart attack.

[Mozzes]

I would disagree. You might as well die in an interesting way, rather than some generic and everyday death, like one caused by a heart attack.

Granted, but there's something about the situation that I find tragic. I think it's because they didn't have any choice in the matter. No choice in their destiny, no chance to bid their loved ones farewell. And a few of the deaths were children which I find more heartbreaking than comedic.

That's not to say I don't sometimes find death funny. I get a big kick from Darwin Awards:

To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

I can, however, appreciate what you're saying about death. There's something about being chased off a cliff by 100 naked women a la The Meaning of Life that I find particularly appealing.

[sriv]

Granted, but there's something about the situation that I find tragic. I think it's because they didn't have any choice in the matter. No choice in their destiny, no chance to bid their loved ones farewell. And a few of the deaths were children which I find more heartbreaking than comedic.


:( I was hoping to see unbridled emotion instead of the topic of fairness being brought up to rationalize it.
Ah well.

[Elfrun]

I think death by molasses last week may entitle a quick snigger, anything more would be uncouth.

Death by molasses in 1919, knock your sox off! (that said the description on Wikipedia is more tragic then comedy)


What would go through your mind if you saw a wave of molasses hurtling towards you at 60k’s?

[SeaCzar]

TLM,

You need to watch the movie "Its a Gift" starring W C Fields. Dated, but VERY funny, even now.

[TheLastMohican]

:( I was hoping to see unbridled emotion instead of the topic of fairness being brought up to rationalize it.
Ah well.

And now you feel guilty? :laugh:

What would go through your mind if you saw a wave of molasses hurtling towards you at 60k’s?

I would feel alarm for an instant. If I had time to realize there was no escape, I would probably shift to slightly amused acceptance of my fate. By the time the wave reached me, I would be simultaneously thinking "This stinks" and "This is something else (in a funny way)."

TLM,

You need to watch the movie "Its a Gift" starring W C Fields. Dated, but VERY funny, even now.

Okay...but is that somehow relevant? I don't understand.

[SeaCzar]

Okay...but is that somehow relevant? I don't understand.

It is relevant, in a small way. Don't want to give away the plot.

[fripping]

basically, hilarious.

[mkay]

Funny and horrific. Funny first. Because I wasn't the one neck deep.

[azelismia]

I don't get the humour in this. it's macabre and strange thus makes a good story, but actually laugh out loud funny? Not to me.

[schwartzie]

This isn't amusing.

Unless you have known someone from Boston. Then the ignominy is fitting.
just sayin'....

oops.... bad joke. Boston cream pies not needed, thx.

[zibber]

I love it. Molasses is already a funny word in itself, but the idea of an unstoppable mass of killer molasses is great.

[mkay]

"Unstoppable mass of killer molasses" -- makes me think of those campy horror movie titles from the '50s and such. (Voice overlay: "Run for your lives! It's the unstoppable mass of killer molasses!")

[Motor Jax]

i know its wrong that i laugh... but i can't help myself...

[rwyatt365]

It was a January morning, much like any other. Women, in their decorated hoop-skirts, men in their bowlers and waistcoasts passed by unaware of the calamity to come. No one thought much of the smell of molassas that hung in the air thickly. It was just another day at Purity Distilling - filling the tank that was already heavy with the ominous dark brown liquid, no one thought twice about it.

Today, Boston is going to experience a horror never witnessed in the annals of human experience. Nothing can stop the unstoppable mass of killer molassas unleased from the bowels of Hell. Watch in unspeakable terror as sweet death is unleashed on the shores of the Back Bay, through the streets of Boston, and upon the hapless residents on that terrifying morning.

Witness...
THE BOSTON MOLASSAS DISASTER of 1919!!

[TheLastMohican]

It was a January morning, much like any other...

A witness reported the last utterance of a certain newsboy, who, looking over his shoulder at the wave of molasses just before it reached him, screamed, "Molasses!"

That is what always made me laugh the most. :laugh:
Wow, that is morbid. :cry:
But still...

:laugh:

[Roy G Biv]

I can't help but snicker, but it's really pretty tragic.

I can tell you that the North End does NOT smell like molasses (unless you're walking past Bova's Bakery or Mike's Pastries). It smells like fish, aged cheese, bread, diesel fuel, and the salty mucky reek of the harbor.