Doing a...

@ghost-of-a-duke said
You asked a question about why thumbs were given and I provided a viable hypothesis.

@ghost-of-a-duke said
"For the most part, flak remains the spelling used for the gunfire, with flack as an occasional variant that turns up slightly more frequently when referring to criticism. For the publicist/publicity senses, while flack was for a long time the preferred spelling, flak has turned up increasingly over the past decade."

Merriam-Websterhttps://www.merriam-webster.com

@fmf said
Yes, but this is my usage...

Flak = strong criticism
Flack = publicity

@ghost-of-a-duke said
You rely too heavily on your own usage and understanding. It hasn't served you well today.

@fmf said
Your hypothesis illustrates that you see them more darkly than I do and you appear to endorse them. I don't care about them in the way you do. To me they are silly and infantile. I don't use them.

@ghost-of-a-duke said
"The lady doth protest too much, methinks."

Hamlet

@fmf said
Not at all. It is you who thinks red thumbs mean things like "If you lie down with dogs, you get fleas" while I just think they're silly. I think it is you who "cares too much" about thumbs, and not me.

-Removed-

@ghost-of-a-duke said
Why are you always talking about them? It's tedious.

The two crabs

One fine day two Crabs came out from their home to take a stroll on the sand. "Child," said the mother, "you are walking very ungracefully. You should accustom yourself, to walking straight forward without twisting from side to side."

"Pray, mother," said the young one, "do but set the example yourself, and I will follow you."

Example is the best precept.


Aesop's Fables

@fmf said
Why are you talking to me about them and projecting meanings on to them?

@ghost-of-a-duke said
Errrr, because you asked.

Recap:

FMF "Blah blah blah why are they getting thumbs?"
Ghost offers a hypothesis.
FMF "Why are you talking about thumbs?"

@fmf said
He made an utter fool of himself last and stopped posting with that screen name