this post was submitted on 02 Apr 2024
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Funny: Home of the Haha

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I know, I know: "grotesque"

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[–] [email protected] 60 points 4 months ago (3 children)

It's why things have taken a downward turn. We need to get gargoyles back onto our schools again.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 4 months ago (1 children)

That's a solid platform if you decide to run for office.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I'm a Stonemason, the actual issue, beyond modern architecture not taking weather into proper regard(I.e. shedding rain as a part of design) and more of minimalist bent to modern buildings, is the lack of skilled stone cutters. It's a dying trade, and at least where I am (Scotland) schools keep closing down as there's not enough students to keep the schools open.

The platform to run on would be to support and encourage trades and keeping the old knowledge alive.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 4 months ago (5 children)

It's just another trade being eliminated by cheap manufacturing. Anyone with a 3D printer could download a gargoyle design, create an injection mold, and fill it with a fiber-plastic that resembles stone at a distance. While it requires talent and investment upfront, you could manufacture thousands of gargoyles in the time it takes a stonemason to make one by hand. It could be lighter, more detailed, and cheaper. And if you were to create market demand, you'll find 100 knockoff manufacturers coming out of countries without labor laws or IP protections.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago

Those cheap ones are available in cementious materials, they'd be fine for new build stuff, but that wouldn't fly with historic buildings, where it's often government mandate that things are replaced like for like. I work in conservation, and when we pull a stone, the replacement is often sourced from the same quarry (if possible the same vein) as the original. Mortar matching is also a thing, where a sample is sent into the lab, and the exact same mixture is used, right down to the bits of shell from the same beach if possible.
Also those cheap ones really don't have the lasting power of actual stone.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

When you put it that way, I might have to start installing gargoyles on buildings myself.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Imho, do it. We need a little more decorative element in our buildings. Brutalism is not good.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

And crown moldings. There's a direct correlation between the decline of crown molding, and the decline of society.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

No gargoyle left behind!

[–] [email protected] 31 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (3 children)

Fun fact: They are called gargoyles because they gargle water out of their mouths.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Yes! The etymology for both words is the French word gargouille, meaning throat. Gargouiller in frrench means gargle as we know it in English, and a gargoyle has a spout where rain water exits it's mouth when it's raining (via its throat)

From memory if it doesn't spout water it's called a grotesque.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (3 children)

Should have been Disney Grotesques!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (2 children)

I dont know. They can almost certainly spit water out of their mouths.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I have spent way too much time on the internet. My mind went somewhere very naughty halfway through that sentence.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

I almost posted something much worse, but decided to go with what I sent instead. You aren't alone.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

Wow that show brings back memories.

[–] Patches 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Grotesques!

Goliath will remember this

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

He'll wax philosophical about how humans used such a negative term to describe something they don't understand.

[–] Patches 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

The best part about that show is that most of the Voice Actors were almost all from Star Trek TNG.

I'm sure there's a fan theory out there that it's all a single Holo Deck TTRPG.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (4 children)

That is cool! I saw some gargoyles in China and they were so cool! I just called them dragon gutter spouts because I didn’t know this. Actually, I took some pictures, might as well share one.
Thanks for dropping some knowledge!

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Then why aren't they called Gargwaters? Shouldn't they gargle oil? 🤔

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago

gargoyles, a name that came to Middle English from the Old French word gargoule. The stone beasts likely earned that name because of the water that gargled out of their throats and mouths; the word gargoule is imitative in origin.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gargoyle

[–] [email protected] 23 points 4 months ago (1 children)

The evil spirits won. They're not exactly going to ward off themselves now.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Nah, with modern glass buildings the spirits smack into the windows and break their necks.

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 4 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 19 points 4 months ago

The 90s rocked. The 90s had Gargoyles.

The math speaks for itself.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Fat gargoyle, animal gargoyle, trog gargoyle, impossibly buff gargoyle, old gargoyle, neanderthal gargoyle... sexy lady with wings.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

In case anybody hasn't seen it, the relevant Oglaf (NSFW)

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Fun fact time. They're basically water drainage pipes, but fancy. They're named gargoyles because it sounds like they're gargling when water comes out of them.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago

I think it's actually because the root word for gargoyle (and gargle) translates literally to "throat".

They are essentially a decorative throat.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 months ago

It's true. In my country, we have like 3 gargoyles and we can barely function. We have one as our moral compass, another as a weather forecaster, and the last one as a spooky Halloween decoration. We're lucky we know the day of the week as it is.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago

This is quite accurate

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago

Upvote for "grotesque"

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Well, somewhat the opposite since the use of gargoyles was rooted in fear and superstition and later tradition. As the levels of fear and superstition in society decrease, so too does the use of gargoyles.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago

I call this a conspiracy of the thugs for avoiding Batman messing around their plans!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago

Unless you're in the World of Darkness, in which case the gargoyle index is a measure of Tremere tomfoolery

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago

Have you ever tried to decipher one talking in Discworld? Painful hahaha

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago

WE USED TO MAKE stEAL

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago

They got tired of going back to their position every morning.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Back then rich people don't know what to do with their money, so they spent it on fancy scuppers. Now we have many other avenues to waste money instead, like the stock market.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

They also had the stock market. That's not an excuse. Today's assholes are just worse than yesterday's assholes. It's the only explanation.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

Dude, 3d printers tho. Poor people could be making ornament.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

This is in part due to modern facades being water resistant. It is no longer necessary to project water away from fountains.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

We still do, but we use downspouts.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago
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