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               the College's celebration of May Day), a stuffed green
               frog. The frog was of convenient size, approximately
               8x8x8, slightly understuffed, and was a fading green.
                  + 14.1.6.1. No one knows the first time that it was
                    thrown in outrage at a particularly bad pun,
                    however the idea quickly caught on and spread to
                    the other major backsmoker on campus in Erdman
                    Hall. Further, when one was with one's fellow
                    denizens but away from the DBS (thus without the
                    frog), and a particularly bad pun was uttered, one
                    could say to the offender "Frog!" and the frog
                    would have been considered thrown.
                  + 14.1.6.2. This extended to the diary: when a pun
                    was posted to the diary, the first responder to
                    the pun would be likely to write as his/her post
                    "frog," "thwap" (the sound the frog makes when
                    impacting a target), or draw a frog into the
                    diary, and the frog would be considered duly
                    thrown. Bad jokes were equally considered worthy
                    of frogging.
                  + 14.1.6.3. I adapted this practice to the 'net to
                    express my responses to the epidemic of viral
                    punning online.
             o 14.1.7. Frogging 101
                  + 14.1.7.1. Definition
                  + 14.1.7.2. Frog: noun. 1. any of numerous tailless,
                    chiefly aquatic amphibians of the order Salienta,
                    and especially of the family Ranidae, having a
                    smooth, moist skin, webbed feet, and long hind
                    legs adapted for jumping. 2. A projectile punning
                    mechanism, with a selector switch for automatic /
                    semiautomatic. [2]Users are advised to chamber the
                    frog before firing. (The projectile gives a
                    satisfactory "thwap" sound as described by
                    manufacturer's spec that way). Available in a
                    variety of projectile sizes, from amazonian tree,
                    through green Clemens, up to and including Denbigh
                    Stuffed (recommended only for
                    targets at least 6 feet from user).
                  + 14.1.7.3. No incantation required prior to
                    depressing trigger (see "sending messages"),
                    though specifying size of projectile would be an
                    amusing read.
             o 14.1.8. PLEASE! Practice good research habits! If
               you're going to start frogging on an ng without an
               active Bryn Mawr Alum on it (who ought to be able to
               explain the tradition), CITE YOUR SOURCE for the
               tradition.
             o 14.1.9. The appropriate citation if you're relaying the
               tradition on to someone else--in person or on the
               net--is: Denbigh Back Smoker, Denbigh Hall, Bryn Mawr
               College, Bryn Mawr, PA,c. 1980.
             o 14.1.10. That's really all there is to it, with one
               caveat: Remember to tell your frogs to look before they
               leap--they've got better odds of hitting their targets
               that way.
             o 14.1.11. May the Frogs be with you, Kate Verleger,
               Igor--sorry, that's Graduate Assistant, Department of
               Economics, Indiana University; Ars Bacheloris, Russian,
               Bryn Mawr College, 1995; Fearless Leader, Doublestar
               Science Fiction and Fantasy Club, Bryn Mawr and
               Haverford Colleges, 1993-1995.
                  + 14.1.11.1. Notes:
                       + 14.1.11.1.1. [0] This is how Homer got
                         shelved next to McCaffrey.
                       + 14.1.11.1.2. [1] It is interesting to note
                         that the DBS Diary, likewise the Erdman Back
                         Smoker Diary (also of Bryn Mawr), both behave
                         in a -very- similar fashion to a ng today.
                         Even anonymously, flaming other writers was
                         severely sanctioned, threads of conversation
                         developed and were quickly lost as you had to
                         flip through page upon page of "posts" to
                         find out what "happened" since the last time
                         you wrote, and the more stressed out the
                         posters were (such as during finals or
                         midterm exams), the more they wrote.
                       + 14.1.11.1.3. [2] Period methods of lobbing
                         frogs are available: by hand, long bow,
                         recurve, javelin, and crossbow, for period
                         use.
        * 14.2. Jack Tingle also notes another use of the FROG acronym
          that would be of interest to a fair number of the group (the
          technology and tactics mavens) which is not related to
          Kate's tradition: "WRT FROG, note also NATO designation for
          light Soviet-made, land-based, ballistic artillery rocket;
          "Free Rocket Over Ground", which the US semi-copied as the
          MLRS.
             o 14.2.1. This weapon class dates back to the Congreve
               rockets used by the British in the Napoleonic wars.
               They were eventually superseded by large guns in
               European warfare, but Russian and later Soviet doctrine
               never gave up on them. Naval equivalents were also
               never abandoned, since rocket bombardment of land
               emplacements from barges were often useful during the
               ramp-up to amphibious assults (or even amphibian
               assaults).
             o 14.2.2. One of the more famous Soviet relatives of the
               FROG was the light, infantry-carried Katyushka
               bombardment rocket, used by the Viet Cong in the war in
               Indochina."
        * 14.3. The members of ROMANCE have expanded this to include a
          wide variety of amphibians, even going so far as to borrow a
          concept from Terry Pratchett and use eagle-launched
          TORTOISEs (see _Small Gods_ by Terry Pratchett).

     15) ABDW Acronyms (send me ones I've missed!)

        * 15.1. TOWiDW = The One Who is David Weber
        * 15.2. HWKABSM = He Who Knows All But Suggests Most (David
          Weber)
        * 15.3. MWW = (the) Mad Wizard Weber
        * 15.4. SWMBOiG = She Who Must Be Obeyed in Greenville (Sharon
          Weber)

     16) Thanks/Acknowledgements for FAQ help

        * 16.1. My thanks to "AmyCat"  ["You
          know what to delete if you want to e-mail me!" ] for
          proofreading and being my beta reader on the original
          version and to all the past and current members of the
          newsgroup for keeping me honest and nudging me to do the
          updates.
        * 16.2. Contributions to future versions of the FAQ are
          gratefully solicited in advance. I will advise the RMN
          Bureau of Personnel that all FAQ contributors should be
          considered candidates for the RMN Medal of Gallantry and my
          own personal order, the Mad Archivist's Thanks.
        * 16.3. Past recipients of the Mad Archivist's Thanks are (in
          no particular order): Ken Nixon, Kate Verleger, David Bell,
          Mike Richards, Carmold, Captain Button, Dan Cannata, Brom
          O'Berin, Joe Buckley, Jeanne Hedge, Scott Powers, Casey
          Lazo, Navbuoy, John Moreno, Splifford, Jason at
          concentric.net, Jack Tingle, TZ, Miguel Velez, and Wombat
          Woman.
        * 16.4. Recipients of the Deputy Mad Archivist's Thanks are:
          Marten Kemp, Robert Woodward, Michael Dolbear.
        * 16.5. Recipients of the Cashew Cluster to the Mad
          Archivist's Thanks are: Daniel Bernstein, Linda Fox.
        * 16.6. And of course, profuse thanks go to David Weber
          himself, who provides us all with a reason to get together
          in the virtual world.


-- 
Daniel
"These terrorists aren't out for a new kind of coexistence with
us. They are out for our non-existence."
    - Thomas L. Friedman, NY Times, 5 Oct 2001

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