Tips for ordering beer online

My dictionary defines ludicrous as "Laughable or hilarious because of obvious absurdity or incongruity." I get the spirit of what you're saying, but I still think once something that seems ludicrous becomes more understandable (usually by better grasping context or other relative values), much of what made it seem ludicrous loses relevance. To most of us a grown man who has been exposed to good music, but who still likes Justin Bieber's music, would be ludicrous; teenage girls who don't know any better (and probably don't like Bieber primarily for his music anyway), not so much. If Belgian beer geeks' favorite beer was Jupiler, that would be ludicrous; but not necessarily the general populace, who might have only slightly better taste in beer than people anywhere else.

As I see it, ludicrous and understandable are essentially opposites; what influences one's view of whether something is more ludicrous or more understandable has everything to do w/ context.

 

There's nothing wrong with your dictionary - mine (the OED) says basically the same thing for the only current usage. That said, I would argue that "absurdity or incongruity" is decidedly not the same thing as "unbelievability or incomprehensibility." We encounter absurd, incongruous, laughable, ridiculous, and ludicrous things all the time - without having any trouble understanding them in their proper context.

Yes, you can always suck the fun out of a ludicrous thing by explaining how it really makes sense (like you did with my examples ), but that doesn't mean that lots of people don't find them ludicrous, at least at first glance. If something is so outlandish that there's literally no comprehending it, then I think it clearly goes beyond absurdity and ludicrousness into the realm of the bizarre.

 

We'll just have to agree to respectfully disagree. One point I forgot to mention just now was the context of my first post on the subject, which was referring to iwantsomerocks' assertion that shipping charges are ludicrous but understandable. Given that gas is around $4/gallon (at least around here), beer is heavy, and the U.S. is a large country, I'd say that shipping charges aren't ludicrous at all. High, yes. Discouraging to trading, yes. Ludicrous, no.

 

Jumbo shrimp
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Light Beer

Just my take on this one.

 

Please explain how "shipping charges" is an oxymoron.

 

I thought I was commenting on how something can be simultaneously ludicrous and understandable.

 

Excellent! I'll keep spinnign :-)

 

I have seen a few $100 and even a $500 which is really rare, so keep on spinning. Congrats to dumpman on the $50 spin, hope you enjoyed your beer.

Cheers

 

I like how this is still on-going. Can't you say something is "ludicrously understandable"? Like how to play Connect Four, or how to water your lawn? Couldn't you also then argue that something/someone can be understandably ludicrous..like Justin Bieber, or Mike Tyson, or, say, shipping charges on beer? I think this is more a philosophical/semantic debate than anything else.

 

I'm also amused that this is still a topic, albeit one that has absolutely nothing to do with beer (definitely a semantics thing @ this point). I think I've made my position abundantly clear, and I guess I'm just really thankful that I don't live in your (collective) brains. I think I'd get really confused. To me, things generally only appear ludicrous, ridiculous, absurd, bizarre, mysterious, incongruous etc. until I better understand them—after which point they tend to lose that quality, or it's at least substantially mitigated. I can’t think of many exceptions to this. Call me crazy.

Cheers!

 

Try working as a scientist. You can study a single protein for 30 years, and then find out you know nothing about it, and that it's just as confusing to you as it was the day you started.

 

I'd probably go into a different line of work.

 

sometimes I wish I could :-/

 

Never had a problem with france 44, never, ever. Call Carin, and she'll look into it.

 

Beerjobber ships its beer directly from the brewery so everything (including IPAs) is about as fresh as you can get.

 

Imagine If someone made a coffee IPA...it would probably be tasteless by the time it is off the bottling line!

 

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/13307/65674/

 

Figures it would be Mikkeller... I've completely avoided him thus far as a protest to the ridiculous prices, though I'm not sure why his ridiculous prices bother more than say the $18 Jolly Pumpkin bomber I bought today.

 

Maybe it was because you bought domestic.

 

Agreed. I was thinking about ordering from both France44 and Lets Pour for the first time over the next month or two, but was skeptical about freshness. I emailed both France44 and Lets Pour directly and both got back to me almost immediately and said they would be more than happy to check freshness dates for me before or as I place my order. Sealed the deal for me.