[Ads-l] The Nigerian Scam revisited
Robin Hamilton
robin.hamilton3 at VIRGINMEDIA.COM
Sun Oct 2 21:35:24 UTC 2016
Not quite, though they do use the exchange of sexual favours as one of several
methods of social binding.
Also not quite a matriarchy, but compared with the Utterly Male Silvers, close
to it.
Me, I admire the bonobo, and I like to think that I'm more enlightened than a
silver-backed gorilla, but I suspect that I'm finally on the level with the
chimpanzees.
Way it goes.
At least be grateful that this in a non-Noyau list.
Robin
> On 02 October 2016 at 22:23 Flourish Klink <flourish.klink at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> Don't bonobo monkeys also constantly copulate?
>
>
> On Sun, Oct 2, 2016, 5:02 PM Robin Hamilton
> <robin.hamilton3 at virginmedia.com mailto:robin.hamilton3 at virginmedia.com >
> wrote:
>
> > > Well, to be picky, the Nigerian 419 scam, specifically a web-based
> > > phenomenon,
> > is a variant on the Spanish Prisoner Con. Pushing it back to
> > England in the
> > 1600s, I suppose guinea dropping could be considered a slighter
> > variant of the
> > same business, as Guinea Droppers, Spanish Prisoner Conmen, and
> > Nigerian [not
> > necessarily from that physical area, but so-called from the first
> > identified ISP
> > address associated with the phenomenon] Scammers all appeal to the
> > mark's
> > cupidity, thus in each case there being a hint of impropriety, never
> > quite
> > reaching the level of illegality, in what the mark is expected to do
> > to get
> > Loadsamoney.
> >
> > Hey, let's not knock it -- it worked (well enough) in 1600, and it
> > still seems
> > to work often enough today for it to be still worth practicing.
> >
> > Sad old world, if you can bear to think about it. The Web seems
> > intent on (among
> > other things) replicating, while spinning the electrons, scams which
> > prolly
> > reach back to the time when a sharp chimpanzee first conned a
> > silver-backed
> > gorilla out of his [sic] territory, while a couple of bonobo
> > monkeys looked on
> > disapprovingly.
> >
> > Robin
> >
> > (Aside: In the scale of primate social co-operativeness, homo
> > sapiens as a whole
> > sits on a level with chimpanzees, above silver-backed gorillas but
> > well below
> > the heights achieved by bonobo monkeys. Puts us in our place, that
> > does, in
> > more ways than one. Bonobo monkeys are apparently even happy, or at
> > least,
> > willing, to welcome immigrants from other tribes. R.)
> >
> > >
> > > On 02 October 2016 at 21:23 Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM
> > > mailto:hwgray at GMAIL.COM > wrote:
> > >
> > >
> > > Isn't "Nigerian _letter_" the older term for this particular
> > > scam, which
> > > is
> > > two days older than water?
> > >
> > > Esquire - Volume 77 - Page 184
> > > https://books.google.com/books?id=gWJXAAAAYAAJ
> > > William S. Burroughs - 1972 - Snippet view
> > > A typical _Nigerian letter_. The correspondence closes with
> > > three
> > > "references of long standing business" and the illegible
> > > signature of a
> > > "Director." I answered. "Dr. Mr. Director:
> > >
> > > "Many good thanks for your letter.
> > >
> > > "We at X-Pando are not financially equipped to send $400
> > > [approx.
> > > $3700, today] worth of free samples sight unseen even to such
> > > a
> > > well-established firm as yours. We promise you that the
> > > X-Pandotite in the
> > > one-pound can is exactly the same X-Pandotite as in the
> > > 100-pound drum.
> > > Only more of it.
> > >
> > > "We have checked your three references. At present writing two
> > > have
> > > answered:
> > > "We do business only on the basis of an irrevocable letter of
> > > credit."
> > >
> > > I thought that had ended it. Yet I am surprised by yet another
> > > letter.
> > >
> > > On Sun, Oct 2, 2016 at 11:18 AM, Margaret Winters
> > > <mewinters at wayne.edu mailto:mewinters at wayne.edu >
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > > > The "IRS" has been sending threatening emails and - even
> > > > worse -
> > > > threatening phone calls for quite a while now. One version
> > > > demands
> > > > payment
> > > > by gift cards (!) for a 'student tax', targeting
> > > > undergraduates new to
> > > > grown-up finance, but there are many versions. We get a call
> > > > once or
> > > > twice
> > > > a week and delete from our answering machine - no spam
> > > > filter equivalent
> > > > there.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > sigh,
> > > >
> > > > Margaret
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > ----------------------------
> > > > MARGARET E WINTERS
> > > > On Leave
> > > > Office of the Provost
> > > > Wayne State University
> > > > Detroit, MI 48202
> > > >
> > > > mewinters at wayne.edu mailto:mewinters at wayne.edu
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > ________________________________
> > > > From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > > > mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU > on behalf of
> > > > Robin Hamilton <robin.hamilton3 at VIRGINMEDIA.COM
> > > > mailto:robin.hamilton3 at VIRGINMEDIA.COM >
> > > > Sent: Sunday, October 2, 2016 11:06 AM
> > > > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > > > Subject: OT: The Nigerian Scam revisited
> > > >
> > > > I've just had an email (which my ISP rightly decided, with
> > > > acute
> > > > disdain,
> > > > to
> > > > relegate to my Spam folder) threatening [sic!] me with legal
> > > > action from
> > > > everyone from the IRS to the United Nations, if I don't send
> > > > them at
> > > > least
> > > > a
> > > > token payment on an overdue debt.
> > > >
> > > > I don't remember coming on this particular variant on an
> > > > old-established
> > > > ritual
> > > > before.
> > > >
> > > > Anyone else had one of these? Or am I the only sad person on
> > > > this list
> > > > who
> > > > checks their Spam folder?
> > > >
> > > > Robin
> > > >
> > > > ------------------------------------------------------------
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> > > > American Dialect Society<http://www.americandialect.org/>
> > > >http://www.americandialect.org
> > > > The American Dialect Society, founded in 1889, is dedicated
> > > > to the study
> > > > of the English language in North America, and of other
> > > > languages, or
> > > > dialects of other ...
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
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> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > -Wilson
> > > -----
> > > All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange
> > > complaint to
> > > come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> > > -Mark Twain
> > >
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> > >
> >
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> >
> > >
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