EVERYTHING!

[catlady_de_los_angeles]

Happy Birthday to everyone whom I forgot to congratulate at the proper 
time.

Happy Birthday, Amanda! It's still your birthday for 2.5 hours 
here on the West Coast. I ROTFL at your reply. Thanks for the 
s'mores -- but beware, the Gryffindor Common Room on FAP became full 
of suspicious!tea and brave!brownies and other adjective!food from 
the innocent start of making s'mores in their fireplace.

Amy, I think I read the same translation of Lysistrata as you did 
(how many translations of Lysistrata are there?), at the public 
library, probably in 1970. Now that your mention brought it back to 
my mind, I seem to recall the translator's note explaining that he 
had given the Spartans TEXAS accents, not Southern nor hillbilly.

Grey Wolf: last year someone reported that their language's 
translation simply translated what Lavender, Trelawney, and Ron had 
said, without explaining why this was supposed to be funny. Another 
person replied with their language's translation of Ron's little joke. 
As I recall, Lavender said: "Ooh, Miss Trelawney, what is this 
heavenly body in the fourth house?" and Trelawney replied; "It is 
Uranus, my dear", and Ron said: "Lavender, can I see your heavenly 
body, too?"

The riddle: 
First think of the person who lives in disguise,
Who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies.
Next, tell me what's always the last thing to mend,
The middle of middle and the end of end.
And finally give me the sound often heard
During the search for a hard-to-find word.
Now string them together, and answer me this,
Which creature would you be unwilling to kiss?

The answer:
spy - d - er = spider

"Amanda, maintaining her dignity and refusing to acknowledge the 
figures littered about her on the ground, helpless with laughter at 
the idea of Diplomat!Amanda"

Surely the State Department needs people to speak "forthrightly" to 
countries who have offended the USA.