Praise raised a good question. What is this thread about? I hope she got a few good PMs. (I owe her a couple and hope that she can forgive me for the delay. I'm only human - probably not a very good human. She's still my mudSaint.)

I know that this has been discussed elsewhere but what the hell...

We all know by now that there is no mudClique but an interesting mudDynamic greeted Chuck and SandyToes messages. Before Chuck and Toes started messaging each other, the non-existent-mudClique made up of highly active invigilative mudMembers seemed to be trying to control the substance, viciousness and secretiveness of unco-operative non-members of the non-existent-mudClique. With Chuck and Toes their invigilation rose to a new level. As far as I could see, Chuck and Toes messages were positive and enthusiastic and their messages were almost void of content except that they loved and supported each other.

Since we don't have a mudClique, Praise is right in a asking what is going on. Spaw can make endless anus jokes and still be considered a great comedian. Peter tells us that he got his jolly stumbling alone in the woods. His writing is great and highbrow and intellectual because he buries his deep feelings between quotes from Kierkegaard and Wittgenstein. Chuck and Toes say, 'I love you, I miss you, my feelings of support go out to you.' and that becomes a mudSin. What gives here?

Several people wrote that they should take their discussion to PMs. I disagree. Their messages were simple, down to earth and refreshing. Passionate writing which points to the world around us is much more fun than highly abstracted writing. You'll probably find that the lyrics that you like have solid images and passion.

If you search root words in the Digital Tradition you'll hit topics that seem to be acceptable to the non-existent-mudClique. Using the Access db wildcard (which work), you'll find that shot appears 334 times, stab 89, kill 583, murder 393, so, sympathy for that Syphilitic cad, Tom Dooley, legit on mudcat however misguided. Sick turns up 192 times, ill 200, die 1387, and dead 873, so I feel that my support for healing discussions is not out of line. On the other hand, kiss appear 618 times, wife 845, husband 226, friend 975 and hug 163. The winner of all the words that I searched, weighing in at a whopping 2329 hits, was love.

No other word came close to love. There it is, almost scientific proof. (When searching hug, I noticed that hug was appearing in words like huge and Hugh and Hughes so don't take these numbers to be the kind of unscientific proof that would stand up to a pair of Little Hawk eyes.) Traditionally, more people loved each than shot each other, than stabbed each other, than made each other sick, etc. They wrote and sang about it. They sang loudly. They sang boisterously. They often sang sweetly. At other times you would have wanted to cover your ears.

We on mudcat are keepers of that singing love tradition. Chuck and Toes made a good start but if anyone wants to go beyond - write barenaked, name body parts, tell us more about those wonderful feelings - I'm all for it. I'll defend the tradition to the best of my limited ability. Many a gray day I could use a huge hug or enjoy reading about some else's happiness.