Because Statistics Are Sexier Than Fabio: An Inquiry into the Causes of Visible Spine Breakage

Mar 30, 2006 15:54

You all know the cliché of the trashy paperback romance novels that fall open to the well-thumbed sex scenes, but is it really true? Or does it contain approximately as much realism as the trashy paperback romance novels themselves?

Hypothesis: Sex scenes are not the leading cause of broken spines in trashy paperback romance novels.

Methodology ( Read more... )

library science, geekiness

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Comments 23

belmanoir March 30 2006, 22:03:48 UTC
Can I just say this is AWESOME? Also, I must know---was the hero of footnote 4 (a) bi, (b) straight but not narrow, or (c) it was all a malicious lie?

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mayhap March 30 2006, 22:06:43 UTC
Why, of course you can. ;)

And I skimmed pretty heavily, but it seemed to be (c) all a malicious lie. And it was older than I am -- published in 1983, IIRC. Very odd.

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lobelia321 March 30 2006, 23:01:25 UTC
*bursts out laughing*

*adores all statistics and pie charts*

*loves categories chosen for analysis*

here by way of friendsfriendsfriends list :-) so glad I came and saw.

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mayhap March 30 2006, 23:05:30 UTC
*blushes*

Glad you enjoyed it!

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lobelia321 March 31 2006, 12:39:24 UTC
Oh, and I just noticed what you are called! Mayhap (adv.)! I am called Lobelia the adverbial and am fighting the losing battle for the glorious adverb which all too often is shamefully reviled. 'Cut the adverbs', they say. Humph.

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mayhap April 1 2006, 00:55:10 UTC
The poor adverbs are always getting such a bad rap! The line argument seems to go, "Bad writing uses adverbs badly, so let's cut out all the adverbs!" Which is, of course, ludicrous. Why not "Bad writing uses adverbs badly, so let's not write badly!"?

*signs up for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Adverbs*

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supertigerbabe March 30 2006, 23:03:44 UTC
How funny!! It took me a moment... I thought you meant HUMAN spine breakage at first... I was like, "WTF?!?!"

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mayhap March 30 2006, 23:14:07 UTC
You know, I hope there aren't a lot of people breaking their backs from romance novels! But then, of course, there are those studies that show that a preposterous number of Americans injure themselves every year in incidents involving teapots, or some other patently harmless object, so maybe they do ...

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wisdomeagle March 31 2006, 00:17:13 UTC
I thought so too! I thought it referred to characters in the novel breaking their spines from ambitious but ill-advised sexual positions, which happens (apparently) less often than you'd think!

mayhap? You are the BEST EVER and win at LIFE. *loves*

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mayhap March 31 2006, 00:34:33 UTC
I can just see all the covers! With the character(s) in wheelchairs and/or full body casts, and cheesy titles like Unbreakable Love and Wheel Me Down the Aisle!

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mydarkstar March 30 2006, 23:13:32 UTC
O.M.G.

1) The "free items" pie chart is the best.
2) When I see "VSB," I think "Victoria's Secret Boobies." Which would be a great reason to read trashy romance novels, IMO.

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mayhap March 30 2006, 23:17:44 UTC
Yes, my research was very suspenseful. "Gee, I wonder if I won this time! Oh look, I have!"

Actually there was one book where you had to follow at least five steps which I didn't fully comprehend in order to determine whether you had won a chance to win a vacation in Hawaii, but that was a complete anomaly and it didn't involve actual free items, anyway.

I keep thinking of some kind of twisted version of Vacation Bible School. Complete with Secret Boobies!

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rukh214 March 31 2006, 05:36:15 UTC
i may be a scientist, but this beats reading about the cure for cancer ANY day! you win! =)

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mayhap April 1 2006, 00:28:26 UTC
Yay! Good thing, too, because I have no idea how to cure cancer. ;)

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