HeathenPope

He would most certainly be assigned a rank if for no other reason than to ensure he (as an asset) is treated by crewmen with care and respect. It is the same approach in logic that militaries and police use with K-9 units. Dogs always outrank the handlers as a further mechanism to ensure proper treatment of the self-aware asset.

'And all those exclamation marks, you notice? Five? A sure sign of someone who wears his underpants on his head.' -- from Maskerade by Terry Pratchett.

P

You're gorram right.

Could've been worse. Could've been a shooting game.

I knew about the honor-culture bit, but I'm now curious about what other languages use it as an insult.

I actually might be able to provide some insight to this. My wife is Balkan and the first time I called her a "Silly Goose" she became madly upset. It turns out in her language the phrase "Glupova Gusko" (Stupid Goose) is a common insult. It is considered incredibly harsh in her culture. My guess is that the phrase "Silly Goose" is borrowed from a Slavic Language and lost its harshness when it moved into English.

Forbidden steak...

Perhaps every politician should be put on trial at the end of their term in office. Might keep everyone in line. Wait, who am I kidding? Give it a decade and the system will rig the courts to absolve themselves.

These fall under the category of "Half-baked Idea". This includes any idea that obviously hasn't been thought all the way through. Half-baked ideas can range from the absurd (e.g. "The Earth is flat."), to the benignly optimistic (e.g. "Everything works out for the best.")

Can we reuse the one from Liz Truss?

Garfield has been mailing kittens again.