A plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.

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Entry from October 08, 2013
Pigeon Chess (“like playing chess with a pigeon”)

Entry in progress—B.P.
 
RationalWiki: Pigeon chess
“Pigeon chess” or “like playing chess with a pigeon” is a figure of speech originating from a comment made in March 2005 on Amazon by Scott D. Weitzenhoffer regarding Eugenie Scott’s book Evolution Vs. Creationism: An introduction:
 
”Debating creationists on the topic of evolution is rather like trying to play chess with a pigeon — it knocks the pieces over, craps on the board, and flies back to its flock to claim victory.”
 
As such “debating techniques” are not limited to creationists, the phrase has entered the general Internet lexicon, together with the source quotation, which is sometimes cited as an anonymous “Internet law”. The reference to creationists is usually replaced with whatever group the user is arguing with.
 
Playing Chess with Pigeons
“Debating creationists on the topic of evolution is rather like trying to play chess with a pigeon; it knocks the pieces over, craps on the board, and flies back to its flock to claim victory.”
- Scott D. Weitzenhoffer
   
Urban Dictionary
Pigeon chess
Refers to having a pointless debate with somebody utterly ignorant of the subject matter, but standing on a dogmatic position that cannot be moved with any amount of education or logic, but who always proclaims victory.
Origin:
“Debating creationists on the topic of evolution is rather like trying to play chess with a pigeon; it knocks the pieces over, craps on the board, and flies back to its flock to claim victory.”—Scott D. Weitzenhoffer (From an Amazon.com book review)
Man, trying to explain to those moon landing deniers that the Apollo program was real is like playing pigeon chess—all they do is knock the pieces over and crap on the board.
by nemo nemo Oct 13, 2009
   
Zero Hedge
Debt Ceiling Humor: “I Therefore Intend To Oppose The Effort To Increase America’s Debt Limit”
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 10/07/2013 15:24 -0400
(...)
COMMENTS
macholatte
Mon, 10/07/2013 - 15:39
“Negotiating with Obama is like playing chess with a pigeon.  The pigeon knocks over all the pieces, shits on the board and then struts around like it won the game.”
—Vlad Putin

hardcleareye
Mon, 10/07/2013 - 16:21
Sorry to burst you bubble but this expression has been around for a very long time, dates back to the 18 th century and is called “Pigeon Chess”.... I doubt Putin said this…
The expression reintroduced in 2005

Posted by Barry Popik
New York CitySports/Games • Tuesday, October 08, 2013 • Permalink


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