Great walk outs

July 12, 2007 5:49 AM

That's it! I've had enough. I'm going.
posted by tombola (52 comments total)

in reference to this.
posted by progosk at 5:54 AM on July 12, 2007

The whole Queen-storms-off thing was the result of some dodgy editing by the BBC, for which they have apologised.
posted by Aloysius Bear at 5:58 AM on July 12, 2007

which eventually produced this.
posted by progosk at 6:00 AM on July 12, 2007

OFF WITH HER HEAD!
posted by DU at 6:03 AM on July 12, 2007

"...the hot-headed MP esclaimed "Come the revolution Tom, they'll shoot you."
"Wrong," replied Tom. "Come the revolution, they'll shoot you Eric. I'll be sent to America to negotiate a loan."

Ooooo, SNAP!

Wait, what?
posted by From Bklyn at 6:07 AM on July 12, 2007

Shouldn't this be in MetaTalk?
posted by OmieWise at 6:08 AM on July 12, 2007 [3 favorites has favorites]

Histrionic leaving in a huff and trouncings out are often ridiculously entertaining, in that schadenfreude kind of way.

wow, the number 3 story is awesome, fighting, literally, over clothes. "Mandelson lunged at Blair, and then, shouting "I hate this I'm going back to London", walked out. Later these people formed a Government together and Mr Mandelson was made a Secretary of State."

Guess they made up at recess.
posted by nickyskye at 6:13 AM on July 12, 2007

The height of outrageous behavior for a limey: WALKING OUT OF A ROOM!
posted by ND¢ at 6:13 AM on July 12, 2007 [6 favorites has favorites]

"I hate my job, I hate my life...I'm going to Tahiti to paint."
posted by Smart Dalek at 6:20 AM on July 12, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

So Defence Secretary Michael Heseltine is referred to as "Hezza." We've all seen Paul McCartney referred to as "Macca." Is the British popular press just incapable of remembering or pronouncing names in excess of two syllables, or what?
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:22 AM on July 12, 2007

Well, Fayba, since you asked ...
posted by Kirth Gerson at 6:32 AM on July 12, 2007 [2 favorites has favorites]

progosk: which eventually produced this.

That looks like she's off on a big night out and is waiting for a taxi to turn up.
posted by vbfg at 6:33 AM on July 12, 2007

5 references to what are, in reality, pretty weak flame-outs, and you expect me to be interested in this crap...

that's it, I'm gone!
posted by HuronBob at 6:33 AM on July 12, 2007

And let's not forget one of the great stateside walkoffs, back in 1970, when Georgia's segregationist governor Lester Maddox stormed off the Dick Cavett show. Saw it when I was 13, yessir, sure did.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:34 AM on July 12, 2007

The height of outrageous behavior for a limey: WALKING OUT OF A ROOM!

The height of staying in context is picking incidents relevant to the incident that inspired the post. Hence, walking out. hth
posted by vbfg at 6:35 AM on July 12, 2007

Look there is no reason to get your knickers in a twist vabbafabbagabba. I am just making the simple point that English people suck and are lame. I think that we can all agree on that.
posted by ND¢ at 6:42 AM on July 12, 2007 [6 favorites has favorites]

That look commencing a huff.
posted by nickyskye at 6:49 AM on July 12, 2007

Et al ...

Max Ortmann seems to have almost rehearsed it.

Nice.

"I have a very long tongue and I could use it on you and make you a very happy woman."

I have the utmost respect for our honourable representative politicians.
posted by strawberryviagra at 6:56 AM on July 12, 2007

[derail]

I have to take issue with Smart Dalek's link above. For one, it's commonly understood that Gauguin lived in Tahiti. In fact, he spent most of his time not in Tahiti but on an island in the Marquesas, which are almost 1,000 miles away from the Society Islands of which Tahiti belongs. While it's true that Tahiti was very modern and free-thinking in Gauguin's time, I visited the Marquesan Islands last summer (and Gauguin's home there) and let me tell you, even in the 20th century those islands were anything but modern. That makes me less likely to believe the other "revelations" in the link.

[/derail]
posted by Brittanie at 7:02 AM on July 12, 2007

The height of outrageous behavior for a limey: WALKING OUT OF A ROOM!

That's what civilisation can do to people. I mean really, where are the assault rifles when they're needed?
posted by pompomtom at 7:35 AM on July 12, 2007

Some years ago I stormed out of MetaFilter, but no one noticed.
posted by ZachsMind at 7:35 AM on July 12, 2007

Video of the Bee Gees incident.
posted by nthdegx at 7:48 AM on July 12, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

Interesting derail Brittanie. I hadn't read Smart Dalek's link until your comment and had formed my ignorant opinion of Gauguin's ugly abandonment of his family from the flick, Gauguin the Savage. So I went a Googling and found this wonderful, rich site about his life. Tahiti and the Marquesas are part of French Polynesia and on this page of the site the Marquesas are said to be part of the Tahiti group. Could the name Tahiti have become then, in a less geopolitically informed world, a generic way of referring to any of the islands in French Polynesia?

Gauguin did a sort of reverse huff thing. Usually, when storming out, the stormer gets to play victim. But in this case Gauguin was storming off to Paradise, leaving others in the dismal Euro dust.

I stormed out of MetaFilter, but no one noticed

aww hon, that sucks (can you link to the comments?).
posted by nickyskye at 7:48 AM on July 12, 2007

Shouldn't this really be great English walkouts?
posted by mattoxic at 7:51 AM on July 12, 2007

"Shouldn't this really be great English walkouts?"

Why? You'd have to insert American into a lot of posts if we're going to get nationality specific.
posted by nthdegx at 7:53 AM on July 12, 2007

So when four of the five walkouts listed happen in English government, we can't point out that it's "English" without being called "nationality specific"? What the hell is that supposed to mean anyway?
posted by phaedon at 8:08 AM on July 12, 2007

That's it! I've had enough. I'm going. No wait, I'm back. OK, I'm really going now. Hi, I'm back again. Now I'm really going. No wait, here I am back again.
posted by googly at 8:18 AM on July 12, 2007

Is the British popular press just incapable of remembering or pronouncing names in excess of two syllables, or what?

Good question, actually, Faint of Butt.

The UK's space-squeezed, tabloid headline writers do wield more influence than they should, really, with punchy & memorable two syllable nicknames -since we all know exactly who they mean by Hezza, Macca & faded football legend - Gazza - even if we don't read "those" low-rent papers, or even use the nicknames ourselves in normal conversation.

(The journalist/writer Michael Frayn used to have a ball with tabloid terms we all understand but which never pass our own lips 'tot slain in love-nest..."etc)

The nicknames can also be a sign of aggressively jocular cutting-down-to-size (more the way Bush uses pet names of certain pals and members of the press corps).

The UK popular tabloids look as though they're written for thickies but they're slyly adept at manipulating the way readers ought to think.
posted by Jody Tresidder at 8:22 AM on July 12, 2007 [2 favorites has favorites]

Non-American readers of the site don't necessarily expect to see "Great American walk outs". Is nationality a barrier to appreciating a post? Sure, the majority of readers are American, but so is the majority of the content. I'm just interested in the idea that non-American content is expected to be flagged as such. It's a question that's come up before, and I don't particularly want to get drawin into it here.
posted by nthdegx at 8:26 AM on July 12, 2007

I have nothing but mad respect for my cousins across the sea (you gave me Earl Grey tea, after all, big ups!), but, I'm sorry, we Americans do the walk-off the best.

To wit: Budd Dwyer.

THAT'S how you end a press conference.
posted by John of Michigan at 8:28 AM on July 12, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

You're making it a barrier. I see it as a descriptive. Is the fact that the majority of viewers here American something that is lost on you, or rather representative of a style of talking that is outdated and ethnocentric? I have no idea why I'm even writing about this. Actually, I do. I woke up today and watch (American) President Bush's morning speech and it left me very confused.
posted by phaedon at 8:31 AM on July 12, 2007

To wit: Budd Dwyer.

THAT'S how you end a press conference.

I see now why ND¢ is given to bursts of national pride.
posted by vbfg at 8:35 AM on July 12, 2007

The Bee Gees walkout is weirdly calm and anticlimactic.
posted by nthdegx at 8:40 AM on July 12, 2007

I walked out on a bus ride one day. Terrible hangover.
A homeless dude had gotten on the bus and it was very obvious that he hadn't bathed in days. He had used his pants as a restroom. With the previous nights booze still flowing in my veins, I exited the bus, and tossed my cookies
on the curb.
posted by doctorschlock at 8:41 AM on July 12, 2007

I hear you, phaedon. I awoke to the same speech on NPR; due to the fact that I continued to hit snooze for at least forty-five minutes, my experience was even more fragmentary and nightmarish than the usual torture of the President's oratory.

The BeeGees walking out just reinforces the fact that they are Les Tosseurs.
posted by oneirodynia at 8:56 AM on July 12, 2007

Great American walk outs: Bob Novak walks out of CNN's Strategy Session [2:04]: "Well, I think that's bullshit, and I hate that."
transcript/background/previously

The Bee Gees' walkout was weird, and the description seems inaccurate. I didn't hear Clive Anderson say "you'll always be Les Tosseurs to me." Barry Gibb seemed pissed that Anderson praised one of Robin's solo songs and blew off Barry's comment about one of his own solo songs. Anderson was talking about their split and their egos making them think they were too good and didn't need the others and maybe it was too close to the truth.
posted by kirkaracha at 8:57 AM on July 12, 2007

'I didn't hear Clive Anderson say "you'll always be Les Tosseurs to me."'

That part is actually earlier in the interview, not at the point they walk out. Anderson does say it, but it is clearly a joke. He compliments their music and recognises its importance throughout the interview.
posted by nthdegx at 9:06 AM on July 12, 2007

That Max Ortmann clip is awesome, strawberryviagra, in a "Hey, let's respond to a fairly innocuous question in a manner that'll make any alleged pork-barrelling improprieties on my part look like small beer!" sort of way.
Did he figure assaulting a reporter would be the best way to prove his innocence, or overshadow any wrong-doing that may come to light, or just scare off any one else who would be investigating the deal?
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 9:50 AM on July 12, 2007

Do I have to say something snarky, or can I just storm out?

*Storms out*
posted by quin at 10:03 AM on July 12, 2007

Makes me think of the Family Guy where Brian prepares to storm out on the crotchety old ex-opera star he is working for, only to find he can't work the door and has to wait awkwardly for her to show him how.
posted by sweetkid at 10:07 AM on July 12, 2007

How can they omit the incident where Lemmy after lengthy ribbing from Mark Lemarr stormed out of an episode of Never Mind the Buzzcocks, completely unaware they had finished filming the show about 10 minutes previously?
posted by bap98189 at 10:20 AM on July 12, 2007

John of Michigan, you should probably include a warning when you link to that video, for those who don't know the story.

Best walkout I've seen involved Sebastian Bach, who stormed out of a MuchMusic interview saying "I'm on Broadway! I don't want to talk about fucking Skid Row!" Priceless.
posted by jokeefe at 10:35 AM on July 12, 2007

Rep. Mark Kirk Runs Away From Answering For His Iraq Stance
posted by homunculus at 10:36 AM on July 12, 2007

Andrew "Dice" Clay displays his usual tact and class. (NSFW, language)

And who can forget this not-so-great walkout?
posted by Dr-Baa at 12:21 PM on July 12, 2007

Kirk reminds me of another Republican, Royal Switzler. He was a hellfire&brimstone moralist in the Mass House, who briefly ran for governor.

The first Republican candidate who announced for governor in 1986 was the former house minority leader. Royal Switzler, a glib and affable character was a constant gadfly always in the face of the house speaker.

Switzler had a small problem. He was a liar. And he got caught in a whopper.
The state representative from Wellesley was an army sergeant who served in Korea. However, he said he was a Green Beret Captain who served in combat Vietnam. Not good. The papers and talk shows croaked him and he withdrew his candidacy.

His candidacy replaced that of Greg Hyatt, who won the Repub primary but withdrew after coworkers at a trade group told stories of his getting naked in his office and talking on the phone to nobody.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 12:26 PM on July 12, 2007

John of Michigan, you should probably include a warning when you link to that video, for those who don't know the story.

Probably--IF they showed the money shot (as it were). They cut just before he pulls the trigger. Totally safe for work--depending on, of course, where you work, I guess.
posted by John of Michigan at 1:16 PM on July 12, 2007

I thought your mordantly-worded link was fine, John of Michigan.

I didn't know the grisly, tragic story before I clicked (and I have a very, very low tolerance for stuff of this nature).

But it was so horribly on-topic, edited with some tact, as you say and it did prompt me to head to wiki for the background.

(Though I'm generally very grateful to mefites like jokeefe for these warnings.)
posted by Jody Tresidder at 2:07 PM on July 12, 2007

ZachsMind writes: Some years ago I stormed out of MetaFilter, but no one noticed.

Actually, I did notice that. I was bummed when you came back, though.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:19 PM on July 12, 2007

[derail again, sorry]

nickyskye, you are right. While Tahiti itself is just one island, the term "Tahiti" has come to represent ALL of French Polynesia. However, French Polynesia itself is made up of five archipelagos that are very far from each other — this includes the archipelago called The Society Islands, to which Tahiti belongs. Marquesans shun the implication that they are a part of "Tahiti" as the Marquesan Islands, (and the other archipelagos) are very, very different in terms culture and geography than the Society Islands.

Even the names of the archipelagos shed some light onto this. The Society Islands were settled early and often by wealthy French aristocrats. The Marquesan islands were settled by the Spanish, and their influence still shows there today.

[/okay, that's it, I swear]
posted by Brittanie at 5:15 PM on July 12, 2007

Alvy, there's just a history of skirmishes and thuggery in the NT with MPs assaulting journos - to the point where it's almost expected:

Mick Palmer, who will live forever in the annals of journalism in the Territory as being the man responsible for the immortal headline 'Toothless MP head butts reporter'. The story came about during an altercation with Sunday Territorian reporter John Loizou, when after removing his watch and teeth, Palmer admitted he 'snotted' the reporter.

Bizarre.
posted by strawberryviagra at 6:51 PM on July 12, 2007

*Walks out of thread*

*Enters other side*

What the?
posted by dirigibleman at 7:18 PM on July 12, 2007 [3 favorites has favorites]

Brittanie, cool and fascinating derail (worthy of an FPP). Thanks. Perhaps the Marquesas will flounce out of French Polynesia, in full flamenco regalia.
posted by nickyskye at 6:24 AM on July 13, 2007