$70 - that's a fang. Fang as in getting your teeth into something worth
chewing? Who knows - it just took on as a descriptor. Makes more sense
to you at that moment when someone suggests that they charge you $50
for a lens worth approximately twenty times that amount. Suddenly you
find yourself unable to let go of it, the fingers lock and every muscle
in your body is concentrating on remaining impassive, much like a
bulldog with its teeth in a leg. At this point the true fanger should
say to the fangee something like, "Hmmm...it's not exactly what I was
looking for - would you take $40?"
Local examples - the guy I know who bought a nice, clean, working Nikon
One for $400 - want to guess what he sold it for? And another friend
who got a rare model Hansa Canon (NS- less that 100 made) with original
Nikon 50/2 for $300 - that went for $10,000 with a jammed shutter.
It's something well beyond a mere bargain and yes, it's a steal. It's
an OK thing to do to a store as they're supposed to know better - it's
an awful thing to do to a frail and elderly widow of a photographer but
you just keep telling yourself that if she'd taken a proper interest in
the noble pursuit, she'd know wouldn't she? Or you just adopt the
ethics of a W.C. Fields character.
Fang level is determined by physiological and psychosocial indicators -
the amount you sweated in millilitres while paying (and waiting for
another store assistant to chip in, "hag on a minute..."), adjusted for
ambient temperature of course; the volume in decibels of your laughter
release after you've got well away around the corner; the length of
time and frequency of your bragging to friends, neighbors, list members
and perfect strangers.
AndrewF
On 17/04/2005, at 5:30 PM, David Carter wrote:
> Could it be something derived from an item one would give ones eye
> teeth to have?
> Or perhaps
> http://my.webmd.com/content/article/66/79629.htm?
> z=4208_00000_9000_to_03
> explains it better. Fangs are I believe associated with canines or so
> my cat
> tells me ...
>
> Which leads me to wondering how much of an incredible buy does
> something have be
> to qualify as a fang? Does it have to have a dollar value, or perhaps
> rarity
> that only you noticed? And can this also qualify as "stealing" under
> qualified
> circumstances, ie non-auction ?
>
> David
> Whom recently fanged at an auction house. Paying $70 for a Zone
> enlarger
> retailing for over US$1500
>
>
> Chuck Norcutt wrote:
>> The lurking Jay asked:
>> On another subject; excuse the ignorance, what is a FANG? I gather an
>> incredible buy, is it an acronym or is it named after someone (Phyllis
>> Diller's husband)?
>> --------------------------
>>
>> Well, I don't think anyone here has ever seen her so we don't know if
>> Doris Fang looks anything like Phyllis Diller or, heaver forbid, her
>> poor husband Fang.
>>
>> Doris Fang was a member of the list from somewhere in Florida (I don't
>> recall exactly where) who used to prowl all the garage sales early in
>> the morning. She would frequently report finding the most incredible
>> deals and cause us all to be instantly envious. She was the proof
>> that
>> the early bird got the Zuiko.
>>
>> In any event it didn't take too long for Doris's (did I get that
>> right,
>> Piers?) great deals to be termed Fangs. Now, by extension to the
>> other
>> members of the list a great deal on a piece of gear is also termed a
>> Fang.
>>
>> I'm sure many who are reading this are wondering (as I am) what ever
>> happened to Doris. She had been a fairly frequent contributor who
>> simply disappeared without saying goodbye. I hope she's still well.
>>
>> Chuck Norcutt
>>
>>
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