# Do elves have body hair?



## Whizbang Dustyboots (Aug 18, 2006)

Just askin'.


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## Steverooo (Aug 18, 2006)

Elves are like Humans; some have body hair, and some don't.  Some have a lot, and others less.  Elves tend not to have facial hair, and less body hair.  They do have eyebrows & lashes, however.  Of the few PHB illustrations, none have facial hair (not even the Half-Elves), and none but Sovelis have any body hair other than on their heads (he has arm hair, IIRC).  So, in general, Elves are not a hairy race...


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## Whizbang Dustyboots (Aug 18, 2006)

Would that mean the practice of shaving oneself (wherever) would be an attempt to emulate elven standards of beauty?


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## Dannyalcatraz (Aug 18, 2006)

Or just an attempt to rid oneself of a "bit of downy fluff..."

Shaving could have all kinds of motivations behind it- fashion, politics, emulation of other races, divine edicts, getting rid of an ugly beard, dating someone who hates beards, distinguishing oneself from Dwarves, and so forth.


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## Steverooo (Aug 18, 2006)

I would assume that shaving was invented by Humans (or perhaps Orcs, as an offshoot of scalping), not imitation of Elves...

Why do you ask?  What arouseth thy curiosity?


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## Melan (Aug 18, 2006)

Based on the illustration in the OD&D booklets, they do. They have _beards_.


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## Matrix Sorcica (Aug 18, 2006)

Why the hell would you like to know that  :\ 

Gamers....


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## Gez (Aug 18, 2006)

Elves in D&D third edition are completely hairless, except of course on the scalp. It's even in the PHB...

Other games or specific settings are not forced to comply to D&D's standard.


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## Andor (Aug 18, 2006)

Yes, but it's all on their backs, and the soles of their feet.


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## Wereserpent (Aug 18, 2006)

Elves in Dragonlance can grow beards when they are very old.  An illustration in the Dragonlance Campaign Setting also shows a Kagonesti Elf with a goatee.


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## PapersAndPaychecks (Aug 18, 2006)

Elves don't have much body hair; they just don't produce much testosterone.

This explains why the elven birth rate is so low, and so many frustrated elven women apparently turn to humans for a bit of affection.    The men are all "Not tonight darling, I think I'll go singing under the stars instead."


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## PapersAndPaychecks (Aug 18, 2006)

PapersAndPaychecks said:
			
		

> Elves don't have much body hair; they just don't produce much testosterone.
> 
> This explains why the elven birth rate is so low, and so many frustrated elven women apparently turn to humans for a bit of affection.    The men are all "Not tonight darling, I think I'll go singing under the stars instead."




Incidentally, this line of thought leads to intriguing speculations about dwarfs.


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## Jupp (Aug 18, 2006)

PapersAndPaychecks said:
			
		

> Incidentally, this line of thought leads to intriguing speculations about dwarfs.




Which reminds me that some time ago our DM had us explore the dwarven palace of Olinstad of Corond (GH, Principality of Ulek). And guess into what the (human) Barbarian and the Fighter ran into? A harem full of bearded female dwarves....The rest of the story is clouded in the mists of silence since the rest of us had to go out of the room (party split up)...I think it was better for us and our sanity...


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## awayfarer (Aug 18, 2006)

I suggested once to a friend that all of en elfs body hair is in their armpits. They grow it long and tie it into intricate and beautiful braids.


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## Brogarn (Aug 18, 2006)

First off, Dwarven women don't have beards in every setting! Being a fan of dwarves, I prefer the ones that don't. Because, well, eww. Whomever came up with that whole bearded lady thing had issues.

Secondly, and because I can't resist, certain lonely elves do grow hair on their palms...

*rimshot*


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## RangerWickett (Aug 18, 2006)

I had an, um, adult discussion with a significant other about this topic. We came to the conclusion that elves had better durn well have _some_ body hair, or else things would start to chafe in certain places.


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## WayneLigon (Aug 18, 2006)

RangerWickett said:
			
		

> I had an, um, adult discussion with a significant other about this topic. We came to the conclusion that elves had better durn well have _some_ body hair, or else things would start to chafe in certain places.




Elves are too uber to _chafe_, man... 

That's how I generally see it. None except for the minimum needed.

There was a campaign setting I ran once where the elves were very clearly the superior species. One player's reaction was 'Man, do they even take a _crap_?'

I didn't have the heart to tell him that I'd been inspired by the Sanitized Metabolism advantage in GURPS and that, no, they only had to about once a week. Their metabolism was extremely efficient so they didn't have to eat that much (thus you could have a fairly large population of elves without them having to resort to much in the way of agriculture or hunting).


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## Nonlethal Force (Aug 18, 2006)

PapersAndPaychecks said:
			
		

> Incidentally, this line of thought leads to intriguing speculations about dwarfs.




well, in support of this theory you'll note that very few places have listings for "half-dwarves."


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## Eltharon (Aug 18, 2006)

I would say that elves have no body hair. They're to special to chafe.
Our resident dwarf expert is telling me that excessive body hair on dwarven women is bad. So I guess dwarven men don;t go for hairy chested women after all...


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## sniffles (Aug 18, 2006)

Brogarn said:
			
		

> First off, Dwarven women don't have beards in every setting! Being a fan of dwarves, I prefer the ones that don't. Because, well, eww. Whomever came up with that whole bearded lady thing had issues.



On the contrary, I think people who are creeped out by women with facial hair have issues - you'd probably be surprised by how many ordinary women have facial hair. Why do you think womens' razors and hair removers are so popular? We're not just making our legs smooth.   

The PHB says elves have no facial hair. It seems unlikely that a people with no facial hair would have a lot of body hair. 

I think Tolkien himself muddied the waters a bit, though. He described Cirdan the Shipwright as having a beard, but in other places he stated that the elves of Middle-Earth don't grow beards.


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## Brogarn (Aug 18, 2006)

sniffles said:
			
		

> On the contrary, I think people who are creeped out by women with facial hair have issues - you'd probably be surprised by how many ordinary women have facial hair. Why do you think womens' razors and hair removers are so popular? We're not just making our legs smooth.




Keep your needles away from my bubble! It's happy in here. Women are all hawt and only have hair where I happily expect it (minus the unhappy experience of certain hairy moled history teachers. *shudder*) You just keep your reality to yourself!


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## Moon-Lancer (Aug 18, 2006)

2nd that. elves only have hear on thier head.


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## Iku Rex (Aug 18, 2006)

*Copied from another thread...*

Was this thread by any chance inspired by the artwork below?  

DnD races nude from elfwood. Not porn, but still NSFW I think. 
Females: elfwood.lysator.liu.se/art/j/a/jarrett/racialsizefemaleelfwood1.jpg.html 
Males: elfwood.lysator.liu.se/art/j/a/jarrett/racialsizeelfwoodmale1.jpg.html

Anyway, DnD elves don't have body hair. The Player's Handbook is quite clear on that.


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## Dragonbait (Aug 18, 2006)

Whizbang Dustyboots said:
			
		

> Would that mean the practice of shaving oneself (wherever) would be an attempt to emulate elven standards of beauty?




Interesting idea. Would human men grow heavy beards if they regularly deal with dwarves, or work in a field that dwarves are famous for, like metalworking, construction, banking (in Eberron) and so on? 

I'm in the "no elven facial hair" boat.


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## Pbartender (Aug 18, 2006)

RangerWickett said:
			
		

> I had an, um, adult discussion with a significant other about this topic. We came to the conclusion that elves had better durn well have _some_ body hair, or else things would start to chafe in certain places.




Elves don't chafe...  they _glide_.


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## Sejs (Aug 18, 2006)

Maybe the body hair they have is very fine and light, such that you don't normally notice it.  It's -there- but at the opposite end of the spectrum from dwarves.

Plus, that'd sidestep the chafing issue.


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## Jon Potter (Aug 18, 2006)

Whizbang Dustyboots said:
			
		

> Just askin'.




In my game they don't, but it's only come up as a way to tease the one (male) elf in the party.

And female dwarves have beards, too.

I don't think that culturally, shaving would be based on a desire to emulate elves so much as to emulate youth. That's how it works in the real world, anyway except for certain health reasons (such as methods to avoid fleas in desert regions, etc.). A female friend of mine calls shaving a way to "infantalize" women. Oddly enough, though, she still shaves, AFAIK.

I'm not an expert on the subject but I think that shaving of body hair didn't become extremely widespread until well after the pseudo-medieval periods most D&D campaigns are set in. Facial hair was popularized during the Roman era, giving soldiers' enemies one less thing to grab onto in hand-to-hand fighting.

At least that's what I've read.


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## blargney the second (Aug 18, 2006)

Of course elves have body hair!  They're descended from rabbits!  (hint: notice the ears)


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## werk (Aug 18, 2006)

Whizbang Dustyboots said:
			
		

> Would that mean the practice of shaving oneself (wherever) would be an attempt to emulate elven standards of beauty?




Obviously elves have body hair, eyebrows, lashes and head-hair are seen in most reditions of them.

As for shaving so as to emulate elves, I'd probably look a little closer to home.  It's done to emulate women.


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## Moon-Lancer (Aug 18, 2006)

on an off note, if elves are supposed to be attractive, why are they so ugly in the phb. 

and back on topic. I think they might have a very fine peach fuzz, almost invisible, and alwayse blond/clear (same thing)


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## Scribble (Aug 18, 2006)

Gez said:
			
		

> Elves in D&D third edition are completely hairless, except of course on the scalp. It's even in the PHB...
> 
> Other games or specific settings are not forced to comply to D&D's standard.





which is why elf chix are hot...



just sayin...


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## Griffith Dragonlake (Aug 18, 2006)

I think that in European folktalkes & mythology elves were like prepubescent (“tweens”) humans as they were described as perpetual children.

IMC Grymwurld, I describe Elves as being physically similar to East Asian Humans, e.g. Chinese, Vietnamese, etc.  That is, they have significantly less body hair, beards are quite rare, and the men have smaller… feet.


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## diaglo (Aug 18, 2006)

the first D&D elf had a beard.


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## Ed_Laprade (Aug 18, 2006)

Brogarn said:
			
		

> First off, Dwarven women don't have beards in every setting! Being a fan of dwarves, I prefer the ones that don't. Because, well, eww. Whomever came up with that whole bearded lady thing had issues.



This has always annoyed the **** out of me. Let's set the record straight. The whole Dwarven women have beards thing happen because some ***** wrote in to The Dragon 'explaining' why they must. His reasoning? Because when the Fellowship were at a Dwarven party Tolkien didn't specifically mention Dwarven women. Therefore, according to this ******, that must mean that they were there, but the Fellowshipers didn't notice them because they were bearded! And this nonsense started a big controversy in the mag that resulted in the ******* editor agreeing with him.  That's it.  ******!!!


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## MarkB (Aug 18, 2006)

PapersAndPaychecks said:
			
		

> Incidentally, this line of thought leads to intriguing speculations about dwarfs.



All dwarves have beards.

Male dwarves have two.


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## Whizbang Dustyboots (Aug 18, 2006)

Ed_Laprade said:
			
		

> This has always annoyed the **** out of me. Let's set the record straight. The whole Dwarven women have beards thing happen because some ***** wrote in to The Dragon 'explaining' why they must. His reasoning? Because when the Fellowship were at a Dwarven party Tolkien didn't specifically mention Dwarven women. Therefore, according to this ******, that must mean that they were there, but the Fellowshipers didn't notice them because they were bearded! And this nonsense started a big controversy in the mag that resulted in the ******* editor agreeing with him.  That's it.  ******!!!



********!


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## Fishbone (Aug 18, 2006)

_SLUR DELETED BY MODERATOR_
Just kidding, they're just very, very metro and don't produce a lot of testosterone.
And what's with the female beard hatred? I think its pretty funny and dare I say it, _hawt_.

Let's watch the language, Fishbone. - Rel


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## Gez (Aug 18, 2006)

blargney the second said:
			
		

> Of course elves have body hair!  They're descended from rabbits!  (hint: notice the ears)





Is that a reference to Mixed Myth?


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## Wolv0rine (Aug 19, 2006)

I'll go against the grain, since so few have so far.  I like elves.  I don't go for "der uber elves", but I like elves a lot.  Elves in my world are perfectly capable of growing beards, and when it's inconvenient to tend them (on long trecks, or during particularly long and arduous adventures, for example) it's not uncommon for an elf to begin to develop one.  Their facial hair grows a bit slower than humans', so it does take longer for their beards to grow in, and most elves keep themselves cleanshaven when in civilized locales just because of social norm.
But my oldest character, the one closest to my heart, is an elvan ranger.  And he regularly sports either a goatee or a full beard.  He spends too much time travelling to worry about tending it, and it makes it easier for humans to relate to him.  He's grown rather used to it, too.

But I've never been fond of the metrosexual, androgynous, effete and uber elves that tend to be pushed on us by those those who want to recreate the semi-divine Tolkienesque superelves.


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## Moon-Lancer (Aug 19, 2006)

best female dwarf i have seen is in the players handbook to ravenloft. almost dooable. almost.


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## Tonguez (Aug 19, 2006)

*The True Elf*







The hair on the heards is actually feathers modified for display


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## Pbartender (Aug 19, 2006)

Fishbone said:
			
		

> _SLUR DELETED BY MODERATOR_
> Just kidding, they're just very, very metro and don't produce a lot of testosterone.
> And what's with the female beard hatred? I think its pretty funny and dare I say it, _hawt_.
> 
> Let's watch the language, Fishbone. - Rel




I guess that means we can't make the obvious joke regarding the male half-orc, eh?...    



			
				Iku Rex said:
			
		

> DnD races nude from elfwood. Not porn, but still NSFW I think.
> Females: elfwood.lysator.liu.se/art/j/a/jarrett/racialsizefemaleelfwood1.jpg
> Males: elfwood.lysator.liu.se/art/j/a/jarrett/racialsizeelfwoodmale1.jpg




  

Nope...  I didn't think so.


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## Nyaricus (Aug 19, 2006)

Did you know that humans and chimps have about the same number of hair follicals? The thing is, since humans have adapted in ways disparet than chimps, we has lost the 'thickness' of that hair, and most of our body hair (other than that which grows when we are capable of sexual reproduction, like underarm hair, facial hair, arm/leg hait, pubic hair, etc) is now very fine, adn light. exceptions remain, of course (I know my cousin is cursed with a wookie on his back ) but the majority of us don't have very noticable body hair, per se.

So, point being, I think elves _do_ have body hair, it's just it is by far finer then humans hair is, and is thus almost un-noticable to the casual eye.

YMMV, of course


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## Munin (Aug 19, 2006)

> But I've never been fond of the metrosexual, androgynous, effete and uber elves that tend to be pushed on us by those those who want to recreate the semi-divine Tolkienesque superelves.




As an aside to this thread, it's been my experience that those who equate 'Tolkienesque' elves with gay, androgynous, effeminate pantywaists have never bothered to actually _read_ much about Tolikenesque elves. Like Peter Jackson, for example.


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## Whizbang Dustyboots (Aug 19, 2006)

Munin said:
			
		

> As an aside to this thread, it's been my experience that those who equate 'Tolkienesque' elves with gay, androgynous, effeminate pantywaists have never bothered to actually _read_ much about Tolikenesque elves. Like Peter Jackson, for example.



Yeah, the Book of Lost Tales: Elves Scratch Themselves and Discuss Chicks is great.


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## Fishbone (Aug 19, 2006)

I don't remember if I said gay or the not so nice term for a gay person. Oops. Anyhow, believe me, I did tone it down and I did watch the language. I despise elves and I hope they all die in fires.
/I see your Drizzt...And raise you a Gimli and a Gotrek!


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## Wolv0rine (Aug 19, 2006)

Munin said:
			
		

> As an aside to this thread, it's been my experience that those who equate 'Tolkienesque' elves with gay, androgynous, effeminate pantywaists have never bothered to actually _read_ much about Tolikenesque elves. Like Peter Jackson, for example.



This is quite possibly true.  I admittedly haven't read Tolkien since I was 6 or 7, and various attempts do read it again have met with failure.  It's just so damned dry.
I was using the reference as 'tollkienesque' more out of convenience, as so many people roll those descriptions up as tolkienesque.

I still mourn the legions of people who "hate elves", almost all of which seem to stem from some power-hungry fanboy-crazed dork who decided at some point that elves were the easy out for making their own personal super-uber-allpowerful fantasy wank.


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## Dannyalcatraz (Aug 19, 2006)

Some catchphrases for the non-metrosexual elves out there...(courtesy of http://www.grey-company.org/Maerdyn/resources/translator/index.cgi).

"Dos ph' natha ligrr nesst!"
"Morfeth ussta tangi!"
"Xun dos satiir du'ased?"
"Gaer zha dosst char'riss!"

and of course, 

"Inbau ilta xunor!"


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## Ranger REG (Aug 19, 2006)

Whizbang Dustyboots said:
			
		

> Yeah, the Book of Lost Tales: Elves Scratch Themselves and Discuss Chicks is great.



That's right up Munin's ... err, alley.


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## Scarbonac (Aug 19, 2006)

No. Elves do not have body hair. 


Also, female dwarves do _not_ have beards. That's just a dirty slur against the Race of Durin.


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## Gez (Aug 19, 2006)

I still abide by my decision, in my next homebrew, elves and dwarves will be the same race. An elf will be a female dwarf, and a dwarf will be a male elf.


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## Olgar Shiverstone (Feb 13, 2013)

I've just found this thread via a Google search, and wondered if there was a consensus.


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## Dannyalcatraz (Feb 13, 2013)

Still splitting hairs...


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## jasper (Feb 13, 2013)

It is your campaign, you are GAWD. You decide. As to the poster who got the 5 sec bleep. I feel your pain.  I got tired of "If it is in 'The Dragon', it must be True" folks even before I got out of high school.  Now for those list creators, how listing each published campaign which answered the question.  Please don't this become an another thread on how to pronouce "Drow".


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## Morrus (Feb 13, 2013)

Olgar Shiverstone said:


> I've just found this thread via a Google search, and wondered if there was a consensus.




Hah!


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## the Jester (Feb 13, 2013)

Whizbang Dustyboots said:


> Just askin'.




Not in my campaign they don't. Elves have hair only atop their heads, on their eyebrows and lashes. 

Exception: Some Drow in my campaign grow beards and moustaches and have armpit/pubic hair, but even then, you won't find a hairy elven chest or leg in the entire Underdark.


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## Dioltach (Feb 13, 2013)

I have to ask: at what point does this become important? Surely the DM can just say, "Use your imagination, the elf has hair wherever you want."


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## Zhaleskra (Feb 13, 2013)

In Grotesque Tactics II: Dungeons & Donuts, they do. Wood Elves go au natural though.


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## Umbran (Feb 13, 2013)

Dioltach said:


> I have to ask: at what point does this become important? Surely the DM can just say, "Use your imagination, the elf has hair wherever you want."




The elf has hair in Wallawalla, WA!


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## Whizbang Dustyboots (Feb 13, 2013)

Dioltach said:


> I have to ask: at what point does this become important?



Apparently seven years after the last post.



Olgar Shiverstone said:


> I've just found this thread via a Google search, and wondered if there was a consensus.



I have to imagine the Google Image results of that search are soul-scarring.


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## Olgar Shiverstone (Feb 14, 2013)

Morrus said:


> Hah!






I didn't have the guts to do an image search, though ...


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