pixelatedboat aka “mr bluesky” @pixelatedboat.bsky.social · 16/02/2025Herman Melville's "Moby Dick" has perhaps the most memorable opening line in all of Western literature: "I hope you motherfuckers like reading about whales" 486192642134
joocifer @joocifer.bsky.social · 16/02/2025Hear me out, when book cover opens you hear 'thar she blows' sung to the tune of 'there she goes' by the Las youtu.be/68MKLkNSMN4?...youtu.beThere She Goes (Official)YouTube video by Sixpence None The Richer 0140
Chris Sittner @chrissittner.bsky.social · 16/02/2025Still crazy to me no one remembers the closing line: "And that's how I became Moby's Dick. - Herman ('s Head) Melville" I mean, I know the book was famous for its grammatical structure, but that was a bit much. Very sloppy, very forced joke. And no one in 1851 had a TV anyway. 020
researchdoom @bananaintherama.bsky.social · 16/02/2025The story of the whale that inspired the novel is quite sad. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mocha_D...en.m.wikipedia.orgMocha Dick - Wikipedia 020
Dr James on a bicycle, psychologist, cycologist 🇨🇦 @jamesbicycle.bsky.social · 16/02/2025"a herd of remorseless wild pirates and inhuman atheistical devils were infernally cheering him on with their curses" (legit quote) 040
Between These Spooky Lines - 👻 🌈 ⚽ 🏈 🏀⚾🏒 @footballlibrettist.bsky.social · 16/02/2025"To be a whale or not be a whale, what kind of question is that since I'm a whale? What do you want, for me to try and cosplay as a fucking iguana?" 0270
🌸🐱🐭🌸 🖇️ @threekitties.bsky.social · 16/02/2025But really, it’s a great book. Ahab and the harpoon era are my favorites. 150
Bear Emoji @revolvolution.bsky.social · 17/02/2025You left out the bit after the semicolon! “especially the stuff they secrete inside their heads.” 010
Dr. Jennifer Maritza McCauley (she/her) @maritza4770.bsky.social · 16/02/2025I have nothing funny to contribute but I will say this was a fucking epic post. 1110
Pat O'Leary @patoleary.bsky.social · 16/02/2025My memory, which may be incorrect, is that it read "It was the best of plankton, it was the worst of plankton" 000
Ahrim the Blighted @barrowsofficial.bsky.social · 16/02/2025"Call me Ishmael. You ever heard of the band Mastodon?" 050
angel-alia.bsky.social @angel-alia.bsky.social · 16/02/2025I read it for the first time last year, and yes! Such an iconic opening line! Especially loved the really long chapter all about the color white. 😂 040
A moon shadow @ravanelliterry.bsky.social · 16/02/2025And if you don't you can stick it up your spout. 020
DQKennard @dqkennard.bsky.social · 17/02/202510th grade English. I read as far as the chapter about whiteness, and said fuck this: I'm done. Told the teacher. He said I'd fail. I said I did the math on his grading, and I could take the hit. He didn't know what to say about that. Read it 25 years later. It was pretty good. 160
cassandra 💛 @nortsapa.bsky.social · 16/02/2025“it is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a whale.” 1240
davidbofinger.bsky.social @davidbofinger.bsky.social · 25/05/2026I have spat out the leg that was in your trousers and which you were probably using to walk You should kill me it tasted horrible so much omega-6 in a land animal 000
PinkTweets @pinktweets.bsky.social · 16/02/2025Is that the @audacityofdespair.bsky.social re-write? 020
Incognito in TX @ignognitotx.bsky.social · 16/02/2025Thank you for cleansing my timeline with the funniest shyte I’ve read since November 2024 😂 0220
A Little Night Musing @alilnightmusing.bsky.social · 16/02/2025Well, fuck, I’ve been reading the wrong version all these years. 1110
Benny Brycheiniog @cupking11.bsky.social · 16/02/2025Page 180: "I'm not even on the bloody boat yet!" Chapter 32: This is a whole chapter about how whales are fish. No, seriously. 0260
Unindicted Co-Conspiritor @co-conspiritor.bsky.social · 16/02/2025Call me Ishmael… seriously Ishmael I’ve been trying to reach you and this ship-to-shore communication is fucking expensive. 2510
George F 💙🌈 @georgef2.bsky.social · 16/02/2025I thought the opening line was: "This story has fuckall to do with whales" 0240
Matatoes Lasagna @matatoeslasagna.bsky.social · 16/02/2025Stares into cell phone camera inside of captains cabin: "Hey, yo, it's your boy Ishmael" 060
Julie @maguire708.bsky.social · 16/02/2025The first part (before they set sail) is hilariously obvious in the gay romance genre to modern eyes… then whales. 050
Solid Gold Robot @solidgoldrobot.bsky.social · 16/02/2025While understandable when we consider the historical context, and what his contemporaries were writing about, it's still shocking to our modern sensibilities that Herman Melville could write an entire novel about how enormous a whale's penis is. 0111
twotwotwo.bsky.social @twotwotwo.bsky.social · 16/02/2025I read it way too early in life, missing the larger meaning but engraving deep in my young mind that that thing has a whole-ass chapter on classifying whales 190
candlecrow.bsky.social @candlecrow.bsky.social · 17/02/2025Get thee ready for a WHALE of a tale... 020
Spooky Ineffable Benthic Pulchritude @anineffablegrump.bsky.social · 16/02/2025I prefer its last line (Spoiler alert) DID I HUNT WHALE? OR DID WHALE HUNT ME?! 130
Thoroughly Educated Duck @educated-duck.bsky.social · 16/02/2025media.tenor.coma man with a beard and an eye patch on his eyeALT: a man with a beard and an eye patch on his eye 000
Porter Clark @porterclark.bsky.social · 16/02/2025I didn't have to read Moby Dick in school but read it a few years ago. I absolutely hated it, but I now know how to track, capture, kill, and process a whale, and I can describe and probably identify maybe 20 types of whales. Honestly, I don't understand why this is considered such a classic. 180
Chris Polito @litig8or.bsky.social · 16/02/2025The man in black fled across the desert and the white whale followed. 060
Main St. Books Monroe @mainstbooksmonroe.bsky.social · 16/02/2025The entire opening passage is so relatable I have it in my bedroom wall: "Sometimes I think about beating someone up or offing myself, but then I go get splashed by cold water and feel a bit better." 0110
Susan Serious @itseemstome.bsky.social · 16/02/2025I learned to hate the book “Moby Dick” in college. The professor said the whales were a metaphor for truth and the white whale was the ultimate truth. Since I couldn’t find anywhere in the book that said anything remotely like that, 2100
chicken2little.bsky.social @chicken2little.bsky.social · 17/02/2025God I hated that novel in high school! 000
Call me Ishmael @thewhitewhale.bsky.social · 17/02/2025Melville: Here are ten pages of quotes featuring whales from other books. Whales, man! 070
alsumner.bsky.social @alsumner.bsky.social · 16/02/2025I didn’t. It sucked like a wet rock. Godawful. 070
MsHellfyre❤️🔥 @nerissaknm.bsky.social · 16/02/2025“I know not all that may be coming…” youtu.be/muOBrsm5DPc?...youtu.beHumpback whale swallows kayaker whole - then spits him outYouTube video by The Independent 051
DesertSkiesSue @desertprogressive.bsky.social · 16/02/2025I had to read Moby Dick in high school. It was a tough assignment. That line you just said should have been the Forward. 150
helicopterspy @helicopterspy.bsky.social · 16/02/2025It’s such a tease though. Whales are never mentioned again! 080
KT wolfs down chili @kinkyturtle.bsky.social · 18/02/2025"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking whaleteen." 010
guy-montag.bsky.social @guy-montag.bsky.social · 16/02/2025"We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold." Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas 1160
Dr. Phil Acula, Vampire. Not Changing It @msico.bsky.social · 16/02/2025Hi, I'm Ishmael. You're probably wondering how I got into this situation 😕 2831
Madame DeFarge @madamedefargeknits.bsky.social · 16/02/2025media.tenor.coma close up of a woman 's face with the words `` call me '' written on it .ALT: a close up of a woman 's face with the words `` call me '' written on it . 040
socialmediaman.bsky.social @socialmediaman.bsky.social · 16/02/2025That's a great line but I think Dickens did it better in A Tale Of Two Cities when he said "If you think one city is exciting get ready to have your tits blown clean off." 1130
Marsha Lynch @planetcupcake.bsky.social · 16/02/2025Here we are now, going to the south side I pick up my crew and we hope we won't die Ride at night, ride through Heaven and Hell Come back love and impale a whale 090
Jeff Lindsay @dexterjeff.bsky.social · 19/07/2026The editor suggested it. Melville’s original line was, “god DAMN, that motherfucker was fucking huge!” 010
Valhalla @vallahha.bsky.social · 16/02/2025Just might be the most boring book I ever read, but I read it when I was 15teen, and perhaps I didn't quite understand it. I may well have to try and read it again. 130
damonteh.bsky.social @damonteh.bsky.social · 16/02/2025It was the best of whales, It was the worst whales. 020
Back Look Cinema: the Podcast @backlookcinema.bsky.social · 16/02/2025It reads like an instruction manual for whaling with a fictional narrative crammed in the crevices. 030
thomasmarr.bsky.social @thomasmarr.bsky.social · 16/02/2025I hope you like reading about movies: www.amazon.com/WIamazon.comWILLIS CANNY: or, The MoviesAmazon.com: WILLIS CANNY: or, The Movies eBook : Marr, Thomas: Kindle Store 040
Ernest "Dead" Penfold @penfoldsfiv.eurosky.social · 16/02/2025best part was where Captain Ahab was all, "it's Moby Dick time!" and then he Moby Dicked all over that whale. 1121
BalancedRisk | PMP, PMI-RMP @balancedrisk.bsky.social · 16/02/2025Chapter 9: The Sermon. What a timeless lesson. 010
Benj Edwards @benjedwards.com · 16/02/2025Little known fact that the working title for Moby Dick was “Moby Penis,” and it was literally about a giant penis that stalked the oceans and capsized sailing vessels 6943
WigglyButtz🐶🐾🐕 @wigglybuttz.bsky.social · 16/02/2025And that's why we all read the annotated version, far too much about whaling in the full book. Same goes for the book, Princess Bride. 170
Sharkboo! 👻🦈🧛♂️ @poopoobanoonoos.bsky.social · 16/02/2025"Hey man, you ever think about how freaky the colour White is." 1170
pointnorth2c.bsky.social @pointnorth2c.bsky.social · 16/02/2025Is that really the opening sentence? 130
Adam @atomhammer.bsky.social · 16/02/2025“It was the best time to be a whale, it was the worst time to be a whale.” 93902
Mathias Disney @matdisney.bsky.social · 16/02/2025Coincidentally also used by the official Welsh tourist guide 1986 edition 060
New Mexico Man @newmexicoman.bsky.social · 16/02/2025“And don’t forget the knots, lots of knot tying talk.” 0120
Rob Baron @rob-baron.bsky.social · 16/02/2025If Dickens was writing A Tale of Two Cities right now, his opening sentence would be: "It was the worst of times, that's it, we're all fucked" 2995
Crone Ranger 📎 @librarianne.bsky.social · 16/02/2025Many years later as he faced the firing squad Colonel Aureliano Buendia remembered whales 1350
SubversiveGranny @subversivegranny.bsky.social · 16/02/2025If that were the opening line perhaps more would read it. 060
James Nisbet @bandit.nz · 17/02/2025Looking forward to seeing this tweet cited in ~12 months by AI 080
ViveLux @vivelux.bsky.social · 16/02/2025It was the most gruelingly difficult book I have ever read, so nope. Was there a whale in it? I had to look up every other word in a GIANT Webster's Dictionary before the Internet. LOL 030
clusterfuck @clusterfuck.bsky.social · 16/02/2025Damn, I’m sorry I missed that. I only read the crip notes 010
Cin Norris @newtonianflow.bsky.social · 16/02/2025The whale in white fled across the ocean and the harpoonslinger followed. @stephenking.bsky.social 160
Mark Colangelo @mark-colangelo.bsky.social · 16/02/2025Lol I tried reading it without knowing it was mostly homo erotic weirdness I needed more whales and less male soft harpooning 000
bradleyjakej.bsky.social @bradleyjakej.bsky.social · 16/02/2025It was the best of times, it was the whaliest of times. 090
Natasha @nluepke.bsky.social · 16/02/2025Buckle up assholes, we're going to learn the shit out of whaling and hubris. 02051
CKGB @hotel-putingrad.bsky.social · 16/02/2025All happy whales are alike; every unhappy whale is unhappy in its own way. 060
Jennifer Parker @jlp2008.bsky.social · 16/02/2025Did you know the book, including the insane captain, was inspired by the 1838 US Exploring Expedition? 050
Summer 🏳️⚧️ @artgirlsummer.bsky.social · 16/02/2025Quite possibly the most comprehensive collection of mostly wrong whale information still widely read. 71401
Kyrinn S. Eis @kyrinnseis.bsky.social · 16/02/2025Best read in the original Klingonese, Nestle-Aland rescention θ, 1888. 030
LizzyJo, Daisy & Po @lizzyjo.bsky.social · 16/02/2025I’m reading moby dick rn for the first time & have been lamenting to my husband about all of the side-text about every thing whale ever. I guess it was fascinating new info at the time but it’s wild. 040
Ben Fraytos @ben-fraytos.bsky.social · 17/02/2025Just downloaded kindle version of said novel:- starts nothing like that. Please advise which version ur reading. 020
KSlatteryResist @kslatteryresist.bsky.social · 16/02/2025Also, if you think Moby Dick is a hard read, try reading Sartor Resartus without throwing it at the wall at least twice. I threw it at least 3 times 🤣🤣🤣 490
KSlatteryResist @kslatteryresist.bsky.social · 16/02/2025Ishmael would not like your interpretation 🤣 “Call me Ishmael”media.tenor.coma whale 's tail is shown in a netflix videoALT: a whale 's tail is shown in a netflix video 1322
Mh.Warren @toogie.bsky.social · 16/02/2025It takes him half of the book to get there, babbling on about Ishmael and some other oddball characters interminably. 020
Matthew Donald 📖🦖🤣 @matthewdonald64.bsky.social · 16/02/2025My favorite part is when Ishmael says to Ahab "what are we, some kind of Moby Dick?" 040
Ghosty 👻 @ghostyspook.bsky.social · 16/02/2025Currently on hour 5000 of hearing about whales and shit trying to get through the audiobook. Only 7 hrs left! 180
Laura Taylor @applehearted.bsky.social · 16/02/2025“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good ship, must be in want of a whale” 11145
Isaak, Normal Human Person // Multiverse Rift Music @multiverserift.bsky.social · 16/02/2025I liked the opening credits, which was just big letters spelling WHALE WARS 0120
Alex/Digital Geist 🎹 @digitalgeist.com · 16/02/2025Narrowly beat out “this one’s for the whale-heads ✌️ “ 060
Abby Normal @irishbynature.bsky.social · 16/02/2025🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏💙💙💙💙💙 Well, call me laughing my ass off. 000
Pamela @paaamdawan.bsky.social · 16/02/2025for me it's: "To the worm that first gnawed the cold flesh of my corpse, I dedicate these posthumous memoirs as a fond remembrance." 050
LostNThought 🇬🇪 🇨🇦 🇲🇽 🇺🇦 @lostnthought.bsky.social · 16/02/2025Not as good as Estefan Reyes The dark tower "this foo was running across the desert and the Caballero was on his ass" 130
Raffael Cavallaro @rafcavallaro.bsky.social · 16/02/2025“Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Ishmael the whaler was to remember that distant voyage when Captain Ahab took him to discover the white whale.” 090
Haunted Loaf @bread.social · 16/02/2025It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a hoary captain in possession of a good ship, must be in want of a whale. 4760
Travel Nut @jonrossjan.bsky.social · 16/02/2025Moby Dick is like the whale version of Lord of the Flies 050
Nearly Sentient NPC @aoxxi.bsky.social · 16/02/2025Something similar but about how you have to completely suspend disbelief, but it's about the bible. 040
Nearly Sentient NPC @aoxxi.bsky.social · 16/02/2025media.tenor.comjerry from tom and jerry is laughing while covering his mouth .ALT: jerry from tom and jerry is laughing while covering his mouth . 030
Ed Markowitz @edmarkowitz.bsky.social · 16/02/2025Epilogue: “Shoulda taken that extended warranty on the boat, Ish…!” 🤷🏻♂️ 2130
Sir Juncan @sirjuncan.bsky.social · 18/02/2025Captain lost his leg today. Or yesterday maybe. I don't know. I got a letter from the first mate. "Leg gone. Revenge tomorrow. Faithfully yours." That doesn't mean anything. Maybe it was yesterday. 062
elysaarroyo.bsky.social @elysaarroyo.bsky.social · 16/02/2025I feel like the people in this thread need this: www.whysoever.com/products/dic...whysoever.comDick: a hilarious Moby-Dick party game100 mock-serious questions for our times. 375 answers taken word-for-word from Moby-Dick. Surpassingly hilarious. 1250
Witchy Witchy Gabey Casts A Spelly On You @gabepuratekuta.bsky.social · 17/02/2025"Don't like whales? Deal with it, shitstain!" 020
My Bloody Vinyl Time @mybloodyvinyltime.bsky.social · 16/02/2025I’ve not read it but it was my dad’s favorite book. I read. A passage at his funeral. It was : “Wow if you don’t watch out, whales can FUCK YOU UP!” 1180
Edward the Longshanks @magdalena-kryjom.bsky.social · 16/02/2025By what Trump does, the whole USA is losing its credibility in Europe. But now UE has a chance to become a superpower alliance. I know since I live in UE. 120
Jerri Jamz @jerrijamz.bsky.social · 16/02/2025media.tenor.comthe man is wearing a suit and tie and clapping his hands .ALT: the man is wearing a suit and tie and clapping his hands . 020
jmork1966.bsky.social @jmork1966.bsky.social · 17/02/2025You don’t know about me, without you have read a book called “the adventures of a huge white whale”, but that ain’t no matter… 020
Coatsie AKA “La Fleur” @coatsieboy.bsky.social · 16/02/2025If written in the 80’s Moby Dick would have opened with: “𝐈 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐠𝐮𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐦𝐞. 𝐈 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐝 𝐰𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞. 𝐈 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟, 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐚 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤…” 010
🎄Bonster of the Oklahoma Bonstrosities🎄 @bonstrous.bsky.social · 16/02/2025legit. cliffnotes told me. 030
SisterGoldenHairSurprise @bauntarbara.bsky.social · 16/02/2025Right from the start you knew it would be a whale of a tail... I'll see myself out... ("you better"°°°🐋) 020
Mara evans @whattheh.bsky.social · 16/02/2025Nathaniel Philbrick's book, "Why read Moby Dick" is excellent. 120
Moondance @perelandra12.bsky.social · 16/02/2025happy whales are all alike, unhappy whales are unhappy in their own way.. 0470
Anti-Fascist Hippie @austinhippiechick.bsky.social · 16/02/2025A whale bites a guy's leg off and he can't just forget about it. ~ Nat'l Lampoon 040
Eddie F @eddiefp001.bsky.social · 16/02/2025Had that book for years and Everytime I went to start it, I couldn't get beyond the first page. I think I can live without reading it. Now if we're talking the newest James Ellroy... 060
Jac ✨🧜♀️ @mirrorthestars.bsky.social · 16/02/2025Sperm whales are so cool. Glad they made a comeback. #savethewhales 030
erma-gerd.bsky.social @erma-gerd.bsky.social · 16/02/2025Is that what Ishmael translates to? I've often wondered. 030
caldemsince68.bsky.social @caldemsince68.bsky.social · 16/02/2025 I’m crying tears of laughter about this erudite, yet comedic thread. I bet not too many MAGAts would get most of the literary references, parodies, etc. 0130
tenseven @tenseven.bsky.social · 29/05/2026Hilarious🤣 Seriously, though: Inspired by Most Excellent Majesty, Mount Greylock, as seen from Melville's window at Arrowhead. photocontest.smithsonianmag.com/photocontest...photocontest.smithsonianmag.comView of Mount Greylock from Melville's study at ArrowheadThe view of Mount Greylock from the desk where Herman Melville wrote Moby-Dick in his study at Arrowhead in Pittsfield, MA. 000
Zahariel🍁 @xergg.bsky.social · 16/02/2025"from hells heart, I stab at thee" goes so goddamn hard. 060
Sean Gallagher @thepacketrat.net · 16/02/2025“I recently had my ass handed to me by a whale who sank my ship, killed my friends and dragged my skipper off to a watery grave. But that’s not important right now. “ 0360
