Editing Internet Oracle (section)

== Style ==

A representative (and famous) exchange is:
:''The Usenet Oracle has pondered your question deeply.''
:''Your question was:''
:''> Why is a cow?''
:''And in response, thus spake the Oracle:''
:''} [[Mu (negative)|Mu]].''

Many of the Oracularities contain [[Zen]] references and witty wordplay. "[[Geek]]" humor is also common, though less common than in the early years of the Oracle's existence, when fewer casual home computer users had Internet access. Most Oracularities are significantly longer than the above example, and they sometimes take the form of rambling narratives, poems, top-ten lists, spoofing of [[interactive fiction]] games, or anything else that can be put into plain text.

A complex Oracle mythos has also evolved around the figure of an omniscient, anthropomorphic, geeky deity and a host of grovelling priests and attendants. Other staples in conversation with the Oracle include:

* A ''*ZOT*'' (administered with the Staff of Zot, see [[LART]]) is earned when the Oracle is irritated. *ZOT*s are something like lightning strikes and are usually fatal. Unscrupulous participants will sometimes administer undeserved *ZOT*s. The particular word ''*ZOT*'' may be a reference to the comic strip ''[[B.C. (comic)|B.C.]]''  Alternatively, it may be an allusion to [[Walter Karig]]'s 1947 novel entitled ''[[Zotz!]]'', in which a person could point at anyone or anything, say "Zotz!" and make that thing or person instantly disintegrate.
* [[Woodchuck]] questions are a sure way to earn a *ZOT*. The Oracle will often censor the word "woodchuck" as "w..dch.ck" or simply refer to it obliquely ("[[The Princess Bride (film)|rodent of unusual size]]"). This is a reference to "The Woodchuck Question": "How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?", which in the early days of the Usenet Oracle, was over-asked to the point of being a cliché.
* Traditionally, questions to the Oracle open with a suitable grovel such as "High and Mighty Oracle, please answer my most humble question," although grovels are often very creative and can be very long, or even part of the question.
* Answers from the Oracle traditionally contain a request for payment such as "You owe the Oracle a [[rubber chicken]] and a Cadillac." This segment, often called the "YOTO  line" (for "You owe the Oracle") or tribute, often refers to objects that are related, in a punny way, to the answer they are a part of.

An assorted mythos of recurring characters—or in-jokes—has accumulated over the years. These include the worthless High Priest Zadoc (sometimes with an assistant named Kendai), the Oracle's girlfriend Lisa the ''Net.Sex.Goddess'', an assortment of deities, and the [[caveman]] figure Og.