Corn
Corn is an often yellow cereal grain that is commonly grown in North America, prominently throughout the midwest. It is not a vegetable, and is commonly enjoyed with butter after being boiled in hot water and removed from its sheath. Its significance to RPGWW is that of an in-joke.
Contents
The Beginning
LadydragonclawsEDW can be attributed for the start of this particular in-joke; during one RP session, her characters Aya and Ara du Mythril were engaged in telepathic communication when one sent a very brief (and situationally humorous) message to the other that consisted of "I like corn." While arguably true--and quite possibly in-character--it sparked a round of laughter from the chatters present.
Online, the corn joke evolved further with repetitions of telepathically-transmitted corn admiration from the du Mythrils, to each other and, occasionally, others' characters. Also contributing to the corn jokery was an IC conversation between characters Dia Rai and Raptre L'Sarithe later referred to as "The Birds and the Bees."
Corn: The Signing
The corn joke made its appearance offline in the form of a sign during the first RPGWW get together--soon to be known as RPGWWcons. RPGWWers gathered at Dia's house were readying to pick up poster Ladydragonclawsedw--RPer of both Aya and Ara--from the Greyhound bus station, when it became obvious that no one knew what she looked like. Thus, it was decided that a sign was needed to best help the group locate the woman find them; and thus, the corn sign was born. The word CORN emblazoned the front of the sign, an ear of such replacing the O, while a dragon and a KITTY sat in either corner. A cabbit, however, was not included.
Since this first meeting, the corn sign has been laminated for extra durability and has made its presence known at nearly every anime convention and RPGWW event possible--often serving as a rally point for forumers in search of other forumers wandering around enormous convention halls or crowded airports. Congoers to the annual Sugoicon have frequently ask about the corn sign and have requested to take photographs of RPGWWers holding it.
Earned Retirement
Due to the effects of weather, the first Corn Sign has been retired, and a new one taken its place. The new sign was constructed for the 2005 Anime Weekend Atlanta, and the retired sign hangs proudly on Dia's wall.
False Advertisement! And Other Corn Antics
At Sugoicon one year, a congoer demanded corn from the sign-carrying RPGWWer; however, she had no corn to give. Thus, it is now tradition to bring corn to distribute with the sign; be it canned corn, ears of corn, or candy corn.
Dia, Shinigori, and others have been known to offer these gifts of corn (sometimes unlabeled as "mystery cans") in exchange for various services at conventions, including commissioned artwork. Amongst many others, the frequent guest of Sugoicon Dan Hess has produced many lovely corn-inspired pieces of artwork.
Naturally, many people want to know the meaning of The Sign. However, the actual story taking far too long--and not having a lot of meaning to most non-RPGWWers--it is traditional to make up stories on the spot. Wildly and obviously untrue stories, naturally.
