Diaowww! Spiders! Get 'em away!!!

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One evening in the Fall of 1983 George Krauter shouted "Diaowww! Spiders! Get 'em away!" before a forum meeting. The quote was based on the raving prisoner of a Frankensteinian villain from an early 1960s Hammer Studios horror film. Eventually the phrase was broken into "Spiders! Get 'em away!" and "Diaowww!" which were each used in different situations. TOG (Gary McCammon) evolved "Diaowww!" into the much more subtle "Dow," which was spoken flatly to convey ironically understated exasperation towards various situations or people. Once at an I-Con meeting in 1985, Ralph Scianno went on a rampage, throwing file cabinets, chairs and a bag of half eaten Doritos before hanging from the meeting room door, swinging and bouncing off each side of the buckling aluminum frame. John Madonia, Kevin Sterner, TOG and George Krauter were all present at the meeting, ducking and hiding to avoid injury. Once the dust settled, TOG said quietly: "Dow."

For a few years in the mid 80s, "Diaowww!" was widely rumored to have been inspired by dialog from the "Quincy, ME" Punk Rock episode (a must-see item on Youtube) or Todd Browning's "Freaks." However, the Hammer film (title unknown) is the true inspiration.