Sounds provocative to me.

Isn't this just satire?

Something along the lines of strawman.

Yes...if the argument is posited for the sole purpose of getting knocked down, then "straw man" is a good suggestion.

I must be dumb. I haven't got a clue what Pack up your eggs and go home, ladies. We're shelling here! might mean.

@DecapitatedSoul Perhaps you should post that...

@FumbleFingers As country boy, I was thinking maybe "...shelling peas here". Then it would make sense...but it is very sexist. Kinda like mansplaining...?

I think the technical term that fits here is being a jerk

@Cascabel - Haha, numb green thumbs...I know. I meant shell as in shell shock (OL&G#1: bombard with shells. "the guns started shelling their positions"). This definition is ranked first, even though you'd think shelling peas would be more common than...the alternative. I just picked a recent topic in the news and went with that (something that would actually disparage me personally if that were called into question). This is not political or whatever. I just want a specific term from people who know a lot of them; that's all.

@FumbleFingers - Sorry for the lack of context. I was going to add an implication (e.g., make babies, not war), but I thought it was obvious and...too much; I just couldn't. Anyway, I added some context (see edit) and a definition in comment above. The point that seems to be missed is that he's making a 180, expressing a view totally opposite to his own (usually with some words I can't use here). He thinks it's more effective; I dunno, maybe.

Ah, right. In context, a fairly clever bit of punning, actually! (Passing over the fact that human female eggs don't have shells! :)

It's a bit like a "Joe Job", but that's more about a person than a political issue.

The famous Spelling Reform Essay seems like a classic example of this.

@FumbleFingers - Yeah, it's not great. It's hard to come up with an example of inflammatory, but not so much. But as a group, I don't think people are that fragile. :-( It never ends...it's almost a circle.

@GregorThomas - Cool, what is "xrewawt"? I can't figure that spelling out.

Sorry for being a nag, but AFAIK, shell is used passively, or needs an object. i.e. "We are getting shelled." or "We shelled their forward positions"

@KannE 'throughout'

@Cascabel - Yep, that's sort of the point, to maintain the form. "Can't you see I'm ____ing over here!" So it's something really serious (in the blank) vs. the usual--something not-so-serious but stated seriously. Yep, it's like that; enjoy the ride...into obscurity. I added the busy and over to make it more readable for people not familiar with the shortened form ("I'm ____ing here!"), but it took away some of the dismissiveness, I think. Sorry, I can't provide a real example. The world isn't ready yet.

It seems like performing a reductio ad absurdum on a strawman of the original argument, with a healthy dose of sarcasm throne in for spice

@MichaelHarvey - Yes, he regularly acknowledges that (We're just jerks.). Hey, whaat? But just jerk be like... Q: What kind of cat is that? A: A feline cat. By jove, I think it's a kitty-cat! Or catty cat...extra catlike. It's probably genetic...

@Tristan - I am beginning to believe it's a mixture.

@KannE - OK if you like, a prick. This guy's a prick. Plenty of meaning there. What's with the cat stuff?

@MichaelHarvey - It's a duck test, but with cats... And what if I lied (I'm just asking for a friend...)? Just prick doesn't seem very inclusive, but I can be a jerk, generally, even though connotatively... Wait, is that what's wrong with maternity ACUs? Exclusivity. There it is. What about caftans then? Uh-oh, low crawling. It's a can of worms.

Don't try to out-jerk me. I can jerk anything to chat, easy.

@Cascabel - Now that this is in chat, a watered-down example w/b: '"...Lasers in Space" and all you can think about is abandoned...Babies?' So, there it is. I thought I could make up one...but I was wrong.

You asked for it, you got it, Toyota.