My senior year in college I spotted some SDMB jokes among the humorous computer printouts decorating the door of a hallmate. I can’t remember what they were now, but I recognized them. I wasn’t sure if my hallmate was actually a Doper though, 'cause she might have just found them posted on a webpage somewhere. So I left a little note on her whiteboard saying “Hey, do you read the SDMB?” Turns out she did! I went to a pretty small college, so it was quite a coincidence to meet another Doper just two doors down from me in the dorm.
Not long after I started my current job a coworker (while speaking, shall we say, colorfully) used the name of a less-than-mainstream sex act that I’ve never heard mentioned outside the BBQ Pit. I thought I’d met a second Doper by coincidence, but after dropping a few SDMB hints in his direction and casually asking about his Internet habits I had to conclude that the guy just has a specialized vocabulary.
Oh, I don’t think we can count every real-world use of “Hi, Opal!” as a hit. I mean, some people happen to be named Opal, and others occasionally have cause to greet them.
See, that really puzzles me. I was watching the episode in question with Marley23, and it had Joel in it. (Actually, it was Joel, not Crow, who made the comment in question.) Which means that I’m pretty sure it HAD to pre-date the SD, or at least that joke (Opal dates it at about '96 or '97). Which could only mean that “Hi, Opal!” has some other cultural significance. Dammit, I wanna know now!
I think you’re wrong in assuming it could only mean there’s some other cultural significance to the phrase. Some of the jokes on MST3K were in-jokes among the staff, and some were just silliness with no special meaning. It may have been merely a shout-out to someone named Opal, as the John Mayer quote almost certainly was.
Opals do have some minor significance in the world of MST3K, though. In Gamera vs. Barugon (season three), a monster’s egg is mistaken for and repeatedly referred to as a giant opal by the none-too-bright characters. I suppose “Hi, Opal!” could be some sort of reference to that, although I don’t know the context or even the episode for the “Hi, Opal!” line.
The “Hi, Opal” line is during Shorts, Vol 1. The gang is being subject to a short about Home Economics. When the line is said, a woman has just walked down the steps and is showing off a prom dress. It certainly doesn’t have anything to do with the situation on screen.
You don’t think they’re just saying “hi” to the woman in the prom dress? I remember plenty of “Hi, Betty! Hi, Mary Sue!” lines in MST3K episodes, especially ones with '50s movies. Unless it was an in-joke (e.g. the woman looked like someone they knew named Opal), they probably just chose a random woman’s name to call out. Not a real thigh-slapper, but not all the jokes were.
They were definitely saying hi to the woman. Given MST3K’s habit of making obscure pop-culture references, I felt that might be one. Especially since there seemed to be no other reason for using that specific name. Maybe they did just pick the name Opal at random, but it seemed like a large coincidence.
I once found myself referring to ‘the dopers’ to an outsider (“Oh, by the way I got an answer to that question, some of the dopers seem to think…”)
Let’s just say I got a strange look.
Heck, you guys wouldn’t know what to do if auntie em and I stuck around for more than a few hours. You’d be, like, “Wow. Surreal.”
Or naked. Or something–I can’t decide.
A verbal sleight-of-hand on my part, I swear. I say stuff like that so people keep away. We’re swamped with tourists as it is. We’re kinda like the East Coast of the Midwest.
