# Big Lebowski Question: Sometimes You Eat the Bar? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 27, 2004, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-lebowski-question-sometimes-you-eat-the-bar/231412 "2004-02-27T04:21:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pokey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ebca7d/32.png) [@pokey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pokey)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-lebowski-question-sometimes-you-eat-the-bar/231412/1 "2004-02-27T04:21:22Z")
“Sometimes you eat the bar, and sometimes the bar eats you” I don’t get it. What’s the bar? ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-lebowski-question-sometimes-you-eat-the-bar/231412/2 "2004-02-27T04:23:55Z")
> [@pokey](#): > > “Sometimes you eat the bar, and sometimes the bar eats you” > > I don’t get it. What’s the bar? It’s an exaggerated Texan pronounciation of ‘bear’. ---
**Author:** ![Dizzy\_Fingers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dizzy\_Fingers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dizzy_Fingers)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-lebowski-question-sometimes-you-eat-the-bar/231412/3 "2004-02-27T04:29:49Z")
> [@Raygun99](#): > > It’s an exaggerated Texan pronounciation of ‘bear’. Like the one Davy Crockett “kilt” when he was only three. (Although he was Tennesseean, not Texan.) ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-lebowski-question-sometimes-you-eat-the-bar/231412/4 "2004-02-27T04:47:20Z")
Sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes the bear eats you. It means sometimes you come out on top, and sometimes you lose big time. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-lebowski-question-sometimes-you-eat-the-bar/231412/5 "2015-10-09T16:29:52Z")
Zombie bump! [Here’s the line in question.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPVLyB0Yc6I) Now, I’m told by this thread, and in fact, all over the internet, that “bar” is just “bear” with a Texan/Southern/mountain accent. I don’t buy it. For one, I’ve _never_ heard anyone in person say “bar,” it doesn’t even make sense to me given how I think a southern accent should sound. [Here’s a guy with a southern accent, in Texas, talking about black bears](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmXcHmfdmE0), and he doesn’t come anywhere close to saying “bar.” In fact, it says a lot more like “bayer,” which is how I would expect it to sound, the total opposite direction from “bar.” For two, Sam Elliott is from California. Since saying “bear” as “bar” is certainly not a typical southern accent, then “bar” would have had to have been a deliberate pronunciation choice by either Elliott himself, or more likely, by the Coen brothers. Why would they have him mispronounce a word in a manner that 99% of their audience, who aren’t familiar with this supposed bear/bar accent shift, wouldn’t understand. It makes no sense. No, I think it’s a play on words, that he intentionally said “bar” in a way that’s confusing and sorta funny, because that’s the sort of joke the Coen brothers would make. And just to get to it first, Sometimes you eat the brains, and, well, sometimes the brains, they eat you. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-lebowski-question-sometimes-you-eat-the-bar/231412/6 "2015-10-09T16:35:38Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > Zombie bump! > > [Here’s the line in question.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPVLyB0Yc6I) Now, I’m told by this thread, and in fact, all over the internet, that “bar” is just “bear” with a Texan/Southern/mountain accent. I don’t buy it. > > For one, I’ve _never_ heard anyone in person say “bar,” it doesn’t even make sense to me given how I think a southern accent should sound. [Here’s a guy with a southern accent, in Texas, talking about black bears](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmXcHmfdmE0), and he doesn’t come anywhere close to saying “bar.” In fact, it says a lot more like “bayer,” which is how I would expect it to sound, the total opposite direction from “bar.” > > For two, Sam Elliott is from California. Since saying “bear” as “bar” is certainly not a typical southern accent, then “bar” would have had to have been a deliberate pronunciation choice by either Elliott himself, or more likely, by the Coen brothers. Why would they have him mispronounce a word in a manner that 99% of their audience, who aren’t familiar with this supposed bear/bar accent shift, wouldn’t understand. It makes no sense. > > No, I think it’s a play on words, that he intentionally said “bar” in a way that’s confusing and sorta funny, because that’s the sort of joke the Coen brothers would make. > > And just to get to it first, Sometimes you eat the brains, and, well, sometimes the brains, they eat you. You are wrong. You seriously have never heard “bar” used for “bear,” even theatrically? _How_ young are you? Where do you get that 99% of people won’t understand “bar”? It seems like everyone understands it except you. I grew up in Texas, and I have heard “bar” on occasion. ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-lebowski-question-sometimes-you-eat-the-bar/231412/7 "2015-10-09T16:45:35Z")
I recently saw the movie for the first time. It was clear to me that it was “bear” in a Texan accent; it never even occurred to me that it might be something other than that. Sam Elliott may be from California, but the character is not, nor is it a generic Southern Accent, I’d peg it as Texan-ish. The idea that it’s some obscure joke by the Coen brothers just doesn’t make sense, nor would I agree that it’s the type of joke they would make. Why would they aim to deliberately confuse their audience, especially considering that it seems most people got that it was “bear”. So, they’d deliberately imply it should be “bear”, while saying “bar”, knowing that “bar” wouldn’t make sense, but most people would hear “bear” anyway. Just way too convoluted, Occam’s Razor and all that, so I think it’s just a that it’s an accent. After all, I’ve hear plenty of people say “there” as “thar”, which is the same vowel shift. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-lebowski-question-sometimes-you-eat-the-bar/231412/8 "2015-10-09T16:48:56Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I grew up in Texas, and I have heard “bar” on occasion. I won’t have it! But seriously, I’d love to find an audio clip of someone saying bar. > [@Blaster\_Master](#): > > After all, I’ve hear plenty of people say “there” as “thar”, which is the same vowel shift. Shit, well… I’ve heard there’s gold in them thar hills, so you make a good point with this. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-lebowski-question-sometimes-you-eat-the-bar/231412/9 "2015-10-09T16:55:17Z")
From [Wikipedia on Daniel Boone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Boone): > [@](#): > > Such frontiersmen often carved messages on trees or wrote their names on cave walls, and Boone’s name or initials have been found in many places. One on a tree in present Washington County, Tennessee reads “D. Boon Cilled a. Bar [killed a bear] on [this] tree in the year 1760”. A similar carving, preserved in the museum of the Filson Historical Society in Louisville, Kentucky, reads “D. Boon Kilt a Bar, 1803.” That’s where ‘bar’ comes from. It has nothing at all in any way what-so-ever now or ever before or since to do with Texas. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-lebowski-question-sometimes-you-eat-the-bar/231412/10 "2015-10-09T16:59:43Z")
Listen to the first 18 seconds of the greatest song in human history. Also, I can't believe you've never heard the phrase, "Sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats you." It was engraved on me granpappys' cradle. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-lebowski-question-sometimes-you-eat-the-bar/231412/11 "2015-10-09T17:05:15Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > Also, I can’t believe you’ve never heard the phrase, “Sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats you.” It was engraved on me granpappys’ cradle. Not a common saying in the suburbs of Ohio 🙂 Obviously that makes more sense as a phrase, but this is like if there were a line in a movie that went “A Benny saved is a Benny earned,” and I assumed my whole life that it was a pun about a character name Benny, and then someone comes along and says, "No, that’s just how they say “penny” in southeast Idaho, didn’t you know? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-lebowski-question-sometimes-you-eat-the-bar/231412/12 "2015-10-09T17:06:06Z")
I believe my mother’s hillbilly relatives in Arkansas used “bar” too. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-lebowski-question-sometimes-you-eat-the-bar/231412/13 "2015-10-09T17:11:31Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > Not a common saying in the suburbs of Ohio 🙂 The saying evidently made it across the Atlantic, though, as Ian Matthews in 1974 made an album titled _Some Days You Eat the Bear and Some Days the Bear Eats You._ ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-lebowski-question-sometimes-you-eat-the-bar/231412/14 "2015-10-09T17:32:52Z")
> [@Blaster\_Master](#): > > Sam Elliott may be from California, but the character is not, nor is it a generic Southern Accent, I’d peg it as Texan-ish. I’d argue that the character Sam Elliott is playing is also from California, but the character _that_ character is playing is a Texan. By which I mean, Sam Elliot is a an old-timey cowboy _in Los Angeles_. He’s not a “real” cowboy, he’s a _Hollywood_ cowboy. And I don’t mean the character is an actor - I don’t think he’s entirely meant to be a real person in the context of the film. For one thing, he’s the only character in the movie who’s aware that he’s in a movie: he narrates the film, comments on events he was not present for, and frequently addresses the audience directly. He’s a movie character who’s stepped off the screen and now spends his time hanging out in a bowling alley. He doesn’t represent the Spirit of the West, he represents the Spirit of the West_ern_: an artificial, idealized version of the real thing, including a “Texan” accent that’s not quite accurate. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-lebowski-question-sometimes-you-eat-the-bar/231412/15 "2015-10-09T17:36:53Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > He’s a movie character who’s stepped off the screen and now spends his time hanging out in a bowling alley. So what you’re saying is that Big Lebowski is the sequel to Last Action Heroe. :eek: Now it’s starting to make sense. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-lebowski-question-sometimes-you-eat-the-bar/231412/16 "2015-10-09T17:37:36Z")
**Miller** just blew my mind. OK, I was wrong, zombie thread can die again now. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-lebowski-question-sometimes-you-eat-the-bar/231412/17 "2015-10-09T17:40:15Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > Not a common saying in the suburbs of Ohio 🙂 Depends on the suburb. In Akron, I’ve heard “bar” from people who’s parents grew up in Kentucky and Tennessee. Hell, even West Virginia. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-lebowski-question-sometimes-you-eat-the-bar/231412/18 "2015-10-09T17:43:10Z")
[quote=“Drunky\_Smurf, post:10, topic:231412”] Listen to the first 18 seconds of the greatest song in human history. [/QUOTE] [Other](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAVN_n0PljQ) [versions](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bff8NCdTl-A) [of the](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ACYcD1ce5E) [song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1KYpizprfI)also use “bar.” Given the popularity of the Davey Crockett craze in the 1950s, this is obviously what the Coen brother were referencing (and second-hand, the Daniel Boone quotes). ---
**Author:** ![IDtenT\_Error](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@IDtenT\_Error](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IDtenT_Error)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-lebowski-question-sometimes-you-eat-the-bar/231412/19 "2015-10-09T17:55:49Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > The saying evidently made it across the Atlantic, though, as Ian Matthews in 1974 made an album titled _Some Days You Eat the Bear and Some Days the Bear Eats You._ A related saying (although without the pronunciation issue) is “Sometimes you’re the dog, sometimes you’re the fire hydrant.” ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-lebowski-question-sometimes-you-eat-the-bar/231412/20 "2015-10-09T18:01:09Z")
In Siberia, Russian bear eats YOU! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-lebowski-question-sometimes-you-eat-the-bar/231412.md?page=2)