# 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:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-lebowski-question-sometimes-you-eat-the-bar/231412/21 "2015-10-09T19:02:56Z")
This was an old accent that I doubt exists anymore. But it has a long history of use in movies, songs and literature. So it’s less that he’s trying to sound like a Texan, and more that he’s trying to sound like a stereotypical 1950s western movie. It’s an exaggerated callback to an established trope, like much of the rest of the film. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-lebowski-question-sometimes-you-eat-the-bar/231412/22 "2015-10-09T19:11:37Z")
> [@IDtenT\_Error](#): > > A related saying (although without the pronunciation issue) is “Sometimes you’re the dog, sometimes you’re the fire hydrant.” Or even more commonly “Some days you’re the windshield, some days you’re the bug.” ---
**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, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-lebowski-question-sometimes-you-eat-the-bar/231412/23 "2015-10-09T21:31:19Z")
I’ve also heard, “Some days you’re the alpha panda and some days you’re the panda that gets peed on.” [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Zz3E186IYas/hqdefault.jpg "Panda pees down on sleeping Panda.") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zz3E186IYas) ---
**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 10, 2015, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-lebowski-question-sometimes-you-eat-the-bar/231412/24 "2015-10-10T01:14:44Z")
> [@IDtenT\_Error](#): > > A related saying (although without the pronunciation issue) is “Sometimes you’re the dog, sometimes you’re the fire hydrant.” You mean “far hydrant”? ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2015, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-lebowski-question-sometimes-you-eat-the-bar/231412/25 "2015-10-10T02:25:56Z")
I’ve only known the pronunciation in reference to the Ballad of Davy Crockett, but that reference is very well established in popular culture, helped by the song appearing in Back to the Future as something to set the story in the 50s. ---
**Author:** ![I-VI-ii-V](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c89c15/32.png) [@I-VI-ii-V](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I-VI-ii-V)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2015, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-lebowski-question-sometimes-you-eat-the-bar/231412/26 "2015-10-10T23:07:42Z")
I think you guys are missing half the joke. Throughout the film, the Dude repeats bits and pieces of things that he hears, both directly to him and via things like GHW Bush’s speech at the beginning of the movie. Some of those things he doesn’t really understand, he justs repeats them, sometimes incorrectly. When The Stranger pronounces “bear” as “bar,” the Dude later repeats the “sometimes you eat the bar…” line, but then cuts himself off when he sees The Stranger. The Dude didn’t know he meant bear, he was just parroting what he hears. ---
**Author:** ![I-VI-ii-V](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c89c15/32.png) [@I-VI-ii-V](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I-VI-ii-V)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2015, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-lebowski-question-sometimes-you-eat-the-bar/231412/27 "2015-10-10T23:14:56Z")
Too late to add: The Stranger said it to simply set up another of the Dude’s repetitions/malpropisms ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2015, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-lebowski-question-sometimes-you-eat-the-bar/231412/28 "2015-10-11T13:50:41Z")
The real suburb in question is SE Portland, OR. Sam Elliot attended David Douglas High School there. I can guarantee you that he did not speak with a drawl growing up. The way he speaks now is a schtick he developed over the years to reinforce his Western persona. It’s not real, it’s not based on any one region, it’s just something he does. Other David Douglas [students](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Douglas_High_School#Notable_alumni) include Lindsay Wagner and Tonya Harding (who dropped out, surprise). ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2017, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-lebowski-question-sometimes-you-eat-the-bar/231412/29 "2017-11-27T14:58:31Z")
Bumped. Just came across this profile of the Coen Bros.'s bowling consultant for the movie: [Bringing the bowling to ‘The Big Lebowski’ – Orange County Register](http://www.ocregister.com/2013/03/23/bringing-the-bowling-to-the-big-lebowski/) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2018, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-lebowski-question-sometimes-you-eat-the-bar/231412/30 "2018-12-07T18:44:25Z")
I know what T-shirt I want for the next presidential campaign: [https://thedudesdesigns.com/collections/lebowski20/products/lebowski-20-premium-tee](https://thedudesdesigns.com/collections/lebowski20/products/lebowski-20-premium-tee) ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2018, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-lebowski-question-sometimes-you-eat-the-bar/231412/31 "2018-12-08T14:00:16Z")
Lotta bears in Texas? ---
**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:** [December 8, 2018, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-lebowski-question-sometimes-you-eat-the-bar/231412/32 "2018-12-08T15:06:57Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > Lotta bears in Texas? Not as common as elsewhere, but [they’re there.](https://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/hunt/resources/bear_safety/images/bear_map2016.jpg&imgrefurl=https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/hunt/resources/bear_safety/&h=3507&w=2480&tbnid=z_O0RburcgyzEM:&q=bears+in+texas&tbnh=160&tbnw=113&usg=AI4_-kQd4d03G4xcwTXYokYe2jgHuh5OgQ&vet=12ahUKEwjWn57cwJDfAhWho4MKHYpSAgYQ9QEwAHoECAYQBg..i&docid=p8rgVEfFt3a2LM&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjWn57cwJDfAhWho4MKHYpSAgYQ9QEwAHoECAYQBg) In any case, Texas has nothing to do with it. Sam Elliot’s accent is just a movie-cowboy accent and is not specifically Texan. And the pronunciation of bear as “bar” refers to that of Daniel Boone in Tennessee and Kentucky in the late 1700s. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2018, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-lebowski-question-sometimes-you-eat-the-bar/231412/33 "2018-12-08T15:23:05Z")
From _Against A Crooked Sky_ (1975) (as I was reminded here eight years ago): ♫ \*Ahhhhh… Killed a b’ar! No, not hyar! Over thar! I didn’t really do it I was drunk Ahhhhh… Killed a b’ar…\* ♫ ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2018, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-lebowski-question-sometimes-you-eat-the-bar/231412/34 "2018-12-08T15:48:40Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > In Akron, I’ve heard “bar” from people **who’s** parents grew up in Kentucky and Tennessee. Hell, even West Virginia. That’s “whose.” 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-lebowski-question-sometimes-you-eat-the-bar/231412.md?page=1)