# Claire Beauchamp, the culturally literate snob **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 31, 2009, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/claire-beauchamp-the-culturally-literate-snob/504905 "2009-07-31T19:28:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/claire-beauchamp-the-culturally-literate-snob/504905/1 "2009-07-31T19:28:38Z")
Let’s all hand out a warm welcome to the Pit for Claire Beauchamp, who has recently discovered amazingly new lows of snobbery in [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=526482) thread. I’d like to thank her for telling me just how I;m culturally illiterate… because I didn’t know much about Alex Guinness. Well, curse me for not being able to go to English theater years before I was born! That Guiness, he’s so important to knowing anything about culture that not knowing much about him alone makes one _culturally illiterate_. That’s just common sense, right? It’s not like Guiness would now be an obscure actor who did very little outside of his native land if he hadn’t been in Star Wars, eh? He’s practically a legend for all those roles he did in… something. And Bridge Over the River Kwai, yup, that’s not an obscure film at all. I mean, _everyone_ watches that, right? I mean, everybody watches films which earned some award decades before they were born. Hard not to. Have to be a complete phillistine to aovid them! Dumbass. :rolleyes: Seriously, I know a bit about Guinness, and I’ve still never gotten around to watching any movies that had him in it other than Star Wars. They are simply not that important to me, and I can easily understand most people not knowing much about him. His glory days were in the 50’s and 60’s, and that’s a damn long time ago. My _parents_ were just old enough to have caught some of his stuff. More to the point, while his stuff was good, he was hardly a _legend_. His movies were mostly quiet dramas or comedies, but they hardly changed the nature of film. I’d like to take some bets, on how much Claire Beauchamp knows about moderately important actors who peaked some _forty years_ before her birth. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/claire-beauchamp-the-culturally-literate-snob/504905/2 "2009-07-31T19:32:29Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > Let’s all hand out a warm welcome to the Pit for Claire Beauchamp, who has recently discovered amazingly new lows of snobbery in [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=526482) thread. > > I’d like to thank her for telling me just how I;m culturally illiterate… because I didn’t know much about Alex Guinness. It’s **Alec** Guinness, with a “c,” not an “x.” Maybe you’re not _culturally_ illiterate so much as _functionally_ illiterate. Okay, cheap shot; I did it for the humor value. ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/claire-beauchamp-the-culturally-literate-snob/504905/3 "2009-07-31T19:34:15Z")
I love his beer! ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/claire-beauchamp-the-culturally-literate-snob/504905/4 "2009-07-31T19:42:02Z")
Plus, he changed the way we look at world records forever… ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/claire-beauchamp-the-culturally-literate-snob/504905/5 "2009-07-31T19:43:48Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > And Bridge Over the River Kwai, yup, that’s not an obscure film at all. I mean, _everyone_ watches that, right? I mean, everybody watches films which earned some award decades before they were born. Hard not to. Have to be a complete phillistine to aovid them! The Bridge On the River Kwai as an obscure film? Come on. It is an extrememly famous movie, moreover a phenominal movie, and Guiness’ performance in it is stellar. The guy was a superlative actor throughout his career. Not having watched movies such as The Bridge On the River Kwai doesn’t make someone a philistine. Avoiding them, on the other hand, comes much closer. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/claire-beauchamp-the-culturally-literate-snob/504905/6 "2009-07-31T19:43:57Z")
On a more OP-relevant note, I’ll say this: It’s not a hard-and-fast rule but in general, if you find yourself typing out “_sigh_”, make sure you reread your post a couple of times. Chances are you’re coming off like a rather large douche. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/claire-beauchamp-the-culturally-literate-snob/504905/7 "2009-07-31T19:49:02Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > They are simply not that important to me, and I can easily understand most people not knowing much about him. His glory days were in the 50’s and 60’s, and that’s a damn long time ago. My _parents_ were just old enough to have caught some of his stuff. Not knowing about, not caring about, and being dismissive of, anything that was released before you were born is one of the characteristics of the culturally illiterate. ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/claire-beauchamp-the-culturally-literate-snob/504905/8 "2009-07-31T19:51:44Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > And Bridge Over the River Kwai, yup, that’s not an obscure film at all. I mean, _everyone_ watches that, right? I mean, everybody watches films which earned some award decades before they were born. Hard not to. Have to be a complete phillistine to aovid them! Pretty much. How old are you, honey? ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/claire-beauchamp-the-culturally-literate-snob/504905/9 "2009-07-31T19:52:38Z")
Weak. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/claire-beauchamp-the-culturally-literate-snob/504905/10 "2009-07-31T19:53:16Z")
Ever see _Lawrence of Arabia_? Guinness played Prince Feisal in that quiet little flick. And played _Doctor Zhivago_’s half brother in another obscure arthouse film. Ms Beauchamp (pronounced “Beechum”?) was a bit too snooty… ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/claire-beauchamp-the-culturally-literate-snob/504905/11 "2009-07-31T19:54:10Z")
Let’s not forget _Lawrence of Arabia_. And _Great Expectations_. And _Doctor Zhivago_. The Ealing comedies, while fantastic, are somewhat more obscure, I’ll grant you that. Although _The Ladykillers_ was recently remade by the Coen Brothers with Tom Hanks, if that’s any indication. I mean, I don’t think you _have_ to have seen any of those movies to be culturally literate, although frankly _The Bridge on the River Kwai_ and _Lawrence of Arabia_ are film canon. But you should be _aware_ of them, yes. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/claire-beauchamp-the-culturally-literate-snob/504905/12 "2009-07-31T19:55:46Z")
You’ve at least seen Star Wars, right? Or was that before you were born? ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/claire-beauchamp-the-culturally-literate-snob/504905/13 "2009-07-31T19:56:24Z")
> [@Maeglin](#): > > You’ve at least seen Star Wars, right? Or was that before you were born? Come on, expecting people to watch that obscure arty crap is pretentious. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/claire-beauchamp-the-culturally-literate-snob/504905/14 "2009-07-31T19:58:47Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > Come on, expecting people to watch that obscure arty crap is pretentious. Who you callin’ arty-lookin’? ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/claire-beauchamp-the-culturally-literate-snob/504905/15 "2009-07-31T20:04:10Z")
I’ve seen a bunch of Alec Guinness’s other movies. I liked him in _Blackhawk Down_, but _Trainspotting_ was my favorite. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/claire-beauchamp-the-culturally-literate-snob/504905/16 "2009-07-31T20:05:32Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > I’ve seen a bunch of Alec Guinness’s other movies. I liked him in _Blackhawk Down_, but _Trainspotting_ was my favorite. Dude, _Trainspotting_ wasn’t even in American. Pinky-lifting snobasses like you are first against the wall when the revolution comes. Don’t forget your monocle! ---
**Author:** ![Claire\_Beauchamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ec9cab/32.png) [@Claire\_Beauchamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claire_Beauchamp)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/claire-beauchamp-the-culturally-literate-snob/504905/17 "2009-07-31T20:07:13Z")
Thanks, SB, for proving my point so precisely with your OP here. I appreciate it. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/claire-beauchamp-the-culturally-literate-snob/504905/18 "2009-07-31T20:08:22Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Don’t forget your monocle! Those things you ride at Disneyworld? 😕 I don’t even have one of those. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/claire-beauchamp-the-culturally-literate-snob/504905/19 "2009-07-31T20:11:43Z")
Good God, smiling bandit. Where’s our facepalm smiley? ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/claire-beauchamp-the-culturally-literate-snob/504905/20 "2009-07-31T20:15:36Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > It’s not like Guiness would now be an obscure actor who did very little outside of his native land if he hadn’t been in Star Wars, eh? No . . . no, it’s not like that. What’s your point? > [@smiling bandit](#): > > He’s practically a legend for all those roles he did in… something. Well, yeah, he practically is. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/claire-beauchamp-the-culturally-literate-snob/504905.md?page=2)