# Common denominators **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [December 17, 2008, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-denominators/477486 "2008-12-17T00:33:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-denominators/477486/41 "2008-12-18T14:42:12Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Yours – all Olympic athletes? (Knew that about Buster Crabbe, had a vague recollection on Patton, and thus started by googling Spock on it.) Correct. [Quote=Robot Arm] Host: “Banjo, bloodsucker, and Bartok.” Tony: “Those are my attorneys.” [/Quote] Serious answer: Belas – banjoist Bela Fleck, bloodsucker Bela Lugosi, composer Béla Bartók. You could add “balance beam” for gymnastics coach Béla Károlyi. Eddie Arcaro Cessna aircraft Edsel automobile ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-denominators/477486/42 "2008-12-18T14:55:12Z")
I don’t have an answer for one but here is a new one. Gerald Ford Andy Warhol Martin Luther King Jr. ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-denominators/477486/43 "2008-12-18T17:35:57Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Incorrect. Woodrow Wilson did not. [Woodrow got his in 1919, King in 1964, Tutu 84.](http://almaz.com/nobel/peace/) Maybe I misread something? ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-denominators/477486/44 "2008-12-18T17:47:20Z")
According to the OP we can list three _things._ I’ll try one without names of men. So what do these foods have in common? Sandwhich Stroganoff Salisbury steak ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-denominators/477486/45 "2008-12-18T17:49:11Z")
According to the OP we can list three _things._ I’ll try one without names of men. So what do these foods have in common? Sandwhich Stroganoff Salisbury steak ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-denominators/477486/46 "2008-12-18T18:03:03Z")
> [@MadTheSwine](#): > > I don’t have an answer for one but here is a new one. > > Gerald Ford > Andy Warhol > Martin Luther King Jr. All three of them got shot at, though at three different degrees of seriousness (Ford not hit; Warhol hit but not killed; King killed), so I’m not sure that’s it. ---
**Author:** ![Randy\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee7513/32.png) [@Randy\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randy_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-denominators/477486/47 "2008-12-18T18:17:22Z")
> [@tr0psn4j](#): > > Sandwhich > Stroganoff > Salisbury steak All named for noblemen. Julius Caesar Fyodor Dostoyevsky Hugo Weaving ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-denominators/477486/48 "2008-12-18T19:07:46Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Dido > Annie Lennox > Barbara Mandrell I’m still trying to see if I can get anywhere with this one without googling. ---
**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 18, 2008, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-denominators/477486/49 "2008-12-18T19:09:28Z")
> [@tr0psn4j](#): > > [Woodrow got his in 1919, King in 1964, Tutu 84.](http://almaz.com/nobel/peace/) Maybe I misread something? :smack: I could’ve _sworn_ Wilson didn’t get a Nobel Peace Prize. Well, you’re correct, then, but that wasn’t the commonality I had in mind: each was a commencement speaker at Oberlin College. Try these three, then: C.S. Lewis John F. Kennedy Aldous Huxley ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-denominators/477486/50 "2008-12-18T19:19:04Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > :smack: I could’ve _sworn_ Wilson didn’t get a Nobel Peace Prize. Well, you’re correct, then, but that wasn’t the commonality I had in mind: each was a commencement speaker at Oberlin College. Quaker school. Coincidence? I think not! ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-denominators/477486/51 "2008-12-18T19:19:43Z")
> [@Randy\_Seltzer](#): > > All named for noblemen. I was going to guess that they were all earls. Lyle Lovett Jenny McCarthy Larry Flynt …and me! ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-denominators/477486/52 "2008-12-18T19:33:26Z")
… ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-denominators/477486/53 "2008-12-18T19:38:11Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > :smack: I could’ve _sworn_ Wilson didn’t get a Nobel Peace Prize. Well, you’re correct, then, but that wasn’t the commonality I had in mind: each was a commencement speaker at Oberlin College. > > Try these three, then: > > C.S. Lewis > John F. Kennedy > Aldous Huxley They all died on November 22, 1963. Sigmund Freud Edgar Allan Poe Sonny Liston ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-denominators/477486/54 "2008-12-18T19:49:02Z")
> [@](#): > > I don’t have an answer for one but here is a new one. > > Gerald Ford > Andy Warhol > Martin Luther King Jr. If it was Lenin instead of King, I’d say the connection was that all three survived being shot at by a woman. And Ford’s name originally was King. But I can’t get what connects all three. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-denominators/477486/55 "2008-12-18T19:55:18Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > If it was Lenin instead of King, I’d say the connection was that all three survived being shot at by a woman. And Ford’s name originally was King. But I can’t get what connects all three. Yeah, I was looking at Ford and Warhol both having changed their names, but MLK doesn’t work for that, him being a “jr” and all. ---
**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 18, 2008, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-denominators/477486/56 "2008-12-18T21:04:42Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Quaker school. Coincidence? I think not! Putatively Presbyterian at its founding in 1833, but long since secular. ---
**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 18, 2008, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-denominators/477486/57 "2008-12-18T21:06:36Z")
**astorian** is right about Nov. 22, 1963. How about: Queen Elizabeth I Sir Isaac Newton Pope John Paul I ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-denominators/477486/58 "2008-12-18T21:37:14Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Putatively Presbyterian at its founding in 1833, but long since secular. Huh. My bad. Due to their long association with progressive causes (dating back to when they were a hotbed of Abolitionist activity) and their early lead in admitting blacks and women, I always thought they were Quaker. Thanks for fighting my ignorance. twicks, a birthright Quaker ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-denominators/477486/59 "2008-12-18T21:46:21Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > How about: > > Queen Elizabeth I > Sir Isaac Newton > Pope John Paul I They were multilingual? ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-denominators/477486/60 "2008-12-18T21:47:00Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Yeah, I was looking at Ford and Warhol both having changed their names, but MLK doesn’t work for that, him being a “jr” and all. The father was originally Michael King, and the son thus Michael King Jr. “Senior” changed the names to honor Martin Luther after the family toured Gerrmany in 1934. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-denominators/477486.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-denominators/477486.md?page=4)