# Discussion thread for the "Polls only" thread (Part 2) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 16, 2024, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636 "2024-02-16T02:56:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 496
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2026, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/9903 "2026-01-21T20:12:30Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I also don’t think _Masterpiece Theater_ and _Mystery!_ belong since they are not actual TV series. Fair enough, but they were nominated and I only had literally 1 deletion (Roseanne, which I figured would win the tally by a landslide), and this was after I put in some that were never mentioned but seemed to be glaring omissions (like Trek and Dr. Who, or BoB). > [@kenobi\_65](#): > > For me, I had attempted to read _A Game of Thrones_, years before the TV series. It’s one of the rare novels I was unable to finish; it’s full of, as I mentioned about the TV show, “horrible characters doing horrible things,” and every time a possibly-sympathetic character showed up, they were either killed or tortured in short order. I couldn’t stand it. I am not sure high fantasy (yes I am well aware that _GoT_ really isn’t such) will work on the small screen (yes I am aware of Rings of Power, _hack choke gasp_), as the values, conventions, and mores that go with it seem strongly at odds with our current age, and the FX will be less striking (I have one last shot at _Fellowship of the Ring_ at a local screen on Friday, as snow and cold have kept me from going so far), but as the Star Wars thread indicates that kind of optimism often seems uncannily and perennially appealing, and a work chock full of such can come along once in awhile and unexpectedly win an audience. High fantasy can often come off tho as a DnD session, as in shallow, cheesy, and forgettable, no dramatic weight to it. ---
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2026, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/9904 "2026-01-21T22:09:08Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > I have no idea what percentage of the time money is involved in deciding to have a relationship with someone much older or younger; other than that I’m sure it’s neither zero nor 100%. But “sometimes, but I don’t know how often” isn’t an option, so I didn’t vote. It’s always involved: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/TF09CVCOyok/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AH6BIAC4AOKAgwIABABGGUgVyhJMA8=&rs=AOn4CLB3PUHM2PvC2pMDtNKOQY4NqD7SeQ "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes - Say, You're Not Stupid!") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TF09CVCOyok&t=133) ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2026, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/9905 "2026-01-22T01:23:58Z")
> [@peccavi](#): > > It’s always involved Is that supposed to be a serious claim? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2026, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/9906 "2026-01-22T01:34:50Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > I’m not accusing _you_ of doing this, but too many people will give a show a negative rating on those sites simply because they personally dislike something about it. I think that is a legit reason to down vote a film. If you do not like it for a reasonable reason, then fine. What I do object to is MAGAs vote bombing something they havent even seen because some right wing radio talk show moron mentions is has a gay character and thus is “woke”. Mind you, I despise modern gore fest horror films. I dont watch them either so I dont downvote them. But when I got suckered in 😀 by the ad campaign for “Sucker Punch”, I did downvote that horrible depressing nasty film. My main complaint was that like in _Bridge to Terabithia_ (which i did sorta like, despite) the ad campaign showed a film totally unlike the real film. I do think that often a younger person who is attracted to an older person does like the financial security, but I dont think it is _always_ for the money. I voted 50/50. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2026, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/9907 "2026-01-22T03:05:09Z")
Never underestimate the Daddy issues factor. (Or Mommy issues, I suppose.) I’m a little harsh on these relationships for a lot of reasons but now that I’m older I genuinely don’t understand why anyone would want to date someone who is effectively a child, which is more or less how I view 23 year olds. That said, my grandparents are twenty years apart in age, my grandmother was scandalously young when they got married (his second marriage), she is my mother’s age, and she has always acted like a grandma as long as I can remember even though she was in her 20s when I was very young. She’s probably the only person who could ever understand my grandfather. But he’s become very anxious about her in his advanced years. He’s an elderly man now, and he told me, “I never really thought about the fact I would be leaving her alone,” and I said we’d make sure she was taken care of and he actually got very emotional about it. I still don’t understand why he wanted to marry a 20 year old but it worked for them I guess. I don’t doubt for a second their bond is real. I’m not sure if it started out that way. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2026, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/9908 "2026-01-22T21:13:25Z")
For the Age-gap marriage thread, I voted “A Great Deal of the Time” - because the poll specified relationships with a 30+ year gap. If it was “only” 20ish years, then I’d have dropped down to 50/50, or possibly less, but 30 or more? Yeah, sure, there are outliers, especially for the trope of a “dandy old man” I tend to see in fiction, but mostly that’s _fiction_. Now, my default _assumption_ tends to be older men with much younger wives. The reverse absolutely does happen, but it’s so comparatively rare that it’s all but discountable. Not to mention, it gets a lot more social pushback, most of which seems to splash on the female partner, while if it’s an old _male_ marrying a young woman, **she’s** the one to usually get blamed. Yet another way society is unjust. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2026, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/9909 "2026-01-22T21:40:06Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > For the Age-gap marriage thread, I voted “A Great Deal of the Time” - because the poll specified relationships with a 30+ year gap. If it was “only” 20ish years, then I’d have dropped down to 50/50, or possibly less, but 30 or more? Yeah, sure, there are outliers, especially for the trope of a “dandy old man” I tend to see in fiction, but mostly that’s _fiction_. > > Now, my default _assumption_ tends to be older men with much younger wives. The reverse absolutely does happen, but it’s so comparatively rare that it’s all but discountable. Not to mention, it gets a lot more social pushback, most of which seems to splash on the female partner, while if it’s an old _male_ marrying a young woman, **she’s** the one to usually get blamed. > > Yet another way society is unjust. Yes 30 years is extreme. Less than 20 I wouldn’t blink at. More than 30 makes me think there is a different motive. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2026, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/9910 "2026-01-22T21:49:32Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > I still don’t understand why he wanted to marry a 20 year old but it worked for them I guess. I wouldn’t want to do that, but I can imagine some reasons some men would do it. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2026, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/9911 "2026-01-22T23:24:21Z")
As a somewhat extreme example (albeit fictional) of the older woman case, when Aragorn first met Arwen, he was 20 years old and she was 2,710 years old. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2026, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/9912 "2026-01-23T01:16:09Z")
But she was a young 2710! ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2026, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/9913 "2026-01-23T01:57:05Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > As a somewhat extreme example (albeit fictional) of the older woman case, when Aragorn first met Arwen, he was 20 years old and she was 2,710 years old. He was 87 or maybe 88, and yeah she was much younger- maybe 25? ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2026, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/9914 "2026-01-23T02:35:25Z")
They married on Midyear’s Day 3019, when Aragorn was 88 and Arwen was 2,778. Remember that she was an immortal Elf. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2026, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/9915 "2026-01-23T02:43:58Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Yes 30 years is extreme. Less than 20 I wouldn’t blink at. More than 30 makes me think there is a different motive. Yeah, 30 is a much bigger difference than 20. > [@ParallelLines](#): > > Now, my default _assumption_ tends to be older men with much younger wives. Or older men with much younger husbands. It’s a trope about the gay community, but I’ve seen a lot of young guys dating older guys. I went to a fancy restaurant last summer with a friend who is about my age, and a gay couple where one is maybe 30, and the other has got to be in his seventies. (The friend couldn’t get a table for two, so we looked for other people to join our party.) Off the top of my head i have two other friends who are a lot younger than i am, whose partners died of old age. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2026, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/9916 "2026-01-23T03:55:30Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > He was 87 or maybe 88, and yeah she was much younger- maybe 25? Oops, I thought you were talking about Eowyn. My bad. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2026, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/9917 "2026-01-23T05:26:52Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Or older men with much younger husbands. It’s a trope about the gay community, but I’ve seen a lot of young guys dating older guys. I went to a fancy restaurant last summer with a friend who is about my age, and a gay couple where one is maybe 30, and the other has got to be in his seventies. (The friend couldn’t get a table for two, so we looked for other people to join our party.) Thanks for the supplement, yeah, my assumptions tend to be hetro-normative, I admit. Especially considering it’s preachy status and hate crimes against LGBQT+ here in Colorado Springs, there seems to be less visibility unless it’s at a No Kings protest, or the local pride events, both of which I tend to attend, and there I haven’t seen such pairings. OF COURSE it doesn’t mean they aren’t any, but between the unfriendly community and my own internal blinders, it hasn’t happened enough to reset my assumptions. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2026, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/9918 "2026-01-23T05:31:55Z")
Yeah, Eowyn was 24 when she met Aragorn. He had trouble finding women his own age. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2026, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/9919 "2026-01-23T13:26:53Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > there I haven’t seen such pairings. Naw, the old guy would skip it, and let the young guy go on his own 😉 These are people i know socially, and i usually only meet the older partner at parties, not at more strenuous events. Or the old guy will hang out with the other nonparticipating partners in a warm comfy seat in the corner. (Fwiw, most of my partnered gay friends have partners about their age. But big age differences seem more common among gay men than any other demographic i run into.) ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2026, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/9920 "2026-01-23T14:25:12Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Fwiw, most of my partnered gay friends have partners about their age. But big age differences seem more common among gay men than any other demographic i run into.) FWIW, my uncle had two long term relationships (marriage wasn’t possible during his lifetime.) The first was with a man his own age, starting when they were both young men; they split up in middle age though remained close friends, and each of them eventually wound up in a second long term relationship with a much younger man, which lasted the rest of the older men’s lives. As far as I noticed nobody thought there was anything unusual about the age differences. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2026, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/9921 "2026-01-24T20:40:44Z")
No sound machine, but my wife listens to audiobooks when we go to bed. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2026, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/9922 "2026-01-24T20:48:34Z")
Re: sound machine. I answered “yes,” but the true answer is “sometimes.” Two-plus years ago, I took a new job, which necessitated me leaving the house very early in the morning in order to get into the office by 8 a.m…and, thus, also necessitated me going to bed around 9:45 p.m., which is _far_ earlier than I like to. I struggled to get to sleep that early, and one evening, I experimented with using the Alexa in our bedroom to play background noise for me. I eventually settled on a “thunderstorm sounds” noise, which is a synthesized sound of rainfall with occasional softly rolling thunder, which worked well for me. I’m not at that stupid job any longer, and no longer need to go to bed that early; but if I go to bed at the same time as, or after, my wife, she doesn’t like the noise (she needs it to be very quiet in the bedroom), so I don’t generally use it at home. However, I travel fairly frequently now (I’m in a hotel room 2 to 4 nights a month), and I don’t sleep well in hotel rooms. So, on those nights, I pair my phone with a small Bluetooth speaker, and use the Alexa app to play the thunderstorm sounds through the speaker. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636.md?page=495) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636.md?page=497)