# Dumb Answers To Legitimate Questions **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 17, 2004, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-answers-to-legitimate-questions/225003 "2004-01-17T22:06:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2004, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-answers-to-legitimate-questions/225003/1 "2004-01-17T22:06:09Z")
Am I being a mite “touchy” here? I posted this [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=235456](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=235456) earlier in the day, and got one decent answer and one well, _useless_ one. I don’t think the person set out to be a jerk, but it irritated me bit, since I felt the question was legit based on what I had heard in the news story. Whatcha think? Thanks Q ---
**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:** [January 17, 2004, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-answers-to-legitimate-questions/225003/2 "2004-01-17T22:10:21Z")
It was just a joke. Lighten up. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2004, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-answers-to-legitimate-questions/225003/3 "2004-01-17T22:12:05Z")
And, actually, Olive Oyl’s brother IS named Castor Oyl. It’s _Popeye_ canon. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2004, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-answers-to-legitimate-questions/225003/4 "2004-01-17T22:33:50Z")
Well, folks make jokes about stuff here a lot, **Quasi**. I, however, because I’m a boring old fart, took the serious tack, and offered a WAG answer based on a webpage. Hope it helps. ---
**Author:** ![quiltguy154](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/ad7895/32.png) [@quiltguy154](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quiltguy154)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2004, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-answers-to-legitimate-questions/225003/5 "2004-01-17T22:47:56Z")
Sorry, **Quasimodem** , that you mistook my little pun for jerk-ism. Just trying an inventive way of disseminating information, and hoping someone[as **jayjay** did] would pick up on it. The brother’s name IS a bit esoteric, perhaps it’s related to my age. ☹ [hat in hand, bowing forwards, walking backwards from the room] ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2004, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-answers-to-legitimate-questions/225003/6 "2004-01-18T00:30:12Z")
From what I was given to understand, the “Thimble Theatre” cartoon strip was an eminently forgettable strip of the 1920s with a host of humorously named characters, one of whom was Castor Oyl. The introduction of Popeye the Sailor and his romance with Castor’s sister Olive Oyl, who was apparently invented as a foil for Popeye, saved the strip and brought it to great popularity. FWIW, a copyrighted AP story in today’s newspaper talks about life in Chester, Ill., in the early 20th century, which included four people of interest: Frank Fiegel was a one-eyed man with a jutting chin who smoked a corncob pipe and had a tendency to get into fistfights. The owner of the local theater, J. William Schuchert, was enamored of hamburgers, and would send his employees out between performances to buy him some. Dora Paskel was a tall thin woman who wore her hair in a bun at the occiput. And Elzie Segar was a little boy who grew up to draw Thimble Theatre, Popeye, J. Wellington Wimpy, and Olive Oyl. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2004, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-answers-to-legitimate-questions/225003/7 "2004-01-18T00:39:10Z")
> [@Quasimodem](#): > > Am I being a mite “touchy” here? I posted this [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=235456](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=235456) earlier in the day, and got one decent answer and one well, _useless_ one. > > I don’t think the person set out to be a jerk, but it irritated me bit, since I felt the question was legit based on what I had heard in the news story. > > Whatcha think? > > Thanks > > Q Geeze, you’ve been here since 2000 and only just now noticed there’s always wanna-be comedians who think their smartass answers are funny? ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2004, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-answers-to-legitimate-questions/225003/8 "2004-01-18T01:11:00Z")
Sometimes, depending on my mood, I _can_ be a little as I say, “touchy” and take things the wrong way. _offers handshake and the obligatory slap on the shoulder_. Quasi ---
**Author:** ![extendidwarranty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@extendidwarranty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/extendidwarranty)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2004, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-answers-to-legitimate-questions/225003/9 "2004-01-18T20:34:39Z")
One of you owes Olive Oyl fans an apology. (I’ll leave it to you to sort out who it will be.)