# Good Will Hunting. I just now Got that **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 10, 2006, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-will-hunting-i-just-now-got-that/379789 "2006-11-10T00:27:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-will-hunting-i-just-now-got-that/379789/1 "2006-11-10T00:27:44Z")
I swear to you this is true: I’m watching Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends with my kids. There’s going to be a Foster’s Movie “Good Wilt Hunting.” My internal dialogue goes somethign like this: -Clearly that’s a play on the movie “Good Will Hunting” -That’s a weird title. I’ve seen that like five times and Will Hunting wasn’t really all that “good” in any ethical sense until the end -Maybe it was just ironic Then somewhere, a long neglected fired -Our maybe the protaginist in that movie was **Hunting** … for **…Good Will**! -Or… Maybe he was **Hunting** for his better self, his self being **Will**. That better self being **Good**! -Maybe it means all three! Then, I realized incredibly obvious that was. After considering the implications of this for five minutes, I realized that this might make me the stupidest human being on the planet. I’m so depressed. Run away. I might be contagious. ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-will-hunting-i-just-now-got-that/379789/2 "2006-11-10T00:30:07Z")
“a long neglected **Neuron** fired” See? What did I tell you? ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-will-hunting-i-just-now-got-that/379789/3 "2006-11-10T00:33:19Z")
Funny story. But, since I expect it will be far more likely to generate similar amusing stories of long-delayed comprehension than angry replies by people calling you a dumbass, I’m thinking it would be better off in another forum. But which one? MPSIMS? Cafe Society? Do you have a preference? I’ll hold off moving it for a few minutes and see if you do. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-will-hunting-i-just-now-got-that/379789/4 "2006-11-10T00:33:45Z")
It’s not your fault. _It’s not your fault._ ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-will-hunting-i-just-now-got-that/379789/5 "2006-11-10T00:37:00Z")
[QUOTE=Scylla] I’m so depressed. Run away. I might be contagious. [/QUOTE] Na, but I’ll have whatever you’re drinking! ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-will-hunting-i-just-now-got-that/379789/6 "2006-11-10T00:54:56Z")
No answer. Well, I’ll stick it in MPSIMS (it _is_ pretty mundane, after all). The mods there can move it again if they like, or wad it up into a ball and throw it at me. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-will-hunting-i-just-now-got-that/379789/7 "2006-11-10T01:30:58Z")
Saw _Airplane_. They have a running joke about how the guys talks about his “drinking problem” and then pours his drink in his ear, on his shirt, etc. Didn’t get it. Saw it three times before I got it. ---
**Author:** ![InkBlot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b5e925/32.png) [@InkBlot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InkBlot)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-will-hunting-i-just-now-got-that/379789/8 "2006-11-10T01:37:39Z")
I believe it was at least a decade before I actually understood this classic exchange from **Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy** : > [@](#): > > (Referring to hyperspace travel) “…it’s unpleasantly like being drunk.” > “What’s so unpleasant about being drunk?” > “Ask a glass of water.” A decade of reading the books, watching the television production, listening to the audio tapes…then one day, there I am reading the book again and it hits me. Like a brick inna sock. InkBlot :eek: ---
**Author:** ![yBeayf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e274bd/32.png) [@yBeayf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yBeayf)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-will-hunting-i-just-now-got-that/379789/9 "2006-11-10T01:59:11Z")
It was only within the past year that I realized that K9 was shorthand for “canine.” ---
**Author:** ![Rhubarb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/59ef9b/32.png) [@Rhubarb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhubarb)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-will-hunting-i-just-now-got-that/379789/10 "2006-11-10T02:01:32Z")
I’ve got one of these “loooong delayed comprehension” stories as well, but the object of my incomprehension is a bit more obscure … There’s a novel by Larry Niven and David Gerrold, **The Flying Sorcerors** , that I first read in the mid seventies. I enjoyed it immensely and it is strewn with obvious puns like the title. The main character in the book is called “Purple” throughout the novel. When he asks about it late in the story he is told that his translator (speakerspell to the natives) translated his name as “As a mauve, shade of purple-grey”. If that clue wasn’t enough, the same phrase was given earlier in the book at the time it happened. About the fifth reading of this book, it hit me like a thunderbolt - “As a mauve” = “Asimov”!! :smack: :smack: :smack: I was only slightly mollified when I talked to my brother about it and he had missed it too. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-will-hunting-i-just-now-got-that/379789/11 "2006-11-10T02:19:32Z")
I’ve been pondering that title for a good 10 minutes now, and I’m still waiting for the pun in **The Flying Sorcerors** to make itself known… ---
**Author:** ![Rhubarb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/59ef9b/32.png) [@Rhubarb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhubarb)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-will-hunting-i-just-now-got-that/379789/12 "2006-11-10T02:35:45Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] I’ve been pondering that title for a good 10 minutes now, and I’m still waiting for the pun in **The Flying Sorcerors** to make itself known… [/QUOTE] The Flying Saucers. ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-will-hunting-i-just-now-got-that/379789/13 "2006-11-10T02:36:52Z")
Rhubarb, you beat me by this mch |\<–\>|! ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-will-hunting-i-just-now-got-that/379789/14 "2006-11-10T03:38:56Z")
[QUOTE=Giraffe] Funny story. But, since I expect it will be far more likely to generate similar amusing stories of long-delayed comprehension than angry replies by people calling you a dumbass, I’m thinking it would be better off in another forum. But which one? MPSIMS? Cafe Society? Do you have a preference? I’ll hold off moving it for a few minutes and see if you do. [/QUOTE] That’s very nice of you. I went away for a while to reflect on my stupidity in solitude. Naturally, I would put this in the wrong forum. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-will-hunting-i-just-now-got-that/379789/15 "2006-11-10T04:10:31Z")
I didn’t get the “pearl necklace” joke in the movie Half Baked until a few years ago. I was only in 8th grade when the movie came out and didn’t see it again for quite a few years. ---
**Author:** ![Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-will-hunting-i-just-now-got-that/379789/16 "2006-11-10T04:44:28Z")
[QUOTE=pool] I didn’t get the “pearl necklace” joke in the movie Half Baked until a few years ago. I was only in 8th grade when the movie came out and didn’t see it again for quite a few years. [/QUOTE] Along the same lines: I only figured out what pearl jam is a few years ago. ---
**Author:** ![groo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecd19e/32.png) [@groo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groo)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-will-hunting-i-just-now-got-that/379789/17 "2006-11-10T04:58:23Z")
[QUOTE=pool] I didn’t get the “pearl necklace” joke in the movie Half Baked until a few years ago. I was only in 8th grade when the movie came out and didn’t see it again for quite a few years. [/QUOTE] And I haven’t seen a pearl necklace in several years :mad: ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-will-hunting-i-just-now-got-that/379789/18 "2006-11-10T05:56:14Z")
[QUOTE=elucidator] Saw _Airplane_. They have a running joke about how the guys talks about his “drinking problem” and then pours his drink in his ear, on his shirt, etc. Didn’t get it. Saw it three times before I got it. [/QUOTE] And, of course, as the complete opposite (huh? no way! hehe) in what must have been a prescient moment I remember picking up on that when I saw it for the first time at age 8 or so. Not sure if that says more about the reference or me, but there it is. And it still cracks me up when I see it. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-will-hunting-i-just-now-got-that/379789/19 "2006-11-10T06:01:34Z")
Whoa, you’re right. Good Will Hunting… how 'bout that. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-will-hunting-i-just-now-got-that/379789/20 "2006-11-10T06:16:59Z")
pearl necklace? pearl jam? I’ve led such a sheltered life… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-will-hunting-i-just-now-got-that/379789.md?page=2)