# 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:** 14\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![The\_Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f9b8f/32.png) [@The\_Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Octagon)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2006, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-will-hunting-i-just-now-got-that/379789/61 "2006-11-12T22:09:01Z")
[QUOTE=velvetjones] Color me idiotic. I didn’t get the Good Will Hunting thing either, or Pearl Jam, or the chicken joke. I used to be smart. I swear. :smack: [/QUOTE] Don’t worry, the Pearl Jam thing is BS. Check it out: [http://www.theskyiscrape.com/faq/index.php#2.4](http://www.theskyiscrape.com/faq/index.php#2.4) ---
**Author:** ![SusanStoHelit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@SusanStoHelit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SusanStoHelit)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2006, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-will-hunting-i-just-now-got-that/379789/62 "2006-11-12T22:22:54Z")
[QUOTE=eleanorigby] Who he? enlighten me,please. [/QUOTE] Douglas Adams was the author of [The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitchhiker%27s_guide), a radio series that turned into a book in the late 70s. It is basically a very british science fiction comedy. IIRC, it’s also less than 200 pages long. Once you read it you will understand much more about the 'Dope and the hoopy froods who live here. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-will-hunting-i-just-now-got-that/379789/63 "2006-11-13T00:10:51Z")
Ah. I didn’t recall his name. I do need to read that book. My son enjoyed it. but I must say I already understand much of the looniness that is the Dope. And what I dont’ understand is just so much street theater… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Leviosaurus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Leviosaurus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leviosaurus)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-will-hunting-i-just-now-got-that/379789/64 "2006-11-13T00:27:28Z")
[QUOTE=SusanStoHelit] Douglas Adams was the author of [The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitchhiker%27s_guide), a radio series that turned into a book in the late 70s. It is basically a very british science fiction comedy. IIRC, it’s also less than 200 pages long. Once you read it you will understand much more about the 'Dope and the hoopy froods who live here. [/QUOTE] One thing you apparently won’t understand is whatever **Scylla** is tryin to allude to in the OP. Three people have declared they don’t get it, yet no explanation has so far been forthcoming. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-will-hunting-i-just-now-got-that/379789/65 "2006-11-13T00:52:57Z")
[QUOTE=Leviosaurus] One thing you apparently won’t understand is whatever **Scylla** is tryin to allude to in the OP. Three people have declared they don’t get it, yet no explanation has so far been forthcoming. [/QUOTE] It’s been explained twice! First of all, you must remember that the character’s name in the movie is Will - Will Hunting. So the title can be read as his name or as a verb. The character, Will, is Hunting, for Good. OR The character, Will Hunting, is hunting for Good in the world OR The character(s) are Hunting for Good Will (in the humanity sense). OR The character(s) (probably of Will and of the psychologist) are Hunting for the Good Will, as opposed to the antisocial criminal thug he appears at first. OR The character(s) are Hunting _in_ a Good Will store. (I think it was actually a dollar store, so I’m not sold on this one personally.) OR The character, Will Hunting, is Good It’s a clever title that can be interpreted many, many ways. Many meanings from three words. ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-will-hunting-i-just-now-got-that/379789/66 "2006-11-13T10:03:22Z")
My father insists that he is the only person who actually gets the “Why did the chicken cross the road?” joke. It seems that, growing up in the rural south, there were often chickens milling about on the side of the road. When a car approached, the chickens would panic and, being profoundly stupid creatures, would often scurry across the road instead of backing away, frequently getting themselves killed in the process. Naturally, exasperated drivers would wonder why the hell the chicken crossed the damn road. Why? To get to the other side of the road, of course. Big laugh. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-will-hunting-i-just-now-got-that/379789/67 "2006-11-13T10:12:33Z")
Uh, I don’t think you guys are right about the chicken joke. It’s not meant to be some stretched intrepretation involving death as the “other side”. It’s, as another poster posited, a joke that’s not really a joke. You’re all ready for a tickling punchline, then you get smacked by the obvious. It’s that simple. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-will-hunting-i-just-now-got-that/379789/68 "2006-11-13T10:13:45Z")
And it’s not an interpretation\* either. ---
**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:** [November 13, 2006, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-will-hunting-i-just-now-got-that/379789/69 "2006-11-13T10:41:54Z")
I might as well my own failing-to-grasp-the-obvious moment, as I’ve previously posted it here. In the movie _Pulp Fiction_, I somehow failed to understand why Julius and Vinnie didn’t kill Marvin along with the others. So I asked that question here. And several people pointed out that it was clear in the movie that Marvin had sold out his friends in exchange for his life. Which has been very obvious to me every time I’ve seen the movie since and I don’t understand how I missed it originally. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2006, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-will-hunting-i-just-now-got-that/379789/70 "2006-11-21T13:59:16Z")
[QUOTE=Rigamarole] Uh, I don’t think you guys are right about the chicken joke. It’s not meant to be some stretched intrepretation involving death as the “other side”. It’s, as another poster posited, a joke that’s not really a joke. You’re all ready for a tickling punchline, then you get smacked by the obvious. It’s that simple. [/QUOTE] Do you know why JFK is buried in Arlington Cemetery? Because he’s dead. ---
**Author:** ![Leviosaurus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Leviosaurus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leviosaurus)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2006, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-will-hunting-i-just-now-got-that/379789/71 "2006-11-21T18:12:55Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] It’s been explained twice! [/QUOTE] I was going to let this go, but since \*\*Rilchiam \*\* brought the thread back… I was _sure_ \*\*Scylla \*\* was hinting there was more to it than that. Now I realize he wasn’t, I feel really stupid :smack: ---
**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:** [November 21, 2006, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-will-hunting-i-just-now-got-that/379789/72 "2006-11-21T22:25:41Z")
William Adams, of the Balck Eyed Peas, spells his first name will.i.am. For a long time, I just figured it was William with some random periods thrown in to make it look “cool”. It took me a long time to notice that it also could be interpreted as three seperate words “Will I am”. ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-will-hunting-i-just-now-got-that/379789/73 "2006-11-22T01:43:11Z")
> [@](#): > > Will I am Sam I Am’s twin brother? ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-will-hunting-i-just-now-got-that/379789/74 "2006-11-22T01:48:31Z")
[QUOTE=Little Nemo] It took me a long time to notice that it also could be interpreted as three seperate words “Will I am”. [/QUOTE] Charles Willis Manson -or, as his groupies explained- Charles’ will is Man’s Son. …meaning Charlie Manson was Jesus (and yes, I know there is an extra ‘s’ in their explanation). * * * Good Will Hunting is still obscure to me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-will-hunting-i-just-now-got-that/379789.md?page=3)