# Grease: A "I Never Understood..." Scene **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 17, 2013, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grease-a-i-never-understood-scene/647455 "2013-01-17T02:49:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grease-a-i-never-understood-scene/647455/1 "2013-01-17T02:49:01Z")
Seen the scene a hundred times, but I still don’t get… At the start of the drag race, Kinicky asks Danny if he can be his #2? I think he even makes reference to some movie character of that era, but it is not James Dean (as I would have expected). What is this all about? I WAG Kinicky is saying (in his own way) he doesn’t want to see Danny, the leader of the T-birds, get hurt or killed? Aye, am I right, or am I right? …Right? [Ironically, Danny winds up driving anyhow as Kinicki gets knocked out cold.] ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grease-a-i-never-understood-scene/647455/2 "2013-01-17T03:01:47Z")
It’s a dueling term. \*Each party would name a trusted representative (a “second”) who would, between them, determine a suitable “field of honour”. It was also the duty of each party’s second to check that the weapons were equal and that the duel was fair. \* > **[Duel | Offense and satisfaction](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duel#Offense_and_satisfaction)** > > The traditional situation that led to a duel often happened after a perceived offense, whether real or imagined, when one party would demand satisfaction from the offender. One could signal this demand with an inescapably insulting gesture, such as throwing his glove before him. > Usually, challenges were delivered in writing by one or more close friends who acted as "seconds". The challenge, written in formal language, laid out the real or imagined grievances and a demand for satisfaction. The ch... ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grease-a-i-never-understood-scene/647455/3 "2013-01-17T03:34:31Z")
What standingwave said. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/qpypGusvWDA/hqdefault.jpg "Be my second at thunder road") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpypGusvWDA) ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grease-a-i-never-understood-scene/647455/4 "2013-01-17T17:16:30Z")
I think the OP is asking about the rebel movie character who is not James Dean, not what a second is. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grease-a-i-never-understood-scene/647455/5 "2013-01-17T17:33:37Z")
^ Re-read the OP, including the thread title. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grease-a-i-never-understood-scene/647455/6 "2013-01-17T18:33:48Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#): > > I think the OP is asking about the rebel movie character who is not James Dean, not what a second is. I don’t believe it’s stated explicitly. _Hey, Danny, uh… We’ve been friends a long time, right? Yeah. Remember the drive-in the other night. There was the duel. The guy’s best friend went with him, like his second? Yeah. So? Well, uh… I thought that you could be my second at Thunder Road._ ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grease-a-i-never-understood-scene/647455/7 "2013-01-17T20:03:08Z")
> [@x-ray\_vision](#): > > ^ Re-read the OP, including the thread title. 😉 Looks like you may be right. ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grease-a-i-never-understood-scene/647455/8 "2013-01-18T03:18:29Z")
I was asking what a “second” is. The scene is really poorly written. There are ways to clue in the audience without spelling it out for them. I’d wag this one is just lost on most audiences. ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grease-a-i-never-understood-scene/647455/9 "2013-01-19T03:25:42Z")
Yeah it was just a way for Danny to step in when Kenicky got knocked out.