# Has Top Gear gone retarded? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 13, 2008, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-top-gear-gone-retarded/437469 "2008-02-13T18:48:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-top-gear-gone-retarded/437469/41 "2008-02-14T14:17:08Z")
[QUOTE=Pushkin] I wouldn’t have given James May much credence on his first appearance on the show, but I’d rather see Hammond go than him (which I think is to happen soon.) [/QUOTE] Do tell. Hammond’s just had to give up Brainiac for Top Gear. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-top-gear-gone-retarded/437469/42 "2008-02-14T17:29:25Z")
[QUOTE=teela brown] I saw that show. They also did a road trip through the deep south in used American vehicles which they purchased in Miami for $1,000 or less each. One of the risible stunts that the show provided was that they paint each other’s cars in phrases designed to get them arrested/shot in the deep south. IIRC, “Hillary Rules” and “Manlove is OK” and “Nascar Sucks” were the phrases chosen, and the good citizens of Alabama were not amused. [/QUOTE] You should find the one where they test drove some very large tractors. One of the guys “plowed” his portion of the field with explosives! ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-top-gear-gone-retarded/437469/43 "2008-02-14T17:51:16Z")
The one where they test vans and Hammond’s Dihatsu Fallalot rolls when he tries to take a corner is hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-top-gear-gone-retarded/437469/44 "2008-02-14T17:56:34Z")
[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog] Yes indeed. It’s certainly entered the consciousness at Casa TLD. I might be doing something like considering cleaning the toilet, and then I stop and say to myself… “How… hard… could… it… be?” [/QUOTE] Somehow, I can picture Red Green (or another member of Possum Lodge) using that phrase… ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-top-gear-gone-retarded/437469/45 "2008-02-14T19:00:05Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] The _name_ of the show has been around for that long. The original format was as a serious motoring programme, and that got culled in the end. And the BBC sold all the rights to it, with the exception of the name, to Channel 5 who now produce it as the dismal _Fifth Gear_. The current programme was an entirely new creation, several years later. [/QUOTE] I have Fifth Gear episodes I haven’t watched for months. It’s so much more boring than TG that I can’t be much bothered. Vickie’s a honey, but the rest of them just kind of drive around. TG is about 10x more clever. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-top-gear-gone-retarded/437469/46 "2008-02-14T19:11:49Z")
Did you know that Combat18, a Neo-Nazi bunch of cretins, have stated that Clarkson would be ideal as the next fuhrer. “Heil Jeremy” ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-top-gear-gone-retarded/437469/47 "2008-02-14T20:05:29Z")
[QUOTE=Lobsang] Mocking. Please tell me you know what Mocking means. Edit: I deliberately used ‘Taking the Mickey’ Because I thought it was the understood US alternative to ‘Taking the Piss’. Not so in Canada it seems. [/QUOTE] _slowly raises hand_ So…um…“taking the piss” is equivalent to “mocking”? ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-top-gear-gone-retarded/437469/48 "2008-02-14T20:15:22Z")
[QUOTE=Least Original User Name Ever] _slowly raises hand_ So…um…“taking the piss” is equivalent to “mocking”? [/QUOTE] Well… yes. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-top-gear-gone-retarded/437469/49 "2008-02-14T20:29:47Z")
[QUOTE=Lobsang] Well… yes. [/QUOTE] I’ve never heard either of those terms. I’ll just..play with my trucks and things over here on this side of the pond now. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-top-gear-gone-retarded/437469/50 "2008-02-14T20:33:58Z")
[QUOTE=Least Original User Name Ever] I’ve never heard either of those terms. I’ll just..play with my trucks and things over here on this side of the pond now. [/QUOTE] Which reminds me - Do you have ‘lorries’ and ‘wagons’ or are they just trucks and bigrigs. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-top-gear-gone-retarded/437469/51 "2008-02-14T20:35:09Z")
[QUOTE=Least Original User Name Ever] _slowly raises hand_ So…um…“taking the piss” is equivalent to “mocking”? [/QUOTE] From **Really Not All That Bright** ’s Unabridged Dictionary, First Edition: **take the piss** v., 1. To engage in the act of making a joke. 2. To make fun of something. 3. To mock. 4. To gain possession of urine. _usage_: “If you’re taking the piss out of me, I will rip off your lips and wrap them around a hairy man’s penis.” _orig. attrib_.: to drunk gullible people in bars & public houses - “Are you taking the piss, mate? Or is that really a third nostril?” ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-top-gear-gone-retarded/437469/52 "2008-02-14T22:05:33Z")
[QUOTE=Lobsang] Which reminds me - Do you have ‘lorries’ and ‘wagons’ or are they just trucks and bigrigs. [/QUOTE] We do have “wagons” but you lot call them “shooting brakes” or “estates”. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-top-gear-gone-retarded/437469/53 "2008-02-15T09:18:15Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz] Do tell. Hammond’s just had to give up Brainiac for Top Gear. [/QUOTE] I’ve heard nothing concrete, just that someone was due to leave after the next series. I thought it might be Hammond, given that he has family and one big crash already under his hat. [QUOTE=Lute Skywatcher] You should find the one where they test drove some very large tractors. One of the guys “plowed” his portion of the field with explosives! [/QUOTE] In the follow up to all this, they made some biodiesel (allegedly from the crops they planted 😉 ) and used it to power a BMW 3 series diesel with little in the way of modifications in an endurance race. During which Hammond used the car to wipe out [one of these](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosler_MT900) :o ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2008, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-top-gear-gone-retarded/437469/54 "2008-02-20T08:46:03Z")
[QUOTE=Pushkin] I’ve heard nothing concrete, just that someone was due to leave after the next series. I thought it might be Hammond, given that he has family and one big crash already under his hat. :o [/QUOTE] I know the point about the crash, but what in Britain would get Richard more notoriety / money than Top Gear? What would convince him to jump permanently? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2008, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-top-gear-gone-retarded/437469/55 "2008-02-20T08:59:12Z")
I can’t see how the show could survive the loss of any of the presenters - the thing is just too reliant on the banter and interplay between them - all of them. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2008, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-top-gear-gone-retarded/437469/56 "2008-02-20T09:09:11Z")
Maybe his book has got him enough money to retire on 😛 Although that’s doubtful, would you rather drop into WH Smith and pick up a book with Hammond looking thoughtful on the front cover, or one with Clarkson and a go-faster tortoise? It would be hard to imagine a replacement, it would be sort of like deciding who to replace either Bones or Spock with. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2008, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-top-gear-gone-retarded/437469/57 "2008-02-20T09:40:10Z")
Maybe it’s The Stig that’s retiring? ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2008, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-top-gear-gone-retarded/437469/58 "2008-02-20T10:11:24Z")
The Stig is dead, long live the Stig! We’re on Stig mk. II now aren’t we? ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2008, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-top-gear-gone-retarded/437469/59 "2008-02-20T23:00:35Z")
There have been quite a few [Stigs](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_stig#Cameo_appearances), but yes, of the main Stigs, we’re on the second. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2008, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-top-gear-gone-retarded/437469/60 "2008-02-24T17:48:25Z")
It wasn’t an isolated incident! I’m watching the one where they “grow petrol” right now, and Hammond refers to his tractor as having “1600 torques”! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-top-gear-gone-retarded/437469.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-top-gear-gone-retarded/437469.md?page=4)