# I met the most pretentious man in New York today! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 10, 2004, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-the-most-pretentious-man-in-new-york-today/273942 "2004-11-10T00:52:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-the-most-pretentious-man-in-new-york-today/273942/1 "2004-11-10T00:52:32Z")
And when you consider the _competition_ . . . I was on the elevator at Lincoln Center (where _else?_), and two men were behind me. One said to the other, “ **I’m channeling my liberal angst into a detective play based on Oedipus Rex**.” That is possibly the most pretentious sentence ever uttered! I was so impressed I didn’t know whether to go “nerts!” and blow him a Bronx cheer, or offer him a William F. Buckley Lifetime Achievement Award. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-the-most-pretentious-man-in-new-york-today/273942/2 "2004-11-10T01:06:35Z")
That was the perfect time and place for a loud fart. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-the-most-pretentious-man-in-new-york-today/273942/3 "2004-11-10T01:19:37Z")
So, did you turn to the gasbag and say “Oh, that’s funny, because I happen to have Mr. Sophocles right here…” and then yank him out from behind a billboard? ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-the-most-pretentious-man-in-new-york-today/273942/4 "2004-11-10T01:21:25Z")
I want to set up an iron-cage match between this guy and my brother – who once used the word “gainsay” in an [allegedly casual] email. ---
**Author:** ![caphis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19adc/32.png) [@caphis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caphis)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-the-most-pretentious-man-in-new-york-today/273942/5 "2004-11-10T01:38:20Z")
I don’t get it. What made him pretentious? ---
**Author:** ![Keapon\_Laffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e274bd/32.png) [@Keapon\_Laffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keapon_Laffin)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-the-most-pretentious-man-in-new-york-today/273942/6 "2004-11-10T01:41:06Z")
I was having dinner at an Italian restaurant once. This annoyingly pretentious guy was having a loud discussion with the Italian waiter about wines. He was obviously showing off to his guests. Asking about age and body (and other \*wine-terms \* which are completely beyond me), and he presisted in going through each wine on the list, until I’m sure that I even saw the waiter rolling his eyes. At the end, after he made his selection, he hands the list back to the waiter and says, “Gracias, senor” :smack: ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-the-most-pretentious-man-in-new-york-today/273942/7 "2004-11-10T01:44:26Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > I was on the elevator at Lincoln Center (where _else?_), and two men were behind me. One said to the other, “ **I’m channeling my liberal angst into a detective play based on Oedipus Rex**.” Yikes. Sounds like a character from a Woody Allen _story_, never mind movie. Besides that would be a lousy detective play. Everyone knows Mom did it. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-the-most-pretentious-man-in-new-york-today/273942/8 "2004-11-10T01:50:55Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > And when you consider the _competition_ . . . > > I was on the elevator at Lincoln Center (where _else?_), and two men were behind me. One said to the other, “ **I’m channeling my liberal angst into a detective play based on Oedipus Rex**.” > > That is possibly the most pretentious sentence ever uttered! I was so impressed I didn’t know whether to go “nerts!” and blow him a Bronx cheer, or offer him a William F. Buckley Lifetime Achievement Award. You met Donald Trump?!! ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-the-most-pretentious-man-in-new-york-today/273942/9 "2004-11-10T01:57:02Z")
Pretentious or not, that’s an idea that could work, in the right hands. Ed King as a limping nebbish, anxiously imploring the blind master detective Terrence Szasz to find out who’s been sabotaging Cadmean Corporation, the pharmaceutical empire of which he’s the titular head. The plot thickens when Szasz interviews King’s wife, a _femme fatal_ with 20 years on him. She shows a certain unwillingness to talk about her first husband, who died under mysterious circumstances during an industry convention in Las Vegas, an unseemly short time before she took up with young Ed. Did she have the old man bumped off? Is she being blackmailed? Why is she so preoccupied with that gaudy pearl broach she keeps fingering, anyway? Okay, it’s a terrible idea. I don’t really see how it could help anyone with their liberal angst, either. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-the-most-pretentious-man-in-new-york-today/273942/10 "2004-11-10T02:00:00Z")
_Fatale_, damn my eyes. ---
**Author:** ![smartini](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/22d042/32.png) [@smartini](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smartini)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-the-most-pretentious-man-in-new-york-today/273942/11 "2004-11-10T02:11:43Z")
_Femme Fatal_ worked for me. I was going to suggest it as a title. I would suggest dropping the -me and just going with _Fem Fatal_ . It’s a little more current. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-the-most-pretentious-man-in-new-york-today/273942/12 "2004-11-10T02:16:06Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > Yikes. Sounds like a character from a Woody Allen _story_, never mind movie. > Besides that would be a lousy detective play. Everyone knows Mom did it. JR Delirious, you are my new hero. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-the-most-pretentious-man-in-new-york-today/273942/13 "2004-11-10T02:19:23Z")
> [@Keapon Laffin](#): > > He was obviously showing off to his guests. Asking about age and body (and other \*wine-terms \* which are completely beyond me), > : This would be an excellent time to mention in a loud boorish voice to your obviously embarrassed/bored table mates, " So, do you chose you wine by the price or pretentiousness of label?" \* \*This is an near exact quote I did , one of my proudest quotable. Not to a wine snob, however. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-the-most-pretentious-man-in-new-york-today/273942/14 "2004-11-10T02:30:40Z")
> [@](#): > > There once lived a man named Oedipus Rex, > You may have heard about his odd complex. > His name appears in Freud’s index > 'Cause he loved his mother. > > His rivals used to say quite a bit > That as a monarch he was most unfit. > But still in all they had to admit > That he loved his mother. > > Yes, he loved his mother like no other, > His daughter was his sister and his son was his brother. > One thing on which you can depend is, > He sure knew who a boy’s best friend is. > > When he found what he had done, > He tore his eyes out, one by one. > A tragic end to a loyal son > Who loved his mother. > > So be sweet and kind to mother, > Now and then have a chat. > Buy her candy or some flowers, > Or a brand new hat. > But maybe you had better let it go at that [sub][Apologies to Tom Lehrer](http://members.aol.com/quentncree/lehrer/oedipus.htm)[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-the-most-pretentious-man-in-new-york-today/273942/15 "2004-11-10T05:16:46Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > Besides that would be a lousy detective play. Everyone knows Mom did it. Goddammit, is it too much to ask that people use SPOILER BOXES for this stuff?! ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-the-most-pretentious-man-in-new-york-today/273942/16 "2004-11-10T05:56:19Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > Everyone knows Mom did it. No, no, you have it backwards; he did the mom. ---
**Author:** ![The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-the-most-pretentious-man-in-new-york-today/273942/17 "2004-11-10T06:15:14Z")
\*Oedipus Rex \* is a detective play already. There is disorder in Thebes which must be put right by solving a murder. The solution hinges on a case of mistaken identity, which is resolved by putting together clues from three witnesses. The detective, by the way, or at least the person who knows everything, is the most famous transsexual in classical literature. At various points in his (at the time of the play) life, he too had been blinded and exiled - the very punishments Oedipus later inflicts upon himself. This may explain why he involves himself in the case reluctantly and only under threat tells his client what he wants to know. If there is any form less well-calculated to deal with liberal angst, I can’t think of it. Think of what this play tells us: 1. Being smart only gets you in trouble (Oedipus becomes king of Thebes and weds Jocasta only because he solves the riddle of a (not _the_) Sphinx that had been menacing the Thebans; 2. Truth is always hidden, finding it is hard, and even then it doesn’t help any; 3. Justice is for suckers. It is because Oedipus rules evenhandedly and well that he must search out Laius’ killer and mete out the punishment he prescribes; 4. Mercy is for morons. A shepherd’s decision not to abandon an infant to die on a mountaintop created the whole mess; 5. Attempts to aid the disabled are foolish. Oedipus’ foot was deformed - if Greek roads had not been handicapped-accessible, he’d never have made it to Thebes in the first place (okay, that was a lame joke); 6. Government should never, ever, try to help the unfortunate. The search for the killer is only partly a quest for justice – mostly it’s an attempt to relieve a plague that is sickening Thebans; 7. No matter what you do it will turn out badly, or well, regardless of what you deserve. \*Oedipus Rex \* is not merely a detective play, it’s a detective play designed to induce liberal angst. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-the-most-pretentious-man-in-new-york-today/273942/18 "2004-11-10T06:48:05Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > And when you consider the _competition_ . . . > > I was on the elevator at Lincoln Center (where _else?_), and two men were behind me. One said to the other, “ **I’m channeling my liberal angst into a detective play based on Oedipus Rex**.” > > That is possibly the most pretentious sentence ever uttered! I was so impressed I didn’t know whether to go “nerts!” and blow him a Bronx cheer, or offer him a William F. Buckley Lifetime Achievement Award. Possible responses- “I was just saying that the other day.” “So you’re portraying a left-wing mother-f’ing d\*ck?” ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-the-most-pretentious-man-in-new-york-today/273942/19 "2004-11-10T10:25:32Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > I didn’t know whether to go “nerts!” and blow him a Bronx cheer, or offer him a William F. Buckley Lifetime Achievement Award. What’s the difference? ---
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-the-most-pretentious-man-in-new-york-today/273942/20 "2004-11-10T13:01:04Z")
> [@The King of Soup](#): > > 1. Mercy is for morons. A shepherd’s decision not to abandon an infant to die on a mountaintop created the whole mess; \Compromise\ is for morons. Either the we-love-our-son-whatever or 3-tonnes-of-cyanide approaches would have been fine, but no, mum and dad fall between two stools. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-the-most-pretentious-man-in-new-york-today/273942.md?page=2)