# Is This Reference To Dinah Shore "Hard To Get" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 17, 2009, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-reference-to-dinah-shore-hard-to-get/514155 "2009-10-17T19:09:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2009, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-reference-to-dinah-shore-hard-to-get/514155/1 "2009-10-17T19:09:18Z")
I had a temp job for a few days and I had to enter data so they let me listen to my CD. I was playing was called “When Dinah Shore Ruled The Earth.” Of course I don’t expect anyone there with me to know who Dinah Shore is, (she’s a singer most famous in the 40s and early 50s. She later hosted a talk show and was noted for dating Burt Reynolds). Anyway I had about four people look at the CD, while they liked her singing, they didn’t understand the title of the CD. “When Dinah Shore Ruled The Earth” It’s obviously a play on the phrase “When dinosaurs ruled the Earth?” My question is do YOU get this right off the bat? Or are both Dinah Shore and the phrase too old to have meaning. All these people who didn’t get it were young probably under 25 ---
**Author:** ![tacoloco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tacoloco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tacoloco)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2009, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-reference-to-dinah-shore-hard-to-get/514155/2 "2009-10-17T19:22:25Z")
I know who Dinah Shore is and I got the reference right away. I’m 48. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2009, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-reference-to-dinah-shore-hard-to-get/514155/3 "2009-10-17T19:23:43Z")
I didn’t get it right off the bat. I know who Dinah Shore is (although I’m sure most people my age wouldn’t), but I would have just taken the title to mean that the songs were from the time when Dinah Shore was popular. If I’d heard it out loud I might have been more likely to get it, but reading the title I don’t think I would have. I would expect that most young people have heard the phrase “When dinosaurs ruled the earth”, though. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2009, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-reference-to-dinah-shore-hard-to-get/514155/4 "2009-10-17T19:25:29Z")
I remember watching her as a young kid in the '70s, but didn’t get it! ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2009, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-reference-to-dinah-shore-hard-to-get/514155/5 "2009-10-17T19:27:16Z")
I have no clue who Dinah Shore is, but saw the pun immediately. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Credible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a8b319/32.png) [@Justin\_Credible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Credible)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2009, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-reference-to-dinah-shore-hard-to-get/514155/6 "2009-10-17T19:32:38Z")
I know the name, but I’m not familiar with her music. I got it right off. I can see someone not at all interested in dinosaurs not getting it. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2009, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-reference-to-dinah-shore-hard-to-get/514155/7 "2009-10-17T19:32:53Z")
The OP is laboring under a common misconception. The title is not so much a play on “dinosaur” as the other way around: Dinah Shore actually predates the dinosaurs–the word “dinosaur” is itself a corruption of the name “Dinah Shore.” Ms. Shore is thought the be the earliest known ancestor of all vertebrate life on the planet, and is believed by some to be the actual first organism to crawl out on land from the originating seas. (NB: this is also where we get the word “shore.”) ---
**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:** [October 17, 2009, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-reference-to-dinah-shore-hard-to-get/514155/8 "2009-10-17T19:55:55Z")
Dina Shore/dinosaur puns have been around since before the invention of the pun. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2009, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-reference-to-dinah-shore-hard-to-get/514155/9 "2009-10-17T21:05:44Z")
I didn’t get the pun. I suspect not being familiar with Dinah Shore would have helped, because all I thought of was Dinah Shore. Some of what I know about Dinah Shore: She was a lot cooler than her folksy demeanor might have suggested. She had Iggy Pop and David Bowie on her daytime talk show in the 70s and talked to them like they were real people instead of freaks. (Of course they were freaks, but it’s just weird seeing her talking to the godfather of punk and the thin white duke as if it was the most normal thing in the world.) She developed a reputation as a gay-friendly entertainer, and the golf tournament named for her still has a large lesbian following. (Yeah, I know, lesbians and golf, but this one in particular.) Andy Kaufman once dumped eggs on her head, which is yet another reason not to like Andy Kaufman. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2009, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-reference-to-dinah-shore-hard-to-get/514155/10 "2009-10-17T21:45:20Z")
I didn’t get it, but only because I use the phrase, “When dinosaurs roamed the earth”. Dinah Shore I get. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2009, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-reference-to-dinah-shore-hard-to-get/514155/11 "2009-10-17T21:46:11Z")
She made a pretty funny cameo in _Oh God_. John Denver plays a grocery store manager to whom God appears, in the produce section, as George Burns. He ends up going on her show, and she interviewed in a very straightforward manner; her deadpan non-jokey delivery made it much funnier than it might have been. I thought it was cool that by sacrificing her opportunity to be the funny at the center of attention, she succeeded in making the overall situation much, much funnier. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2009, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-reference-to-dinah-shore-hard-to-get/514155/12 "2009-10-18T00:36:58Z")
I’m old enough to remember her show in the 50s _“See the USA, In a Chevrolet”_ when we kids always referred to her as “Dinosaur.” Actually, I’m almost old enough to remember the actual dinosaurs. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2009, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-reference-to-dinah-shore-hard-to-get/514155/13 "2009-10-18T01:08:29Z")
I’m old enough to remember when dinosaur/Dinah-Shore jokes were actually trite. So yeah, I got it right away. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2009, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-reference-to-dinah-shore-hard-to-get/514155/14 "2009-10-18T02:45:40Z")
Another oldster checking in. I, too, got it immediately. Now get off my lawn! ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2009, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-reference-to-dinah-shore-hard-to-get/514155/15 "2009-10-18T02:52:48Z")
I remember the first time I ever encountered the pun was on _Beanie and Cecil_. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2009, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-reference-to-dinah-shore-hard-to-get/514155/16 "2009-10-18T02:57:55Z")
Gosh, I knew I wasn’t one of the cool kids. I’m 52 and was raised on Dinah Shore…have tons of her sheet music…and I didn’t get the pun…never heard her called a dinosaur before. Oh, well. And I watched a lot of Beanie and Cecil ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2009, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-reference-to-dinah-shore-hard-to-get/514155/17 "2009-10-18T03:15:31Z")
She actually had about 5 or 6 successful TV variety shows and talk shows. She had about 8o singles hit the charts. She was very big. I am 66 so I watched her shows. But I got the pun immediately. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2009, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-reference-to-dinah-shore-hard-to-get/514155/18 "2009-10-18T03:54:02Z")
I’m 55 and got it straight away. I fondly remember her TV show(s) from the 60s. Now that I think back it seems that every second woman in Hollywood had her own show: Ann Sothern Dinah Shore Donna Reed Lucille Ball Jane Wyman Loretta Young Patti Page Rosemary Clooney Shirley Temple and Gracie Allen with some guy. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2009, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-reference-to-dinah-shore-hard-to-get/514155/19 "2009-10-18T04:34:45Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > She actually had about 5 or 6 successful TV variety shows and talk shows. She had about 8o singles hit the charts. She was very big. I am 66 so I watched her shows. > But I got the pun immediately. Well for the first half of the century, from 1900 -1950, Dinah Shore ran a close second behind Jo Stafford as the female singer with the most hits. (Stafford, just slightly came out ahead) Shore’s version of “Tess’s Torch Song,” is a classic of the (IMHO) world’s best song. 🙂 As she got older Shore was known for her talk show (it was like a Merv Griffin type show) but she was also known as she dated Burt Reynolds and he was much younger than her. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2009, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-reference-to-dinah-shore-hard-to-get/514155/20 "2009-10-18T04:37:52Z")
“Earth” ? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-reference-to-dinah-shore-hard-to-get/514155.md?page=2)