# Men: How often do you think about the Roman Empire? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 15, 2023, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-how-often-do-you-think-about-the-roman-empire/990182 "2023-09-15T20:38:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Dandan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@Dandan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dandan)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2023, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-how-often-do-you-think-about-the-roman-empire/990182/101 "2023-09-17T16:14:29Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Outside of that the main context where I think of the Roman Empire is a Steve Martin sketch where he is playing a Roman Centurion. Where his assistant utters the memorable line “Perhaps they mean to vex us.” To which Centurion Martin responds casually “Have them put to death.” Late to the thread, here, but I would be grateful if you could point me to the origin of that bit. Thank you, Dan ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2023, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-how-often-do-you-think-about-the-roman-empire/990182/102 "2023-09-17T16:21:52Z")
I assume it was this [SNL skit.](https://snltranscripts.jt.org/79/79avandals.phtml) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2023, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-how-often-do-you-think-about-the-roman-empire/990182/103 "2023-09-17T16:39:04Z")
That’s it exactly. Great work. But what is scary is now different and flaky my recollection is. Perhaps I saw only a later excerpt, but probably not. Before reading your script cite I remembered the whole skit as just the surprise pizza delivery, the Centurion’s “What!, I ordered no pizza!” confusion, the Lieutenant’s “Perhaps they mean to vex us.”, and the Centurion’s “find their parents and have them put to death.” Upon reading the script, though, the rest is ever so vaguely familiar. Apparently decades of repetition of my favorite lines largely erased the recollection of everything else. Human memory be weird. Or at least mine be weird. YMMV = your memory may vary. 😁 ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2023, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-how-often-do-you-think-about-the-roman-empire/990182/104 "2023-09-17T17:23:10Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Zoomer memeful outcome: Soon kids really will be using “Roman Empire” in that sense and the rest of us will be clueless. All it needs is for you to make a meme and get it to catch fire on TikTok. Twas ever such. “A bit of ‘How’s your father’” is slang for sex for reasons apparently related to a century-old comedians’ catchphrase > **[TBT: (A bit of) how’s your father](https://medium.com/prose-matters/tbt-a-bit-of-how-s-your-father-8024ef4ec728)** > > This week’s Throwback Thursday takes us on another journey into the never ending world of weird and wonderful sayings , this time focusing… ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2023, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-how-often-do-you-think-about-the-roman-empire/990182/105 "2023-09-17T17:39:18Z")
Totally news to me, but thanks for a fascinating tour of something totally unexpected. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2023, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-how-often-do-you-think-about-the-roman-empire/990182/106 "2023-09-17T19:35:17Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Time marches on. More like jogs now, soon to be sprinting. A wise lady once told me, “Life is like a roll of toilet paper. The less that’s left, the faster it goes.” ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2023, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-how-often-do-you-think-about-the-roman-empire/990182/107 "2023-09-17T20:08:52Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > A wise lady once told me, “Life is like a roll of toilet paper. The less that’s left, the faster it goes.” And the more grateful you are for it. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2023, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-how-often-do-you-think-about-the-roman-empire/990182/108 "2023-09-17T20:25:24Z")
Just don’t come up short sitting on the throne. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2023, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-how-often-do-you-think-about-the-roman-empire/990182/109 "2023-09-17T20:27:57Z")
There wasn’t a poll option for “Pretty much just when I see this thread title.” ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2023, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-how-often-do-you-think-about-the-roman-empire/990182/110 "2023-09-17T20:28:15Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > You really can’t beat something like TikTok (at least, the way the kids use it) for rapidly establishing a meaning for a repeated image or theme and then reiterating on it quickly. Like you said, you have to be immersed in it to keep up - Sound like a lot of work for very little payoff. I can’t see why they bother. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2023, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-how-often-do-you-think-about-the-roman-empire/990182/111 "2023-09-17T20:32:48Z")
Sounds to _me_ like someone is trying to justify their Covid shopping behaviour…. (Perhaps not.) ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2023, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-how-often-do-you-think-about-the-roman-empire/990182/112 "2023-09-18T04:26:34Z")
I think about it less than the people who are in charge of the “On this Day” Box on the Wikipedia home page which seems to include some forgotten event from the Byzantine era of the Roman Empire about half the time. Sometimes a disastrous loss to the forces of Islam, sometimes a false dawn of a victory, sometimes an Emperor getting blinded and mutilated by his successor. ---
**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:** [September 19, 2023, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-how-often-do-you-think-about-the-roman-empire/990182/113 "2023-09-19T15:30:03Z")
Or as we’d call it today, Tuesday. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2023, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-how-often-do-you-think-about-the-roman-empire/990182/114 "2023-09-19T16:23:23Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Sound like a lot of work for very little payoff. I can’t see why they bother. The meme culture, or TikTok? TikTok is honestly a very well designed app. I use it occasionally - my sisters-in-law send me funny videos on there, as do one or two other friends; and around once a month I’ll scroll through some videos. It does a scary good job of personalizing your experience (so I get a mix of informational videos, skits, funny animal videos, and some wildcards thrown in; my sister-in-law gets totally different content that I never see, like makeup tutorials). If you mean the meme culture - I doubt it feels lile work to those who are immersed in it. Memes convey a lot of ideas and emotions all at once, it’s probably less effort for a bigger dopamine hit compared to aending each other poems (or message board posts). ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2023, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-how-often-do-you-think-about-the-roman-empire/990182/115 "2023-09-19T16:53:20Z")
Before this thread popped up, I didn’t think about the Roman Empire all that much, maybe when it was a topic on The Rest Is History podcast or a movie. But since the thread has been active I think about every day if even just for a few seconds. 🙃 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2023, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-how-often-do-you-think-about-the-roman-empire/990182/116 "2023-09-19T17:48:52Z")
I don’;t really think about the Roman Empire (or the Greeks, for that matter) all that often. And I write about mythology, dammit! ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2023, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-how-often-do-you-think-about-the-roman-empire/990182/117 "2023-09-20T03:24:03Z")
Then maybe you need to cut down on the amanita muscaria? ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2023, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-how-often-do-you-think-about-the-roman-empire/990182/118 "2023-09-21T04:06:11Z")
I wonder how much overlap there is between those obsessed with the Roman Empire and those of Italian heritage? Nevertheless, more thought for food. [https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/20/arts/roman-empire-women-tiktok.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/20/arts/roman-empire-women-tiktok.html) ---
**Author:** ![ColdBrew50](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9a140/32.png) [@ColdBrew50](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColdBrew50)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2023, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-how-often-do-you-think-about-the-roman-empire/990182/119 "2023-09-21T16:30:56Z")
Weekly, at least. I don’t know the reasons for the supposed truism about “many men,” but I enjoy the Latin language, and it’s very common for me to encounter some reference to a Roman ruler or other historical figure just in browsing the internet. Not especially knowledgeable about the Roman empire, except for fabulous contemporary bits from Suetonius and others, but, you know, the greatest hits. And, Mel Brooks, perhaps. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2023, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-how-often-do-you-think-about-the-roman-empire/990182/120 "2023-09-21T17:34:14Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Beware the Blipvert! Way to be relevant, dad. Maybe you could make a roman empire reference next? 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-how-often-do-you-think-about-the-roman-empire/990182.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-how-often-do-you-think-about-the-roman-empire/990182.md?page=7)