# Monty Python references you don't get **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 23, 2006, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-references-you-dont-get/345762 "2006-02-23T06:54:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-references-you-dont-get/345762/21 "2006-02-23T19:58:10Z")
From Climbing the North Face of the Uxbridge Road: “Oh, well but they said _Crippen_ was crazy, didn’t they?” “Crippen _was_ crazy!” “Oh, well there you are, then.” …Okay, I know there was a killer doctor named Crippen, but…is this supposed to relate to mountain climbing, somehow, or is it just another silly non-sequitur? ---
**Author:** ![cactus\_waltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-references-you-dont-get/345762/22 "2006-02-23T20:08:04Z")
Watching Monty Python try to summarize **Marcel Proust** ’s grand opus **Remembrance of Things Past** just swept by my head as a kid. Now that I know both that the title in question is _seven novels long_ and also notoriously difficult to read, the scene becomes so much funnier. ---
**Author:** ![cactus\_waltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-references-you-dont-get/345762/23 "2006-02-23T20:11:56Z")
Well, not only that, they have a challenge in trying to summarize it in fifteen seconds. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-references-you-dont-get/345762/24 "2006-02-23T20:47:18Z")
> [@Robot Arm](#): > > I don’t recall exactly where, but in one of the sketches someone reacted to something with “oh, what a giveaway!” I think that appeared more than once. But I remember it as a line from the Art Critic. > [@](#): > > Good evening. I’d like to talk to you tonight about the place of the nude in my bed… um… in the history of my bed… of art, of art, I’m sorry. The place of the nude in the history of tart… call girl… I’m sorry. I’ll start again… Bum! …oh what a giveaway. ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-references-you-dont-get/345762/25 "2006-02-23T20:53:05Z")
> [@a35362](#): > > From Climbing the North Face of the Uxbridge Road: > > “Oh, well but they said _Crippen_ was crazy, didn’t they?” > > “Crippen _was_ crazy!” > > “Oh, well there you are, then.” > > …Okay, I know there was a killer doctor named Crippen, but…is this supposed to relate to mountain climbing, somehow, or is it just another silly non-sequitur? It doesn’t relate to mountain-climbing. People accused of being crazy often invoke other people accused of being crazy who were vindicated by history. Chapman’s character in this sketch just whiffs it really bad. No deeper meaning about it. The one thing about the joke that I didn’t think worked was that Crippen wasn’t really crazy; he was just an evil prick who killed his wife. [Brady and Hindley](http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/predators/moors/index_1.html), now _they_ were crazy. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-references-you-dont-get/345762/26 "2006-02-23T20:57:40Z")
What about, “A nod’s as good as a wink to a blind bat?” I didn’t think much of it until I heard Herod say, “A nod’s a good as a wink from that direction” in **I, Claudius.** So exactly how is a nod as good as a wink? ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-references-you-dont-get/345762/27 "2006-02-23T21:01:14Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > What about, “A nod’s as good as a wink to a blind bat?” I didn’t think much of it until I heard Herod say, “A nod’s a good as a wink from that direction” in **I, Claudius.** > > So exactly how is a nod as good as a wink? The expression is “A nod’s as good as a wink to a blind horse.” I think Eric Idle was just playing around with it a little. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-references-you-dont-get/345762/28 "2006-02-23T21:17:44Z")
So if I have two winks, I can trade them for two nods? I just want to make sure the nod-to-wink exchange rate is constant. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-references-you-dont-get/345762/29 "2006-02-23T21:23:06Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > So if I have two winks, I can trade them for two nods? I just want to make sure the nod-to-wink exchange rate is constant. They’re both trading weakly against the SHLAT (shake of a lamb’s tail). I’d trade my nods for hen’s teeth. ---
**Author:** ![Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spatial_Rift_47)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-references-you-dont-get/345762/30 "2006-02-23T21:25:12Z")
What about two winks and two nudges? Know what I mean, know what I mean? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-references-you-dont-get/345762/31 "2006-02-23T21:28:46Z")
nods, winks, shlats, hen’s teeth…! whatever happened to good old flying figs? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-references-you-dont-get/345762/32 "2006-02-23T21:34:42Z")
All right, stop it, stop it–this thread is getting entirely too _silly_! ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-references-you-dont-get/345762/33 "2006-02-23T21:51:32Z")
> [@Biffy the Elephant Shrew](#): > > All right, stop it, stop it–this thread is getting entirely too _silly_! No,it’s not. ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-references-you-dont-get/345762/34 "2006-02-23T21:56:28Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > No,it’s not. yes, it is. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-references-you-dont-get/345762/35 "2006-02-23T22:10:48Z")
> [@anyrose](#): > > yes, it is. I came here for a good argument! An argument is an intellectual process! Contradiction is just the automatic gainsaying of any statement the other person makes! ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-references-you-dont-get/345762/36 "2006-02-23T22:12:37Z")
> [@Antigen](#): > > I came here for a good argument! > An argument is an intellectual process! Contradiction is just the automatic gainsaying of any statement the other person makes! time’s up ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-references-you-dont-get/345762/37 "2006-02-23T22:23:02Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > What about, “A nod’s as good as a wink to a blind bat?” I didn’t think much of it until I heard Herod say, “A nod’s a good as a wink from that direction” in **I, Claudius.** > > So exactly how is a nod as good as a wink? A nod and a wink are both ways of saying yes, though with a wink you are being perhaps les overt about it, or perhaps you are saying “I really should not approve, but go ahead and I won’t stop you.” But a blind person (or bat) can see neither, so they mean the same. The original version is probably, “A wink is as good as a nod.” – that makes a bit more sense, really. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-references-you-dont-get/345762/38 "2006-02-23T22:57:10Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > When I first moved to Europe the one thing my multi-European workgroup could agree upon was the mockery of Eurovision. So of course I was compelled to watch it when it came on. It’s not as much fun as the mockery. Ahh, you obviously never saw the telecasts hosted by an obviously pissed Terry Wogan. They are far more fun than the mockery because it’s meant to be serious and professional yet Wogan begins noticably slurring his words by about the 7th act and starts taking the piss himself by about the 12th. Memorable lines like “Yes, of course, the next act is an Isreali playing Watusi music on a Cherokee trumpet supported by Afghan dancers, makes perfect sense for the Eurovision song contest” and “I have no idea what that was all about but I;m sure it was wonderful” are priceless when they come form a respected broadcaster as part of the offical commentary. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-references-you-dont-get/345762.md?page=1)