# Obvious things about a creative work you realize after the millionth time (OPEN SPOILERS POSSIBLE) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 24, 2009, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117 "2009-07-24T13:20:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 107
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2014, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2121 "2014-12-11T16:06:54Z")
I have been listening to the song “Rock Lobster” for a very long time, and I JUJST realized that the “Rock” in Rock lobster is a pun. Where was my brain? ---
**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:** [December 12, 2014, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2122 "2014-12-12T03:46:25Z")
Okay, here’s another one. I just noticed this tonight. I must have seen **Young Frankenstein** a zillion times, but I never noticed this. It’s the scene where the two burgers are addressing a meeting of citizens of the town. One of them thrusts up a hand, and is recognized, and walks up to the front and says “He’s a Scientist! They’re all alike! They say they’re for us…but what they really want is to RULE THE WORLD!”\*" The Burgers shush him, then call on inspector Kemp, playued by Kenneth Mars, doing his parody impression of Lionel Atwill from _Son of Frankenstein_, with his atrociously thick German accent, his artificial arm, and wearing both an eyepatch AND a monocle on the same eye. Here’s part of the scene: [https://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play;\_ylt=A2KLqIN2YopUW1gAoT37w8QF;\_ylu=X3oDMTByZWc0dGJtBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDdmlkBHZ0aWQDBGdwb3MDMQ--?p=YouTube+Young+frankenstein+Inspector+Kemp&vid=9e05ce92dfbedaeb558f7447fdbef752&l=1%3A52&turl=http%3A%2F%2Fts1.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DVN.608031438083589248%26pid%3D15.1&rurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dl8PLepHKj4k&tit=\young+frankenstein\<%2Fb\>&c=0&sigr=11bbhdm89&sigt=10p4cssfs&age=0&fr2=p%3As%2Cv%3Av%2Cm%3Asa&&tt=b](https://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play;_ylt=A2KLqIN2YopUW1gAoT37w8QF;_ylu=X3oDMTByZWc0dGJtBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDdmlkBHZ0aWQDBGdwb3MDMQ--?p=YouTube+Young+frankenstein+Inspector+Kemp&vid=9e05ce92dfbedaeb558f7447fdbef752&l=1%3A52&turl=http%3A%2F%2Fts1.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DVN.608031438083589248%26pid%3D15.1&rurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dl8PLepHKj4k&tit=%3Cb%3Eyoung+frankenstein%3C%2Fb%3E&c=0&sigr=11bbhdm89&sigt=10p4cssfs&age=0&fr2=p%3As%2Cv%3Av%2Cm%3Asa&&tt=b) Here’s what I hadn’t noticed before – this meeting is apparently a hastily-assembled get-together in a classroom. I first noticed that the door the hand-waving guy walks by looks like my old grade school window, with that pebbled glass and the transom. Then I noticed that the villagers were sitting at pretty low desks, not meeting chairs. Along the wall you can see the kind of pictures they put in classrooms, along with a globe. The metal stove with stove-pipe is just like the ones I’ve seen in reconstructions of 19th century classrooms. But the clincher is the pencil sharpener, looking anachronistic among the 19th century décor. It’s a modern crank-handled one, screwed into the wall near where you first see Kemp’s head. If you know it’s there, you can’t miss it. This makes it all the more ridiculous (yet appropriate) that the guy complaining about scientists first calls attention to himself by sticking up his hand and waving frantically – it’s an oddly disciplined thing to do in a town meeting, but it’s suggested naturally by the surroundings if you’re sitting in a kid’s classroom. \*This line always brought a round of applause when LSC showed the film at MIT. ---
**Author:** ![johnspartan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@johnspartan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnspartan)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2014, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2123 "2014-12-15T15:54:21Z")
_Have a holly, jolly Christmas_ doesn’t make any gorram sense. Which is fine, songs will often have nonsense words for meter or stylistic purposes… But it’s especially weird because holly is a noun and a thing specifically and exclusively tied in with the same thing — Christmas… but it has no use as an adjective. You can’t have a holly Christmas because it’s not a descriptor — anymore than you could have a tree Christmas or a wreath Christmas. You could, I suppose, have a holly-filled Christmas. Granted, poinsettia is harder to rhyme. ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2014, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2124 "2014-12-15T20:12:47Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > I have been listening to the song “Rock Lobster” for a very long time, and I JUJST realized that the “Rock” in Rock lobster is a pun. Where was my brain? But which direction were you coming from? I heard the song for years before I really knew a “rock lobster” was a thing. I always heard it as “Rock [and Roll] Lobster.” I’ve always wondered if people that grew up with more…lobster exposure might have approached from the other direction. ---
**Author:** ![Find\_Friends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@Find\_Friends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Find_Friends)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2014, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2125 "2014-12-16T17:55:16Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > In the Seinfeld episode where Kramer starts shaving himself with butter, and later basting himself in it, he gets Newman really hungry and he runs off to the coffee shop. Once there, he hallucinates Kramer’s face on a turkey. I just noticed, what the heck kind of coffee shop serves a full turkey that looks like its been in the oven like a Thanksgiving dinner? The waitress doesn’t even bring it in front of anyone, she just puts it on the counter and starts to cut it. Who cuts turkey on a lunch counter? Shouldn’t she be doing that in the back? Shouldn’t a cook be doing it? :dubious: Shouldn’t the last several seasons of _Seinfeld_ have made sense, and not been so surrealistic? * * * Here’s one of mine: [This character](http://www.comicvine.com/infectious-lass/4005-47108/) is called Infectious Lass and made her first appearance in Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes shortly after the takeover of the LoSH in _Superboy_. Codenames ending with “Lass” were fairly frequent in Legion stories, going back to Lightning Lass, who later was Light lass, and then Lightning Lass again. There was also a Shadow Lass. Until recent days or weeks it never occurred to me that her name was a play [on this](http://dictionary.reverso.net/english-cobuild/infectious%20laugh)! ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2014, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2126 "2014-12-16T18:11:13Z")
I think that’s a bit of a stretch. I doubt it was deliberate. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2014, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2127 "2014-12-16T18:16:24Z")
> [@johnspartan](#): > > _Have a holly, jolly Christmas_ doesn’t make any gorram sense. Not when you write it with a comma. It does if you use a hyphen, though: _Have a holly-jolly Christmas_, i.e. one that is jolly with lots of holly. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2014, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2128 "2014-12-16T18:18:26Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > It’s the scene where the two burgers are addressing a meeting of citizens of the town. This would indeed be hilarious, but I think you meant to say “burghers.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2014, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2129 "2014-12-16T18:20:17Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > _Have a holly-jolly Christmas_, i.e. one that is jolly with lots of holly. 🆒 Or one that is jolly because you’re enjoying Holly. :o ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2014, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2130 "2014-12-16T18:33:40Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > In the Seinfeld episode where Kramer starts shaving himself with butter, and later basting himself in it, he gets Newman really hungry and he runs off to the coffee shop. Once there, he hallucinates Kramer’s face on a turkey. I just noticed, what the heck kind of coffee shop serves a full turkey that looks like its been in the oven like a Thanksgiving dinner? The waitress doesn’t even bring it in front of anyone, she just puts it on the counter and starts to cut it. Who cuts turkey on a lunch counter? Shouldn’t she be doing that in the back? Shouldn’t a cook be doing it? Also from this episode, is it obvious to everyone what book Newman is reading while sitting next to Kramer, who is in the hot-tub? **Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors** by Piers Paul Read. Which is about, you know…_cannibalism!_ ---
**Author:** ![Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_The_Heavy)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2014, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2131 "2014-12-16T22:14:08Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > I didn’t realize this until a few days ago and I feel ashamed about missing this for so long. > > The circle in [Circle K](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle_K) convenience stores is supposed to be synonymous with the letter “O”. Thus, “Circle K” is another way of saying “OK”. That’s something that’s especially apparent once you look at the company logo. I always thought the name and logo represented a brand, as in what the ol’ Circle K Ranch branded their cattle with, particularly the way the K connects to the circle in their [older logo.](http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120428043840/logopedia/images/5/5f/Circle_K_3.jpg). Here’s a kinda weak, not so obvious one: I just noticed that the radio on the cover of the Beastie Boys compilation [Solid Gold Hits](http://static.musictoday.com/store/bands/93/product_large/MUDD12.JPG) is the same one on the cover of LL Cool J’s [first album](http://www.playthishiphop.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/LL-Cool-J-Radio.jpg). Must’ve belonged to Rick Rubin. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2014, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2132 "2014-12-16T22:17:35Z")
[QUOTE=NDP] I didn’t realize this until a few days ago and I feel ashamed about missing this for so long. The circle in Circle K convenience stores is supposed to be synonymous with the letter “O”. Thus, “Circle K” is another way of saying “OK”. That’s something that’s especially apparent once you look at the company logo. [/QUOTE] > [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](#): > > I always thought the name and logo represented a brand, as in what the ol’ Circle K Ranch branded their cattle with, particularly the way the K connects to the circle in their [older logo.](http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120428043840/logopedia/images/5/5f/Circle_K_3.jpg). Why not both? ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2014, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2133 "2014-12-17T02:57:32Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > Why not both? Like the late Earl Warren? ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2014, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2134 "2014-12-17T22:54:51Z")
> [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](#): > > Here’s a kinda weak, not so obvious one: I just noticed that the radio on the cover of the Beastie Boys compilation [Solid Gold Hits](http://static.musictoday.com/store/bands/93/product_large/MUDD12.JPG) is the same one on the cover of LL Cool J’s [first album](http://www.playthishiphop.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/LL-Cool-J-Radio.jpg). Must’ve belonged to Rick Rubin. Possible whoosh, but that boombox is a JVC RC-M90. Very popular and largely the gold standard for boomboxes at the time. Pretty iconic for the time, and I wouldn’t necessarily assume a bigger connection. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2135 "2014-12-18T18:36:14Z")
Only the third time, to be sure, but… Each year, the web comic [Guilded Age](http://guildedage.net/comic/chapter-1-cover/) does a Christmas arc involving the in-universe holiday Axemas. This is the third year they’ve had an Axemas special. Three days into the current Axemas story, I finally figure out where the name Axemas comes from. It’s a freaking play on ‘Xmas’.:smack: ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2136 "2014-12-18T19:05:40Z")
It just dawned on me that the title of Pet Shop Boys’ **Love etc.** is also a [valediction](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valediction). ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2137 "2014-12-18T19:23:54Z")
In _ **The Hunger Games** _ books and movies, citizens who have had their tongues cut out as punishment are called [avox](http://www.amazon.com/False-Justice-Eight-Convict-Innocent/dp/1607144670#reader_1607144670). It just occurred to me about a week ago that a-vox just means ‘voiceless.’ ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2138 "2014-12-18T23:37:44Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > I didn’t realize this until a few days ago and I feel ashamed about missing this for so long. > > The circle in [Circle K](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle_K) convenience stores is supposed to be synonymous with the letter “O”. Thus, “Circle K” is another way of saying “OK”. That’s something that’s especially apparent once you look at the company logo. I didn’t even know Circle K was a real store. I thought it was a made up brand for movies because they didn’t want to use a real brand like 7-11. Sorta like Kwik-E-Mart on the Simpsons. > [@typoink](#): > > Bono is recovering from an injury currently, so Springsteen actually stepped in to sing with U2 at the concert in question. > > Bono DOES look a bit like Springsteen, but Springsteen looks a LOT like Springsteen. But not as much as he used to. Now he looks more like Springsteens dad, or maybe grandpa. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2014, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2139 "2014-12-19T00:39:00Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > But not as much as he used to. Now he looks more like Springsteens dad, or maybe grandpa. SPRINGSTEEN looks like Springsteen’s dad nowadays… ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2014, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2140 "2014-12-19T02:42:20Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > I didn’t even know Circle K was a real store. I thought it was a made up brand for movies because they didn’t want to use a real brand like 7-11. Sorta like Kwik-E-Mart on the Simpsons. They may be regional. I remember they were big in Albuquerque when I lived there. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117.md?page=106) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117.md?page=108)