# 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:** 132
**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:** [November 14, 2016, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2621 "2016-11-14T23:56:35Z")
> [@MacLir](#): > > Guilty as charged! Pepper Mill, too. She also goes “Quack quack quack …quack quack…quack quack…” when I have The Blue Danube playing.\* \*From “A Corny Concerto”, a Bob Clampett cartoon from the 1940s parodying Disney’s “Fantasia”. “Kill the Wabbit!” is from Chuck Jones’ 1950s cartoon “What’s Opera, Doc?” ---
**Author:** ![MacLir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9e8a1a/32.png) [@MacLir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacLir)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2016, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2622 "2016-11-14T23:58:28Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > Are you talking about Asians in Asia or Asian-Americans? Asian pop is more likely to be fruit-flavored but I think Asian-American’s taste in soda doesn’t vary that much from the rest of the populace. They tend not to like root beer. The wintergreen reminds them of Salonpas liniment. 😛 ---
**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:** [November 15, 2016, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2623 "2016-11-15T00:04:12Z")
> [@MacLir](#): > > As Holmes puts it in the recent movie: “High-functioning sociopath” > > Sir Arthur Conan Doyle indicated that Holmes was based on a doctor he had known > > Named after John Calvin, a 16th-century French Reformation theologian, and Thomas Hobbes, a 17th-century English political philosopher, in this case Calvin is the one associated with the phrase “Nasty, brutish, and short.” I always got the impression that Watterson named his characters after getting a look at The Britannica Great Books collection (not to be confused with The Harvard Classics). One volume is devoted to the writings of John Calvin, and has “Calvin” on the spine. Not far away is a volume of Macchiavelli and Hobbes, with those two name on the spine. And the very next volume is the works of Herman Melville. (Melville is the name of Calvin’s imaginary little brother) > **[Great Books of the Western World | Series | LibraryThing](https://www.librarything.com/nseries/322/Great-Books-of-the-Western-World)** > > LibraryThing catalogs yours books online, easily, quickly and for free. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2016, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2624 "2016-11-15T02:33:09Z")
> [@MacLir](#): > > My connotation of the terms is that the fluffy thing is the comforter, and the “pillowcase” thing over it is the duvet. I don’t know that this is official, but it’s how I see them sold: Comforter- the filling is permanently encased in a cover , which may be in any color or pattern including those that coordinate with sheets.When it needs to be washed, you wash the whole thing.You could probably use a duvet cover on it to avoid washing the whole thing,but then it would no longer match the sheets.\* Duvet - just the filling. It’s white and comes in different weights, but it’s usually thinner than a comforter. It doesn’t get cleaned frequently and probably needs dry cleaning. Sometimes called a “duvet insert”. Duvet cover- covers a duvet like a pillowcase. Various colors and patterns , including patterns that coordinate with sheets. Bought separately from the duvet, so if you have three sets of sheets you can have three matching covers for a single duvet. \*I’ve never seen a set of sheets that had both a matching comforter and a matching duvet cover. ---
**Author:** ![Eclipse\_Chaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Eclipse\_Chaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eclipse_Chaser)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2016, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2625 "2016-11-15T08:08:58Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > I don’t know that this is official, but it’s how I see them sold: > > Comforter- the filling is permanently encased in a cover , which may be in any color or pattern including those that coordinate with sheets.When it needs to be washed, you wash the whole thing.You could probably use a duvet cover on it to avoid washing the whole thing,but then it would no longer match the sheets.\* That is what in the UK I think we would call either a bedspread (if it didn’t have a fluffy filling) or an eiderdown if it did. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2016, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2626 "2016-11-15T09:18:06Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I always got the impression that Watterson named his characters after getting a look at The Britannica Great Books collection (not to be confused with The Harvard Classics). One volume is devoted to the writings of John Calvin, and has “Calvin” on the spine. Not far away is a volume of Macchiavelli and Hobbes, with those two name on the spine. And the very next volume is the works of Herman Melville. (Melville is the name of Calvin’s imaginary little brother) I’ve heard the story that when L. Frank Baum was trying to come up with a name for his imaginary land, he happened to look at his file cabinet; the first was labeled A-N, the second was O-Z. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2016, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2627 "2016-11-15T10:10:02Z")
Took me longer than I care to admit to finally figure out that in _The Hunger Games_, ‘Panem’ comes from ‘panem et circenses’, bread and games, a way to appease the populace. I mean, they could’ve introduced some subtle references to ancient Rome in order to drop a hint, no? :smack: ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2016, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2628 "2016-11-15T14:41:40Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > [Yup](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyXJfUPSQhM) Years ago when the _San Jose Mercury_ picked up C&H after it had been running a while, they just started it, no introductory strips or anything. For about a week I was puzzling over the premise (Why does the kid have a pet tiger, albeit a friendly one?). The penny dropped when came the strip where Calvin was bashing a monster under the bed until his father hauled up the (stuffed) Hobbes saying, “It’s not a monster, it’s just your stuffed toy.” Last panel the (live) Hobbes is next to him in bed. “Heh, heh. Sorry, buddy. Good thing I missed once in a while, huh.” “Yeah. Gimme that stick a minute, would ya?” ---
**Author:** ![kcor1953](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kcor1953/32/3221_2.png) [@kcor1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kcor1953)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2016, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2629 "2016-11-15T16:05:49Z")
> [@statsman1982](#): > > I have two. > > […] > > Also, the Neighborhood Watch eye. I didn’t realize it was an eye with the pupil off center, you know, as when someone is “WATCHING”. 🙂 until I was a teenager. I always saw it as a spinner of some sort, the pupil being the axis on which the spinner spun. The neighborhood watch signs here have a guy like a slender Boris Badenov. It has only been in the last year or so I’ve been thinking the guy is a bad guy and the good guys are watching for him–I assumed he was a cloak and dagger neighborhood watcher and that it was a bad-arse neighborhood so look out! ---
**Author:** ![TheseGoToEleven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/848f3c/32.png) [@TheseGoToEleven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheseGoToEleven)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2016, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2630 "2016-11-15T16:23:12Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > I see. > > Would you believe there are no cats named Grimalkin on Petfinder? I mean, a whole database full of animal shelters, and not one think to name a kitteh Grimalkin. Or Schrodinger, for that matter. OMG, thank you - my next cat will be named Schrodinger (Ding, for short)! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2016, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2631 "2016-11-15T20:12:41Z")
> [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](#): > > Me, too! > > For the record, I think misle (v. to cheat or fool) SHOULD be added to the English language ASAP. > > Lastly, in the context of the trading card game , Magic, I understand that “to Mise” means to win by luck or to win undeserveely, named after a player who won some (many?) matches where observers thought he was sure to lose. No, it’s not named after a person. It’s a shortening of “Might as well”, as in, “I guess I might as well just win this, am I right?”. An overly casual phrasing of a difficult achievement. Shortened to “Mise well, amirite?” and then to just “Mise.” A lot of Magic slang involves cutting out words. “Must be nice to run so well” became “Must be nice” which became “Must”. And then the response to “Must” naturally just became “Is”. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2016, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2632 "2016-11-15T22:57:37Z")
> [@JSexton](#): > > No, it’s not named after a person. It’s a shortening of “Might as well”, as in, “I guess I might as well just win this, am I right?”. An overly casual phrasing of a difficult achievement. Shortened to “Mise well, amirite?” and then to just “Mise.” > > A lot of Magic slang involves cutting out words. “Must be nice to run so well” became “Must be nice” which became “Must”. And then the response to “Must” naturally just became “Is”. Consider me “schooled”. ty 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2633 "2016-11-16T04:55:01Z")
**Airplane!** Late in the movie, the nun is playing guitar and singing to the two black guys. The skinny guy, the one with food poisoning, doubles over and vomits while the large guy pats his shoulder sympathetically. It was a few years before I caught on that it was her take on “R-E-S-P-E-C-T” that was making him sick. ---
**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:** [November 19, 2016, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2634 "2016-11-19T15:58:37Z")
Just discovered another one. Apparently I’ve been reading and hearing “Dr. Strangelove” with an extra G for the last forty-odd years. It’s “Strange Glove”, isn’t it? No? This must be related to the Berenstain Bears time rift. I always remembered them as the Berenstein Bears, and I also thought that Nelson Mandela died long before 2013. ---
**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:** [November 20, 2016, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2635 "2016-11-20T08:46:54Z")
> [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](#): > > For the record, I think misle (v. to cheat or fool) SHOULD be added to the English language ASAP. Sounds very Yiddish: \*Oy, vey! That verkakte \*\*shlep \*\*just \*\*misled \*_me! Such a **nogoodnik**!_ :smack: ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2016, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2636 "2016-11-21T15:05:01Z")
> [@YogSothoth](#): > > So the other day I was listening to some Beatles song and someone sang the lyric “What would you do if I sang out of tune? Would you stand up and walk out on me?” That sounded strangely familiar and it took me a few days to figure out: Its the Wonder Years theme! All this time, I’ve thought the words to that theme was “Watch what you do with that zang attitude” The story I heard was that the original lyrics were: “What would you do if I sang out of tune / would you throw ripe tomatoes at me?” However the group thought it best to change that, since, in the past, ardent fans had thrown “jelly babies” (jelly beans) at them in concert, after they had mentioned that they enjoyed that kind of candy. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2016, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2637 "2016-11-21T15:33:33Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Pepper Mill, too. > She also goes “Quack quack quack …quack quack…quack quack…” when I have The Blue Danube playing.\* > > \*From “A Corny Concerto”, a Bob Clampett cartoon from the 1940s parodying Disney’s “Fantasia”. “Kill the Wabbit!” is from Chuck Jones’ 1950s cartoon “What’s Opera, Doc?” If you and Pepper Mill ever want some more (mostly very good) earworms along this line, check out [Beethoven’s Wig](http://beethovenswig.com/). Richard Perlmutter, the guy responsible for this bit of enjoyable lunacy, has added lyrics to a fair number of well-known classical numbers. For instance: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik: _Please don’t play your violin at night Wolfgang, go to bed, turn out the light…_ March of the Toreadors from _Carmen_: \* Please keep your bull outside the china shop, No bulls allowed, that’s where they stop…\* ---
**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:** [November 21, 2016, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2638 "2016-11-21T19:40:48Z")
> [@MacLir](#): > > The original was a representation of the constellation and had seven, representing the seven partners. Not actually so. The original version of the logo _was_ laid out like the constellation, but… The Subaru logo has never had 7 stars. The traditional Japanese interpretation of the constellation only has 6 stars, and the logo matched that. There were no 7 partners. Subaru is a division of Fuji Heavy Industries, which was merged from of 5 companies. One interpretation of the logo, which comes close to the ‘7 partners’ idea, though I don’t know how official it is, is that the large star in the logo represents FHI, and the others represent the original 5 companies. ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2016, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2639 "2016-11-21T19:47:43Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > This is entirely folk etymology, but years ago I came to the conclusion that the piggys rhyme is an anti-gluttony fable. It tells in alternate lines the fate of two pigs. > > The first pig ate a lot > The second pig didn’t > The first pig was taken to market > The second pig wasn’t > The first pig screamed as he was slaughtered. > > Which would you rather be, my child? > > [I have mentioned this theory before.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=10867032&highlight=gluttony#post10867032) Or, as Leiber and Stoller had it: One little piggy ate pizza One piggy ate potato chips This little piggy’s coming over your house He’s gonna nibble on your sweet lips. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2016, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2640 "2016-11-21T20:18:48Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > **Airplane!** Late in the movie, the nun is playing guitar and singing to the two black guys. The skinny guy, the one with food poisoning, doubles over and vomits while the large guy pats his shoulder sympathetically. It was a few years before I caught on that it was her take on “R-E-S-P-E-C-T” that was making him sick. Given that it’s Airplane I suppose anything is possible, but I don’t think this is right. I think he’s just another passenger who has food poisoning. He did complain earlier that he got the “pain runnin’ down to the bone”. [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=131) [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=133)