# 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:** 146
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2018, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2901 "2018-01-11T10:41:12Z")
Well, the actual lyric are: _And our friends are all aboard Many more of them live next door_ I suppose it’s possible that they’re using “all aboard” not in the literal sense meaning all of their friends, but more in the way a train conductor will shout “all aboard” before a train leaves a station. Which leaves open the possibility that there are additional friends someplace else. As to what’s next door to a submarine, I got nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2018, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2903 "2018-01-11T17:24:22Z")
An octopus’s garden? ---
**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:** [January 11, 2018, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2904 "2018-01-11T23:56:02Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > The “friends” are pills, and/or the Yellow Submarines are pills [Somewhere, Paul and Peter Yarrow are having a drink to sooth their mutual annoyance.](http://www.beatlesinterviews.org/dba10sub.html) > [@](#): > > PAUL 1966: “It’s a happy place, that’s all. You know, it was just… We were trying to write a children’s song. That was the basic idea. And there’s nothing more to be read into it than there is in the lyrics of any children’s song.” ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2018, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2905 "2018-01-13T20:15:40Z")
In the song “Up To Me” by Jethro Tull, there is a line “Well I’m a common working man with a half of bitter bread and jam” and for decades I didn’t know how to parse it. Mainly because I didn’t know that “bitter” could be used alone for a type of drink, and just last month or so I realized that it was a “half [pint] of bitter [ale]” rather than a “half” of “bitter bread”, whatever that is. And there was a long pause between the words “bitter” and “bread” but Ian Anderson sometimes just puts those in for no reason so that didn’t really help me. I also went for years without knowing what their title “Cheap Day Return” (a return bus ticket) or one of the meanings of The Jam album title “All Mod Cons” (short for All Modern Conveniences in an apartment) meant, but reruns of the britcom The Good Life cleared that up. But those don’t really count because they aren’t very obvious to cross-pond listeners. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2018, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2906 "2018-01-14T04:26:01Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > In the song “Up To Me” by Jethro Tull, there is a line… [not] very obvious to cross-pond listeners. Finally made it to London in the '70s with some friends, and we discovered we were in a Jethro Tull song: “Look, there’s a Wimpy Bar!” "And here’s Leicester Square, where Jeffery went, and Preston Platform and Hampstead Fair… and Piccadilly Circus! (where the foreign student asked ‘Is it really true/there are elephants and lions, too/in Piccadilly Circus?’) “And after our rudder slowly turns us into the Marylebone Road, we could go Up The 'Pool! … and find a candy floss salesman.” We spent an entire week, seeing places we’d heard of and discovering idioms we hadn’t understood before. Had a similar experience with the same friends, visiting LA after a youth immersed in Firesign Theater… “Guys, we’re at the corner of Pico and Alvarado!” (two characters in _Don’t Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me The Pliers)_ ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2018, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2907 "2018-01-14T04:44:54Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > In the Catholic faith, Mary, Mother of God, is often referred to as the Lady of the Rose, or Lady of the Roses. > > (Those early years of parochial school finally pay off. Many years later.) Perhaps you are thinking of the Virgin of Guadalupe? There was a miracle involving roses in winter. Or Our Lady of the Rosary? I’ve never heard Mary referred to as “the lady” of anything, only as “our lady”. Therese of Lisieux is called ‘the Little Flower’. ---
**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:** [January 14, 2018, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2908 "2018-01-14T04:51:27Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > Perhaps you are thinking of the Virgin of Guadalupe? There was a miracle involving roses in winter. > Or Our Lady of the Rosary? > > I’ve never heard Mary referred to as “the lady” of anything, only as “our lady”. [Our Lady of Guadalupe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Guadalupe) maybe? In that link, under “Churches named in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe” is: **“El Santuario de Guadalupe, Santa Fe, New Mexico: the oldest extant shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe in the United States.”** I spent a lot of time in Santa Fe back in the day and remembered that. Could that be it? **“Our Lady of Guadalupe (Spanish: Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe), also known as the Virgin of Guadalupe (Spanish: Virgen de Guadalupe), is a Roman Catholic title of the Blessed Virgin Mary associated with a venerated image enshrined within the Minor Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City. The basilica is the most visited Catholic pilgrimage site in the world, and the world’s third most-visited sacred site. Pope Leo XIII granted the venerated image a Canonical Coronation on 12 October 1895.”** ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2018, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2909 "2018-01-14T05:04:53Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > It bothers me that the Pleiades are commonly called “The Seven Sisters” (in the western hemisphere, anyway) but my Subaru’s logo has only six stars. > > . “In Japan, the constellation is mentioned under the name Mutsuraboshi (“six stars”) in the 8th century Kojiki.[19] The constellation is now known in Japan as Subaru (“to unite”). It was chosen as the brand name of Subaru automobiles to reflect the origins of the firm as the joining of five companies, and is depicted in the firm’s six-star logo.[20]” (Wikipedia on the Pleiades) There are a lot more than seven, anyway. Supposedly you can see about 14 without a telescope. But there are around 800 ‘solar masses’ in the cluster. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2018, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2910 "2018-01-14T05:09:06Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > There’s kind of an odd scene in **Men in Black**. Just after Will Smith decides to join the MiB team, he goes into the vent building and rides the elevator down with Tommy Lee Jones. The elevator stops, the doors open, and they step onto a little platform that overlooks the whole operations floor, and then the platform lowers them down the rest of the way. How does that make any sense architecturally? Why doesn’t the regular elevator just take them the extra twenty feet down to the actual floor? You think that was what stuck out as odd in that film? ---
**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:** [January 14, 2018, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2911 "2018-01-14T07:58:48Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > “In Japan, the constellation is mentioned under the name Mutsuraboshi (“six stars”) in the 8th century Kojiki.[19] The constellation is now known in Japan as Subaru (“to unite”). It was chosen as the brand name of Subaru automobiles to reflect the origins of the firm as the joining of five companies, and is depicted in the firm’s six-star logo.[20]” > (Wikipedia on the Pleiades) > > There are a lot more than seven, anyway. Supposedly you can see about 14 without a telescope. But there are around 800 ‘solar masses’ in the cluster. The story I heard when I started doing astronomy was that in ancient times, seven bright stars were visible to the naked eye but one has since disappeared. I’ve seen it through a telescope (it is awesome!), but I’ve never bothered to count the stars I can see without one. ---
**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:** [January 14, 2018, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2912 "2018-01-14T08:01:12Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Why doesn’t the regular elevator just take them the extra twenty feet down to the actual floor? Nowhere near as dramatic that way. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2018, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2913 "2018-01-16T14:20:35Z")
In an episode of The Big Bang Theory, Penny asks “What is Sheldon’s deal? Is it girls, guys, sock puppets?” It was only in the rerun I realized that’s reference to masturbation. ---
**Author:** ![Arizona\_Mike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7cd45c/32.png) [@Arizona\_Mike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arizona_Mike)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2018, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2914 "2018-01-16T15:02:27Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > The story I heard when I started doing astronomy was that in ancient times, seven bright stars were visible to the naked eye but one has since disappeared. I’ve seen it through a telescope (it is awesome!), but I’ve never bothered to count the stars I can see without one. Per Subaru’s promotional literature, the reason there are only 6 stars instead of 7 in their logo is that you, the driver, are the 7th star. ---
**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:** [January 16, 2018, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2915 "2018-01-16T15:13:44Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > In an episode of The Big Bang Theory, Penny asks “What is Sheldon’s deal? Is it girls, guys, sock puppets?” > > It was only in the rerun I realized that’s reference to masturbation. No, I’m pretty sure she’s asking if he’s got a sock-puppet fetish, which is a lot more likely to be the case than being an exclusive masturbator, or gay or straight guy who never masturbates. ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2018, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2916 "2018-01-18T19:12:59Z")
> [@Arizona\_Mike](#): > > This is really stupid, but I only recently realized that The Beatles intentionally misspelled their name as a play off “the beat”. > > Completely blipped over that for decades and didn’t even realize it was a misspelling of “Beetles.” > > I probably shouldn’t be allowed to drive. I long assumed “beatle” was a UK spelling of “beetle.” Color/colour and all that. I would not be suprised if some fourth grade essay of mine existed where I spelled it that way, as I had an odd obsession with using alternate / archaic spellings. Then again, I’m the guy who still takes the time to use an ash when writing æther and keeps the diaeresis in naïve, so I can’t say I’ve exactly grown out of it… ---
**Author:** ![johnspartan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@johnspartan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnspartan)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2018, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2917 "2018-01-19T12:42:31Z")
> [@typoink](#): > > I long assumed “beatle” was a UK spelling of “beetle.” Color/colour and all that. I would not be suprised if some fourth grade essay of mine existed where I spelled it that way, as I had an odd obsession with using alternate / archaic spellings. > > Then again, I’m the guy who still takes the time to use an ash when writing æther and keeps the diaeresis in naïve, so I can’t say I’ve exactly grown out of it… It becomes more obvious when you realize that one of the biggest bands in rock and roll preceding them was Buddy Holly & the Crickets Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![johnspartan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@johnspartan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnspartan)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2018, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2918 "2018-01-19T12:52:42Z")
I may have seen the movie Trading Places 100 times, can quote dozens of lines, etc… I JUST today for the first time realized the title is an obvious double entendre. Yes, obviously Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd spend the movie trading places. But the big finale is at the commodities exchange… full of traders. It’s a trading place. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2018, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2919 "2018-01-19T14:05:30Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Look, there’s a Wimpy Bar!" That just became another one for me :smack: I knew there were Wimpy Burger franchises in the UK and I knew that “bar” there meant an establishment with a literal bar (or maybe just an establishment in that style) and not necessarily a place with alcohol but didn’t connect the two until now. Especially since “wimpy [pub]” also works in the context. My “omg london!” reference happened last year: I’d seen a lot of the stuff on the ground on Google Maps beforehand so I wasn’t surprised usually, but I was walking on Fulham Road\* aiming for Kensal Green but walked too far and the signs said I was in Chelsea and I literally said to myself “but I don’t want to go to Chelsea” and I stopped and laughed for a minute out loud since I had inadvertently made an Elvis Costello reference. \*Passion Play reference! ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2018, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2920 "2018-01-19T14:05:46Z")
> [@johnspartan](#): > > I may have seen the movie Trading Places 100 times, can quote dozens of lines, etc… > > I JUST today for the first time realized the title is an obvious double entendre. > > Yes, obviously Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd spend the movie trading places. > > But the big finale is at the commodities exchange… full of traders. It’s a trading place. > Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk There are not enough :smack: s! This is one of my favorites and like you, I have seen it many, many times and I never realized this either. ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2921 "2018-01-22T20:36:02Z")
In the movie **Drop Dead Gorgeous** Gladys Leeman wins the beauty pageant for 17 olds, watched it 10 or more times before I realised Gladys was 34 when her daughter won the pageant. [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=145) [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=147)