# 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:** 307
**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:** [January 17, 2025, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/6127 "2025-01-17T10:35:58Z")
I don’t think you can call any of those “family names”. Last names, yes, but not family names. The father and brother of Douglas MacArthur were called Arthur MacArthur. Oh, and I know a guy called Moshe Ben-Moshe ---
**Author:** ![Pheoinix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7993a0/32.png) [@Pheoinix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pheoinix)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2025, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/6128 "2025-01-17T12:05:20Z")
According to Stephen Fry, it translates as Peter Peter Potato 😅 ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2025, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/6129 "2025-01-17T12:41:55Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > So in Iceland there can be four family names. Wife’s name comes from her father, husband’s name from his father. Boys and girls both named for their father but one has son on the end and the other has dottir. I think an Icelander would say that they don’t have family names. They have patronymics. They would say that none of their names continue indefinitely long into the future (as long as none of their descendants move away from Iceland). They would say that their full name indicates what they were named at birth and what their father’s (or occasionally mother’s) name is. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2025, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/6130 "2025-01-17T17:17:50Z")
The drama series _In Plain Sight_ had US Marshal Marshall Mann. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2025, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/6131 "2025-01-17T17:30:34Z")
I did know a Joyce Joyce once. Her husband was James Joyce, so she took it willingly. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2025, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/6132 "2025-01-17T22:24:56Z")
And of course, in Catch 22 there is Major Major Major. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2025, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/6133 "2025-01-18T18:26:46Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > After watching \*\*Back to the Future \*\*I wondered for years what a “jigowatt” was, and then a few weeks ago I read in Wikipedia (bolding mine): > > > [@](#): > > > > Lloyd originally turned down the role, but changed his mind after reading the script and at the persistence of his wife. He improvised some of his scenes,[10] taking inspiration from Albert Einstein and conductor Leopold Stokowski.[11] **Brown pronounces gigawatts as “jigowatts”** , which was the manner a physicist said the word when he met with Zemeckis and Gale as they researched the script.[9] It just occurred to me that Doc Brown’s nonstandard pronunciation of “gigawatts” might be taken as evidence that he had gained most of his scientific knowledge through reading (i.e. he was familiar with the word in print but hadn’t heard it spoken). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2025, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/6134 "2025-01-18T18:37:08Z")
Or from other people who use that pronunciation. It’s not common, but it is a known variant. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2025, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/6135 "2025-01-18T18:37:10Z")
[In Wall Street when Gordon Gekko first meets Bud Fox he is showing off some cutting edge blood pressure monitor](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vziHnwB_mkM). I usually assumed it was just some expensive 1980s toy or from some company Gordon was investing in. I just recently remembered that later Gordon specifically mentions to Bud Fox how his father dropped dead of a heart attack at 49. So clearly he has real concerns about monitoring his health. ---
**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 19, 2025, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/6136 "2025-01-19T01:36:08Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > The drama series _In Plain Sight_ had US Marshal Marshall Mann. Well, in real life there was a Sergeant Sargent… > Sergeant Sargent …has won the Soldier’s Medal for heroism, for his rescue of a civilian tree serviceman who was trapped by a live high voltage power line 25 feet above ground. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2025, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/6137 "2025-01-19T03:26:11Z")
> [@digs](#): > > > [@Lumpy](#): > > > > The drama series _In Plain Sight_ had US Marshal Marshall Mann. > > Well, in real life there was a Sergeant Sargent… > > > Sergeant Sargent …has won the Soldier’s Medal for heroism, for his rescue of a civilian tree serviceman who was trapped by a live high voltage power line 25 feet above ground. Meet Lieutenant General Admiral [https://www.gomo.army.mil/public/Biography/usa-10635/kevind-admiral](https://www.gomo.army.mil/public/Biography/usa-10635/kevind-admiral) ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2025, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/6138 "2025-01-20T18:16:11Z")
And there was a Lieutenant Leftenant. > **[First Black woman to serve in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps after desegregation dies](https://www.npr.org/2025/01/15/g-s1-42698/nancy-leftenant-colon-military-army-tuskegee-obituary?fbclid=IwY2xjawH7chlleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHYZi4bXS9KOizA4_tOumlJb6YUKB9jqp_KvFgagVga7IzJJN7lAv3vPzSw_aem_Iyz8hGZEIcr_cwJll7S6rw)** > > Nancy Leftenant-Colon, who became the first Black nurse in the U.S. Army Air Corps after President Harry S. Truman desegregated it in 1948, has died at age 104. ---
**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:** [January 21, 2025, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/6139 "2025-01-21T17:30:32Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > Or [Magnus Magnusson([Magnus Magnusson - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnus_Magnusson))] There’s always Christian Christiansen, discoverer of the Christiansen Effect (which I’ve used, frequently) > **[Christian Christiansen (physicist)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Christiansen_(physicist))** > > Christian Christiansen (9 October 1843 in Lønborg, Denmark – 28 November 1917 Frederiksberg) was a Danish physicist. > Christiansen first taught at the local polytechnical school. In 1886, he was appointed to a chair for physics at the University of Copenhagen. > He mainly studied radiant heat and optical dispersion, discovering the Christiansen effect (Christiansen filter). Around 1917, he discovered the anomalous dispersion of numerous dyes, including aniline red (fuchsine), by recording absorpti... ---
**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:** [January 21, 2025, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/6140 "2025-01-21T17:32:34Z")
> [@Pheoinix](#): > > According to Stephen Fry, it translates as Peter Peter Potato My favorite comment on it: A: The “Boutros” part translates as “Peter” B: What does “Ghali” mean? C: “Pumpkin-Eater.” ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2025, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/6141 "2025-01-21T21:51:01Z")
Rewatched _Friday Night Lights_ recently and holy hell the Taylor’s were bad parents. Yeah, Coach Taylor was an effective leader of young men, and Tammy Taylor was an effective leader of Coach Taylor, but neither of them knew how to handle Julie, lol. A perfect example was the Matt Saracen issue. In season one, Julie is hot for Matt and decides he gets to be the one she sleeps with first. After a bunch of mama-drama, Julie decides to not sleep with Matt. 2 seasons (and 2 years show-time) later, in season 3, Julie finally decides [Let’s Go All The Way](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQiGqGMT8i4). And her mom is _mad_ and literally (well, as close as I can remember anyway) screams “I wish you would have waited!” and I yelled back in poor Julie’s defense “Tammy, she waited TWO DAMNED YEARS!” Poor kid does what her mom asks, gets yelled at for doing so. Later on, her father just marches into a house that is not his and gets surprised when he finds his 17yo daughter in bed with his 18yo quarterback - well, that’s what you get when you just bust in someone’s house without knocking, Coach Taylor. Is that what you would teach your men - if you’re morally pure of heart, you can just break and enter wherever you want? Of course she gets in trouble for sleeping with the guy they know she’s sleeping with, all because they are suck-ass parents. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2025, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/6142 "2025-01-21T22:00:59Z")
Our foreign minister at the time Gareth Evans had ambitions to succeed Boutros Boutros-Ghali as SG of the UN. So naturally he was then known locally as Gareth Gareth-Evans. ---
**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 21, 2025, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/6143 "2025-01-21T22:04:52Z")
Boutros Boutros-Ghali and his wife, Mrs. Mrs. Ghali. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2025, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/6144 "2025-01-22T03:27:13Z")
There was a Canadian comic who had a bit. Someone asked him his name. “Why it’s Boutros. Boutris Ghali.” Then he was stuck with it. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2025, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/6145 "2025-02-03T23:18:40Z")
I know we discussed Werewolves of London like 10 years ago in this very thread, but it took me until today to realize that > He was looking for a place called “Lee Ho Fook’s” is a mix up of the syllables “Holy F\*cks” ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2025, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/6146 "2025-02-04T02:05:17Z")
Lee Ho Fook was a real restaurant before Zevon wrote about it in _Werewolves of London_. I stumbled across once walking around Soho and had to eat there. It closed in 2008. [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=306) [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=308)