# 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:** 15\ **Page:** 368
**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:** [September 29, 2026, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/7347 "2026-09-29T01:24:46Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > In terms of changes in pop music, the 11 years from 1967 to 1978 were a lot longer than, for example, the 11 years from 2015 to 2026. But nothing in comparison to the changes in pop music between 1956 and 1967. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2026, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/7348 "2026-09-29T11:47:59Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I’ve listened to “Soul Man” (the Sam & Dave original) many times. But I was listening to it today and I belatedly thought “This song was released in 1967. How was there a reference in it to the Woodstock festival which didn’t occur until 1969?” That reminds me of when I was nine years old, in the late 70s, and I heard the 1966 Rolling Stones song “Miss Amanda Jones,” with the lyric “she’s the darling of the discotheque crowd.” I remember thinking, “that can’t be right — disco and discotheques just started to become a thing about two years ago!” Later I learned that discotheques predated disco music. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2026, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/7349 "2026-09-29T12:00:30Z")
Yep - there’s also a “discotheque” reference in Allan Sherman’s “The Rebel,” recorded the same year. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2026, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/7350 "2026-09-29T12:19:37Z")
Cool. Sorry to continue the hijack — it ends with this: It’s funny that “discotheque” is a play on the French word for “library.” ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2026, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/7351 "2026-09-29T13:33:51Z")
I don’t think it’s actually a play on the word - I think _theque_ is a noun ending meaning something like “repository” similar to the -eria ending in Italian , which often means “a place where something is sold” (gelateria, latteria,panneteria , etc) ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2026, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/7352 "2026-09-29T14:03:36Z")
It’s true that “-theque” means that, from a Greek word, but “discotheque” was specifically modeled on “bibliotheque”: > **[French - discothèque - Wiktionary, the free dictionary](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/discoth%C3%A8que#French)** > > From disco- +‎ -thèque, after bibliothèque. ---
**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:** [September 29, 2026, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/7353 "2026-09-29T14:13:39Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Later I learned that discotheques predated disco music. Yeah, one of those places in the 1960s where they had go-go dancers and projected psychedelic patterns on the walls. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2026, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/7354 "2026-09-29T14:35:43Z")
Unca Cecil’s column on go-go dancers: > **[What’s the origin of the term “go-go dancer”?](https://www.straightdope.com/21342085/what-s-the-origin-of-the-term-go-go-dancer)** ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2026, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/7355 "2026-09-29T14:37:59Z")
Oh, I’m sure it was modeled on “bibliotheque” - but I think a play on a word involves some sort of humor, and I don’t see it. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2026, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/7356 "2026-09-29T14:39:59Z")
Fair enough. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2026, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/7357 "2026-09-30T12:55:11Z")
In the _Simpsons_ episode “Burns, Baby Burns,” Mr. Burns tries unsuccessfully to instill some breeding into his loutish long-lost son Larry (voiced by Rodney Dangerfield) by getting him admitted to Yale. I just realized this is a nod to Dangerfield’s similarly middle-aged character attending college in _Back to School_. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/7358 "2026-10-14T23:07:05Z")
Not my millionth time watching it (my first run through) but maybe for other people… I just watched an episode of American Dad where Francine and Roger end up in a motel attic spying on the guests through the vents. That was exactly the premise of a documentary called Voyeur about a motel owner that did exactly that, right down to the catwalks he installed to make it easier to walk around. There was even a picture of Gerald Foos and Gay Talese (the voyeur and the reporter that wrote the story) hanging on a wall. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/NtKiJv1Qgsg/maxresdefault.jpg "Francine and Roger Can’t Stop Peeping at the Clearview Motel (Clip) | American Dad | TBS") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtKiJv1Qgsg) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/ILzvM6KX-6s/maxresdefault.jpg "Voyeur | Clip: A Guest of the Voyeur | Netflix") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILzvM6KX-6s) ---
**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:** [October 14, 2026, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/7359 "2026-10-14T23:31:43Z")
In the Vorkosigan books, one of the relevant planets is named Sergyar. It’s one of the three planets in the Barrayaran Empire. It was first discovered by the Barrayarans in the first book… at which time, the heir to the ~~throne~~ campstool was Prince Serg. Duh, of course it’s named after him! ---
**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:** [October 15, 2026, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/7360 "2026-10-15T01:35:02Z")
I’ve been re-watching _Star Trek: Lower Decks_ and two things I’ve noticed this time around: The engineer’s name is Billups not Phillips. In the opening credit scene (the one where the Cerritos traces out a Starfleet insignia) the nebula and stars in the background look like a koala. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2026, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/7361 "2026-11-02T04:33:22Z")
Billy Joel wrote “Only the Good Die Young” in 1978, when I turned 23. Although I don’t think I ever bought any of his albums, I liked him and knew his work pretty well. It was all over the radio back when I still listened to pop music on the radio. I must have heard OTGDY hundreds of time over the past 48 years. I’m sure you know the song, too, sung by guy who is trying to seduce a young Catholic girl. It wasn’t until I listened to it by chance this morning that I consciously realized the significance of the girl’s name: Virginia. 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️ 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️ 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️ [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=367)