# 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:** 68
**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 28, 2013, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1341 "2013-01-28T20:26:29Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > I actually had realized this myself a while ago (at least about Mineo and Hudson) but couldn’t seem to find anything about Donahue that was definite one way or another. Married to four different women and engaged again at the time of his death. No one puts himself through that kind of torture unless they have to. One beard is enough. To me he gets confused in my mind with Tab Hunter who certainly was gay. 4 wives and being adament that he wasn’t gay long after it really mattered equals straight in my mind. ---
**Author:** ![Didact\_Lectorem777](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f05b48/32.png) [@Didact\_Lectorem777](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Didact_Lectorem777)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2013, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1342 "2013-01-29T02:13:37Z")
> [@PastAllReason](#): > > Well, geez, I never got “nocturnally” before now. Thanks! Adding one more about Harry Potter, I DID get that the mirror Erised was Desire written backwards, or more exactly, I guess, how it would appear written in a mirror. Not sure if anyone beat me to the punch, but there is a lot more of this thread, than I have time to finish. Did you notice the entire phrase carved into the Mirror of Erised? “Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi” when written backwards and move the spaces around a bit you get “I show not your face but your heart[']s desire.” ---
**Author:** ![NoCoolUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5fc32e/32.png) [@NoCoolUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoCoolUserName)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2013, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1343 "2013-01-29T05:33:25Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > I’ve been a fan of Discworld for ages…(snip)…Especially since I’m well aware that the high-energy magic building was supposed to bring a nuclear power plant to mind, and lots of high-energy magic safety jokes were from Pratchett’s days as a nuclear engineer. And the original nuclear reactor (Chicago Pile Number 1, aka CP-1) was on the rackets court at the University of Chicago. The HEM building is the former squash court at UU. ---
**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 29, 2013, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1344 "2013-01-29T10:33:50Z")
Pratchett was not a nuclear engineer. He doesn’t even have a college degree. He has an A-level in English and some courses in journalism. He worked as a press officer for the electriciy generating board for an area that included some nuclear power plants, which meant that he apparently sometimes had to speech to the media about such things: > **[Terry Pratchett](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Pratchett)** > > Sir Terence David John Pratchett OBE (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English humorist, satirist, and author of fantasy novels, especially comical works. He is best known for his Discworld series of 41 novels. > Pratchett's first novel, The Carpet People, was published in 1971. The first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic, was published in 1983, after which Pratchett wrote an average of two books a year. The final Discworld novel, The Shepherd's Crown, was published in August 2015, five... ---
**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 29, 2013, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1345 "2013-01-29T11:02:12Z")
Saw a quoted old post about knowing glances, and it reminded me of the end of _The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly_. Pay close attention during the final three-way shootout. Tuco and Angel Eyes are shifting their attention back and forth; their eyes always moving because they don’t know which of the other two to be watching. But not Blondie. He keeps that Eastwood stare in just one direction. It soon becomes clear why. It’s a subtle thing that took me a while to notice in such a grand, sweeping movie. ---
**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 29, 2013, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1346 "2013-01-29T12:13:01Z")
I wrote: \> . . . had to speech to the media . . . I meant: \> . . . had to speak to the media . . . AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2013, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1347 "2013-01-29T15:17:08Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Pratchett was not a nuclear engineer. He doesn’t even have a college degree. He has an A-level in English and some courses in journalism. He worked as a press officer for the electriciy generating board for an area that included some nuclear power plants, which meant that he apparently sometimes had to speech to the media about such things: > > [Terry Pratchett - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Pratchett) Possibly also there is some confusion with David Langford, who was a physicist at an atomic weapons facility, wrote a novel about such a facility (The Leaky Establishment [The Leaky Establishment - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Leaky_Establishment)) which novel had an introduction by Pratchett. ---
**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 31, 2013, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1348 "2013-01-31T20:50:25Z")
Walking down the street singing Sinatra’s “My Way” So what is a man, what has he got? If not himself, then he has not…" Wait a minute!!! “He has naught” makes much more sense. I googled it, and the lyric sites seem to be equally divided between “not” and “naught.” ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1349 "2013-01-31T23:22:24Z")
I first heard the novelty song “Convoy” in the 70’s, and the lyrics stuck in my head, along with a bunch of other useless trivia. Three decades later, I realized that the “Pigpen” that Rubber Duck keeps talking to is the “Jimmy haulin’ hogs” from the first verse. And it wasn’t until a few days ago, while reading about the song on Wikipedia, that I learned the significance of the last verse of CB chatter: due to Rubber Duck’s constant requests to back off, Pigpen has fallen so far behind that he’s in Omaha while the rest of the convoy’s in New Jersey. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1350 "2013-01-31T23:35:45Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > The life of this thread still amazes me. > > How many people catch the sexual innuendo in this scene from Hamlet: > > HAMLET > Lady, shall I lie in your lap? > OPHELIA > No, my lord. > HAMLET > I mean, my head upon your lap. > OPHELIA > Ay, my lord. . > HAMLET > Do you think I meant country matters? > OPHELIA > I think nothing, my lord. > HAMLET > That’s a fair thought to lie between maids’ legs. > OPHELIA > What is, my lord? > HAMLET > Nothing. > > If you don’t get it, put a pause between the two syllables of “country.” No longer obvious, but in Jacobean English, “nothing” was a euphemism/slang term for “vagina”. Which is why it’s “a fair thought to lie between maid’s legs.” ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2013, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1351 "2013-02-01T08:38:59Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > If you don’t get it, put a pause between the two syllables of “country.” Okay, anyone who’s into David Tennant should check out [his performance as Hamlet](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1449175/), if they haven’t already. The way he pronounces that word, it’s single entendre, not double. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Hamsandwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4bbf92/32.png) [@Darth\_Hamsandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Hamsandwich)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2013, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1352 "2013-02-01T15:13:28Z")
I was watching Gremlins for the umpteenth time the other night and noticed an easter egg that made me grin. When the father is talking to his wife from the inventors convention you see someone in the background sitting in the time machine prop from the H.G. Wells 1960 film. A moment later there is a puff of smoke and the machine is gone with puzzled onlookers wondering what the hell just happened. ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2013, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1353 "2013-02-06T15:24:14Z")
I remember watching the Beatles “Yellow Submarine” as a kid. The part that Ringo says [“I can’t help it, I’m a born lever puller.”](http://www.thebeatles.com/#/video/Yellow_Submarine10) always stuck with me. I use it all the time when I’m using leverage to move some heavy object. I said it to myself this morning while using a pipe wrench when it hit me that it’s a pun. He’s a born Liverpooler. Thirty years it took me to get that. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![eltro102](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@eltro102](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eltro102)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2013, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1354 "2013-02-06T18:13:29Z")
I somehow managed to miss the whole bit at the end of Life of Pi, when you see that the real story is the cannibalism one ---
**Author:** ![K.S.Masmacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/96bed5/32.png) [@K.S.Masmacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K.S.Masmacho)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1355 "2013-02-08T05:28:22Z")
The ending of Life of Pi is actually inconclusive; the reader is free to choose either version of the story as the true one. For me, something obvious that I’d never noticed hit me when I first made friends with some Israelis. They were telling me about studying their History classes, and referred to Moses. For some reason, I’d never thought of Moses (or any other character from the Torah / Bible) as being “history” – even though I’d learned about them in religious classes. The idea that Moses (and Jesus, etc.) were historical, and not just religious – that they were on another point on our timeline – completely hit me as a shock. I mean – duh! – This is not to say that everyone will agree; I realize there are atheists who will argue such figures never existed, and were just made up. But that would be missing the point, which is that in Israel, Moses isn’t just considered religion, he’s history – like George Washington to Americans. ---
**Author:** ![K.S.Masmacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/96bed5/32.png) [@K.S.Masmacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K.S.Masmacho)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1356 "2013-02-08T06:31:42Z")
Actually, I should have written, “The ending of Life of Pi is is inconclusive; the reader (or viewer for the film version) is free to choose…” Also, since this thread is about creative works, I wasn’t sure my Israeli history one counted. Until I realized that “In the Beginning…” counts as THE Creative work. Or – out of respect for atheists’ feelings – counting that history as creative fiction. Either way. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2013, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1357 "2013-02-09T10:24:42Z")
I always thought the part in _Pinocchio_ where they turn people into donkeys was rather weird and pointless. It seemed like a rather over-the-top way of warning kids to beware of strangers who offer you candy. I’m not sure if I have ever seen the Disney version in its entirety. I sort of lose interest after the whale. A couple of years ago, I was flipping channels, and I came across the live-action version with Jonathan Taylor Thomas as Pinocchio and Martin Landau as Gepetto. My main impression was that Pinocchio was kind of an a\*\*hole. And the donkey scene still made no sense. More recently, I was flipping channels, and I came across the version with Roberto Begnini as Pinocchio. Pinocchio was still an a\*\*hole. But in this version, when the villains are shipping the donkeys off to market, one of them shakes his head sadly, and says, “Look at these boys. They wouldn’t go to school. They wouldn’t learn a trade. Now they are only fit for donkey-work.” Hello! In Italian or in English, “donkey-work” = menial labor. It was not simply random bad guys doing random evil deeds. It was an Allegory. A parable of Education versus Ignorance. The children were facing the consequences of their own misbehavior. I now think that that scene is the coolest part of the story. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2013, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1358 "2013-02-09T13:18:44Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > And the donkey scene still made no sense. > > More recently, I was flipping channels, and I came across the version with Roberto Begnini as Pinocchio. Pinocchio was still an a\*\* So you’re saying he – gets turned into an ass? ---
**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:** [February 9, 2013, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1359 "2013-02-09T16:36:49Z")
Another thing that might sail over modern audiences’ heads: in nineteenth century Italy, a donkey sold to “the salt mines” was basically doomed to being worked to death, because it more cost-effective just to buy replacements. IOW, those children/donkeys were going to the Gulag. Those old time stories didn’t sugar-coat what could happen.to the unlucky. ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2013, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1360 "2013-02-09T17:10:24Z")
I only just figured out that the Dan Ackroyd/Eddie Murphy movie _Trading Places_ has a pun in the title… Not only did the characters trade places, but the movie is set on Wall Street, a trading place. Weird because I haven’t seen the movie in years, but for some reason that just popped into my head yesterday. [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=67) [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=69)