# 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:** 73
**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:** [July 4, 2013, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1441 "2013-07-04T18:51:18Z")
Hula hoops are named after the dance. Hoops like them had existed for quite some time. The hula dance had existed for quite some time. It was just that in 1958 they decided to call them hula hoops. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1442 "2013-07-05T02:16:30Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > This is not quite accurate. Hawaii became a state in August 1959, while the [Hula hoop per se came out the year before](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hula_hoop). But there were similar toy hoops before. I was eight in 1958. Hula Hoops were everywhere, and my remembered impression is that everyone knew that they made you “do the hula dance.” ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1443 "2013-07-05T03:12:44Z")
[the origin of the hula hoop](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SwvSu3jxAA) [first field test](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQYjgqnTmJ8) ---
**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:** [July 5, 2013, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1444 "2013-07-05T03:17:49Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > I was eight in 1958. Hula Hoops were everywhere, and my remembered impression is that everyone knew that they made you “do the hula dance.” I too was alive in 1958 but too young to remember the first wave of Hula hoops. But while there’s no doubt there was a connection between the name and Hawaii, statehood had nothing to do with it, since it was not to be a state for another year. I would have been too young to pick up on a wave of “Hawaii-cana,” but perhaps it was the anticipation of statehood. Plus – and I know this is a nitpick – but for Hawaii to have been a state “for more than 20 years” would put one in the 1980s, not 1970s. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1445 "2013-07-05T03:30:22Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > It’s even worse when you consider the distinctly unsubtle names he gave some of the villains of the piece: O’Deadly Darkseid Darkseid had a first name? Next you’ll be telling me that Desaad’s first name was Mark E. ---
**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:** [July 5, 2013, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1446 "2013-07-05T03:37:05Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I too was alive in 1958 but too young to remember the first wave of Hula hoops. But while there’s no doubt there was a connection between the name and Hawaii, statehood had nothing to do with it, since it was not to be a state for another year. I would have been too young to pick up on a wave of “Hawaii-cana,” but perhaps it was the anticipation of statehood. Plus – and I know this is a nitpick – but for Hawaii to have been a state “for more than 20 years” would put one in the 1980s, not 1970s. And please forget all of this, because I finally clicked to the fact that someone else called the nitpick before I did. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1447 "2013-07-05T06:50:01Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Plus – and I know this is a nitpick – but for Hawaii to have been a state “for more than 20 years” would put one in the 1980s, not 1970s. > [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > And please forget all of this, because I finally clicked to the fact that someone else called the nitpick before I did. ☹ Okay 😃 I was gonna say that I already acknowledged my error. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2013, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1448 "2013-07-08T17:53:05Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > Oh, c’mon. “Making love in the green grass, \*behind \*the stadium with you…” You don’t have to be Fellini to get the symbolism. 😃 > [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Maybe we’re being whooshed, but there’s nothing in the lyrics that remotely suggests this. Young love, yes. Making love, yes. Anal sex? No. > > Sometimes brown eyes are just brown eyes. > > (And what sexual connotations do you get from CSN’s “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes;” Bob Welch’s “Ebony Eyes;” Jewel’s “Violet Eyes;” or Sugarloaf’s “Green-Eyed Lady?”) It becomes clearer once Van Morrison’ “lost verse” is revealed. Oh, oh the games we played Inside and outside Holed up in your rumpus room Playing the B side Pushing down the old dirt trail You bringing up the rear Oh Oh your sweet pain A delight to my ears Up You, my brown-eyed girl 🙂 Ok, I just made that up butt I couldn’t resist. I couldn’t resist the misspell either. ---
**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:** [July 8, 2013, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1449 "2013-07-08T21:01:22Z")
> [@Hermione](#): > > There’s [another name](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WeirdAlEffect) for this phenomenon. It would be ironic if this actually became generally known as the Weird Al Effect. Because a hundred years from now, when people talk about the Weird Al Effect in _Alice in Wonderland_ nobody will remember the effect was originally named after Weird Al Yankovic. ---
**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:** [July 8, 2013, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1450 "2013-07-08T21:06:36Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > It would be ironic if this actually became generally known as the Weird Al Effect. Because a hundred years from now, when people talk about the Weird Al Effect in _Alice in Wonderland_ nobody will remember the effect was originally named after Weird Al Yankovic. Yeah. Somebody on the equivalent of the SDMB circa 2113 will say that it’s named after “Weird Alice” Liddell. ---
**Author:** ![Capt\_Kirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@Capt\_Kirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt_Kirk)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2013, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1451 "2013-07-09T04:48:15Z")
OK I have just finished reading the entire, what? 4yo old thread, thank you **Annie X-Mas** I was watching one of my favorite movies, “Dr. Strangelove” and noticed something new… In the “War Room” Gen. Turgidson(George C. Scott) has a binder in front of him labeled “World Targets In Megadeaths” How is it possible that I have never noticed it before? :smack: **Capt** ETA First on page thirty, isn’t that some sort of record? ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2013, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1452 "2013-07-09T07:05:45Z")
The [Baskin Robbins logo](http://www.happyhourcard.com/places/image_10_54_08.jpg) has a glaringly obvious 31 (as in the number of flavors they carry) right in the middle of it, that I never noticed until recently. ---
**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:** [July 9, 2013, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1453 "2013-07-09T07:10:54Z")
> [@Rodgers01](#): > > The [Baskin Robbins logo](http://www.happyhourcard.com/places/image_10_54_08.jpg) has a glaringly obvious 31 (as in the number of flavors they carry) right in the middle of it, that I never noticed until recently. I hadn’t notice it until… right now. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2013, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1454 "2013-07-09T14:03:15Z")
> [@Capt\_Kirk](#): > > ETA First on page thirty, isn’t that some sort of record? We’ve had threads quite a bit longer than this one, actually. And this may be page 30 for you, but it’s page 8 for me and could be page 60 for someone else. Remember the number of posts per page varies depending on user settings. ---
**Author:** ![Capt\_Kirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@Capt\_Kirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt_Kirk)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2013, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1455 "2013-07-09T15:20:26Z")
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:1454, topic:504117”] We’ve had threads quite a bit longer than this one, actually. And this may be page 30 for you, but it’s page 8 for me and could be page 60 for someone else. Remember the number of posts per page varies depending on user settings. [/QUOTE] Of course you are correct. I noticed that you made the same reference earlier in the thread but by the time I had read all of it I was so exhausted I could not think. Cheers **Capt** I find it in no way probable that “Deux” could possibly pronounced as “Duh” ::runs for exit::😃 ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2013, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1456 "2013-07-10T19:30:09Z")
I heard what sounded kind of like Tchaikovsky coming from the living room where the kids where watching TV. They were watching . . . Disney?? Wow, _Sleeping Beauty_ used Tchaikovsky’s ballet for the basis of their soundtrack. Makes sense. Why did it take me so long to realize that? ---
**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:** [July 10, 2013, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1457 "2013-07-10T20:16:00Z")
> [@Capt\_Kirk](#): > > OK I have just finished reading the entire, what? 4yo old thread, thank you **Annie X-Mas** You are welcome. I’m amazed it’s lasted for so long, and been revived so many times. > [@Rodgers01](#): > > The [Baskin Robbins logo](http://www.happyhourcard.com/places/image_10_54_08.jpg) has a glaringly obvious 31 (as in the number of flavors they carry) right in the middle of it, that I never noticed until recently. Me neither. Duh… ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1458 "2013-09-23T19:00:40Z")
Ash \*Ketcham \*of \*Pokemon \*fame. His last name sounds like “Catch 'Em.” The song even has the lyric “Gotta Catch 'Em All!” in it. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1459 "2013-09-26T15:05:43Z")
> [@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) Have just found this thread for the first time: can’t resist contributing the following. I can’t stand Pratchett’s works – have tried, and for me they are simply lead-heavy, totally un-funny failed humour. (Many people whom I respect, love the guy’s stuff – but, well, there you go.) A friend of mine who worked as an engineer for the above-mentioned electricity generating authority, was acquainted with Pratchett via work. I find some rather mean satisfaction in the fact that my friend (knowing nothing then, about his literary aspirations) considered him to be a dork. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1460 "2013-09-27T03:55:42Z")
Really? My ex also worked as an engineer for that electricity generating authority and got along with Mr. Pratchett quite well. He found they could have good discussions about authors they liked and the oddities and frustrations of dealing with others (they were both house hunting at the same time). Of course, my ex might take a four sentence exchange to be a deep conversation - but hey, he’s an engineer. [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=72) [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=74)