# 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:** 89
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1761 "2014-01-08T16:02:18Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > I think you might be missing that it’s Spellotape in the Harry Potter books, not sellotape. Ah, cheers. I was. I have read them but that was a few years ago. ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1762 "2014-01-08T18:00:58Z")
> [@vontsira](#): > > It rather surprises me that in _Goldfinger_ (published 1959) Ian Fleming got the character name Pussy Galore, past the censor. One theorises that with the P word in this sense being American slang, and Fleming being British and publishing in the UK – those who might have done the forbidding, were oblivious. Presumably Fanny Galore would have gotten nixed, then? ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1763 "2014-01-08T19:59:19Z")
> [@kirk1168](#): > > _Rosie_ by Jackson Browne, from **Running On Empty**. > I’d been listening to it for about 5 years before I realized that he was singing about masturbation.:smack: Since this thread is 36 pages long, and this is on page one, (and no one questioned it), I figured asking now is better than scrolling through the last 35 pages. So I say “huh?” Never heard this so I went to read the lyrics for this song. There is nothing there that I can tell related at all to masturbation, solo sex, or anything else for that matter, other than a guy reflecting on his younger years, a first love, and all that standard stuff. The second stanza of the song actually mentions that he and his love are in the same room “making you smile before I leave” (something like that). Does anyone else hold to **kirk1168** ’s theory? ---
**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 8, 2014, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1764 "2014-01-08T20:06:42Z")
**Stink Fish Pot** , are you familiar with [Rosie Palm and her five sisters](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Rosie%20Palm%20and%20her%20five%20sisters)? ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1765 "2014-01-08T20:14:02Z")
What’s that on the “business end” of George Clooney’s fucking machine in **Burn After Reading**? Why, it’s an [extruded plastic dingus](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110074/)! ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1766 "2014-01-08T20:14:14Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > **Stink Fish Pot** , are you familiar with [Rosie Palm and her five sisters](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Rosie%20Palm%20and%20her%20five%20sisters)? Of course. But where is that tied into “Running on Empty?” ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1767 "2014-01-08T20:16:31Z")
> [@Flywheel](#): > > What’s that on the “business end” of George Clooney’s fucking machine in **Burn After Reading**? Why, it’s an [extruded plastic dingus](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110074/)! Your link in the spoiler brings up the imdb page for _The Hudsucker Proxy_. I have no idea if you intended that. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1768 "2014-01-08T20:57:02Z")
> [@JSexton](#): > > Presumably Fanny Galore would have gotten nixed, then? I suppose he _could_ have claimed that there was no funny business intended – that the lady’s given name happened to be Frances (for which “Fanny” was an often-used diminutive in more innocent times) – but, hard to imagine that ploy working… ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1769 "2014-01-08T21:08:44Z")
> [@vontsira](#): > > I suppose he _could_ have claimed that there was no funny business intended – that the lady’s given name happened to be Frances (for which “Fanny” was an often-used diminutive in more innocent times) – but, hard to imagine that ploy working… It didn’t stop Henry James from naming a character “Fanny Assingham.” ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1770 "2014-01-08T21:10:27Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > Your link in the spoiler brings up the imdb page for _The Hudsucker Proxy_. I have no idea if you intended that. Yep. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1771 "2014-01-08T21:15:13Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > Of course. > > But where is that tied into “Running on Empty?” The \*album \*is _Running on Empty_. The \*song \*is _Rosie_. [QUOTE=fair use amount of lyrics from Rosie] When you hold me tight (Rosie, that’s my thing) When you turn out the light (I got to hand it to me) Looks like it’s me and you again tonight, Rosie [/quote] ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1772 "2014-01-08T21:29:42Z")
> [@JSexton](#): > > Presumably Fanny Galore would have gotten nixed, then? > [@vontsira](#): > > I suppose he _could_ have claimed that there was no funny business intended – that the lady’s given name happened to be Frances (for which “Fanny” was an often-used diminutive in more innocent times) – but, hard to imagine that ploy working… > [@Flywheel](#): > > It didn’t stop Henry James from naming a character “Fanny Assingham.” One would reckon it probable that here, Henry was head-in-the-clouds oblivious, rather than sneaking an off-colour name in for a laugh… Rather like the clanger dropped by Robert Browning in his verse drama _Pippa Passes_; where he has the said Pippa declaiming: “Then, owls and bats, cowls and twats, Monks and nuns, in a cloister’s moods, Adjourn to the oak-stump pantry !” (If I’m right, the impolite word “twat” is used with the same meaning in America as in England.) Browning, rather an innocent in some ways, mistakenly thought that the word applied to a standard part of a nun’s clothing. Seemingly, he was so revered for his poetry that no-one ever dared to tell him about his mistake. ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1773 "2014-01-08T23:57:01Z")
> [@bup](#): > > The \*album \*is _Running on Empty_. The \*song \*is _Rosie_. :smack::smack::smack: Well, at least I was correct about the song “Running on Empty”. But yeah, Rosie… I get that. ---
**Author:** ![kirk1168](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@kirk1168](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kirk1168)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1774 "2014-01-09T17:02:42Z")
> [@bup](#): > > The \*album \*is _Running on Empty_. The \*song \*is _Rosie_. You beat me to. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bellhorn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@Bellhorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bellhorn)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1775 "2014-01-09T17:24:05Z")
Soylent green is people! ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1776 "2014-01-09T17:28:50Z")
> [@vontsira](#): > > There have been a number of fictional Tom / Jerry combos over the past couple of centuries – the cartoon cat and mouse, being the best-known. So it didn’t start post WWI as a play off of Tommies (British) and Jerries (Germans)? Ignorance [successfully] fought. ---
**Author:** ![Odieman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a87d85/32.png) [@Odieman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odieman)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1777 "2014-01-09T17:33:07Z")
And of course Simon and Garfunkel started out as Tom and Jerry… ---
**Author:** ![SurrenderDorothy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/surrenderdorothy/32/1221_2.png) [@SurrenderDorothy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SurrenderDorothy)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2014, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1778 "2014-01-10T00:31:58Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > **Stink Fish Pot** , are you familiar with [Rosie Palm and her five sisters](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Rosie%20Palm%20and%20her%20five%20sisters)? Aaaaaaand I just got the joke behind Mrs. Palm’s name in the Discworld books. ---
**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 10, 2014, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1779 "2014-01-10T18:05:38Z")
The 1990s Jim Henson TV show _Dinosaurs_: I had always known that the main dinosaur family’s name, Sinclair, was a nod to the gas station chain with the dinosaur logo. But I guess I had missed until today, when I was searching around online, that the name of the Grandma was spelled “Ethyl.” (Also that the voice of Fran, the mother, was provided by Jessica Walter, later known for portraying Lucille Bluth on _Arrested Development_.) ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2014, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1780 "2014-01-10T18:18:10Z")
It took me many watchings of The Sound of Music to realize that the Captain’s first name wasn’t Gayorg, a name I had never heard of, but Georg(e). A friend watching it for the first time heard “Something tall and cool, Georg?” and said What is his name?! [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=88) [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=90)