# 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:** 99
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2014, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1961 "2014-09-14T16:45:47Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Oh, I dunno. Charles Schulz didn’t do so bad. Charles Schulz didn’t work for peanuts - the peanuts worked for _him_. ---
**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:** [September 14, 2014, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1962 "2014-09-14T21:07:53Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > OK, this is not “the millionth time” but a couple of weeks ago I was watching an episode of a Brit TV series called “Hinterland” about a big-city detective (a police detective, not a private detective) who does something so awful that the only fitting punishment they can mete out to him is send him to a remote (for Great Britain) part of Wales to do his detecting. > > In one scene he’s detecting at a farmhouse, and while he’s asking question, the housewife is dressing (i.e., gutting and skinning, though only the gutting is shown) a bunch of rabbits. I watched the scene, thought nothing of it, then this morning woke up and realized “Welsh rabbit!” They were making a pun on Welsh rarebit! > > Or not, but I bet they were. I had a similar reaction to the end of the John Sayles film **Brother from Another Planet** , in which Joe Morton plays a mute black alien slave who ends up in NYC. He’s pursued by a couple of white alien slave catchers (one played by Sayles himself). In the end, Morton’s character gets away from his pursuers, and is shown riding off on a subway car. It didn’t hit me until later that a Subway is an _Underground Railway_. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2014, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1963 "2014-09-14T21:17:44Z")
Not sure if this has been mentioned because I didn’t read all 40 pages, but I just re-watched Cop Land and realized the town all the police live in is named Garrison. ---
**Author:** ![MrKnowItAll](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrknowitall/32/87_2.png) [@MrKnowItAll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrKnowItAll)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2014, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1964 "2014-09-14T22:07:41Z")
Back when I was a kid, the original “Electric Company” series had a character that would take scrambled sentences and arrange the words in an order that made sense. He “decoded” the sentence. His name? Fargo North, Decoder. It took me twenty years to get that joke. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2014, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1965 "2014-09-14T22:52:37Z")
Not a work of fiction but: It just occurred to me how un-PC the Dallas/Washington NFL rivalry is. In my defense, I never played cowboys and indians growing up. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2014, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1966 "2014-09-14T22:59:45Z")
Heh…Richard Scarry sometimes draws a tiny mouse with a chef’s toque. His name? Able Baker Charlie. Didn’t get that until I was in my late teens, reading it to a cousin. (Of course, that one’s expired now that Able and Baker have become Alpha and Bravo.) ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1967 "2014-09-15T01:22:27Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > Heh…Richard Scarry sometimes draws a tiny mouse with a chef’s toque. His name? Able Baker Charlie. Didn’t get that until I was in my late teens, reading it to a cousin. (Of course, that one’s expired now that Able and Baker have become Alpha and Bravo.) Scarry also draws an aviator named “Wrong Way Roger.” For years, I assumed this was an idiom like “sorry, Charlie!” or “no way, Jose!”. Turns out it’s just the character’s name. ETA: though “Roger!” is an aviation term… ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1968 "2014-09-15T02:52:22Z")
It’s also a play on [Wrong Way Corrigan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Corrigan). ---
**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:** [September 15, 2014, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1969 "2014-09-15T04:03:42Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Charles Schulz didn’t work for peanuts - the peanuts worked for _him_. He is the Most Interesting Cartoonist in the World. ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1970 "2014-09-15T15:09:40Z")
> [@MrKnowItAll](#): > > Back when I was a kid, the original “Electric Company” series had a character that would take scrambled sentences and arrange the words in an order that made sense. He “decoded” the sentence. His name? Fargo North, Decoder. > > It took me twenty years to get that joke. I don’t get it.☹ ---
**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:** [September 15, 2014, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1971 "2014-09-15T15:12:26Z")
> [@JSexton](#): > > I don’t get it.☹ “Fargo North, Decoder” = “Fargo, North Dakota” ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1972 "2014-09-15T22:32:27Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > “Fargo North, Decoder” = “Fargo, North Dakota” Thank you. I said it out loud a couple times, trying to get the joke, but never got the inflection right. :smack: ---
**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:** [September 16, 2014, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1973 "2014-09-16T00:51:49Z")
> [@JSexton](#): > > Thank you. I said it out loud a couple times, trying to get the joke, but never got the inflection right. :smack: Now try saying: “Owa tagoo siam.” ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2014, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1974 "2014-09-16T02:50:27Z")
In **Monty Python and the Holy Grail** , the two “anarcho-syndicalist” peasants spend most of their scene scooping up muck with their hands…because they’re [Diggers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diggers)! ---
**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:** [September 16, 2014, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1975 "2014-09-16T03:11:26Z")
I linked to that skit in a thread earlier today, **Flywheel**. Did you happen to see that, or was this just a happy coincidence? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2014, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1976 "2014-09-16T03:51:19Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > I linked to that skit in a thread earlier today, **Flywheel**. Did you happen to see that, or was this just a happy coincidence? 🙂 The second thing. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2014, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1977 "2014-09-16T05:31:51Z")
> [@Flywheel](#): > > In **Monty Python and the Holy Grail** , the two “anarcho-syndicalist” peasants spend most of their scene scooping up muck with their hands…because they’re > > [Diggers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diggers)! That sounds … unlikely. It’s pretty obscure, and the wrong date by about a thousand years. I don’t think it was deliberate. ---
**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:** [September 16, 2014, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1978 "2014-09-16T12:15:56Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > That sounds … unlikely. It’s pretty obscure, and the wrong date by about a thousand years. I don’t think it was deliberate. Yeah I think that’s a reach. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2014, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1979 "2014-09-16T14:46:37Z")
Ooooh, now we see the oppression inherent in the system! ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2014, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1980 "2014-09-16T16:00:37Z")
Willy Loman in _Death of a Salesman_ has dementia. The thought never occurred to me when I read the play in school or saw the Brian Dennehy version, but when I saw the Philip Seymour Hoffman version it seemed so obvious. I’m not sure if Miller intended it or not, but if you look at Willy’s memory lapses, his confusion and his depression and anger, it fits very well. [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=98) [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=100)