# “Streets ahead” from Community in the wild used for real! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** ai\ **Created:** [September 23, 2023, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/streets-ahead-from-community-in-the-wild-used-for-real/990566 "2023-09-23T00:12:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2023, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/streets-ahead-from-community-in-the-wild-used-for-real/990566/61 "2023-09-26T21:58:51Z")
Or they were always jerks but their schtick was once fresh enough that we ignored it. Another few decades I suspect the same assholeness that inspired Harmon to ignorantly try to punch down a critical viewer with thinking that “streets ahead” was mocking him will be more front and center than his funny. The jerkiness is always there; when the funny fades we just notice it more. ---
**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 26, 2023, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/streets-ahead-from-community-in-the-wild-used-for-real/990566/62 "2023-09-26T22:49:37Z")
Yeah, Chase has had a reputation as a giant asshole since his SNL days. _Community_ was a big revival for him at first, because he’d burned so many bridges that for years, no one wanted to work with him. He lasted at that show for about ~5 years before getting written out, because after that long, nobody on _Community_ wanted to work with him, either. I remember watching that episode of the show, and thinking “streets ahead” was actually fairly good slang, for something that I’d assumed was made up, and part of the humor was the rest of the gang automatically treating it as lame because it was something Pierce had “invented.” And, of course, part of the humor is Pierce continuing to use it despite nobody being impressed by it, and another part is Pierce, who is notably older than the other characters, being so desperate for approval from young people that he’s trying to make a slang phrase happen all by himself. I think that’s enough fertile ground for the premise that it doesn’t really matter that it’s real slang somewhere, although it seems like Harmon missed a great opportunity for a callback by having some British students show up and start throwing the phrase around in some later episode. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2023, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/streets-ahead-from-community-in-the-wild-used-for-real/990566/63 "2023-09-27T03:59:02Z")
Hey, I just noticed that this thread is tagged with “ai”… ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2023, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/streets-ahead-from-community-in-the-wild-used-for-real/990566/64 "2023-09-27T04:17:53Z")
The podcast with the streets ahead spotting was about AI and application to science discovery. Worth a listen btw! Likely how it happened. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2023, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/streets-ahead-from-community-in-the-wild-used-for-real/990566/65 "2023-09-27T04:36:09Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Chevy Chase is streets behind. > > [Chevy Chase Disses ‘Community’ as ‘Not Funny’ or ‘Hard-Hitting Enough for Me’: ‘I Just Didn’t Want to Be Surrounded’ by ‘Those People’](https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/chevy-chase-slams-community-not-funny-hard-hitting-1235735378/amp/) “I never met anyone on Community.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/streets-ahead-from-community-in-the-wild-used-for-real/990566.md?page=3)