# Stump the dope with your most obscure reference **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 13, 2005, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stump-the-dope-with-your-most-obscure-reference/330904 "2005-11-13T22:59:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stump-the-dope-with-your-most-obscure-reference/330904/21 "2005-11-14T03:05:22Z")
What did Brad Steele and Brad Kent have in common? What did Katherine Mortenhoe do to make her a (fictional) celebrity? “Anyone can call himself a writer. But when someone else calls you a writer, THEN you’re a writer.” (One of my favorite movie quotes). “You’ll laugh, you’ll cry. you’ll kiss three bucks goodbye!” “life is the way we audition for God; Let us pray that we all get the job.” ---
**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:** [November 14, 2005, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stump-the-dope-with-your-most-obscure-reference/330904/22 "2005-11-14T03:30:00Z")
I decided this one would be unfair to use in the “Name that TV theme song” thread: _Lightning flashed, and something missed, A poor old crazy scientist Had dropped a bag of jellybeans…_ Google won’t help you. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stump-the-dope-with-your-most-obscure-reference/330904/23 "2005-11-14T03:37:19Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > A few of my favorite quotes often elicit blank looks: > > “Skin that one pilgrim and I’ll get you another one.” > > “I been to a town.” I think I know these, but they won’t come to the forefront of my brain. I keep thinking Jeremiah Johnson for the 2nd, and John Wayne (True Grit or The Searchers?) for the first. > [@lissener](#): > > “There’s a lot \*in \*vegetables.” \<==No one will get this. HA! I got it immediately without looking it up. Kate Bush said it to Delia Smith on “Delia Smith’s Cookery Course” back in 1980 (ok, I had to look up the year). Another great line from that: “I can’t believe people make them [fruit salads] from tins. It’s just so wrong.” Here’s [one](http://www.rowanatkinson.org/do_bears.htm): He looked pretty rich And I was down on m’ luck So I charged him a fortune For a flying f… (gets cut off) ---
**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:** [November 14, 2005, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stump-the-dope-with-your-most-obscure-reference/330904/24 "2005-11-14T03:48:55Z")
RealityChuck writes: \> “You’ll laugh, you’ll cry. you’ll kiss three bucks goodbye!” _Hardware Wars_. ---
**Author:** ![Ins\_Outs\_What-have-yous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8797f3/32.png) [@Ins\_Outs\_What-have-yous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ins_Outs_What-have-yous)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stump-the-dope-with-your-most-obscure-reference/330904/25 "2005-11-14T04:05:55Z")
pancakes in the Age of Enlightenment ---
**Author:** ![GorillaGirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8491ac/32.png) [@GorillaGirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaGirl)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stump-the-dope-with-your-most-obscure-reference/330904/26 "2005-11-14T04:11:28Z")
> [@Scarlett67](#): > > “Posey’s Peas – By the Ounce, By the Pound, By the Ton” The Pushcart War ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stump-the-dope-with-your-most-obscure-reference/330904/27 "2005-11-14T04:22:07Z")
“What the hell do you know, you’re an albino.” ---
**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:** [November 14, 2005, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stump-the-dope-with-your-most-obscure-reference/330904/28 "2005-11-14T04:30:32Z")
RealityChuck writes: \> What did Katherine Mortenhoe do to make her a (fictional) celebrity? She was dying (in D. G. Compton’s _The Continuous Katherine Mortenhoe_, also known as _The Unsleeping Eye_ and _Deathwatch_). ---
**Author:** ![unwashed\_brain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a9adbd/32.png) [@unwashed\_brain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unwashed_brain)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stump-the-dope-with-your-most-obscure-reference/330904/29 "2005-11-14T04:37:06Z")
“?” “!” ---
**Author:** ![JimOfAllTrades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@JimOfAllTrades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimOfAllTrades)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stump-the-dope-with-your-most-obscure-reference/330904/30 "2005-11-14T04:55:25Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > “Skin that one pilgrim and I’ll get you another one.” Jerimiah Johnson, I think Will Geer to Robert Redford after the former has run a live bear into a cabin where Redford is waiting after bragging about his bear killing skills. > [@lissener](#): > > “I been to a town.” Jerimiah Johnson again, I think, toward the end. > [@RealityChuck](#): > > “Anyone can call himself a writer. But when someone else calls you a writer, THEN you’re a writer.” (One of my favorite movie quotes). Not sure, but I want to say Finding Forrester. > [@RealityChuck](#): > > “You’ll laugh, you’ll cry. you’ll kiss three bucks goodbye!” Hardware Wars > [@RealityChuck](#): > > “life is the way we audition for God; > Let us pray that we all get the job.” Ishtar ---
**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:** [November 14, 2005, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stump-the-dope-with-your-most-obscure-reference/330904/31 "2005-11-14T04:57:23Z")
> [@unwashed brain](#): > > “?” > “!” I don’t even think that’s obscure. It’s Victor Hugo’s query to his publisher as to the sales of _Les Miserables_ and his publisher’s reply. I don’t have one to give, though. ---
**Author:** ![Nic2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@Nic2004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nic2004)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stump-the-dope-with-your-most-obscure-reference/330904/32 "2005-11-14T05:06:43Z")
> [@](#): > > Oh, and by the way… _pulls pistol from his cloak_ > [@](#): > > Mother always liked me best. _BANG…_ ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stump-the-dope-with-your-most-obscure-reference/330904/33 "2005-11-14T05:20:12Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > . . . HA! I got it immediately without looking it up. Kate Bush said it to Delia Smith on “Delia Smith’s Cookery Course” back in 1980 (ok, I had to look up the year). . . . Well I knew YOU’D get it; I almost added that caveat. But I THOUGHT you’d be CLEVER enough to let it lie, and see if ANYONE ELSE got it. You gave it away, Eq! OK, here’s another: “Lots of carbolic soap, and just leave it messy.” ---
**Author:** ![unwashed\_brain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a9adbd/32.png) [@unwashed\_brain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unwashed_brain)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stump-the-dope-with-your-most-obscure-reference/330904/34 "2005-11-14T06:03:44Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > I don’t even think that’s obscure. It’s Victor Hugo’s query to his publisher as to the sales of _Les Miserables_ and his publisher’s reply. > > I don’t have one to give, though. I did not know that. I was quoting the first two pages of Aleister Crowley’s _The Book of Lies_, which pushes it back into the realm of obscurity. I’ve no inkling if Crowley was referencing your cite ---
**Author:** ![ddgryphon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8c91f0/32.png) [@ddgryphon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ddgryphon)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stump-the-dope-with-your-most-obscure-reference/330904/35 "2005-11-14T06:12:45Z")
> [@Nic2004](#): > > _pulls pistol from his cloak_ > > _BANG…_ Bakshi’s Wizards – one of the great funny moments on film. Mine’s Literary: When I talk about a situation degenerating nothing sums it up better than the following – and no one has any clue as to what I’m talking about: “First he refused to prostrate himself in the Persian fashion, then Alexander refused to kiss his ring and things just went from bad to worse.” ---
**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:** [November 14, 2005, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stump-the-dope-with-your-most-obscure-reference/330904/36 "2005-11-14T06:34:15Z")
“Bryan is a dog. Gina is an iguana. John is an aphid.” “Velveeta, it’s like cheese with the perfect disguise.” ---
**Author:** ![uglybeech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/82dd89/32.png) [@uglybeech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uglybeech)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stump-the-dope-with-your-most-obscure-reference/330904/37 "2005-11-14T06:37:20Z")
> [@Robot Arm](#): > > “Bryan is a dog. > Gina is an iguana. > John is an aphid.” The Games ---
**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:** [November 14, 2005, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stump-the-dope-with-your-most-obscure-reference/330904/38 "2005-11-14T06:54:24Z")
3 minutes, not bad. Now, what was the context of the quote? ---
**Author:** ![uglybeech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/82dd89/32.png) [@uglybeech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uglybeech)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stump-the-dope-with-your-most-obscure-reference/330904/39 "2005-11-14T07:02:55Z")
> [@Robot Arm](#): > > 3 minutes, not bad. > > Now, what was the context of the quote? Nuts. You caught me. I didn’t see that episode, but when I brought up the Games several months ago you quoted that. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stump-the-dope-with-your-most-obscure-reference/330904/40 "2005-11-14T07:05:44Z")
“…It all started with this condom factory…” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stump-the-dope-with-your-most-obscure-reference/330904.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stump-the-dope-with-your-most-obscure-reference/330904.md?page=3)