# Surely you can't be serious **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 2, 2026, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358 "2026-07-02T14:35:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/41 "2026-07-02T18:09:30Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > The Most Interesting Man In The World wrote a Polish dictionary in Italian. during the war??? ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/42 "2026-07-02T18:09:48Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > She was a Polish woman for 7 years? I know this is supposed to be humorous, but I can’t see any way to parse the sentence that way. (An easier joke is why a dictionary’s content should be unusual just because it was polished.) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/43 "2026-07-02T18:28:18Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > The Most Interesting Man In The World wrote a Polish dictionary in Italian. What, that guy with the eyepatch and the expensive shirt?!? 😮 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/44 "2026-07-02T18:30:27Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > An easier joke is why a dictionary’s content should be unusual just because it was polished. If you played Pictionary, you’d know that the nationality is capitalized. 😁 ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/45 "2026-07-02T20:33:43Z")
How do you draw a picture of a capital P? ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/46 "2026-07-02T20:34:18Z")
Arrow pointing upward next to a small green circle? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/47 "2026-07-02T20:36:17Z")
Computer programmers say that a Fortran programmer can write Fortran code in any language, and a C programmer can write C code in any language. (it’s probably true for all computer languages, but those were the two big ones at the time the saying took off) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/48 "2026-07-02T20:38:47Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > How do you draw a picture of a capital P? You don’t. It’s up to the other players to figure out when they’re needed. Did you miss that episode of _ **Big Bang Theory** _? (The difference between nail polish and Polish sausage?) ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/49 "2026-07-02T20:44:25Z")
It was a joke. Well, until it needed to be explained it was. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/50 "2026-07-02T20:47:50Z")
Oh, I got the joke. But the answer’s still the same. 😁 ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/51 "2026-07-02T21:29:53Z")
Listen, Betty, don’t start up with your white zone shit again. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/52 "2026-07-02T21:40:55Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > Also, before _Airplane!_, Leslie Nielson was a serious actor who played serious roles for seriousness. After that film, he became a sort of parody of himself and his later roles, like his in _Airplane!_, juxtaposed his seriousness with the films’ absurdity. And he loved it. He would later say that it was the best thing to ever happen to him: he was a jovial and jocular fellow who preferred comedy over drama. I remember him as the captain in the original Poseidon Advenenture ---
**Author:** ![Raza](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raza/32/213_2.png) [@Raza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raza)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/53 "2026-07-02T21:53:39Z")
I know it’s been discussed before but I really recommend a double feature of Zero Hour and Airplane! As an aside, in the past fortnight the missus was watching a selection of disaster movies (1970-80s). My Lord, they were insufferable for me to watch _now_. Cheesy, overacted, padded. And hair. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/54 "2026-07-02T22:04:15Z")
> [@Raza](#): > > My Lord, they were insufferable for me to watch _now_. Cheesy, overacted, padded. And hair. But back then they were **so** popular. They were the Marvel superhero films of their day. They just kept coming out and people wanted more. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/55 "2026-07-02T22:12:56Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > Also, before _Airplane!_, Leslie Nielson was a serious actor who played serious roles for seriousness. I could see Jack Webb’s career taking a similar trajectory, making fun of his supposed super straightness. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/56 "2026-07-02T22:14:01Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > Listen, Betty, don’t start up with your white zone shit again. Fun fact; they were married IRL. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/57 "2026-07-02T22:24:31Z")
They were not only married, in real life they both did actual PA announcements at LAX at the time. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/58 "2026-07-02T22:30:47Z")
[dramatically whips off sunglasses] [still wearing sunglasses] ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/59 "2026-07-02T23:07:30Z")
Barbra Streisand killed him in **Nuts** where he played an abusive john (in black bikini briefs). ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/60 "2026-07-02T23:41:24Z")
And the CIA agent Patrick McGoohan murdered in an episode of _ **Columbo** _. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358.md?page=4)