# That character would NEVER say that! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 18, 2020, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080 "2020-04-18T20:22:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2020, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/101 "2020-04-22T19:33:29Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” takes place in the late '50s, but I’ve heard a number of terms that sounded anachronistic to me: perp walk, nerd alert, avoiding drama, fat suit, play date. > [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > I give this show some latitude because I don’t think you could tell this story to a modern audience limiting yourself to 50s vernacular. Still, the first time I heard “nerd” with the connotation of “brainy but awkward” was in the 70s on _Happy Days_, which was set in the 50s. Maybe it was an actual term in Garry Marshall’s neighborhood growing up? Per [Merriam-Webster](https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/word-history-nerd): the first written use of “nerd” outside of Dr. Seuss was in _Newsweek_, October, 1951. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2020, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/102 "2020-04-22T19:41:27Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > …In any case, many Americans affect Britishisms , and American slang hit the UK like a ton of bricks… You misspelled “tonne.” ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2020, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/103 "2020-04-22T19:41:57Z")
The Goldbergs takes place in the 80’s, but I hear a lot of expressions that were invented after 2000. Like “Hello?” when somebody isn’t getting your point. In the 80’s, it was more like “Earth to \.” ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2020, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/104 "2020-04-22T20:15:43Z")
> [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > Like “Hello?” when somebody isn’t getting your point. In the 80’s, it was more like “Earth to \.” [_Back to the Future_, 1985.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kh9PYtmVybU) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2020, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/105 "2020-04-22T20:16:05Z")
> [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > The Goldbergs takes place in the 80’s, but I hear a lot of expressions that were invented after 2000. > > Like “Hello?” when somebody isn’t getting your point. In the 80’s, it was more like “Earth to \.” Hello, McFly?! _Back to the Future_ was classic 80s. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![medicated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@medicated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/medicated)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2020, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/106 "2020-04-22T20:29:29Z")
> [@bizerta](#): > > In the TV show “Hawthorne”, they refer to the highway as “The 64”. The show takes place in Richmond, Virginia. Prefacing the highway number with the definite article is unique to southern California. It’s done in Ontario too. Everyone just refers to “the 401” or “the QEW” ---
**Author:** ![Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/59ef9b/32.png) [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorkshire_Pudding)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2020, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/107 "2020-04-22T20:48:24Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Britons and Australians have rather unique pronunciations of some Japanese words like Nissan and Mazda. Well…OK, but if you saw “Niss” written down, you’d expect it to rhyme with “niss”, not “fleece”. And if you saw “an” written down, chances are you’d know how to pronounce it, as it’s one of the most common words in English. So if you see “Nissan”, there’s little to prompt saying “Neessahn”. I’ve no idea how the Japanese pronunciation actually sounds, but I’m happy enough that - because it’s been transliterated as “Nissan” - the standard British pronunciation is - at worst - a justifiable mistake. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2020, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/108 "2020-04-22T21:08:27Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > And at the Comedian’s funeral, the undertakers are dressed in the British style with top hats wrapped in black silk. IME, American undertakers/funeral home staffers go hatless at all times. The most famous American undertaker wears a hat. Here’s my cite: [https://www.amazon.com/Undertaker-Signed-Wrestling-Beckett-Witnessed/dp/B07R86GJD7](https://www.amazon.com/Undertaker-Signed-Wrestling-Beckett-Witnessed/dp/B07R86GJD7) ---
**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:** [April 22, 2020, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/109 "2020-04-22T21:49:11Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > You misspelled “tonne.” Metric or short? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Anny\_Middon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc79bd/32.png) [@Anny\_Middon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anny_Middon)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2020, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/110 "2020-04-22T23:17:03Z")
The movie Call Northside 777 takes place in Chicago. Jimmy Stewart’s character refers to the state capital as “up in Springfield.” Of course, Springfield is south(west) of Chicago, and is always referred as “down in Springfield.” Well, or depending on the context, perhaps “downstate.” ---
**Author:** ![Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/59ef9b/32.png) [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorkshire_Pudding)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2020, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/111 "2020-04-22T23:32:04Z")
> [@Anny\_Middon](#): > > The movie Call Northside 777 takes place in Chicago. Jimmy Stewart’s character refers to the state capital as “up in Springfield.” Of course, Springfield is south(west) of Chicago, and is always referred as “down in Springfield.” Well, or depending on the context, perhaps “downstate.” I live a good couple of hundred miles north of London, and would therefore travel “down to London”. Historically, however, one wouldn’t have. One always travelled “up” to the capital, regardless of compass points. Although apparently there was _one_ “up train” from London: the one to Oxford. It was an Oxford chap who told me that though, so I don’t know if I was simply missing an obvious local-pride joke…but he was posh enough to know such things and appeared serious. University was routinely “up” in the past too. But then London was up from there. Except for Oxford University, possibly, if my mate Nick is to be believed. So. Anyway…perhaps there was a hint of “capital is up” over there for a while too? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2020, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/112 "2020-04-22T23:35:47Z")
> [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](#): > > What else we got? Issues of dialect or accent that stand out to you as a native? Anachronisms that grate 'cos you were there? Pre-war English Lords ordering two fingers of bourbon? Pony Express riders measuring distances in kilometres and ranchers working in hectares? There’s a subcategory that could probably support its own thread, and it’s something that’s been bothering me more and more lately: science fiction in which people in the far future are obsessed with the pop culture contemporaneous to the story’s writing. So, you’ve got multiple Star Trek characters obsessed with 20th-century movies and books. I recently read a book set a century from now in which poop emojis made multiple appearances alongside artifacts of 201x texting culture. The worst, though, is a book I just read. Otherwise pretty fun, it’s set several centuries from now, and an angry/aggressive/hot-tempered character is nicknamed Jenks. Eventually you find out that that’s short for her full nickname: LEEEROY JENKINS! Yeah, uh, no. People in the distant future are not going to reference a World of Warcraft meme from 2005. I get why authors do this: it’s way easier to reference modern pop culture than to invent future pop culture, and lots of authors are no good at creative anthropology. But it really takes me out of the story. ---
**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:** [April 22, 2020, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/113 "2020-04-22T23:40:43Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > There’s a subcategory that could probably support its own thread, and it’s something that’s been bothering me more and more lately: science fiction in which people in the far future are obsessed with the pop culture contemporaneous to the story’s writing. So, you’ve got multiple Star Trek characters obsessed with 20th-century movies and books. I recently read a book set a century from now in which poop emojis made multiple appearances alongside artifacts of 201x texting culture. > > The worst, though, is a book I just read. Otherwise pretty fun, it’s set several centuries from now, and an angry/aggressive/hot-tempered character is nicknamed Jenks. Eventually you find out that that’s short for her full nickname: LEEEROY JENKINS! > > Yeah, uh, no. People in the distant future are not going to reference a World of Warcraft meme from 2005. > > I get why authors do this: it’s way easier to reference modern pop culture than to invent future pop culture, and lots of authors are no good at creative anthropology. But it really takes me out of the story. How do you feel about _ **The Orville** _? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/114 "2020-04-23T00:08:45Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > How do you feel about _ **The Orville** _? I haven’t seen it. Does it lampshade this? ---
**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:** [April 23, 2020, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/115 "2020-04-23T00:17:43Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I haven’t seen it. Does it lampshade this? It’s full of references to 20th century pop culture. The lowest moment (in my humble opinion) was using Dolly (Yeccch! :mad: ) Parton as a feminist icon. > **[The Orville](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Orville)** > > The Orville is an American science fiction comedy-drama television series created by Seth MacFarlane, who also stars as the protagonist Ed Mercer, an officer in the Planetary Union's line of exploratory space vessels in the 25th century. It was inspired primarily by the original Star Trek and its Next Generation successor, both of which it heavily parodies and pays homage to. The series also uses inspiration from the Star Wars franchise and games like the Mass Effect series. It fol Produced by ... ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/116 "2020-04-23T00:34:30Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > It’s full of references to 20th century pop culture. The lowest moment (in my humble opinion) was using Dolly (Yeccch! :mad: ) Parton as a feminist icon. > > [The Orville - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Orville) I mean, Parton’s certainly a feminist icon for a lot of women, despite Parton’s own rejection of the term. But I kinda doubt that starship captains will make offhand references to her in 400 years, any more than navy captains are chatting today about [Aphra Behn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphra_Behn). ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/117 "2020-04-23T00:40:42Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Britons and Australians have rather unique pronunciations of some Japanese words like Nissan and Mazda. You can’t just write this without telling us! ---
**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:** [April 23, 2020, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/118 "2020-04-23T01:03:51Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I kinda doubt that starship captains will make offhand references to her in 400 years, any more than navy captains are chatting today about [Aphra Behn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphra_Behn). Her music is the kind you’re forced to listen to in Hell. Mercer plays it in his shuttlecraft. :mad: I hope every trace of its existence will be eradicated by the time humans have evolved another 400 years. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/119 "2020-04-23T02:46:36Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > It’s full of references to 20th century pop culture. The lowest moment (in my humble opinion) was using Dolly (Yeccch! :mad: ) Parton as a feminist icon. > > [The Orville - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Orville) That cite only leads to the general wiki page for that show?😕 ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080/120 "2020-04-23T03:46:11Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > I give this show some latitude because I don’t think you could tell this story to a modern audience limiting yourself to 50s vernacular. Still, the first time I heard “nerd” with the connotation of “brainy but awkward” was in the 70s on _Happy Days_, which was set in the 50s. Maybe it was an actual term in Garry Marshall’s neighborhood growing up? I associate the term “nerd alert” with the 1990s at the earliest. It’s possible it’s an older term, but I’m not sure why it would have taken 30+ years to make it to my neighbourhood. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-character-would-never-say-that/852080.md?page=7)