# Things I still don't get ... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 17, 2011, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-still-dont-get/567925 "2011-01-17T09:05:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2011, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-still-dont-get/567925/161 "2011-01-20T23:06:27Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > I am a huge Shakespeare fan. Shakespeare was a minor field for my Masters. I’ve published a paper on \*Titus Andronicus \*(even though I can’t spell it). That being said, it is not ignorant \*per se \*to find Shakespeare boring. It \*may \*display ignorance in that Shakespeare may be difficult for a 21st-century consumer to digest and, as such, finding his work boring may indicate a lack of background. Perhaps as likely, however, is that this is a matter of taste. I completely agree. Did you see the paragraph I wrote before the one you quoted? There are all sorts of reasons why people don’t enjoy Shakespeare, so they find it boring. Nothing wrong with that. However, to say his work is boring, meaning of no interest and worthless, does display ignorance. The point I was making is that people often say “this is boring” when they mean “I find this boring”. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2011, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-still-dont-get/567925/162 "2011-01-20T23:11:00Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > The scene does serve an important purpose in the plot. The problem is, it doesn’t serve that purpose well. Marge needs a reason to second-guess the story Jerry told after she leaves the dealership. When she meets her old classmate, and later learns that he was completely bullshitting her, that’s the impetus for her to rethink the story Jerry gave her and to go back and double check it. The problem with that, of course, is that it comes across like Marge had never heard of lying before. She’s supposed to be a competent and experienced police officer. If nothing in Jerry’s story rang false to her the first time around, it doesn’t make a lot of sense for her to have second thoughts when she meets some other guy, who has absolutely no relation to the case she’s working on, except that they both feature kind of pathetic guys who lie a lot - and she didn’t even know that until she went back in the first place. > > Great movie. Weak scene. I disagree that it’s a weak scene. It is definitely a digression that doesn’t advance the plot much, but it’s a classic Coen Brothers scene, with comical and surreal elements mixed in with raw despair and desperation. Mike is the same sort of person as Jerry Lundegaard. He’s genuinely suffering, even though his suffering is his own fault, created out of his weakness and stupidity and fallibility. His comical accent/ethnicity mismatch makes him both cartoonish and more real. I can see how the scene could be hard to take, and it could have been cut from the movie without hurting the plot one bit. But it fits in perfectly with the rest of the movie. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2011, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-still-dont-get/567925/163 "2011-01-21T01:15:01Z")
I can’t speak for **Miller** but I took “weaK” to mean that the idea that the encounter would lead her to go back to the car dealership was weak. I don’t personally think the scene itself was weak. It’s actually pretty entertaining. It just seemed out of place and the idea that she made a connection between his behavior and Jerry Lundegard’s wasn’t obvious to many people. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2011, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-still-dont-get/567925/164 "2011-01-21T01:30:15Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > Kinda like the old adage about an old sailing ship. Sure, it’s been repaired numerous times, rebuilt a couple times, and there probably isn’t a board or plank in it that was original, but it’s still the same ship by the same name because it carries the chain of being of that original ship. A team is the same way. Teams and ships are [_Thesean_ objects](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=7062674) As I said in the linked thread, I consider it to be every Doper’s duty to use this term wherever possible, and to explain the meaning to anyone who asks and will listen. It is a fading hope that the term will enter the popular consciousness, but a man can dream… ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2011, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-still-dont-get/567925/165 "2011-01-21T07:37:58Z")
I love \*MacBeth \*and _Romeo and Juliet_, but I thought _A Comedy of Errors_ was as painful as watching an extended episode of _I Love Lucy_. What I don’t get - the Coen brothers. ---
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2011, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-still-dont-get/567925/166 "2011-01-21T08:26:27Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > I love \*MacBeth \*and _Romeo and Juliet_, but I thought _A Comedy of Errors_ was as painful as watching an extended episode of _I Love Lucy_. > > **What I don’t get - the Coen brothers**. Shh.. You will get lynched. ---
**Author:** ![ministryman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@ministryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ministryman)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2011, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-still-dont-get/567925/167 "2011-01-21T14:29:43Z")
- Lady Gaga - Emo - Men wearing clothes that would have gotten them a severe ass-kicking in my day. - Whiny, no-responsibility-taking little bitches like the woman who fell into a mall fountain because she wasn’t paying attention, and wants to sue because no one came to her aid. - Most of the music created after the year 1999. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2011, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-still-dont-get/567925/168 "2011-01-21T15:05:11Z")
Fake winning lottery tickets. Yeah, that’s more douchey than funny. Jersey Shore, Real Housewives, Kardashions, celebrity due to attention whoring, yuck, the lowest of the low. I just don’t see the appeal. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2011, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-still-dont-get/567925/169 "2011-01-21T18:42:28Z")
> [@ministryman](#): > > - Lady Gaga > - Emo > - Men wearing clothes that would have gotten them a severe ass-kicking in my day. > - Whiny, no-responsibility-taking little bitches like the woman who fell into a mall fountain because she wasn’t paying attention, and wants to sue because no one came to her aid. > - Most of the music created after the year 1999. When I was in junior high the school looked like a bad production of Happy Days. When I was in senior high everybody dressed like they were about to go to a disco. Why? Because it was the style. People thought they were being cool by dressing like the most popular idols. The thing I don’t get is who creates these fads and why do people follow them. Or maybe that’s what you meant. Most of the music created after 1980. ---
**Author:** ![tim-n-va](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim-n-va/32/3001_2.png) [@tim-n-va](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim-n-va)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2011, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-still-dont-get/567925/170 "2011-01-21T20:33:02Z")
Regarding the sports discussion upthread. For me it is not sports - I like watching a variety of sports - but the “homer-ism” regarding professional sports that I have trouble understanding. I have season tickets for a pro sports team. I like it when they win, don’t like it when they lose. But, either outcome doesn’t affect me beyond the moment. The next morning (or usually by the time I get home), I’m over it win or lose. I even like seeing a great play by the other team. No outcome makes the city I live in better or worse than the other city. The comparison to works of art doesn’t hold unless you only like works created in your town. Maybe people in Paris are like that but… ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2011, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-still-dont-get/567925/171 "2011-01-21T21:03:33Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > When I was in junior high the school looked like a bad production of Happy Days. When I was in senior high everybody dressed like they were about to go to a disco… You don’t know how good you had it. My junior/senior high transition covered Footloose, Flashdance, and [Breakin’](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086998/). ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2011, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-still-dont-get/567925/172 "2011-01-22T00:41:39Z")
Tiny Fey. I don’t find her funny. Not even a little. By extension, 30 Rock. I tried to watch it, and I even like some of the other people on it, but just never found it to be funny so I stopped trying to watch it, and I’m much happier now. ---
**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:** [January 22, 2011, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-still-dont-get/567925/173 "2011-01-22T00:50:58Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > Teams and ships are [_Thesean_ objects](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=7062674) Thanks, good term. I always thought such an object was called “George Washington’s axe” (“the handle has been replaced five times and the blade has been replaced twice, but it’s his axe, all right”). ---
**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:** [January 22, 2011, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-still-dont-get/567925/174 "2011-01-22T02:56:53Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > I can’t speak for **Miller** but I took “weaK” to mean that the idea that the encounter would lead her to go back to the car dealership was weak. I don’t personally think the scene itself was weak. It’s actually pretty entertaining. It just seemed out of place and the idea that she made a connection between his behavior and Jerry Lundegard’s wasn’t obvious to many people. Thank you, yes, that’s exactly what I meant. I don’t think the Coen brothers could write a bad scene if they tried. ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2011, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-still-dont-get/567925/175 "2011-01-22T03:48:50Z")
> [@Cluricaun](#): > > \ > > I don’t get how Jaegermeister turned from an after dinner digestive into a woo hoo do shots party drink. It was probably perpetrated by the same people who think that anyone in their right mind would drink an entire class of Disaronno on anything other than a bet. \ I really like the taste of Jagermeister - so much so that I’d rather sip than do a shot. ---
**Author:** ![notsoheavyd3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/85e7bf/32.png) [@notsoheavyd3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notsoheavyd3)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2011, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-still-dont-get/567925/176 "2011-01-22T03:56:54Z")
Stuff I don’t get? That’s easy, how anybody can find “More cow bell” funny.(That skit was awful and just stupid. I couldn’t even make it though it.) ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2011, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-still-dont-get/567925/177 "2011-01-22T04:37:55Z")
- Reality TV, all of it. - Being personally and maniacally invested in a sport you watch on TV, but have never, ever played. - Women. I mean What…The…Heck? …and I’m married, for god’s sake. - Tattoos - Smoking - Gun nuts - The War on Drugs - Christians who are proudly against everything Jesus supposedly preached, yet invoke him every two seconds - The adoration of Ronald Reagan - Facebook - Black Republicans ---
**Author:** ![causticsubstance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ba8739/32.png) [@causticsubstance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/causticsubstance)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2011, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-still-dont-get/567925/178 "2011-01-22T06:29:09Z")
modern and contemporary jazz. Someone even played some seminal Miles Davis for me and I had to really concentrate before I decided it was okay. By no means do I think it’s bad, but for being considered revolutionary and brilliant and awe-inspiring, its beauty is not immediately apparent to me. Other modern jazz (I’m probably using the wrong term for it), like the 10-minute vibe solo with no melody kind that they play in restaurants and hotel lobbies is borderline disagreeable to me. And I appreciate most any music. On top of that, I am a decent at quite a few musical instruments. Same thing with Radiohead. Although I can at least say I like a couple Radiohead songs, but nothing about them stands out to me. While most music lovers, and people who have similar tastes to me, gush over how absolutely brilliant this band is. Also, The Road, by Cormac McCarthy. I think I must have been missing something very important, because I mostly felt like I’d read that book before. Not bad, but not moving. And I was an English major in college. Maybe someone will explain it to me and it will suddenly click. ---
**Author:** ![OneChance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/74df32/32.png) [@OneChance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneChance)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2011, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-still-dont-get/567925/179 "2011-01-22T08:20:16Z")
> [@kushiel](#): > > Straight girls who only like slash. As in, they won’t touch het at all and _every_ ship they have is male/male. This is one of the many things that I don’t get. What I mean is, I have no idea what you’re talking about. What is “slash,” “het,” and “ship”? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2011, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-still-dont-get/567925/180 "2011-01-22T09:12:55Z")
> [@OneChance](#): > > What is “slash,” “het,” and “ship”? Slash fiction is gay fan fiction erotica, as in male character/other male character \<–see the slash? Het is heterosexual erotica. Ship, or Shipping, is imagining two characters in an established show, book, or film as being in a relationship, even if that was not the author’s planned intention. For example, there is a _lot_ of fan fiction based around Harry Potter, Snape, Malfoy, etc in various homosexual escapades. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-still-dont-get/567925.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-i-still-dont-get/567925.md?page=10)