# What were the "Other things"?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-other-things/243025>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 1, 2004, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-other-things/243025 "2004-05-01T19:16:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Capt\_B.Phart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc29f/32.png) [@Capt\_B.Phart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt_B.Phart)\
**Post date:** [May 1, 2004, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-other-things/243025/1 "2004-05-01T19:16:47Z")

</div>

In the spirit of the general silliness in [This Thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=253936)  
\*\* Ponder Stibbons\*\* offers the Kennedy quote:-

“We choose to go to the underpants. We choose to go to the underpants in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard …”

Every time I hear the original (pants-free) quote I wonder what the “other things” were, and did they get done?

So, what were the “Other things”?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\
**Post date:** [May 1, 2004, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-other-things/243025/2 "2004-05-01T20:14:17Z")

</div>

From his speech at Rice University:

> [@](#):
>
> But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas?
> 
> We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Capt\_B.Phart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc29f/32.png) [@Capt\_B.Phart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt_B.Phart)\
**Post date:** [May 1, 2004, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-other-things/243025/3 "2004-05-01T21:11:07Z")

</div>

Thanks, I’d only seen the same little bit they always seem to show

(It’s a bit like the stage seperation shot of the ring falling away from the saturn 5 - a visual cliche, but seeing the whole shot uncut is bizarre "oh there’s more!)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![KP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a9adbd/32.png) [@KP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KP)\
**Post date:** [May 1, 2004, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-other-things/243025/4 "2004-05-01T22:37:42Z")

</div>

My first thought was to count Marilyn Monroe among the “other things” JFK chose to do (i.e. he wasn’t using the imperial “we”, but was speaking of himself and RFK)

However, she belongs to another category. His reckless philandering suggests that he chose to do her, not because she was easy, but because he was hard.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\
**Post date:** [May 2, 2004, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-other-things/243025/5 "2004-05-02T05:04:41Z")

</div>

Oh, yeah. Now, I understand.