# Who is your thinking man's (or woman's) crumpet? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 28, 2010, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-thinking-mans-or-womans-crumpet/530777 "2010-02-28T21:53:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-thinking-mans-or-womans-crumpet/530777/21 "2010-03-01T21:16:46Z")
> [@KennerTheGreat](#): > > Those of us who watch The Weather Network in Canada, especially in the afternoons, will be very familiar with [Suzanne Leonard.](http://www.theweathernetwork.com/tv/npafternoons) Along similar lines, I give you The Weather Channel’s [Stephanie Abrams](http://www.weather.com/tv/personalities/Stephanie-Abrams.html), [Samantha Mohr](http://www.weather.com/tv/personalities/Samantha-Mohr.html), and [Heather Tesch](http://www.weather.com/tv/personalities/Heather-Tesch.html). Not to mention [Erica Hill](http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/22/earlyshow/bios/main4468573.shtml?tag=contentMain;contentBody), currently on CBS’s “Early Show”, but formerly on “Anderson Cooper 360”. ---
**Author:** ![bathsheba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@bathsheba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bathsheba)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-thinking-mans-or-womans-crumpet/530777/22 "2010-03-01T21:17:27Z")
James May! ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-thinking-mans-or-womans-crumpet/530777/23 "2010-03-01T21:24:38Z")
I submit George Stephanopoulos. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-thinking-mans-or-womans-crumpet/530777/24 "2010-03-01T21:27:06Z")
Nigella Lawson would be it. Anything to rescue her from that Saatchi fucker. Gods, I hate him twice over. Jessica Hynes/Stevenson is on the list. Dido. Not quite crumpet, but I was awfully attracted to Phillipa Boyens in the LOTR-ext. ed. DVD commentaries. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-thinking-mans-or-womans-crumpet/530777/25 "2010-03-01T21:35:57Z")
> [@bathsheba](#): > > James May! Because sometimes slower is better. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-thinking-mans-or-womans-crumpet/530777/26 "2010-03-01T22:26:24Z")
Susanna Reid, BBC breakfast news presenter. She is mighty fine. “Posh and Dirty” I reckon. [http://images.google.co.uk/images?um=1&hl=en&rlz=1C1GGLS\_en-GB\_\_\_GB368&tbs=isch:1&sa=1&q=susanna+reid&btnG=Search&aq=f&oq=&start=0](http://images.google.co.uk/images?um=1&hl=en&rlz=1C1GGLS_en-GB___GB368&tbs=isch:1&sa=1&q=susanna+reid&btnG=Search&aq=f&oq=&start=0) Shame on whoever said Carol Vorderman. She is not “the thinking man’s crumpet” but rather a phenomenon first illuminated by VIZ magazine…a “Borderline Boiler” (the head says no! but the nuts say go!) ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-thinking-mans-or-womans-crumpet/530777/27 "2010-03-01T22:42:28Z")
From everything I’ve read, **Natalie Portman** is quite intelligent. ---
**Author:** ![Torpor\_Beast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/71e660/32.png) [@Torpor\_Beast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Torpor_Beast)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-thinking-mans-or-womans-crumpet/530777/28 "2010-03-01T22:42:44Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Nigella Lawson would be it. Anything to rescue her from that Saatchi fucker. Gods, I hate him twice over. If you plan on stalking her, pick your own tree. This one is taken. _brb, changing laptop battery_ 😃 ---
**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:** [March 1, 2010, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-thinking-mans-or-womans-crumpet/530777/29 "2010-03-01T22:44:42Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Not quite crumpet, but I was awfully attracted to Phillipa Boyens in the LOTR-ext. ed. DVD commentaries. Actually, now that she’s [lost some weight](http://www.herr-der-ringe-film.de/v2/media/galerie/crew/Philippa-Boyens.jpg), she’s much more crumpet-like. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-thinking-mans-or-womans-crumpet/530777/30 "2010-03-02T00:09:55Z")
I like the term “crumpet”. But what is it with Brits and comparing people to baked goods? There was a an allusion in a Dick Francis novel to a talk show host being a puff pastry - tasty, fast rising but full of hot air. 🙂 I also tend to think of “weatherwomen\*” and “intelligent” as being mutually exclusive terms, but suppose that tastes vary. Weather_men_ come off the same way. The Willard Scott School of Babbling Birdbrains has much to answer for. ---
**Author:** ![Rrose\_Selavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bcef8e/32.png) [@Rrose\_Selavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rrose_Selavy)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-thinking-mans-or-womans-crumpet/530777/31 "2010-03-02T00:18:37Z")
> [@](#): > > The noun crumpet was first recorded in 1694, perhaps from earlier “crompid (crimped or curled) cake”. It was slang for the head from the late 19th century to the 1940s. For an attractive female or females collectively the usage may be ancient, but its first written attestation is from 1936, evoking not so much the sweetness or the challenging acidity of the tart as the comforting combination of soft, hot — and presumably buttered (“buttered bun” was Victorian slang for a prostitute). > **[TLS](http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/book_extracts/article6740577.ece)** > > Times Literary Supplement ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-thinking-mans-or-womans-crumpet/530777/32 "2010-03-02T05:18:26Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > II also tend to think of “weatherwomen\*” and “intelligent” as being mutually exclusive terms, but suppose that tastes vary. Well, at least on The Weather Channel, the majority of them are actually meteorologists. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-thinking-mans-or-womans-crumpet/530777/33 "2010-03-02T05:59:14Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Well, at least on The Weather Channel, the majority of them are actually meteorologists. 🙂 Not only that, but [Samantha Mohr](http://www.weather.com/tv/personalities/Samantha-Mohr.html) is a notch or two up from Crumpet: she’s a Stone Fox! ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-thinking-mans-or-womans-crumpet/530777/34 "2010-03-02T06:23:39Z")
I think in terms of current looks, **Tina Fey** could literally be the dictionary definition of the **Thinking Man’s Beauty** (which is the phrase here in America). Any woman who can make dorky, 1950s librarian glasses look unbelievably sexy gets my vote (I actually think she looks _less_ attractive when she takes them off!) Going back a decade or two **Blair Brown** fit the description quite well. Bios of her often called her just that. Also the X-Files’ **Gillian Anderson**. Problem with Natalie Portman is, although in real life she is very intelligent, she just doesn’t come off that way in films. She’s certainly not a bimbo, but I think its because she’s just so fucking pretty she’s in a class by herself. In fact, IMO she’s still one of the top five most beautiful girls in the world! Same would go for Jennifer Connelly, although she’s always been too overtly sexual to be a TMB. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-thinking-mans-or-womans-crumpet/530777/35 "2010-03-02T06:33:03Z")
> [@HotSmoke](#): > > Anderson Cooper. He’s hot,smart and rich…although rumor has it that he is gay. I am pretty sure that he is \ I’ll add two more to that list, and guess what? They’re both also gay ☹ Hugh Laurie Stephen Fry But that’s ok. As long as I’m dreaming anyway, I can dream them straight, right? 😃 ---
**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:** [March 2, 2010, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-thinking-mans-or-womans-crumpet/530777/36 "2010-03-02T06:35:21Z")
Hugh Laurie isn’t gay. He is, however, happily married. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-thinking-mans-or-womans-crumpet/530777/37 "2010-03-02T12:51:09Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Actually, now that she’s [lost some weight](http://www.herr-der-ringe-film.de/v2/media/galerie/crew/Philippa-Boyens.jpg), she’s much more crumpet-like. Mmmm…someone else beside PJ put the LOTR profits to good use. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-thinking-mans-or-womans-crumpet/530777/38 "2010-03-02T13:03:09Z")
In her day, I’d have chosen **Linda Ellerbee**. She’s still an impressive lady, having fought off cancer and doing all that great stuff with kids for Nick News. But in her days at the sadly departed **Weekend** and **NBC News Overnight** , she was majorly hot as well. As for “Crumpet”, since I was brung up in the American Northeast, all I can think of are TatyKake Butterscotch Crumpets, which I’m sure are unlike the British meaning of the word. And I don’t want to think of the great Linda Ellerbee as one of three indented finger cakes in a package, covered with butterscotch topping. Or maybe I do. Hmmm. ---
**Author:** ![HotSmoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/d9b06d/32.png) [@HotSmoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HotSmoke)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-thinking-mans-or-womans-crumpet/530777/39 "2010-03-02T13:17:10Z")
> [@Taomist](#): > > I am pretty sure that he is \ > > I’ll add two more to that list, and guess what? They’re both also gay ☹ > > Hugh Laurie > > Stephen Fry > > But that’s ok. As long as I’m dreaming anyway, I can dream them straight, right? 😃 _slaps forehead_ how could I forget Hugh Laurie? I love Dr. House!!! I have watched a few interviews with him and he has said he doesn’t understand why women find him sexy. He’s very self deprecating and I find that inexplicably hot. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-thinking-mans-or-womans-crumpet/530777/40 "2010-03-02T13:59:32Z")
HotSmoke, I’m totally with you. As it is, as it was, as it always will be. Hugh Laurie. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-thinking-mans-or-womans-crumpet/530777.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-thinking-mans-or-womans-crumpet/530777.md?page=3)