Only Connect (BBC4) [Part 2]

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jonbwfc

30-11-2016

Originally Posted by lundavra:
“In their day the Beatles were popular (or at least known) by a wide range of people so many can still remember many of their songs. U2 have never had a wide range of fans, they might sell plenty of their recordings but it is to a narrow market. To most people U2 is just the pop group with the funny bloke in coloured glasses who lectures everyone about poverty and the environment whilst seemingly spending much of his time flying around the world in jets and who avoids tax by basing his company in the Netherlands.”

To be fair, everyone with an iPhone owns at least one U2 album.

carnoch04

30-11-2016

Originally Posted by Dragonlady 25:
“At the risk of making myself look like more of an idiot, I wonder if any of you good folks can explain something to me. A number of weeks ago the programme was on but I was not paying much attention to the screen, preferring to listen. When I turned to the screen, Victoria was in shot but behind her I saw a figure standing in one of the spaces in the scenery behind her. This figure was dressed in a red and white striped nightshirt with a night hat complete with a pom pom. The character was a young man with fair hair and an enormous smile, who waved at the camera.

Now, DID I see this?

Am I going mad?

Should I go to specsavers?”

There had been a question about "Where's Wally" in different languages,

johnny_t

30-11-2016

There had been a question about the 'Where's Wally ?' books (or 'Where's Waldo', if you're American, which was kind of the point of the question).

You managed to spot Wally

ETA - I always assumed that Waldo was the original, and Wally was the English version, but apparently it's the other way round - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where%27s_Wally%3F

DSman

30-11-2016

Where's Wally?

EDIT: You beat me to it, carnoch04 & johnny_t.

johnny_t

30-11-2016

Originally Posted by DSman:
“Where's Wally?

EDIT: You beat me to it, johnny_t.”

And carnoch04 beat me to it.....

Dragonlady 25

30-11-2016

Thank you good people. I was beginning to doubt the evidence of my own eyes.

trooperlooper

30-11-2016

Originally Posted by Baz_James:
“Says someone who's arguing stupid points with me!

Ever watched Pointless? See what percentage of people remember the names of singles on there from the so-called 'biggest bands in the world'? Do you know what being the 'biggest band in the world' actually means in terms of reach? I can forgive you for being unable to handle the reality of large numbers. Most human beings are crap at that! But the delusion that what you know equates in any way to universal knowledge, given that you watch quiz shows where the opposite is proven over and over again is just ridiculous. Nobody is lesser than you because they couldn't give a damn about the recordings of a scruffy bunch of has-been oiks who were legends in their own lunchtime. Indeed one could argue the exact opposite!”

Aren't U2 something like the 10th biggest selling artist in music history?

Baz_James

30-11-2016

Originally Posted by trooperlooper:
“Aren't U2 something like the 10th biggest selling artist in music history?”

Not for singles, they're not. They don't have a single single with worldwide sales exceeding 5m. At least a hundred artists do!

Paul_DNAP

30-11-2016

Originally Posted by Baz_James:
“ You really think that everybody, including their espoused, is forced to use their full names on every occasion? She's referred to on the poker circuit by her nickname, Teacup. It hardly smacks of compulsory formality!”

It was part jokey to be honest. But, some people just don't take to short versions of their name, it just doesn't suit them.

Originally Posted by finlay_gaskill:
“Many people prefer their full names at all times.

I started off calling a new work colleague a matey Jim or Jimmy, till I was told by him " my name is James ".”

That's the sort of thing I mean, my mate Antony would never respond to Tony, he was Antony or Ant. (And woebitide anyone who dropped the extra H in for Anthony.)

trooperlooper

30-11-2016

Originally Posted by Baz_James:
“Not for singles, they're not. They don't have a single single with worldwide sales exceeding 5m. At least a hundred artists do!”

But they are way up on total record sales including albums, and every single is also on an album.

JeffG1

30-11-2016

Originally Posted by Paul_DNAP:
“That's the sort of thing I mean, my mate Antony would never respond to Tony, he was Antony or Ant. (And woebitide anyone who dropped the extra H in for Anthony.)”

That would only be apparent if it was written. I think with the 'h' is the more usual spelling.

Ex Pat

30-11-2016

Originally Posted by trooperlooper:
“Aren't U2 something like the 10th biggest selling artist in music history?”

I can't vouch for the accuracy but I found this
http://www.therichest.com/expensive-...s-of-all-time/

Paul_DNAP

30-11-2016

Originally Posted by JeffG1:
“That would only be apparent if it was written. I think with the 'h' is the more usual spelling.”

Yes, it was written, all over his school exam certificates, he went ballistic - it was priceless.

Baz_James

30-11-2016

Originally Posted by trooperlooper:
“But they are way up on total record sales including albums, and every single is also on an album.”

Well, you say that but their best selling album worldwide, The Joshua Tree, is actually only 46th all time (according to Wikipedia) with claimed sales of 25m (Thriller at no. 1 for comparison has 65m) and they do not have another in the top 80. It sold less than 3 million in the UK (approx 1 per 10 households). Bearing in mind that the four titles and one red herring were on 5 different albums over a period of decades that doesn't really support the theory that everybody ought to know them.

Baz_James

30-11-2016

Originally Posted by Ex Pat:
“I can't vouch for the accuracy but I found this
http://www.therichest.com/expensive-...s-of-all-time/”

That, of course, is total sales of every recording they've ever made combined. It doesn't give any indication of 'reach'.

Baz_James

30-11-2016

Originally Posted by JeffG1:
“That would only be apparent if it was written. I think with the 'h' is the more usual spelling.”

There are people who pronounce it An-th-ony as well.

JeffG1

30-11-2016

Originally Posted by Baz_James:
“There are people who pronounce it An-th-ony as well.”

Then they are ignorant.

Baz_James

30-11-2016

Originally Posted by JeffG1:
“Then they are ignorant.”

No. They're American/Canadian mostly - and to pre-empt your next comment that's not the same thing. Some of the softer Irish and Scots accents also have this.

lundavra

30-11-2016

Originally Posted by JeffG1:
“Does anyone call her Vicky?”

Victoria Elizabeth Coren Mitchell, to keep you happy.

lundavra

30-11-2016

Originally Posted by jonbwfc:
“To be fair, everyone with an iPhone owns at least one U2 album.”

But we are talking about normal people.

I have a couple of their LPs and CDs for many years ago but could not name them or any trcks on them and they have not been played for many years. Very forgettable.

Looking at the list of best selling musical artists just now and you have to scroll down quite a way before you to come U2. Still multi-millionaires of course but so are many other musical artists.

Ex Pat

30-11-2016

Originally Posted by Baz_James:
“No. They're American/Canadian mostly - and to pre-empt your next comment that's not the same thing. Some of the softer Irish and Scots accents also have this.”

Oh dear.
These are mispronounciations. They are wrong.
For example, the card game Whist is pronounced with the H silent. However in the w(h)est of Ireland , some people pronounce it whist with the H.
That is wrong but I doubt you will understand that.

Baz_James

01-12-2016

Originally Posted by Ex Pat:
“Oh dear.
These are mispronounciations. They are wrong.
For example, the card game Whist is pronounced with the H silent. However in the w(h)est of Ireland , some people pronounce it whist with the H.
That is wrong but I doubt you will understand that.”

Wot wiv me being fick, ya meen? Pretty rich from someone who can't spell mispronunciations (and presumably therefore can't pronounce it correctly either!)

I understand it perfectly well, thank-you. One of the great advantages of a classical education and a First Class humanities degree! But the mispronunciation is precisely what the stupid grammarians, most of whom were Edinburgh Scots with a fancy to turn English into the Romance language it has never been because they fancied the French, deserve. Silent bloody H, for crying out loud! No precedent for it. No need for it! So if people want to put the thorn in Anthony and aspirate whist then I'll not be correcting them. It's the way the funny buggers made us spell it. Let 'em spin in their graves every time someone reads it that way, the treacherous bastards! Free English of this Romance taint that Englisc may be spoken again in Angelþéod!

pearlsandplums

01-12-2016

I've always said the name as anth-ony. Guess I'm just ignorant.

Remember when this used to be a thread about a quiz

finlay_gaskill

01-12-2016

For your morning cogitate , the un-obvious connection please:

Vertigo - 1958
Strangers On A Train - 1951
The Paradine Case - 1947
Spellbound - 1945

JeffG1

01-12-2016

Originally Posted by Ex Pat:
“These are mispronounciations.”

So how do you pronounce that?

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