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Old 12-02-2016, 03:06
Bill Clinton
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They really do want to make it seem as if all the characters except really for Ken Barlow who is the designated intellectual are actually just kinda thick and never think about anything heavy like political issues (they decided to avoid controversy and have Sally become an independent and nobody criticises austerity and just blindly accepts it without comment),, and then we have the scene were Leanne can't actually think of a country beginning with V when she hears about Simon's very geographical homework assignment and then says she thought Vienna is a country but Simon actually knows it's the capital of Austria (are most people really that thick honestly!), it's amusing and all but is this really the sort of contempt they have for the ordinary people they are trying to portray, do they think the average man or woman on the street is really that thick, by and large I reckon they're not, but Corrie characters will often say they've not heard of things or they know nothing about it etc, are most ordinary people really like this, not as bad as the Corrie characters I don't tend to find! I think they do this to portray ordinary people as overall too simple minded which in reality is actually not quite the case.

I can't think of too many other examples from the show but there's been quite a few, usually only Ken is shown to actually have a bit of all round intelligence and knowledge, that's rather depressing.

Fun watching that scene, off the top of my head I thought of Venezuela just before it was said and Vietnam, but Simon said he'd study The Virgin Islands just to spite Leanne.
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Old 12-02-2016, 07:26
davads
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There was one that stuck out the other night from Anna, I think when Sally was talking about her political campaign. She said "What's a [word] when it's at home?" - I can't remember what the word or term was but I do remember thinking it was a fairly straightforward one.
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Old 12-02-2016, 07:35
Ouroboros
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Yes some people are really that thick, just watch some of the daytime quiz shows that are on and you will soon see, fortunately they do seem to be in a minority but they are definitely there.
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Old 12-02-2016, 07:35
davads
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Although there was the scene the other week where NotGavin was explaining (to Audrey I think) the loss of heat in Gail's annexe in quite scientific/"physics" terms, so that was quite refreshing...
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Old 12-02-2016, 09:25
jsmith99
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......................Fun watching that scene, off the top of my head I thought of Venezuela just before it was said and Vietnam, but Simon said he'd study The Virgin Islands just to spite Leanne.
But 'The Virgin Islands' begins with a 'T'. And I doubt whether they could be called a country :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_Islands
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Old 12-02-2016, 09:35
davejc64
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Another country beginning with V is Vanuatu.
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Old 12-02-2016, 09:48
fallstarwoo
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There was one that stuck out the other night from Anna, I think when Sally was talking about her political campaign. She said "What's a [word] when it's at home?" - I can't remember what the word or term was but I do remember thinking it was a fairly straightforward one.
I got the impression that Anna knew the meaning but just wanted to mock sally, Anna and Kevin grinned at each other as she asked
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Old 12-02-2016, 09:58
Lodi
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The one example that crops up time and again is whenever a character is in hospital and the doctor goes to explain the prognosis to the assembled friends and family there is always someone who says (aggressively, they're ALWAYS aggressive) "Whatchu mean Doc? She's got a concussion? WHAT'S THAT MEAN IN ENGLISH?! Will she be ok?"

I've never seen anyone react with anything but quietened concern when speaking to a Doctor in those circumstances, and certainly never seen someone interrupt their flow to ask inane questions like "Won't the kidney 'splode if you do a scan-scan on her tummy....derrrr?"

But it's constant in medical scenes.

Also someone describing watching a TV Show or Film "It's that one with the actor I like, him with the eyes" Who speaks like this? But nobody has ever in Weatherfield history said "It's like that Paul Newman film.... The Sting, I think". Nonsense.
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Old 12-02-2016, 10:16
sorcha_healy27
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There was one that stuck out the other night from Anna, I think when Sally was talking about her political campaign. She said "What's a [word] when it's at home?" - I can't remember what the word or term was but I do remember thinking it was a fairly straightforward one.
It was what's a demographic when it's at home

As if people wouldn't know what that was. **roll eyes**
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Old 12-02-2016, 10:24
dmwat
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They also have a habit of making anyone with half a brain appear boring, lacking a sense of humour, strange or obsessive (Ken, Roy, Norris, Mary...).

Another country beginning with V is Vanuatu.
Ah a Pointless favourite
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Old 12-02-2016, 10:25
Jessica_Bobbing
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I think it's a lousy attempt at "humour".
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Old 12-02-2016, 10:37
ewoodie
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They also have a habit of making anyone with half a brain appear boring, lacking a sense of humour, strange or obsessive (Ken, Roy, Norris, Mary...).


Ah a Pointless favourite
Roy and Mary have this odd way of conversing too. Their syntax and language is quite strange. Corrie has a number of characters who are or are sometimes dimwits, half-wits or odd folk such as:

Mary
Roy
Gail
Beth
Kirk
Norris
Sinead
Eva
Michael
Tyrone
Dev
Sally
Steve
Yasmeen

Corrie love their odd, thick or weird characters but that's too many for one street!

Ken Barlow BA Hons PGCE - is the only person who is allowed to have any knowledge or intelligence about anything.
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Old 12-02-2016, 10:41
Ouroboros
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Roy and Mary have this odd way of conversing too. Their syntax and language is quite strange. Corrie has a number of characters who are or are sometimes dimwits, half-wits or odd folk such as:

Mary
Roy
Gail
Beth
Kirk
Norris
Sinead
Eva
Michael
Tyrone
Dev
Sally
Steve
Yasmeen

Corrie love their odd, thick or weird characters but that's too many for one street!

Ken Barlow BA Hons PGCE - is the only person who is allowed to have any knowledge or intelligence about anything.
You missed Fizz off the thickos list.
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Old 12-02-2016, 11:49
Creamtea
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One of the reasons Corrie has gone down hill imo is that most characters have been turned into utter simpletons with two brain cells between the lot of them. Ken is supposedly clever so is mocked as an "intellectual", while the rest of the street seem to be one step away from drooling. It's ok to have a few thick people but Corrie seem to have gone to the extreme. There doesn't even seem to be be many characters with common sense, which is usually a good alternative to being "clever", and is how most people live. For me the worst culprits have been Deidre and Gail. Gail is now nothing but a brain dead moron!
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Old 12-02-2016, 11:50
sam_gee
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I remember poor Faye struggling with her homework a while back, before Owen left, and not one of her extended and blended family of dimwits could explain what a prime number was. Anna laughed her head off when she was asked and acted as though knowledge of them could only be held by proper boffins. Faye had a similar problem when she wanted a bit of help with photosynthesis. No wonder she got pregnant at thirteen
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Old 12-02-2016, 11:51
ewoodie
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You missed Fizz off the thickos list.
Any additions welcome.


As I already said Corrie is awash with 'thickos'. Oh, for the days of the real feisty women; the quick-witted, sharp-minds and tongue lashings of Ena, Elsie, Ivy, Gail and Blanche. Liz and Michelle - feisty women? They're nothing more than a pair of glammed-up bints and just cruel to the likes of Steve. Pah!

And anyone in Corrie who likes chess, literature or classical music is jeered at. Mind you, Corrie does reserve these pursuits for those who come under the category odd and/or weird. Ken Barlow manages to be revered though as 'he who knoweth everything'.
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Old 12-02-2016, 11:57
David166
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Kirk is off the charts stupid, bordering on the ridiculous..
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Old 12-02-2016, 11:59
Cheekymonkey09
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One of many reasons why I no longer watch. I don't want to see thick, weird, simple people on a soap. There are far too many of them on t'street and is very unrealistic. In real life you may get one or two oddballs at work or where you live but not 75% of them living on your doorstep!

Oh and they're not funny either
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Old 12-02-2016, 12:06
boxer1988
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What I'd like to know is how someone who is openly vengeful, deluded, crazed - and always seething with jealousy - is clever enough to get away with everything she does.
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Old 12-02-2016, 12:11
davads
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It was what's a demographic when it's at home
Yes, that was it. If she was joking I didn't pick up on that.
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Old 12-02-2016, 12:17
Ouroboros
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Maybe it's a Manchester thing all that rain rots the brain cells.
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Old 12-02-2016, 13:47
BlondeGremlin
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Kirk is off the charts stupid, bordering on the ridiculous..
Kirk is just ridiculous. He's the first character I'd get rid of if I had the chance. Should have been killed in the mini-bus crash last year. It was just a few weeks after his wedding, I'd like to have seen Beth playing the grieving widow.
He's got more and more gormless over the years.
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Old 12-02-2016, 13:56
Essex Blue
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Kirk is just ridiculous. He's the first character I'd get rid of if I had the chance. Should have been killed in the mini-bus crash last year. It was just a few weeks after his wedding, I'd like to have seen Beth playing the grieving widow.
He's got more and more gormless over the years.
There is no way somebody as thick as Kirk would function in the real world. You just can't get somebody that is that thick all of the time, and comes out with such stupid things every time he opens his mouth. If they wanted to make the character a little more realistic they would not make him so obviously stupid, he would have some common sense and knowledge on certain subjects.

The guy that plays Kirk must feel like jacking it in as he is such a joke (although he was surprisingly good at table tennis out of the blue) or he is in his comfort zone, can you imagine trying to portray another character?
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Old 12-02-2016, 15:22
Belligerence
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Sinead went from quirky and free spirited, with a lot of common sence, to some ditzy blonde who has been pegged down to Chesney's level.
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Old 12-02-2016, 16:38
TrebleKing
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Kirk is off the charts stupid, bordering on the ridiculous..
I'm not meaning to sound disrespectful or in any way cruel, but I've seen people with autism and Down's Syndrome with more common sense and savvy than Kirk. The way they're writing for him these past few years he's portrayed as almost mentally disabled at times.
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