OT? Sex ed and language

[victor steinbok]

*I'm* confused. I was thinking of *Edward Thorndike* and did not
recognize the character name on the spot... I do believe that it was a
joke on Thorndike (among several in the film, actually), just not on
an actual episode in which Thorndike was involved. A bit too much
Thorndikian word association and not enough frustrating thought
process, I am afraid... ;-)

There were two terms that I recall in that scene, one being (whichever
way you spell it) "p-p-envy". We're on the same wavelength, just using
different filters...

VS-)

On Tue, May 25, 2010 at 7:18 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>
> At 5/25/2010 01:39 PM, Victor Steinbok wrote:
>>...which, of course, was heavily mocked in High Anxiety. Of course, it
>>is only slightly less funny if you are unfamiliar with the antecedent of
>>the joke. In fact, wasn't even set in San Francisco?
>
> I'm confused.
>
> Dr. Richard H. Thorndyke *is* the character in "High Anxiety', not
> someone who was mocked in that move.
> What is "the antecedent of the joke"?
> The move is definitely set (for the psychiatrists' conference and the
> hotel murder) in San Francisco.  (I've been at the hotel.)
>
> Joel
>
>>     VS-)
>>
>>On 5/25/2010 1:19 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>>>A variant on this dilemma: Dr. Richard H. Thorndyke was distressed
>>>during his lecture on the psychology of sex at a convention of
>>>psychiatrists in San Francisco, when he discovered kiddies in the
>>>audience -- he felt he could not use the "Latinish words from the
>>>academy" and, hoping to keep the children unaware, resorted to
>>>infantile euphemisms, which of course mystified his adult audience.
>>>Joel

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