[Ads-l] Captain Obvious

Wed Jul 7 11:29:42 UTC 2021

I agree that "oblivious" is a variant worth exploring. I found some
instances of "Captain Oblivious", but they were fairly recent. So
looked for "Captain Idiot" and found this:

Date: November 21, 1957
Newspaper: The Berkshire Eagle
Newspaper Location: Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Article: The Lively Arts
Author: Milton R. Bass
Quote Page 10, Column 1
Database: Newspapers.com

[Begin excerpt]
There was a time when radio and television were loaded with series
about space cadets and Captain Idiots and wars of the worlds, but
someone suddenly dropped the space curtain and the shows whirled off
into another galaxy.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Wed, Jul 7, 2021 at 6:55 AM Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu> wrote:
>
> And who can forget the play in 1848, A Man Without a Head, Mr Oblivious Top played by Mr. Crompton with Mrs Oblivious Top by Mrs Leigh Murray.
> https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Economist/aEhUAAAAcAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=oblivious
> [https://books.google.com/books/content?id=aEhUAAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover&img=1&zoom=1&edge=curl&imgtk=AFLRE72gJew30ZtGcXM45nJc70hVpD6p5KCZ5cur07q49_4lvCb86Yf2wy8cdIFhvZGqQ_T598XUrtVrMYNUnRxexSmwQi0colAU1VjcZeWThBc-XFcUzeTEwuylSlDZ4beAWRMoEEqM]<https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Economist/aEhUAAAAcAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=oblivious>
> The Economist<https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Economist/aEhUAAAAcAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=oblivious>
> /
> www.google.com
> Mr. SG
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Sent: Wednesday, July 7, 2021 6:37 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: Re: Captain Obvious
>
> Nowadays, I think most people would view Captain Obvious as a parodic
> superhero name. I do not know if the 1929 usage would have a superhero
> connotation. Superheroes were popularized in the 1930s. Captain Marvel
> was created in 1939. Captain America Comics #1 had a cover date of
> March 1941. (So sayeth Wikipedia.)
>
> On the other hand, the Oxford English Dictionary has citations dated
> 1899, 1917, and 1924 for superhero. So maybe there was a superhero
> connotation even in 1929.
>
> I broadened the search to look for a different name constructed from
> "obvious": "Mr. Obvious" ("Messrs. Obvious"). Here are citations dated
> 1893 and 1915.
>
> Year: June 1893
> Title: Folk-Lore: A Quarterly Review of Myth, Tradition, Institution, & Custom
> Volume 4, Number 2
> Article: English Folk Drama II
> Start Page 149, Quote Page 172
> Note: Paper read before the Folk-lore Society, February 15th, 1893
> Publisher: David Nutt, London
> Database: Internet Archive
>
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://archive.org/details/folklore05britgoog/page/n176/mode/1up__;!!OToaGQ!7gV5-oxl4ztqDOqElfEMY_0HAXimYVC4HRcDLU5fhtodPZN61pi461xTbakKUcKf$
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> If I were asked to define the greatest danger which besets folk-lore,
> I should say it was the obvious. It was the obvious which caused the
> significance of children's games to be so long overlooked. It was the
> obvious which dismissed the Staffordshire Guisers' play as all St.
> George and the Dragon. It was the obvious which classified all the
> mumming-plays and the Easter plays as "versions of some dramatic piece
> written in commemoration of the Holy Wars". And I suppose Mr. Obvious,
> if he is here—or perhaps I should say the Messrs. Obvious—will have no
> patience with me because I hint that in the Easter play and this
> Plough-Monday play we have an episode which continues the tradition of
> the Summer and Winter champions.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Date: 1915
> Title: Samuel Henry Jeyes: A Sketch of His Personality and Work by
> Sidney Low, With a Selection From His Fugitive Writings
> Editor: W. P. Ker
> Quote Page 83,
> Publisher: Duckworth & Company, London.
> Database: HathiTrust Full View
>
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.$b160843?urlappend=*3Bseq=101__;JQ!!OToaGQ!7gV5-oxl4ztqDOqElfEMY_0HAXimYVC4HRcDLU5fhtodPZN61pi461xTbesH2kFV$
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> It is astonishing that so shrewd and practical a man, gifted also with
> a sense of humour, should impose on himself with phrases culled from a
> select dialogue between Mr. Obvious and Mr. Bounceable.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
> On Tue, Jul 6, 2021 at 12:59 PM Baker, John <JBAKER at stradley.com> wrote:
> >
> > Jon's link doesn't work for me, but I see the article online at https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-origin-of-the-expression-**BCaptain-Obvious**B__;4oCc4oCd!!OToaGQ!7gV5-oxl4ztqDOqElfEMY_0HAXimYVC4HRcDLU5fhtodPZN61pi461xTbSOxCnO7$ .  One of the Quora posters found an example that is earlier than I would have guessed, from the periodical Chemical Warfare, vol. 12, no. 8, p. 8 (Aug. 15, 1926), https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://books.google.com/books?id=UYIkAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA7-PA8&dq=*22captain*obvious*22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjqxYnM887xAhVKGVkFHSheBZ0Q6AEwAHoECAwQAg*v=onepage&q=*22captain*20obvious*22&f=false__;JSslIyUlJQ!!OToaGQ!7gV5-oxl4ztqDOqElfEMY_0HAXimYVC4HRcDLU5fhtodPZN61pi461xTbc4_aDAs$ .  This is a photograph of the 302nd Gas Regiment's officers, with each officer listed by name and nickname.  The nickname for Captain Firebaugh is Captain Obvious; the other captains' nicknames are Captain Snores, Captain Insignia, Captain Tentpine, Captain Half Pint, Captain Big Trees, Old Campaigner, Captain Littlebit, and Captain Undertaker.
> >
> > There is quite a gap between this example and the frequent contemporary use of the term, which seems to start showing up in the 1990s, so there is a good chance that the later use is an independent coinage.
> >
> >
> > John Baker
> >
> >
> >
> > From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> On Behalf Of Laurence Horn
> > Sent: Tuesday, July 6, 2021 12:03 PM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: Re: Captain Obvious
> >
> > External Email - Think Before You Click
> >
> >
> > And currently popularized in the hotels.com commercials by the (appropriately uniformed) Captain Obvious played by Brendan Moynihan, e.g.
> >
> > https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQyOttaZIhM__;!!OToaGQ!7gV5-oxl4ztqDOqElfEMY_0HAXimYVC4HRcDLU5fhtodPZN61pi461xTbdbkuQLu$ <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQyOttaZIhM__;!!OToaGQ!7gV5-oxl4ztqDOqElfEMY_0HAXimYVC4HRcDLU5fhtodPZN61pi461xTbdbkuQLu$ >
> > https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJLBPAbjFUQ__;!!OToaGQ!7gV5-oxl4ztqDOqElfEMY_0HAXimYVC4HRcDLU5fhtodPZN61pi461xTbUCQdHJ4$ <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJLBPAbjFUQ__;!!OToaGQ!7gV5-oxl4ztqDOqElfEMY_0HAXimYVC4HRcDLU5fhtodPZN61pi461xTbUCQdHJ4$ >
> > https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhcH0c469F8__;!!OToaGQ!7gV5-oxl4ztqDOqElfEMY_0HAXimYVC4HRcDLU5fhtodPZN61pi461xTbQG1audR$ <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhcH0c469F8__;!!OToaGQ!7gV5-oxl4ztqDOqElfEMY_0HAXimYVC4HRcDLU5fhtodPZN61pi461xTbQG1audR$ >
> >
> >
> > If he looks familiar, it may be because Moynihan had previously appeared in commercials for Stove Top stuffing before he acquired his commission (and beard):
> >
> > https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvHMg2-1btw__;!!OToaGQ!7gV5-oxl4ztqDOqElfEMY_0HAXimYVC4HRcDLU5fhtodPZN61pi461xTbRhlQTUC$ <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvHMg2-1btw__;!!OToaGQ!7gV5-oxl4ztqDOqElfEMY_0HAXimYVC4HRcDLU5fhtodPZN61pi461xTbRhlQTUC$ >
> >
> > LH
> >
> >
> > > On Jul 6, 2021, at 11:43 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM<mailto:wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>> wrote:
> > >
> > > Discussed:
> > >
> > > https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-origin-of-the-expression-*22Captain-Obvious__;JQ!!OToaGQ!7gV5-oxl4ztqDOqElfEMY_0HAXimYVC4HRcDLU5fhtodPZN61pi461xTbWw8MpmH$ <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-origin-of-the-expression-**BCaptain-Obvious__;4oCc!!OToaGQ!7gV5-oxl4ztqDOqElfEMY_0HAXimYVC4HRcDLU5fhtodPZN61pi461xTbXQk8Cl-$ >D
> > >
> > >
> > > JL
> > > --
> > > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
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> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
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