Misunderstandings from my childhood

[gerrydelasel]

I started watching Red Dwarf when I was, I guess, ten years old? Strictly it was a bit too adult for me, but my parents let me for some reason. Anyway, there were various references I didn’t get at the time, and they stick with me. It was only years later, as an adult, that they finally ‘clicked’. Here are some of mine, do you have any?

When Kryten says “that’s a bit of a barmy notion” I thought he said “that’s a bit of a balm-in-ocean”, and for days I went around asking adults “what is balm-in-ocean?’. They had no idea what I was talking about. Total confusion was had by all.

When Rimmer said the Om song was “so catchy!” I thought he was being sincere, and it really confused me. Surely Rimmer would hate any dumb song written by Lister? I figured it was the religious power of the word Om, affecting Rimmer’s judgement. I would go around singing Om to myself, just to see if it had any hypnotic powers.

I had no idea what “don’t go and see run for your wife” was supposed to mean. But then, no one else had heard of that film either.

Topic

[Flap Jack]

I didn’t understand the Confidence & Paranoia joke about Murder on the Orient Express. I assumed Holly was just bad at working out the culprits in mystery novels.

I had no idea what “don’t go and see run for your wife” was supposed to mean. But then, no one else had heard of that film either.

You may still, because the joke was about the play!

[Rushy]

Not really my childhood, but I hadn’t seen Columbo when I started Red Dwarf, so when Rimmer mentioned “the man with the dirty mac who discovered America”, I thought it was some obscure joke about Christopher Columbus eating messy macaroni and cheese. 

[Unrumble]

These won’t all be from childhood, but there will doubtless be plenty that are: https://www.ganymede.tv/forums/topic/jokes-you-dont-didnt-get/

[loadoftottnumb]

I think Rimmer was being sincere? The gag being that present Rimmer and past Lister got on great. 

[Flap Jack]

They may have “got on great” because Young Lister didn’t realise he was being made fun of, but Rimmer was absolutely being sarcastic.

[Warbodog]

Rimmer’s trying to foil Lister’s plan, just in quite an uncharacteristically laid-back way.

[Dave]

Yeah, it took me a while to understand that too. But I think “keep writing those hits, kid” makes it fairly explicit that that’s the intention. 

[Podey]

I thought the joke was that the glove went over his entire cock and balls for an unknown-to-me purpose. 

Now obviously I get that it’s supposed to fit the hand with the only finger you’re going to use extended… a concept that was foreign to me aged 16 but which I know all too well at 42.

[Nick R]

When I first read the Rimmer-in-disguise sequence at the start of Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers, I’d never heard the word “brothel”. So I read that whole section assuming the word was pronounced to rhyme with “brother”, with the first vowel more of a “u” sound. 

[Moonlight]

First seeing it as an 11 year old American girl, I was never confused by anything on Red Dwarf. No reference passed me by. Except offside. I know it’s a soccer thing and I literally work a second job at a soccer field during games, but I still don’t know what it means.

Nobody tell me.

[Asclepius]

I think Rimmer was being sincere? The gag being that present Rimmer and past Lister got on great. 

Oops. I always thought this, too. Other posters seem to have corrected me/us…

[Warbodog]

I don’t really get why he’s still singing the “song” even when out of earshot of young Lister, so I get the confusion.

[Ben Saunders]

He has notoriously shit taste in music, so it doesn’t stretch the imagination at all that he genuinely enjoys it. It’s a baffling performance, really, either way. He could either be genuinely really eager or pretending to be, extremely poorly. Is it Chris or Rimmer who is being unconvincing?

[gerrydelasel]

I don’t really get why he’s still singing the “song” even when out of earshot of young Lister

He winks at adult Lister as he start singing it; he’s mocking him, and Lister glares at him.

[Unrumble]

I’ve never thought it was anything other than Rimmer trying to thwart adult Lister’s plan, by convincing the young him that he’s a great musician and should persevere with that, rather than taking the Tension Sheet suggestion.

Maybe he does it in an ‘uncharacteristic’ way, but he’s trying to fool a young man who doesn’t know him, so is trying to affect an affability that he doesn’t really have, which seems to work (“what a nice guy”), but potentially is also trying to not make it too obvious to adult Lister that’s what he’s doing.

[International Debris]

I always thought it was genuine, and even though most people here have made the counter-argument very convincingly over the years, I still can’t dislodge that idea from my head. I, too, really love the humour in Rimmer and young Lister getting on really well. I mean, I know that’s still there on Lister’s side, but my brain still reads Chris’s performance that way too.

[Podey]

My reading of it has always been: Lister wants his younger self to do a thing (that will lead to Rimmer being jealous) that his younger self won’t do, therefore Rimmer is “cheerleading” the younger Lister both to annoy adult Lister and to encourage his younger self to continue on the path that adult Lister is trying to divert him from. I never thought he genuinely liked him, nor that he actually liked the Om song, that was all just him twisting the knife in to adult Lister.

[Frank Smeghammer]

I don’t think I get this one to this very day 

[Unrumble]

I don’t think I get this one to this very day 

It was sort of discussed here: https://www.ganymede.tv/forums/topic/what-are-shirt-tails-for/

A couple of people seemed to agree that they’d be useful for wiping his arse on, though you’d then have a shitty shirt hanging off you…

[gerrydelasel]

Until at least the 19th century, shirts were long, with the lower part serving the same function as underpants today (gathered between the legs, keeping your arse out of direct contact with your breeches). My guess is that moderns shirt tails are still descended from that older style, so there is a kind of folk memory of them, i.e. if you shit your pants, you use your shirt tails as emergency underwear. It is a pretty obscure joke, I agree. 

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

That directly supposed that pants only exist in case you shit yourselt

Also, Rimmer is definitely not sincere with young Lister. He is just trying to convince him not to go the tension sheet route 

[Flap Jack]

To be honest, although I obviously agree Rimmer wasn’t being sincere about liking Lister’s music, I never saw it as an actual counter-scheme. It’s the silly, relaxed way he delivers his praise, it just comes across as Rimmer enjoying fucking with both Listers. If Rimmer were truly trying to convince Young Lister to stick with music, he would have been more direct and serious I think.

Plus it wouldn’t even make sense as an attempt to thwart Lister. In the prime timeline Lister does give up on the band, and in the alternate timeline Lister’s tension sheet success is what allows him to continue funding his own music career – so Rimmer would be pushing for the exact opposite of what he wants. If Rimmer was actually trying to ruin Present Lister’s plan, he should have been telling Young Lister that both his music and red packing paper suck shit, and the real road to fulfilment is to become a low ranking technician in the Space Corps.

[loadoftottnumb]

Right, I’ve just rewatched and I still think Rimmer likes the song, hence walking into Red Dwarf still ‘singing’ it. I accept he may at the same time be trying to thwart present Listers plan. 

I also noticed for the first time, present Lister says ‘I’ll see you lot later’ then returns a full 15 seconds ‘later’ with past Lister who seems to know exactly who present Lister is already. Maybe there was some cut dialogue between the other 3. 

[FutureEchoes]

No anecdotes from me, but my sister told me she originally thought that Pete Tranter was some sort of niche celebrity from around the time of Red Dwarf VI, probably a footballer, who was known for having a hot sister. Simply because of how many other times they’ve named dropped of-the-time famous blokes and it went past her head.

[Warbodog]

I always assumed the Kevin Keegan book was real until very recently when googling it and only getting Red Dwarf results.

I’m still trying to track down Gary Lineker’s Book of Ghost Stories from Father Ted.

[Moonlight]

Subsequent references to the song seem to favor the idea that he hates it.

[Technopeasant]

But how does that Rimmer even know of it? Rimmer clearly first heard it after he died.

[Warbodog]

But how does that Rimmer even know of it? Rimmer clearly first heard it after he died.

He caught up on their capers during Back in the Red (mentioning Future Echoes, etc.). Not sure how, exactly. Maybe Holly told him, like when he asked about the viruses, or he read some logs (but who would write those?) Then again, the Om song might not have been mentioned and he wouldn’t have actually heard it, so disregard that.

So I guess it’s because he’s been trapped with Lister for a while and he’s been “singing” it.

[Ian Symes]

I always assumed the Kevin Keegan book was real until very recently when googling it and only getting Red Dwarf results.

But confusingly, I did have this book when I was a kid:

[gerrydelasel]

But how does that Rimmer even know of it? Rimmer clearly first heard it after he died.

[Technopeasant]

And of course between Timeslides and Krytie TV Lister goes back to liking the song again.

[Moonlight]

Once again mired in the unspeakable abyss of trying to make sense of the show’s continuity, another G&T thread descends into a madness only true Dwarfers know.

BUT HOW DOES HE HAVE TWO APPENDIXES

[Rushy]

And of course between Timeslides and Krytie TV Lister goes back to liking the song again.

He always liked the song. He was just embarrassed in front of his mates. 

[Rudolph]

But how does that Rimmer even know of it? Rimmer clearly first heard it after he died.

[Author]

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