439: Thinking Ahead

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Thinking Ahead

Title text: Did he just go crazy and jump out the window?

Explanation

Cueball spots a woman while shopping. He thinks she looks cute - probably because she looks a lot like his girl friend Megan. She is picking out produce, and quotes a line of dialogue from Firefly originally said by River Tam (Summer Glau): "My food is problematic." Cueball (Randall) who is a big fan of Firefly, notices this, and wants to flirt with her. But then Cueball's internal monologue kicks in and he starts panicking, wondering how he'd deal with starting a relationship with this woman when he's moving in the fall, as well as how things are going to work out with Megan, should things work out with this girl. He panics, needs a way out and jumps out the window.

The title text refers to yet another Firefly line, this one said by Wash (Alan Tudyk): "Did he just go crazy and fall asleep?"

Transcript

[My Problem: Thinking Ahead.]

Cueball: She's cute.

Woman: This food is problematic.

Cueball: Oh man, she's quoting Firefly.

Cueball: It's the perfect opening. But wait. I'm moving in the fall. If we hit it off, how will I deal with that?

Cueball: I don't want to ask her to derail her plans. And with things unresolved with Megan, can I really commit enough to make that kind of decision?

Cueball: Oh God.

Cueball: Gotta get out.

Cueball: The window.

[Cueball jumping through a window]

CRASH

Trivia

• Randall did mention the name Megan at his original transcript.

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Discussion

I don't think the girl pictured is Megan, it seems to me that it's another girl and he is conflicted about talking to her because of unresolved feelings with Megan, which may come back to bite him if he doesn't explore them fully before becoming committed to another. Due to the beginning of the description it seems like this is just a silly mistake. 50.198.145.13 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

It's fixed, and look at the trivia.--Dgbrt (talk) 21:24, 26 August 2013 (UTC)

Where is this original transcript that I have seen people mention several times?Kynde (talk) 05:40, 12 June 2014 (UTC)

I believe it might be xkcd volume 0? --flewk (talk) 17:47, 28 December 2015 (UTC)

On to the actual problem mentioned in the article (i.e. Thinking Ahead), it's a common issue with intelligent guys who spend a lot of time thinking to start imagining all the ways a relationship could go wrong before it even starts. ("Why Very Intelligent Men Fail With Women, Reason #4: They psych themselves out") Donny2112 (talk) 02:08, 3 July 2016 (UTC)

sorry, non-native speaker here. Free to mock me, but I had a hard time understanding “I’m moving in the fall”. I thought it was some obscure idiom about rushing things and falling in love. Then I got that it probably just means “Next autumn I will move to another town”… right ? Thanks in advance --162.158.91.164 15:03, 30 December 2021 (UTC)

As a native British speaker of English, it's one of the many words/phrases that I've had to gradually learn. (The ubiquitousness of Hollywood movies and US import TV shows quickly get one used to much of the strangenesses, but even after forty-odd years I'm occasionally surprised by something.) "Separated by a common language" indeed (see table as a verb, items 4 and 5, for polar-opposite uses of such a simple word), and if you want to dive down a rabbithole there are plenty of places that go into examples.

So, no, I won't mock you. I'm sure your grasp of any given English dialect is far better than my understanding of whatever your native language is. (German? If it is, mein Deutsche ist nicht sehr gut. If not, I'm probably even worse.) 172.70.90.43 16:56, 30 December 2021 (UTC)

I notice the difference between US and British English here. In England, we would say 'jump out *of* the window', not 'jump out the window'. Just thought it was interesting. 172.70.162.185 16:39, 27 May 2024 (UTC)

Its not just the extra "of" that makes you guys British strange to Americans, its also the fact you guys spell color with a extra u and neighbor also with a extra u and center you guys spell with the e and r switched and u guys say z as zed.172.69.214.5 13:50, 20 August 2024 (UTC)

Don't forget "-ise" instead of "-ize" (yes, "-ize"s are considered variations in UK English, but... they frankly look odd to me and the way I was taught to spell such words, so I'll personally "-ise" the words wherever this is an option), that we say numbers like "two hundred and twenty four", I would ask you to "write to me" ("write me a letter" would be ok, but to "write me" would imply I want you to actually author my existence in some way... e.g. I think you've done a bad job at telling people my story, and I want you to "write me better" in the next draft) and there's the whole controversy of "aluminium" (which really does make more sense, regardless of the origins of both variations) and I'd still use "sulphur". And I really can't get over "short scale" billions, etc, which always seems rather wasteful of word-numbers (although you'd have to be a 'short' trillionaire to be able to claim you are a 'long' billionaire, so probably the current 'short' billionaires are happy to have a more reachable label).

With regard to "colour/neighbour", dialect and accent does vary a lot across here (and spelling/inflection is already weird with the "col-" sounding "cul-" and the tetragraph "-eigh-" being a typical angloglyphic weird way to depict the sound), but I would read the "-or" ending pretty much as "or", rather than the "-our" which tends more (but not entirely) towards the french "-eur". 162.158.33.237 14:16, 20 August 2024 (UTC)

Loads of word differences, some of which are more significant than others in their alternations. 172.70.160.248 16:43, 20 August 2024 (UTC)