Groups of Friends

Does anyone know of any episodes (other than the ones mentioned below) where the Friends were in two obvious groups? And if so, what were the groups? Cos I've noticed that they're sort of split into two halves - firstly, intelligence (this isn't necessarily true, just what the normal view of them is before you get to know the characters a little better) Phoebe, Rachel and Joey are the not--so-intelligent ones, and Monica, Chandler and Ross are the intelligent ones. Secondly, in TOW Five Steaks and An Eggplant, they split into the same two groups (except this time it's with money/without money) Thirdly, in TOW The Kips, the group thinks about splitting into two groups (well, Phoebe, Rachel and Joey do, at any rate).

Anyone know of any other episodes where this sort of thing happens?

I wouldn't say Rachel wasn't intelligent. Maybe in the beginning she lacked some real world skills, but she's come along way now. She's as smart as Chandler & Monica. Ross would be the smartest of the 6, however both Chandler & Ross lack the street smarts that J&P have.

====== es*o*ter*ic b : of or relating to knowledge that is restricted to a small group

2 a : limited to a small circle

*nods* Like I said, that isn't what the characters are like once you understand them a bit better, just the groups they naturally fall into from first impressions.

I don't know, I think Chandler has some street smart. If only just enough for a wimp

Hellooooo!!! After getting drunk in Vegas, EsotericGrrrl doodled cat whiskers on his/her face and miaowed this little lot at a statue...

Maybe a better phrase would be to say that Rachel, Phoebe and Joey aren't as academic as Ross, Chandler and Monica?

Thank you, I knew there was a better way of putting it!

On Sat, 11 Nov 2000 20:14:26 +0000, Emma J Stoneman wrote:

I don't see Monica as being "academic". In fact, as she comments to Julio (the waiter, not the cat), she revels in not being academic. And didn't she go to cooking school, and not to university?

I actually find it disturbing that in fact most of our group of Friends are rather anti-intellectual, as if the writers don't think the majority of viewers can sympathise with people who know things, or are interested in things.

Why do they assume that Rachel thinks of the past only as "yesteryear" and "yore"? That everyone falls asleep as soon as Ross starts to talk about fossils (okay, he's also not a very interesting speaker, but still ...). That no-one wants to go to the Museum. (There's another late S6 example for Monica which I can't think of right now.)

Phoebe's the most progressive in this. She's the most open to new ideas, and she's the only one in adult education classes trying to better herself.

In article , CleV wrote:

Yeah ... you can tell from the way she speaks that she comes from an upper-class white family where intelligence is valued, but she's also come out with some staggeringly ignorant comments from time to time.

That's actually common on American television. FRASIER is a rare counterexample. And at its best THE SIMPSONS.

As with many people, Ross is the member of the cast I am least fond of (though Rachel is starting to overtake), though he's also the one I'd probably enjoy a chat with most in many ways.

It will never happen, but I'd love to see her becoming a budding academic and showing respect for Ross.

In article , Emma J Stoneman wrote:

Yep. Phoebe missed high school.

Joey & Rachel had fun in high school.

Ross & Monica were swots at high school.

Chandler was pushed at an all-boys private school.

For my money, Phoebe is the smartest, Ross the best educated.

But Phoebe is studying at night school...

*****************************************************************

After saying all that, this isn't what Emma wants to discuss. She wants to know about episodes that split Ross+Monica+Chandler from Joey+Phoebe+Rachel. The best I can think of so far is 514 "TOW Everyone Finds Out" which left Ross out. I'm sure there are more.

Tennant

On Sun, 12 Nov 2000 02:34:24 GMT, Tennant Stuart wrote:

Re: my own post, above, do we actually know that Monica was a swot in school? Surely all we have is the circumstantial evidence that she was always competitive. The only other comment that comes remotely close to what she used to do with her time came from her father [paraphrasing] "... and you had no friends and you used to read alone in your room ... and you had your puzzles ..."

OTOH I'm sure that somewhere it's said that she went to a cooking school, not university, and she has never evinced any knowledge (or even interest) about any academic subject that I can think of. Apart from the Korean War (TOW Joey and the encyclopaedia).

In article ,

that Monica was a swot in

circumstantial evidence that she

that comes remotely

from her father

you used to read alone

went to a cooking

evinced any knowledge (or

I can think of. Apart

encyclopaedia).

In TOW Ross's Sandwich, when Rachel found out that Phoebe wanted to attend her literature class with somebody who actually wanted to learn (as opposed to just have fun), Rachel suggested that she ask Monica to join the class.

In the class, Monica was more than keen to answer all the questions (including her own) and talked the teacher into giving the class a test (she even tried to talk him into giving them essay questions).

So, Rachel seems to think that Monica is academically inclined and Monica certainly seemed to enjoy the class.

On Sun, 12 Nov 2000 18:41:52 GMT, [email] wrote:

Yes, you're right. Still, if I can grasp at straws, being competitively inclined, is not the same as being intellectual.

In article , [email] (CleV) wrote:

What about the way she carried on in 509 "TOW Ross's Sandwich"?

MONICA: Alright everybody! Everybody guess what? I just convinced the
        teacher to give us a test next week! Come on! Tests make us all
        better learners! Oh yeah! We should have essay questions!!

She mentioned cooking school in 409 "TOW They're Gonna Party!".

Tennant

On Sun, 12 Nov 2000 23:01:55 GMT, Tennant Stuart wrote:

You're right. But if I may grasp at straws (as I said to someone else above), all this shows is that she's still competitive. Not that she's an intellectual. Well maybe the "better learners" bit does. Oh, I dont know ...

In article , [email] (CleV) wrote:

Ahh, thanks for coming round. :)

You are right that Monica is not an intellectual, but I said that she was a swot at high school. In 509 she's very swottish.

Tennant

What does swot mean? I have some guesses, but I just wanted to clarify. :)

====== es*o*ter*ic b : of or relating to knowledge that is restricted to a small group

2 a : limited to a small circle

I wondered this myself, and went off in search of some slang sites. On http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/ I found:

swot Noun. A person who studies hard. {Informal} Verb. To study hard. {Informal}

Nancy

On Mon, 13 Nov 2000 14:25:48 -0500, "Nancy Maura" wrote:

And while we're on the subject of slang, what does skidmark (sp?) mean?

In article , [email] (Marita) wrote:

It's the rubber abraded from a tyre onto the road when a vehicle brakes hard, but that's probably not the context you're thinking of.

It's also come to mean a fecal mark left inside a pair of underpants.

Tennant

In article ,

brakes

OK. Lol! :)

A comment in one of the new episodes made so much more sense to me now...

You'll have to excuse the fact that I didn't know the word, but when you don't live in an English-speaking country, you don't learn all the slang-expressions you guys have. :)

(OTOH, I don't think the word "drittsekk" would be the first word you would learn if you started learning Norwegian either... :) )

~Marita

--------------------------
"Betre b�r du ber kje i bakken enn mannevit mykje"
-H�vam�l

In article , [email] wrote:

Oh, of course - your English is wonderful, Marita. Adeline's too.

Tennant

Tennant Stuart wrote...

<delurking> Thankyou. =) <re-lurking>

In article , "Adeline" wrote:

De rien.

Tennant

On Thu, 16 Nov 2000 00:29:36 GMT, Tennant Stuart wrote:

Thanks. :)

In article , [email] (Marita) wrote:

What's the Norwegian for "You're welcome" ?

Tennant

On Fri, 17 Nov 2000 14:33:06 GMT, Tennant Stuart wrote:

Oh, that's going to be tricky to type on your English computer.... It's "v�r s� god" :)

(If you translate it directly from Norwegian to English, it means "be so good".)

Marita wrote in message ...

Ariel.....it's easier than you think. V�r s� god

Character Map....finally a Windows program that's useful. :-)

=+= Marcel =+=

Joey- "There already IS a Joseph Stalin!" Chandler- " You're kidding!!"

In article , "Zoepetier" wrote:

That's long-winded compared with typing ��������� or �������� directly.

Tennant

Tennant Stuart wrote in message ...

ALT 0229 = � and ALT 0230 = �. Your way doesn't work on my board. I don't know why.

=+= Marcel =+=

Joey- "There already IS a Joseph Stalin!" Chandler- " You're kidding!!"

In article , "Zoepetier" wrote:

I'm not running Windoze. ALT-229 and AL-230 work on mine since this action produces any ASCII character, but ALT-a is a much easier way to type ����� and of course ATL-A is �����. The really clever thing is, can you type "a�e" and then switch the case to get "A�E" ? :)

Tennant

Tennant Stuart wrote in message ...

I guess everything you're used to seems easier. We all have our favorite ways of doing things.

=+= Marcel =+=

Joey- "There already IS a Joseph Stalin!" Chandler- " You're kidding!!"

In article , "Zoepetier" wrote:

I always find that tapping keys on the keyboard is the easiest way to type.

Tennant

Tennant Stuart wrote in message ...

I hardly ever use the mouse.

=+= Marcel =+=

Joey- "There already IS a Joseph Stalin!" Chandler- " You're kidding!!"

On Sat, 18 Nov 2000 03:49:07 +0100, "Zoepetier" wrote:

Oh, I didn't know that! :)

I'll have to remember both that and Tennant's version for the next time I'll use an international computer without all our weird letters on the right on the keyboard.

Thanks again! (Or should I say "takk"? ;) )

Marita wrote in message ... Zoepetier wrote:

Well at least you have your own letters. I think it's pretty cool.

Eh?

=+= Marcel =+=

Joey- "There already IS a Joseph Stalin!" Chandler- " You're kidding!!"

On Sat, 18 Nov 2000 20:35:23 +0100, "Zoepetier" wrote:

The Norwegian word for "thank you". :)

Marita wrote in message ...

Ooooooh.....I should have seen that coming. What's the matter with me? In that case: V�r s� god!

Oh, by the way: Hvordan st�r det til? :-)

I'm cornering myself with that, but what the heck??

=+= Marcel =+=

Joey- "There already IS a Joseph Stalin!" Chandler- " You're kidding!!"

On Mon, 20 Nov 2000 02:33:39 +0100, "Zoepetier" wrote:

Great! I'm impressed!

"Jeg har det bare bra." (I'm fine.) ;)

In article , [email] (Marita) wrote:

A quick question for all English-speaking males reading that sentence...

Which two words leapt out at you? ;)

Tennant

On Mon, 20 Nov 2000 18:42:55 GMT, Tennant Stuart wrote:

Hehe. I knew those two last words would sound really weird for all the Brits and Americans out there (so I laughed a bit while I wrote it), but, hey, I didn't make them up! ;)

Some other words that have meanings in both languages: love - means to "promise" in Norwegian gutter - means "boys" in Norwegian... lol! ;)

In article , [email] (Marita) wrote:

I thought perhaps you might. :)

That's like you have to be very careful with the German word "lust".

Hah!! Another good one is "Noch ein Bier, bitte." ;)

Tennant

Tennant Stuart wrote in message ... Marita wrote:

Hey! Good one! :-) Some Dutch people like playing around with German words. Instead of saying "Ich habe keine anung" (I have no idea), we sometimes say, especially at work, "Ich habe keine anus". :-)

I know what that means in German, but why is it funny?

=+= Marcel =+=

Joey- "There already IS a Joseph Stalin!" Chandler- " You're kidding!!"

bear, bitter

of course it would have made sense if I had spelt Beer right... :)

In article , [email] (Toni Perry If only) wrote:

Depends on if you've ever been chased by a bitter bear... ;)

Tennant

Tennant Stuart wrote in message ... Toni Perry wrote:

Bitter? No. Extremely pissed? Oh yeah! Apparently bears don't like it when you wake them up during hibernation by throwing a firecracker in their cave. :-)

=+= Marcel =+=

Joey- "There already IS a Joseph Stalin!" Chandler- " You're kidding!!"

Toni Perry If only wrote in message ... Zoepetier wrote: Tennant Stuart wrote:

:-)))))

=+= Marcel =+=

Joey- "There already IS a Joseph Stalin!" Chandler- " You're kidding!!"

In article , "Zoepetier" wrote:

Yeah, but for everyone else, it means "Another beer, please."

The two main types of English beer are mild and bitter.

Tennant

Tennant Stuart wrote in message ...

I've used it a couple of times myself. :-)

The last time I was on your island, I had a choice of lager, halflager and draft Guiness. Maybe the choices differ from town to town.

But I get it now. Your explanation is well appreciated.

=+= Marcel =+=

Joey- "There already IS a Joseph Stalin!" Chandler- " You're kidding!!"

Tennant Stuart wrote in message ...

I didn't even see them untill you made me look. Cool! :-)

=+= Marcel =+=

Joey- "There already IS a Joseph Stalin!" Chandler- " You're kidding!!"

Marita wrote in message ... Zoepetier wrote:

Thanks, but don't be. That's why online dictionaries were invented. :-)

That's good to here (that's right...that's where my Norwegian stops <g>)

=+= Marcel =+=

Joey- "There already IS a Joseph Stalin!" Chandler- " You're kidding!!"

In article , [email] (Marita) wrote:

Not at all. "�" is 'ALT-a', and "�" is 'ALT-.' followed by an 'a'.

I'll try to remember it as "very so good".

Thanks.

Tennant

<~~~after rolling on the floor with Laughter, Toni got up and wrote this. A skid mark, would, er be, the errrr.... well the stain of shit on your pants... I think I explained that well enough... <~~~crawls back into her hole

It wasn't what I originally wanted to discuss, but it's interesting anyway :)

In article , Emma J Stoneman wrote:

Isn't it? This is what you wrote...

• Does anyone know of any episodes (other than the ones mentioned below)
• where the Friends were in two obvious groups? And if so, what were the
• groups? Cos I've noticed that they're sort of split into two halves -
• firstly, intelligence (this isn't necessarily true, just what the normal
• view of them is before you get to know the characters a little better)
• Phoebe, Rachel and Joey are the not--so-intelligent ones, and Monica,
• Chandler and Ross are the intelligent ones.

• Secondly, in TOW Five Steaks and An Eggplant, they split into the same
• two groups (except this time it's with money/without money)

• Thirdly, in TOW The Kips, the group thinks about splitting into two
• groups (well, Phoebe, Rachel and Joey do, at any rate).

• Anyone know of any other episodes where this sort of thing happens?

Tennant

I think you misunderstood me, I was agreeing with what you wrote.

In article , Emma J Stoneman wrote:

Oh! Good-oh, then I'm pleased that it was just me then. :)

In 221 "TOW the Bullies", Phoebe took Joey & Rachel with her to Frank's house, leaving Ross & Chandler to face the bullies while Monica played the stock market.

In 607 "TOW Phoebe Runs", Chandler & Ross tidied Monica's apartment, leaving Phoebe & Rachel to go jogging while Joey got to know Janine.

In 609 "TOW Ross Got High", Chandler & Monica confronted Ross's parents with his drug-taking, leaving Joey to eat Rachel's trifle while Phoebe had erotic dreams.

And there were similar divisions in 624 & 704, which you have not seen.

Tennant

On Sat, 11 Nov 2000, EsotericGrrrl stated this considered view. Waking from my doze, I hastily scrawled -

What she mostly lacked at the start was self-confidence.

The obvious guy vs gal group (especially the one with the ball game).

In article , Emma J Stoneman wrote:

"Twin Ion Engine" skrev i meddelandet news:8uj33e$4ce$[email]...

And TOW All The Poker

On Sat, 11 Nov 2000 09:21:46 GMT, [email] (Twin Ion Engine) wrote:

Monica, Rachel, Ross and Chandler have history and appear together in flashbacks. Phoebe and Joey don't and can't.

Good point - didn't think of that one :)

Unless they're flashbacks within the past 7 or 8 years (hey, when you put it like that, it's a really long time they've been living near each other... maybe that's just me being weird)

Yes, I know two different people wrote those comments, but that'd mean two different replies :)

On Sat, 11 Nov 2000 09:08:59 +0000, Emma J Stoneman wrote:

Another guys vs girls episode would be 422 TOW The Worst Best Man Ever.

The way all of them make up in the end really shows how much they care about each other.