lionhead

5th Jan 2024

Grease (1978)

Question: Was Principal McGee only bluffing when she announced that the "pictures" of the mooners were "on their way to Washington" to simply scare the three into admitting? Or was she serious about that and therefore wanted to give those responsible a chance to come in?

Answer: It's definitely a bluff. I highly doubt the FBI can identify people by butt.

lionhead

20th Nov 2020

Grease (1978)

Question: Any idea what the reference to "banging erasers" is all about? I always thought she said "banging your races" or "banging your braces" but never understood what it meant?

Answer: Banging erasers is what kids had to do as punishment. Erasers are used to clear the chalkboards, eventually they will get full of chalk and not work properly anymore so you bang them together to get the chalk out.

lionhead

True - but my first grade teacher made it a "reward" by giving the student who had the BEST behavior that day the "honor" of cleaning her erasers.

KeyZOid

Well it might be time period dependent. Or teacher dependent.

lionhead

Answer: It was a reference to detention. She suggests that he will be banging erasers after school.

13th Oct 2020

Grease (1978)

Question: Why didn't Sandy immediately telephone Danny when she found out she and her family were not going back to Australia, and that she would be attending his high school?

Answer: Perhaps Sandy didn't know the high school she would be going was the same as Danny's, so she didn't think to call him already, but wanted to do it later. It's all very vague about where it all come from. The point is she never thought she would see Danny again, just like Danny thought he would never see her again. With that in mind they might indeed not have exchanged phone numbers anyway so no way to contact each other.

lionhead

Answer: Maybe they didn't exchange phone numbers.

I don't think exchanging phone numbers would have been common practice in the 1950s. If anything, Danny would have her number.

KeyZOid

I grew up in the period this movie was set in and, considering Sandy and Danny were dating, they would definitely have exchanged phone numbers.

That's a lousy answer, considering how much Sandy and Danny supposedly meant to each other. Having grown up in the years the movie was set in, I know those teenagers would have been calling back and forth to each other when they weren't together at the beach.

Answer: Being a Ladies' Man, Danny probably told her the same thing. He was only vacationing for the summer and would be returning home to another city and state.

Not a good answer. It requires you to ignore too much of the rest of the plot of the movie regarding Danny's strong feelings for Sandy.

Answer: Again, he had his reputation as a Ladies Man, he didn't want the gang to know, he was wimping out and had fall in love. Remember the song, "Summer Lovin" He told of scoring with a hot babe, while Sandy sang of true love.

Answer: Considering all the answers given so far to this question aren't believable, let me provide one that is: Perhaps Sandy had already tired of Danny by the end of the summer, and wanted to move on with her life and find a guy who wasn't a wimpy greaseball.

Answer: More than likely, based on Sandy's demeanor and adherence to etiquette, she would not have exchanged her number with a boy. She even said to Rizzo at the lunch table that she went to the beach to see a boy she met so most likely she and Danny would have made plans in person to meet up like they did.

Answer: I had an exchange student LIVE in my parents house for a month when I was in high school in 1990. I liked her a lot. We were the same age. We got along. I did not have her phone number when she left. Why? Because there was no way my father was letting me call France "long distance" in 1990. In 1959, I'm going to say that calling long distance was probably not on their radar as a viable option. Not to mention - realistically, when you're 17, and you never think you're going to see each other again because you're separated by continent, what would be the point of exchanging numbers?

This was a nice story, but has nothing to with answering the question. Sandy didn't live with Danny, so they would have exchanged local numbers, or at least Danny would have given Sandy his number if she didn't know the number where she was staying so they could call each other during the summer. For your story to be slightly comparable, the exchange student would have had live somewhere else. In that scenario you certainly would have given her your number and she wouldn't give you her number in France but where she was staying.

Bishop73

15th Oct 2018

Grease (1978)

Question: What does Rizzo mean at the Frosty Palace when she asks Danny if someone is snaking him?

Answer: "Snaking" means someone stealing away a sale from you after you labored over it. Rizzo is referring to Tom stealing away Sandy from Danny.

lionhead

Answer: Actually, according to Cassell's Dictionary of Slang, snake means "to whip or punish, " originating from a teamsters whip which was commonly called a "snake" in the 1930's. I rewatched the scene with this definition in mind and it fits perfectly. Rizzo walks in and immediately notices Sandy sitting at a table with Tom. She walks straight over to where Danny is sitting with the rest of the gang and says, while glancing back over her shoulder at Sandy, "somebody snakin' ya Danny?" It seems clear Rizzo is referencing Sandy's behavior, which is designed to punish Danny for treating her poorly in front of his friends.

Answer: There's a number of definitions for the urban slang term, "snaking," but in this case, I think she is asking if someone is attempting to fool, deceive, or otherwise take advantage of him.

raywest

Answer: It's 50s slang and she's asking if Tom is moving in and stealing his girl.

11th Oct 2018

Grease (1978)

Question: At the diner, why was Rizzo mad at Kenickie? She seemed to be mad at him about something and I get the feeling that it wasn't because of how he ate his burger.

Answer: He was being a jerk and insensitive. But really she was worried she was pregnant and that made her have a short fuse.

lionhead

Answer: Kenickie said Rizzo had the personality of a wet mop. After Rizzo said "Don't start with me!", Kenickie put his arm around Frenchy and said "Eureka, how about I finish with you." which means that Kenickie was going to break up with Rizzo. Rizzo thought that Kenickie put his arm around Frenchy because he was going to dump her for Frenchy. He didn't, though.

Answer: No, earlier on there was a big argument between Kinickie and Rizzo that was cut from the movie and that's why they were upset with each other in that scene.

Is there a clip of it?

23rd Sep 2018

Grease (1978)

Question: Toward the beginning of the movie, when Sonny is being chastised by Miss McGee for dawdling in the hallway, he mutters something in Italian when she turns away. It's audible enough to cause her to turn back and suggest a session of "banging erasers." Does anyone know what he's muttering?

Michael Albert

Answer: Its not really Italian, but roughly he says something like "Fanabala Puttana" which means "You bitch whore." Again, not fully correctly spoken as the actor knows hardly any Italian.

lionhead

Answer: Sonny says "un altra brutta putana" which translates to another dirty slut.

Answer: Translates to "another stupid b****".

8th Jul 2018

Grease (1978)

Question: At the drive-in, Kenickie confronts Rizzo about being pregnant, but she tells him not to worry because "it was someone else's mistake." What does she mean?

Carmen Dawson

Answer: She says it to hurt him.

Absolutely, she said it, like she said a lot of things - out of malice. Kenickie is genuinely distressed, genuinely meant he would stick by her, even if the baby wasn't his.

Answer: The whole meaning behind it is that Rizzo really is pregnant with Kenickie's kid but Rizzo says it's someone else's: "someone else's problem," pretty much giving a chance for Kenickie to be off the hook as not being the father. But Kenickie obviously knows she is lying. And he's upset and says "thanks a lot kid" sarcastically.

Bbanda100

Answer: Rizzo doesn't actually mean someone else got her pregnant. She is just letting Kenickie "off the hook," probably because she figures he wouldn't want to take responsibility, anyway, and she was probably going to have to handle this on her own. Kenickie is hurt by this, however, as we can tell by his expression when he replies, "thanks a lot, kid."

Michael Albert

I always read it as an expression of relief when he says "Thanks a lot, kid".

lionhead

It was not meant as an expression of off the hook. It was meant as in, "that's really a messed up thing to say!" He was hurt by her saying that he was someone else's mistake.

She didn't say he was someone else's mistake. I already said that in a different correction. She says "it was someone else's mistake." Meaning the baby isn't his.

lionhead

Answer: Both Kenickie and Rizzo are upset and being sarcastic. The interpretations of his and her words are debatable, especially since there is no way of knowing if Rizzo did, in fact, sleep with someone else. However, there's no indication that Rizzo was with another boy/man, so it can be assumed Kenickie is the father and both know this is true. My interpretation was that Rizzo, by saying "it's someone else's mistake", was referring to herself - that she was stupid enough to even have sex with someone like Kenickie in the first place. (The second inferred meaning is that she will not hold him responsible because she knows he isn't interested in being a father/paying.) Kenickie's response, "thanks a lot, kid" was returning an insult - the "thanks a lot" part being sarcastic and "kid" meaning immature and not old enough to have even been given the chance or "be lucky enough" for him to (lower himself and) sleep with her, given all the other "better" girls - WOMEN - around from which to choose.

KeyZOid

Answer: I thought Rizzo said it because she was hurt that Kenickie referred to it as a mistake. So in turn she said don't worry about it...it was someone else's mistake.

Answer: She just means that someone else got her pregnant, and that the pregnancy itself was unintentional.

Cubs Fan

Answer: It's been a while, but I thought the quote was: Kenickie: I don't run away from my mistakes Rizzo: Don't worry, you're someone else's mistake. I would agree with others that she's essentially letting him off the hook in the storyline (everybody knows it's his), but this particular quote is basically just a joke implying HE was HIS parents' mistake...as a way to lighten the mood.

She didn't say "you're someone else's mistake." She says "it was somebody else's mistake."

lionhead

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