What's a Kettle?
 

Somehow this term has evolved some time in my 10+ years at FT. But I've never encountered that term until the past 2 months.

Please help.

Kettle is short for "Ma and Pa Kettle," i.e. a naive and uninformed casual traveler, as in, "I heard a Kettle with an economy ticket tell an FA, 'But I thought we could just sit anywhere. Aren't all the seats the same?'"

Related term: Gomer, short for "Gomer Pyle," meaning a louder and stupider Kettle, as in, "This Gomer boarded and said, 'Well, Golly, I wish I had a seat by the window because I like to keep it rolled down to get me some of that fresh air.'"

More than anybody would want to know about the Kettles

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma_and_Pa_Kettle

Are they related to Sheeple?

Also, Kettles are often portrayed as timorously and uncritically accepting any new air travel security procedure.

And with that definition the Sheeples ARE related to the Kettles.

I've been Platinum on Delta for 3 years and Gold for about another three and I still don't know what people are talking about half the time on this board. Thanks for cluing me in.

So many acronyms too, I don't know what half of them are either.

Are you a snob if you call someone a Kettle and am I one?

As Jeff Foxworthy might put it, "You might be a Kettle, if you're not sure if you are one or not." :D

I doubt that Ma Kettle would have. She was one feisty woman in her day. :)

The appropriation of Kettles as a descriptor is a stroke of genius though. ^ A lot of their movies (No, I haven't sat through any of them ;)) are based on travel, and the Kettles were the Beverly Hillbillies of their time.

Finally a thread that explains important terms in crisp concise sentences.

Thank you PTravel!!

It really should be in the glossary, shouldn't it? @:-)

kettles r us lately....bw will end up the yr w/4 trips, me w/6....not like the good old days when we did 4-5 intl trips/yr, wouldn't buy unless we were ug'ed....now, just hope i can make it to the gate....good luck to all...

What's a kettle?

If you have to ask, you may be one.

It seems like anytime I talk to a FF under 35 they have no idea of the originality of the Kettle theme (in other words, they have never heard of the series I guess back from the 1930s.)

My favorite are the ones that get on the plane and see the F seats and get excited (usually because those seats will house their 350 pound body much easier) only to realize that after that partion the seats become much different.

Thanks - so it's not just an FT term them. :)

Pa Kettle always stole the show. :D :D

I grew up in rural Oklahoma in the 50's. To me, the Ma and Pa Kettle movies were travel documentaries...

Hilarious! ^ :D

While not from Oklahoma, I do have childhood memories of cross-country trips in the family's 1950 Buick that were somewhat Kettle-like. Great memories, come to think of it. :)

If you have to ask what a kettle is... you probably are one ;)

Yes, in the mind of those we like to call "Frequent Flyer Divas," or "Aspiring DYKWIA" members. :)

I find it quite a derogatory and disdainful term personally.

Some of us have even usurped that.

That's the point...

Right, because all FFs age 35 and up are keenly aware of a US movie series from the '40s and '50s, right? Remember that 50 year olds were born after the last Kettle movie came out in 1957, and most immigrants (probably) have no clue who the Kettles are.

related term: gate lice
 

Also, let's not forget the "gate lice: Those who who linger in the area around the boarding gate causing massive congestion about five minutes before scheduled boarding."

But people (yes, mostly non-immigrants) in the 35+ish age range are more likely to have heard about the movies from their parents. Just like I understand references to Wally and the Beav or Barney Fife despite those shows being produced long before I was born. You don't have to be present at the first-run premiere of a cultural phenomenon to feel its influence.

Indeed. It is a petty and mean spirited comment that says much about the person making the comment and little about the object of the comment.

No, even though the series was from the 1940s and 1950s the series was played on tv throughout the 1960s and 1970s, mainly on weekend television that was aimed towards children. So if you were born 1975 or after likely you would have not seen the series on tv and therefore would not understand the concept of a Kettle.

If any of us geezers introduce the expression, the overheads were stuffed like Fibber McGee's closet, this thread is a reminder to explain the reference to the younger folks. ;)

A Theadore Cleaver just does not sound the same
 

Then perhaps you can help solve one of the greatest mysteries of old TV time. How did the producers get this one by the strict 1950's network censors: a character named Beaver Cleaver? :confused:

OMG, what a great term for describing a lady TSO performing an aggressive "patdown". "That last sheeple got a real Beaver Cleaver frisk." :D

The sexual reference was not widely known then, if it existed at all. The language changes. You will also find lots of references in 50s and early 60s sitcoms to characters being "gay," meaning, "happy." The term didn't acquire its contemporary meaning until later.

Us old folks would have no idea what you meant.

....performed by Barney Fife!

http://www.tvcrazy.net/images/andy/w...arney_fife.jpg

And Pussy Galore was meant to conjure images of cats ;)

Here they are!


http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c2...7/7b44ea6e.jpg

And some celebrity of the day discussing her on TV was required to refer to her only as "Miss Galore." I can't remember who it was - Alastair Cook comes to mind - but I remember the discussion about it.

In Olden Days... ;)

Heck their seating and meal service look better than I have most of the time!:D

They're better dressed than I am too. ;)

Am I the only person who read this and thought "its the device in your hotel room that you use to heat water for your coffee"?

Tea in my case, but, no, you're not the only one. What a bunch of snobs.

Hey, I want to be a Kettle! They get actual food when they fly!!!

I have the same thing when reading this.. But then again, all dictionary words do have double meanings attached to it.. :p