Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Noun Phrase 354. The noun phrase today is Captain Obvious.
Okay. If somebody wants a screenshot, do it right now. Let's get right to it. The term is often used
in a humorous sarcastic way. When someone gave a very obvious statement. It is often preceded by
thank you. So very often we'll say well thank you Captain Obvious. You know, that's the way somebody
might respond with it. Although it does have a little bit of a derogatory feeling to it. So you
may want to be careful who you use it with. Okay. So you know, it's like you're putting the person
down. So you don't want to use this like ... I don't know with a teacher, with a policeman,
with a judge with somebody official like that. You know where it's a very official situation
you're not joking around . I wouldn't use it with your parents. It would be probably disrespectful.
Be careful with a boyfriend or girlfriend. Maybe you could get away with a little bit with it , if
you're teasing each other now. You can use it with friends. Teasing you know, if you're just joking
with each other or teasing each other. And you know online or something like that with somebody
that can kind of take a joke. You can use it in that sort of situation. All right. Let's continue.
All right. So it is basically telling the person that the statement one just made was so obvious
to everyone, it was not needed to be spoken. Okay. Let's continue. Nowadays , it is often
used as an internet meme so you hear it a lot on the Internet. You may also hear the phrases. Now
this one is No" and of course it has the word that means the same as poo poo. It begins with" s"
and ends with" t." So no, and then that word and then Sherlock and master of obvious is used in the
same way. So you could use it the same way as you use Mr. ( Captain ) Obvious and Sherlock of course
refers to like Sherlock Holmes. Like you were a detective. So again it's being very sarcastic like
you stated something that's really obvious. Like oh yeah what are you Sherlock Holmes ? You know,
you stated something that everybody knows. So it's kind of also used as a joke. It's supposed to be
used in a humorous way. All right. Let's continue. There seems ... the term seems to have appeared
around the late 1980's or or 1990's. Well, this is the Captain Obvious one. Here are some notable
uses. A website called "TV Troops" created a humorous superhero like character called
Captain Obvious as a joke. So he looked a little bit more like superman, but they called him
Captain Obvious. You know, flying around with a cape and he would say very obvious things
as kind of a joke. And remember we often use captain with a lot of other sort of
superheroes like you know, Captain America, Captain Marvel and so on. So that's where
they kind of got the use the captain from. All right. Let's continue. It may have even been
more popularized by another character called Captain Obvious used as a mascot
in ads for a website called Hotels.com in which they helped users to find hotels. Now this wasn't
an animated one. They actually had a guy with a with a like a captain's hat on and I guess he
also made some very obvious statements. You know, and they they also again used it as a
joke. All right. Let's continue. And we got five examples of just the way you may hear it used.
Here's the first one now. This is an actual quote that's written in a book. A quote from
J.E. Blair's "Drummer Girl. " So this is girl talk series Vol 12. That's where it comes from. Here's
the quote. "But you're a girl" the guy said in surprise. This guy was getting on my nerves " And
she responded you know in a very sharp sarcastic way. "You are Captain Obvious I shot back.
I'm assuming maybe she was a drummer and he didn't expect her to be a drummer like you're a girl.
Girls aren't supposed to be drummers and then she was kind of annoyed by that. And she was saying
"Oh you're Captain Obvious. " So you know obviously she looks like a girl. So she didn't
really like that, but that's the way it might be used. All right. Let's read the second one here.
The animated cartoon "South Park. " You know, so it's an animated cartoon. It comes on at night.
I think on the you know, the the cable stations in the US. It's really... it's meant a little bit
more for adults. Also created a Captain Obvious (character) as a joke. They created a character
also who did the same thing. Who said things in a very obvious way. You know for people to laugh
at. All right. The third one. The line thank you, Captain Obvious was also used in the movie
"Dude Where's My Car" in the year 2000. So these are ones where you actually you know,
see it used in books and movies and things like that. All right. Number four. Now this is where
you might hear it in everyday speech. Did you know when you go traveling there are different
time zones ? Like if somebody said this. You know maybe they never really traveled much before and
maybe they they just realized this. And somebody might say Thank you. Captain Obvious for your
insightful information. Like you didn't know that ? Everybody knows that. Well you're not
telling us something new. So that's the way it is used. All right. Number five. A says you lost the
game because you dropped the ball. And B who's kind of annoyed says thank you Captain Obvious.
It's not like I don't know that. This is just the way it is used, . Okay. Anyway, I hope you
got it. I hope it was clear. I hope was very informative . Thank you for your time. Bye-bye.