Stevenukd  +  334610 Thu, 01 Mar 07 04:32 PM Dear Teachers, 1. If Beethoven and Bach hooked up with Mozart and made a band. They could be a distant runner up to the D. - What does " the D" mean here? Thanks very much to Teachers,  Stevenukd. Stevenukd Joined on Wed, Aug 31 2005 Vietnam Regular Member 946

	nona the brit  +  334625 Thu, 01 Mar 07 05:14 PM Absolutely no idea. What is the context? nona the brit Joined on Wed, Sep 22 2004 England Veteran Member 11,713 The name says it all.

	Zeppe  +  334649 Thu, 01 Mar 07 06:39 PM Googling the phrase it turns out that it's a quote from some "Jack Black", a member of a band called "Tenacious D". For me it's interesting the idiom "a distant runner to": it seems to mean "someone that follows from a long distance". I would have said something like "a long distance follower", but I don't seem to be right. Is "distant runner" the most common english idiom in this situation? Zeppe Joined on Tue, Feb 20 2007 London (but I'm Italian) New Member 50 Everything ends badly. Otherwise it wouldn't end. Idioms

	nona the brit  +  334653 Thu, 01 Mar 07 06:49 PM Ahh I see now, thanks for finding the context. a runner-up - a person/thing/organisation that comes second in a competition. A distant runner-up would be one who was a lot worse than the winner. Imagine a race - the person coming second does so half an hour after the winner. They are a distant runner-up. (see the winner crossing the line and who is that in the distance?) He is saying that even those famous composers, if they formed a band, would not be as good as Tenacious D nona the brit

	Lil' Ruby Rose  +  334678 Thu, 01 Mar 07 07:50 PM It's a bit weirdly punctuated, but it looks as if someone is trying to suggest that the band The D (of whom I have never heard) is so magnificent that they would be better than a band made up of classical musical geniuses. Lil' Ruby Rose Joined on Wed, Dec 20 2006 Regular Member 879 Enlightenment is always preceded by confusion. Whom

	CalifJim  +  334736 Fri, 02 Mar 07 12:14 AM Especially since Bach was quite dead at a ripe old age before Beethoven was even born.  CJ CalifJim Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004 California Veteran Member 22,449 "There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche

	Lil' Ruby Rose  +  334839 Fri, 02 Mar 07 10:00 AM ...and not one of the composers could even remotely be described as a team player.  Can you imagine the ego clash? Lil' Ruby Rose