There are lots of reasons I love NBC’s sitcom Community. After last night, there’s one more. One of the subplots of the episode was Chevy Chase’s out-of-touch character Pierce trying to coin the term “streets ahead” as a synonym for “cool” (or perhaps “cooler than”). On its own, it was a pretty funny and bizarre thread. But the origin story makes it legendary.
First, the backstory: Hulu.com had a fan-voted “best of TV” bracket along the lines of March Madness that had fans vote for which TV shows they like more. Community pulled out some big early upsets, toppling the more popular Glee and Modern Family. The former win was especially unexpected considering the show has received some media attention for its “Gleek” hardcore fans, the type who might troll online polls.
Anyways, not long after these first and second round wins, Community creator and writer Dan Harmon made this tweet from his account, @danharmon:
- RT @amyfairycakes both Modern Family and Glee are streets ahead of your meta bullshit
- ~ this tweet’s theme song: http://bit.ly/c3XUSh
He then spent the rest of the day — and week and month — mocking “amyfairycakes” (and the Botti video) for using the term “streets ahead”.
- “Streets ahead! [trumpet] Get your lingo out of the bed! [tambourine] You don’t have to say miles, you can use the word streets instead!”
- “Streets ahead! [twang] Light years and leagues are dead! [trumpet] use a word that makes your measurements sweeter than cinnamon bread!”
- “They call me Streets, last name Ahead, and I’m the longest distance you ever said!” #StreetsAhead
The joke was elevated into absurdity (worthy of the creator of a show as absurd as Community) with this:
- An important message! http://bit.ly/9C1vaj #StreetsAhead
And he just w0uldn’t let it go:
- Office and P&R are TIED in that Hulu thing 50/50 right now. Hate to see them fight so I’m glad neither is losing. #WeAreStreetsAheadOfMF
- Also, I’m working 24/7 to get the phrase “Streets Ahead” into common parlance. The PSA if you missed it: http://bit.ly/bIJzVe
Fan Tim Stoltz suggested that Harmon bring “streets ahead” into the world of Community, but it seems Harmon was one step ahead of him.
- @tim_stoltz : @danharmon Your hatred of “Glee” has made its way into “Community;” how long till your new favorite phrase makes it?
- @danharmon : @tim_stotz I’m putting it in the current script, so it’ll be a few weeks. But I have to get the world understanding it by then!
He occasionally used the term out the next few weeks on his Twitter, but the real payoff came last night when the (quite excellent) episode finally aired. Phenomenal work, Harmon.
Moral of the story: If you want your stupid slang to be immortalized, make fun of a slightly vengeful, hilarious TV writer.
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EDIT: Claimed by amyfairycakes and a commenter, and verified by a friend who lives over there, “streets ahead” is a British/Irish term that’s relatively common over there. Fair enough. Harmon was evidently aware of this but continued unfazed with the mocking anyways.
- @amyfairycakes – @danharmon streets ahead is already in common parlance in ireland & UK, it’s not a wacky phrase I just conjured up.
- @danharmon – @amyfairycakes You’re telling me the only two words you put together that moved me aren’t yours? But aren’t you a writer? You said “meta.”
hahaha i love the back story for this!
not gonna lie, i am kind of tempted to make fun of him to get my slang on the show…
Streets ahead is a British/Irish expression. Hardly a stupid slang, just ’cause Dan Harmon had never heard of it before.
That makes sense. The term is still pretty stupid-sounding if you ask me, but to each culture their own ridiculous phrases.
Thanks for making this into an article – I was having a devil of a time explaining this to someone on Twitter after the episode aired.
Well the phrase was actually used wrongly. It’s used as a comparison i.e Jeff’s social skills are streets ahead of Abed’s. You don’t just say something is “streets ahead”.
http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/streets+ahead.html
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_origin_of_the_idiom_streets_ahead
I live in the U.K and I’d never in my life heard the term “streets ahead” until it was used in that episode of Community!
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I live in the UK & I’ve not heard anyone use the term ‘streets ahead’…EVER XD maybe its used in a mocking way, but I really really don’t recall it….
Love Community & Glee if thats possible XD
Streets ahead is a relatively common idiom in the UK. It means “X is much better than Y”.
These days, it seems to be mainly used by the press for horrendous puns. For example, The Telegraph: Sensational Springsteen is Streets Ahead of the Rest (think: E-Street Band) or Daily Mail: Lewis wants to be streets ahead in Valencia like his Beijing heroes (e.g. about F1 motor racing, where Valencia is a street circuit).
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The scientist character (Victor Spinetti) uses the phrase ‘streets ahead’ in the Beatles film ‘Help’.
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i think that Dan is using the term meta in the same way, maybe?
what do you all think??
How is ‘streets ahead’ a British or Irish phrase in any way shape or form? I’ve lived in the UK, to the best of my knowledge, for my whole life and have never heard it used until Community.
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Does poet speak English in our class?
I’ve often wondered that same thing
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i live in new zealand and this term is common. me and my mates were like wtf when they ripped into pierce for it, turns out english is not understood in usa
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British person. “Streets Ahead” is a widely used idiom, sufficiently that I find it utterly astounding that not a single person in the cast or crew of Community has ever heard of it. Especially since the writing on the show is fantastic. Or at least comical, I guess not hugely complicated, but still, occasionally advanced. Maybe you guys use thesauruses sometimes, not known. Either way, I watched that episode where Pierce repeatedly uses the phrase and just assumed the joke was that he used it in obscure, forced contexts. I had no idea that the producer or whoever the guy was was trying to mock an expression just because he’d never heard of it… What a dick. I can’t help but think it explains the later episodes where the Dr Who character portrayed by Abed uses bizarre strings of UK jargon in hilariously disjointed ways. I imagine the writer (I scrolled to top) read up on British slang and just pumped as much of it into the scene as possible. Was pretty amusing. By the way, I don’t want to see Community go under, if CBN won’t have you guys maybe you should think about airing in the UK? UK audiences are less fickle. We stick religiously to the same tired and repeating plot lines for decades. (Corronation Street, Dr Who, Eastenders) there are people who watch these things THEIR ENTIRE LIVES. Red Dwarf invented the cult audience. 8 seasons and a movie
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