Easy A, the 2010 film that earned Emma Stone her very first Golden Globe nomination and a special place in all of our hearts, has become something of a cult classic. Not only did it endear Stone to us and her Hollywood peers, it features now-iconic performances from Amanda Bynes and Lisa Kudrow, too. But an eagle-eyed movie buff at BuzzFeed just unearthed a detail from the film that you won't believe you didn't notice all along.
For those unfamiliar with Stone's seminal work, Easy A revolves around her character, Olive Penderghast, pretending to sleep with her high school's more unpopular students. In the process, Penderghast develops a less-than-savory reputation and draws the ire of Bynes' character, Marianne, and the attention of guys like Penn Badgley's Woodchuck Todd (real fictional name!) and Cam Gigandet's Micah. Hilarity ensues — it's an Emma Stone comedy, after all — and everything works out in the end after some self discovery, a pretty smokin' corset-and-pin situation, and many many references to Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter.
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What did BuzzFeed writer Ryan Schocket discover that blew his mind? It's clear that Schocket isn't just a movie buff, but also a puzzle master, because he pointed out that Olive Penderghast's last name was a clue to the movie's plot all along. It's an anagram, so if you scramble the letters of "Penderghast" around, you can get "pretend shag." It was right there in front of us, people.
Why the British slang, though? The film's director, Will Gluck, and writer-producer Bert V. Royal are both American. Even the book that the film drew from is by an American author. Well, maybe we can't explain why the anagram had to involve an Austin Powers-esque term for sex, but now that you know, it'll be pretty hard not to notice next time you sit down to Easy A. BTW, if you want to impress your pals — er, chums — and act like you knew all along, we'll never tell.
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