Soup Man

A few years back I was in England riding the Tube about London. Upon hearing my American twang, an affable inebriated college chap struck up a conversation with me.

“Have you seen Soup Man?” he asked.

“Soup Man?” I asked, puzzled.

“Yeah, Soup Man.”

“I’ve never heard of Soup Man.”

“What,” the bleary-eyed fellow stammered, “you’ve never heard of Soup Man? Have you been living in a cave?”

Attempting to be helpful, I reached for some memory of British film or television or even stage that might provide a clue.

“Is that like Banana Man?” I offered

He just stared at me incredulously.

Though the television reference didn’t do the trick, it started up a train of thought in the dark caverns of my mind that turned up a golden nugget.

“Do you mean Superman?” I asked.

“That’s what I said!” he exclaimed.

Riddle solved: he’d been asking me if I’d seen the recently released Superman Returns movie.

Before I could follow up, the fellow shook his head and staggered off. Which was just as well: he probably wouldn’t have appreciated a sober American who hadn’t even heard of "Soup Man" telling him that he needed to brush up on his English.