All I could manage to say was "Dang!"

After listening to about a half hour of explanation of what a fugue is, what the parts are, and how they are assembled, finally I got to listen to the fugue in a concerto grosso by Handel (Op 6, No 7 ,1742). Admittedly it was a little hard to miss what was going on, but that was when I said "Dang!" Actually I said it three or four times... I will never hear the word "fugue" again without thinking back to this experience.

Now when the announcer says the next composition will be a fugue, the engineer in me will listen for the exposition of the subject, count the voices as they come in, listen for the counter-subjects, modulations, and restatements. And will I catch the brake pedal when it's pushed? I probably won't because in a well composed fugue all the seams are pretty well hidden.