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You’re Out of Your Element
A few weeks ago, I was watching Young Frankenstein. About halfway through, I realized that to the best of my knowledge, I hadn’t seen it before, yet due to the sort of people I associate with, I was already aware of all the most-referenced parts. It was not the first movie I’ve seen where previous secondhand knowledge somewhat diminished my enjoyment.
On the other side of the ledger, @hankrhody referenced Bartertown at work. In a group that could be expected to have known and asking other people afterward, he was only able to find 1.5 out of 19 people that knew who run Bartertown. (The half point was for knowing the movie.)
There are a couple reasons for telling these stories. The first is to point out ways that having common reference points and in-jokes can provide to bring people into a group or have a sidebar conversation that only a few people will understand. If someone asks me a yes/no question and I respond with “Is the Space Pope reptilian?” how they respond will probably have an effect on my opinion of them.
The second reason is to discuss exactly how much of a given medium one needs to be aware of in order to participate in a given conversation. If I know, for example: that the cake is a lie, you can’t fight in the War Room, that all your base are belong to us, that five is right out, that a man’s got to know his limitations, the Buster kept me out of handcuffs, that rug really tied the room together, if the light is green, the trap is clean, that word does not mean what I think it means, or that Shaft is one bad mother…, is it necessary to have actually consumed that media, or is it enough to know why it means what it means?
This principle can be applied to more than just movie and tv references. In another post, there was a discussion of the Fry’s Electronics chain and its legendarily bad customer service, which I was aware of despite not having been to one. Even Ricochet has some examples, although those will be left open as an exercise for the reader.
That’s all I’ve got, the floor is open. Anyone else have lines that they regularly use in conversation, whether or not anyone else will understand it?
Published in Group Writing
I’m sorry Dave, but I’m afraid I can’t do that.
Every time someone references Stonehenge, I reply “where the banshees live and they do live well.”
I always say “it’s not a big college town” whenever Boston is mentioned. (My daughter is a librarian in Massachusetts, she loves that line.)
“Gimme some money.”
And, of course, “turn it up to eleven!”
“You can buy me a drink at your wake!”
“You’ll regret it to your dying day, if ever you live that long.”
Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son.
To answer the OP’s question, every year, I wish as many people as possible a, “Merry new year!” in a fake African accent.
Sorry about that, Chief.
Also from Dr. Strangelove, I find myself parroting the Russian Ambassador’s line “I must confess you have an astonishingly good idea there” for much the same reasons he had.
From “The Quiet Man”?
My favorite instance was when my wife and I were playing “Taboo” with my family at the holidays right after we were married.
I got the clue, and promptly pulled my t-shirt over my head and raised my arms at right angles.
She immediately replied “Nicaragua!”
we were accused of cheating.
Yes. I have more quotes from the film, but I’m too lazy to type them.
“When I drink whiskey, I drink whiskey. When I drink water, I drink water.”
Did she do the voice?
Clavius, I was reading along, not recognizing any of your quotes, when I came to the last one. Despite having my name in it, I didn’t understand that one either. A movie with my name in it? And one in which I farked up? Man am I out of it.
Don’t be so cryptic. I don’t do cryptic.
Kent
I had a dream once where I was captured by aliens. I could get a message back, but I had to make sure that the message was incomprehensible to the aliens while perfectly lucid to someone on Earth without me having arranged anything in advance.
I figured I had a pretty good shot at it. Shaka when the walls fell indeed.
It’s from Animal House.
Sure, the Peccavi gambit IN SPACE!
Jeez, I should have recognized it. My wife and I met for the first time (fifty-six year ago) and then danced in U of O’s Erb Student Union. She was one of four girls standing in a little group. When I approached, Marie was the only one to look up. We married a year later.
The Erb is where the characters in Animal House have the food fight and Belushi squirts his zit.
Hmmm. I’d say there are four where I’m confident that I’ve “consumed the media”, two where I know the reference but haven’t seen the movie, three where the line is familiar but I can’t quite place it, and one that I can’t place at all.
What movie/tv lines do I use in conversation?
You’re killing me, Smalls.
You’ll get nothing, and like it.
So I’ve got that going for me, which is nice.
Looks like I picked the wrong day to stop sniffing glue.
… but that’s not important right now.
I say we take off and nuke it from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.
Some people juggle geese!
Well my days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle.
I remember hearing it discussed somewhere–it may even have been a Ricochet podcast–that The Simpsons quotes so much from pop culture, that people under 30 would generally recognize most any of the movie/TV references here in this post, but they would attribute it to the Simpsons, rather than their original source.
Sounds about right to me.
Thought 1: I’ve never actually seen “The Princess Bride”, but oddly enough, I feel like I know it pretty well just from how often my friends quote it.
Thought 2: We have an intern at my work, and I’ve been fighting the urge to ask her for a Campari & soda.
Thought 3: My parents always used to say things like “Put your shoes on Lucy!” and “Buckle down Winsocki!” and “You’re standing in my kumquats!!” As a kid I found it completely weird and baffling. Now I hear myself saying things like “what we have here is a failure to communicate!” and “it’s only a flesh wound!”, and I think my kids are starting to give me the same annoyed looks.
Which will heal quickly.
This thread makes me very grateful for search engines.
Sorry, Animal House
What a brush with great greatness.
Of course!
Probably the quote I trot out most frequently – “I love this plan, I’m excited to be a part of it!”
There’s one I vaguely remember from the Star Trek films, after Kirk has pulled one of his patented rescues that require him to throw the rulebook out the window: “I am immensely proud of each and every one of you and I intend to recommend all of you for medals and promotion”–he pauses–“In whatever fleet we end up serving”, he concludes a bit sheepishly.
“Buzzards gotta eat. Same as worms…”
“I’m not asking you who’s on second!”
“Who’s on first.”
“I don’t know!”
“THIRD BASE!!!!”
This one I don’t know the reference, and Google isn’t helping.