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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
“Well, boys, this is it, nookular combat, tot-to-toe with the Rooskies.”
“We got some flyin’ to do.”
“Shoot, a fella could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff.”
I’m with @nickh, I can’t figure this out.
“It tastes exactly like licking a shag carpet.”
“I’m Bob and I’ll be your robber tonight.”
“He can have the chicken.”
“No, too much peril.”
“Because they’re made of wood.”
“Message for you, sir!”
“Nine-letter-word starting with ‘C'”.
“Go ahead, skin that smokewagon, and see what happens!”
“Well, I supposed I’m deranged, but I’ll just have to call.”
“You do know how to whistle, don’t you, Steve?”
“You’re a flower, you are.”
“It was the best we could do in two hours.”
And did anyone else here know the reference to “the whole nine yards” before they looked it up in the Dictionary of Military Slang? And has anyone gotten @jameslileks in on this conversation yet?
Ah, good. He was already here. Should have looked first. Hrrm.
I’ll use “It’s a fair cop.” Most people don’t catch that it’s a MP reference, but they get the gist.
And there are other Holy Grail references that I hear semi-frequently. Just the other day someone asked me about the average velocity of an unladen swallow. (African or European was unspecified.)
I believe “fair cop” is an actual phrase in common usage outside of North America. I’ve seen Australians use it in places where a Monty Python reference was clearly not intended.
Cop, in that sense, has been in the language since 1709 and is used in America as well.
I used it on a sheriff in West Virginia three years ago. He had me for doing 79 in a 65 zone. It was a fair cop.
Oh sure, you can use it in a completely common way like that. It’s only when you use it for something completely absurd that it becomes a MP reference.
My family and I use “People are idiots, Leslie.”
There were two choices, steak and fish.
That’s right, I remember. I had lasagna.
I remember this line and a short “skit” around a freshly baked pie in the kitchen. As for anything resembling a movie beyond that, memory fails me…
-Are you suggesting coconuts are migratory?
-We don’t need no stinkin badges
Seriously, who can understand our language, quotes, and fables if they haven’t read Shakespeare and The Holy Bible?
‘The long setup’ I mentioned was the repeated use of the line “this one time at Band Camp” throughout the movie. It’s the last use when she mentions the flute that was the punchline.
But yeah, the movie was otherwise completely forgettable, and pretty bad. Also, I don’t know if it was the originator/popularizer of the term MILF, or just the first time I heard it.
There are also some common cultural references that are disappearing from common usage.
Does anyone below the age of 35 or so know what you mean if you refer to someone as an Eddie Haskel?
Sort of? I know where the reference is from at least.
How old are you? It’s from Leave It To Beaver, Eddie was one of Wally’s friends, he was a polite little phony/suck-up to the parents (“My, You’re looking lovely today Mrs Cleaver”), while he was a dick when the adults/authority figures weren’t around.
34. Like I said, I knew the show, had that general idea of what the character was like.
Ha – so I nailed the age-break almost perfectly!
This is supposed to be a happy occasion. Let’s not bicker and argue about ‘oo killed ‘oo.
And one of my favorites: Message for you sir.
Oops. Sorry Hartmann.
I’ve been known to replace “killed” with other verbs as determined by the situation.
I just watched BB a few nights ago!
When my boy was a baby, I got him a onesie that said that.
Beavis and Butthead. Beavis as the Great Cornholio gets amped up on sugar and starts twitching (more) and pulls his tee-shirt over his head, walking around with his arms up, sayingthings like
”I am the great cornholio!” “Do not make my bunghole angry!” And
”Nicaragua!”
In the 2000 election, Rush Limbaugh got laughs by referring to Gore as “Eddie Haskell”. Now, I’m not just being political here when I say he hit the bullseye. Adding to the mirth, the actor who played Eddie Haskell, Ken Osmond, retired from acting in his youth and became a police officer and a conservative. He had a phone-in segment with Rush where he seethed in mock anger: “Eddie was a suck-up and a con artist and a smarmy liar, but damn it, compare him to Al Gore? That’s libel, pal!” Rush pretended to apologize.
Uh…thanks. “You should be careful what you ask for; you just might get it.”
As a fan of P.G. Wodehouse, I am always struck by the numerous literary references in his works of light fiction. It was the result of a good education, which did not include university, and a shared culture. My own mother, who never went to college, could drop a Shakespeare quote into conversation (the only time I ever heard even mild profanity from her lips was when she quoted Lady Macbeth).
I wonder to what extent lacking a shared culture—and a serious core curriculum—drives our degraded mass entertainment. There’s no choice but to appeal to the lowest common denominator.