This is for the Dopers who live outside the US. What references here at the SDMB to contemporary US culture puzzle you the most? Is it the Geico Cavemen? The Geico Gecko? Political references? Mention of cartoons and comics? TV shows and movies that haven’t reached your shores yet?
If there’s anything you’d like explained, post your question here. Nothing is too trivial to ask about. US Dopers, feel free to jump and answer any and all questions.
I’m puzzled by this person that is called “Dubya”. He appears to be a rather stupid, almost comic character, but still people pay a lot of attention each time he talks about his views on world events. What’s the deal with that?
Yup. You got it. He’s a tool.
We believe in outlawing drugs, so there’s NO excuse that we collectively did that.
Yeah, our bad.
He’s just Tony Blair with a different accent and a more emotional dad.
Here we get flooded by US “culture” every day on news, radio, TV and the movies. So I’d have to say that not much gets past us, in general. The most common whooshes for me are references to US-only ads, and to events in US-only sports, which by definition we don’t see here.
I heard TiVo mentioned quite often, I never arsed myself to look for it but I guess it´s some kind of recording device for the TV, right?
One thing that has always puzzled me is the expression “homecoming” - as in “homecoming queen” or “homecoming dance.” It seems to have something to do with high school, but I’ve never quite been able to grasp what exactly it means. Where are they coming home from?
It’s based on a digital recording device but it’s also a subscription service. You can set your Tivo to “learn” your viewing habits and anticipate shows you might like. For example, if you consistently record a particular sports team’s games, it will start automatically recording them even if you forget to set it.
References to American religious/political/TV figures usually confuse me. I didn’t know who Stephen Colbert or Jon Stewart was until recently. I didn’t know who Ted Haggard was until I looked him up in Wikipedia.
(Oh, and FTR, although I am currently living in the US, I spent the past 11 years in Seoul and just moved back 3 months ago.)
College.
It’s supposed to be the big Home Game where alumni show up to support their alma mater. In practice, it’s just an excuse to decorate the whole place like a school spirit elf took a huge shit on everything, and to have parade floats, and a dance, and a court, etc…
I’m with Askance on this one. Mostly commercial references, particularly to brand names that serve as indirect emblems of a product’s purpose without directly explaining that purpose. Examples I can think of are Tide, Geritol, Pixie Sticks, Milk Duds. I pick up from context that Tide is laundry detergent, Pixie Sticks and Milk Duds are sweets of some sort. No idea about Geritol, but I’m guessing it is some sort of Old Person Remedy for What Ails Yer. Cheerios to us are those little red cocktail wieners (although Cheerios in the cereal sense are now marketed in supermarkets).
There are plenty of sports references that on their surface are baggage-laden (ironic references to loser baseball/football teams which mock them) but the context gives away the joke without the need to really understand baseball, or how terrible the Dodgers (or whoever) actually are. Metaphorical references to things like throwing “curveballs” or “sliders” are decipherable, even if you don’t know the technical difference, just as expressions such as “doing the hard yards”, “getting on the front foot” and “straight through to the keeper” can be followed even if you know zip about rugby league or cricket.
Pretty much everything that is contained in shows that are heavy on cultural references (Simpsons, etc) is straightforward to us (albeit not part of our regular way of doing things), or at worst causes a modest hiccup in viewing as you call upon one or two spare brain cells to figure out what a particular comment was about.
That’s not to say there isn’t a distinctly foreign flavour to the way Merkins do things, express ideas, conduct themselves, etc. Decidedly odd, at times. But even if something is not our style, we can follow the plot.
The tradition of a “homecoming” in American high schools is that the school’s alumni are invited to attend a home football game, after which there is generally a dance held on school grounds. Homecoming court (the king and queen) are nominated by fellow students, then the winners are usually announced at the dance - it’s really nothing more than a popularity contest.
Okay, I’ve got a few:
Why is New Jersey always the butt of jokes?
Why is Kansas City not in Kansas?
Do high school cheerleaders go to classes in their cheerleading outfits or has TV lied to me yet again?
I was channel surfing recently and came across this movie about a high school football team in Texas or somewhere. I think the coach was Billy Bob Thornton. Anyway, in that movie HS football was A VERY BIG DEAL. If I remember correctly, the coach even had a higher paycheck than the school’s principal. Is HS football really that big a deal in the US?
Why do some cities have more than one team? Okay, I said some cities but I can only think of one: New York with the Giants & Jets, Mets & Yankees (actually, I don’t mind if non-US dopers answer this question as well 'cause Manchester, Sheffield and Glasgow have two soccer teams. Same goes for Milan with their A.C. and Inter soccer clubs).
I have no idea.
There is a Kansas City in both Kansas and Missouri.
In my experience only when there is a pep rally or a game day.
In some parts of the country, yes. Texas being one of them.
What’s odd about that?
Marc
New Jersey, as a whole, is a nice enough state. But its image sufferes due to the fact that two of its worst regions are right next to New York City and Philadelphia. This means the sizable populations of these two cities experience the state at its worst and assume that what they see is typical.
Technically, there is a Kansas City in Kansas. But it’s a small community in comparison to cross-river Kansas City, Missouri. Both communities, along with the state of Kansas (which was formed out of the Kansas Territory) and the Kansas River (which seperates the two cities) are named after the Kanza tribe that previously inhabited the area.
Sometimes. At least, they did back when I was in high school.
That’s mostly a Texas thing. They take football seriously down there.
It’s usually due to the unification of two competing leagues. The Giants, for example, were part of the original NFL. The AFL was formed to compete (in a business sense not in an athletic sense) and created its own New York team, the Jets. Later the two leagues merged.
I do find it odd. Same pro sport, same city. Why does a city need more than one team?
Pixie Sticks are paper straws filled with powdered fruit-flavored sugar - you tear off one end and pour the sugar into your mouth. Milk Duds are lumps of caramel with a milk chocolate coating - they’re a popular snack in movie theatres.
Nothing particularly American about that. Most big European cities have a whole bunch of soccer teams, for instance, that more often than not play in the same division, and whose fans usually hate each other’s guts.
Yeah. I’m not an east coast person and I was always lead to believe New Jersey was nothing but soot-covered factories and poor housing. I was genuinely surprised when my brother moved there, I went to visit him prepared for the worst only to find out the state is actually very green and lush.