On another thread a poster says that every American should understand the remark “We’re not in Kansas anymore.” But would every American? I don’t know. But it got me thinking: apart from small, mainly religious, groups which separate themselves from Society as a whole, is there any cultural reference that close to 100% of the American population over the age of 20 would understand? (I an excluding scientific or historical facts; I assume, for example, that every American knows who George Washington was.)
This is really bugging me. I opened the thread almost 45 minutes ago and I’m not sure I can think of anything.
As the outlets for entertainment and news multiply into infinity it is becoming easier and easier for different sections of the culture to become isolated from each other.
Especially for something to span age groups is impressive. Something that would be familiar to both my parents (65 and 72) and my kids (5, 9, 12)…
I come up with Star Wars…more specifically Darth Vader…lots of people even my age (40ish) aren’t really interested in Star Wars and can’t tell you the plot or remember that the tall shiny robot is C3PO, but they recognize Darth Vader, know that mask stands for evil and that saying anything preceded by his mechanical rasping hiss is supposed to be sinister.
Ehh, what’s up, doc?
CMC fnord!
Baseball, hotdogs, apple pie and Chevrolet?
Superman, Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse?
Having seen the Jay Walking segment a few times on Leno, I can promise that there is no single cultural or historical reference that is familiar to every American.
McDonald’s.
“Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.”
“Play it again, Sam.” (actually a misquote)
“I am your father.”
These little nuggets have a life beyond their original sources. Nothing will be known by 100% of the population, but these come pretty close. Another example would be Halloween. I doubt there are many Americans who run away screaming when they find their town suddenly populated by ghosts, zombies and vampires.
Don’t underestimate the speed of cultural osmosis, memes can spread rapidly. A study of playground games in the UK showed the same ones cropping up all over the country, despite never featuring on TV or being previously described in a book.
Came to say maybe Superman and possibly Santa Claus.
Or simply, cheeseburger and french fries. Not everybody eats them, but there are very few Americans who wouldn’t recognize them.
Make it even simpler…how about a lightsaber? About as recognizable as you can get.
Or, if you want to get really broad, cowboys.
-Joe
You think newborns, people in comas, and the mentally deranged count as Americans? If not, where are you drawing the lines?
Well, the people in comas are now classified as Category One and will be transferred to the Module.
-Joe
None if those would be known by younger people. Especially since you didn’t include the “Luke” part in your latter quote. I would be surprised if more than 50% of people under 25 could identify the origin of the first two.
Things that would have close to complete cultural saturation are mostly things related to branding. So terms like “Big Mac”, “Google”, and “Ipod” are going to be known by far more people than a movie reference. If you are going to go with a phrase, you’d be far more better off going with something like, “I am not a crook” said in a Nixon voice, or “One small step for man…” since both of those are gonna be taught in schools
The OP said “over the age of 20.” (I would have presumed adults anyway, unless otherwise specified.)
People in comas are not participating in culture regardless, so it’s kind of stupid to mention them.
We can include the mentally deranged, as far as I’m concerned. I bet a high proportion of them do recognize baseball, cheeseburgers and cowboys.
A pretty good bet is almost any one of the lines from AFI’s list of the 100 most recognizable movies lines, several of which have already been mentioned above: AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes - Wikipedia Number one is “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.”
Something from television might be even more recognizable. Thirty years ago, I would have said “And that’s the way it is” (Walter Cronkite’s sign-off). Today, maybe something from The Simpsons. “D’oh!”
I disagree, I expect almost everyone has heard them, even if they don’t know what the source is.
McDonalds
Coca Cola
Baseball
For a movie reference, is that enough?
The OP mentioned people understanding “we’re not in Kansas anymore,” not just having heard the words.
I guess it depends. I certainly knew what “I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse.” meant many years before I finally saw The Godfather.