How many dopers have little shibboleths and other devices to check if an acquaintance is like-minded?
For instance, if I do something dumb, and say, “Sorry about that, Chief” (Get Smart) and the response is “Chief?” :dubious: … well, that’s a strike.
If I say, “Thank you, masked man” and get something like, “What do you want that horse for?” (Lenny Bruce) chances are about 95% I’ll get along with this person.
And if I say, “Shy my ass” and someone chimes in with “He’s just stupid”(Bad News Bears) … friends for life.
Since I am into a lot of Underground Rap if I meet someone that knows who some of these rappers are and knows the songs and better yet has the CD’s then it is an instant friendship.
If someone asks how many time zones there are in the Soviet Union (1, 2, 3…11)
or says “Christianity is stupid, Communism is good” or quotes Zappa, they get cool points. Extra points if the quote Thing Fish.
Hmm—usually if I find they like to take road trips and travel around (in the USA or anywhere else) we’ll have something to talk about. If they love to paint or draw or are interested in creative artsy-fartsy things, we’ll get along.
If they’re a fan of some of my favorite TV shows, then there’s a good chance we’ll be friends. It depends on how geeky they are, though. Some geekiness is cool, some isn’t.
But most importantly, they’ve got to not get weird with me (or perhaps resentful?) about my unique interests. Red flags go up for me when I mention some artistic project (or latest road trip) and I get dead silence or a quick change of subject. Something is not right there. I don’t expect them to engage in a long conversation about it—a quick (but sincere) “How nice for you” will suffice—so when they can’t even muster that, I know that things will never be comfortable between us and we won’t get along.
Oh oh oh, I have this shirt (scroll down to the one that says Glue!). If you say “hey nice shirt” you get 10 points, I’ll then say “What line did he just say?,” if your response is “Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.” You get another 10, if you can answer “What was the other two things he picked the wrong week to quit?” (Smoking, Drinking) another 10. Then you get 50 if you can answer some other random question from the movie ie:
Who did the person singing in the war hospital thing he was? (Ethel Mermen)
What can you make of this? (A hat, a pterydactyl)
What does the plane look like? (A big Tylenol)
Explain what he meant by a drinking problem, here’s a glass of water.
This probably isn’t cool enough, but if someone doesn’t know the meaning of life is 42, who said “God is an absentee landlord”, that Phil Collins didn’t actually see anyone murdered or how to hang their own sheetrock, it’s probably not going to be as happy a ride as it could be.
But, I could easily be won over some by some really good homemade Bruschetta, honeysuckles and a game of Twister.
Anyone who finds “No fair! You changed the outcome by measuring it!”, “Fighterdoken!” or (especially) “But you’re the king of that sort of miracle shullbit!” funny is majorly cool. If they’re a chick, they also become about 50 times more attractive.
Getting references to old SNES games is also major cool points in my book, as are Family Guy quotes.
I met my best friend in a museum. We were standing in front of a Renoir, and I turned to the person with me and said “It’s a Renoir.” My best friend was in the group next to us and casually said “I sold it to them… with my TV set.” Hearing that, I had to strike up a conversation, and then we went to lunch and now we’re bestest gal pals forevah and stuff.
I also enjoy people who get all of my weird little pop references. If you say “This isn’t my ______” and I say “this is not my beautiful wife” or if you ask “How many ___ does it take to ____” and I say “One, two-whoo, a-three, three” and you don’t get it, we’re not destined to be pals.
If you have to test people for being “cool”, you’re not cool. If you care about being “cool”, you’re not cool either. Why would you vet people on their ability to pick up on ephemeral TV and movie pop-culture references? Isn’t that rather shallow?
Seems pretty obvious to me regardless of the title (ooh…there’s one. I don’t talk to people who say “irregardless” ) this thread isn’t about judging people’s essential worth (aka coolness), it’s about things that let you know you’ll connect with someone. And sometimes ephemeral references are useful for that.
I don’t have any particular test I can think of…hmmmm…I guess if I say “Stooges” and you’re thinking movies and not music, we might not have a future (yes I realize Iggy, Ron and Scott were probably thinking movie when then named themselves but I choose to ignore that).
Seven years ago, I went on a date with a girl from school. Halfway through a conversation on old TV series I said:
*What kind of clothes do I suppose would be worn by a man with a mole on his nose? Who knows? *
And she replied:
*Did I happen to mention, did I bother to disclose, that this man that we’re seeking with the mole on his nose? I’m not sure of his clothes or anything else, except he’s Chinese, a big clue by itself. *
