# Cultural references you'd find quite handy if only anyone else knew them (with bonus questions!) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 31, 2012, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultural-references-youd-find-quite-handy-if-only-anyone-else-knew-them-with-bonus-questions/623618 "2012-05-31T02:55:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultural-references-youd-find-quite-handy-if-only-anyone-else-knew-them-with-bonus-questions/623618/1 "2012-05-31T02:55:47Z")
I often find myself thinking of situations in terms of books I’ve read or movies I’ve watched that others around me probably haven’t, or if they have then they wouldn’t make the same connection you do. The following are some my most frequent mutterings to myself – can you identify them? Grumbling to myself after a meeting with a manager: “Still haven’t tracked down that quart of strawberries, have you Cappy?” After some management nitwits insist on knowing the pages and word counts of our department’s reports as opposed to the quality of what those reports are actually saying: “Well, I suppose we could just get out a cheese scale.” After having to suffer some indignities at work: “Laugh it up, laughing boy. The Cilician pirates were laughing too, for a while.” And yours? ---
**Author:** ![Toucanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Toucanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toucanna)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultural-references-youd-find-quite-handy-if-only-anyone-else-knew-them-with-bonus-questions/623618/2 "2012-05-31T04:16:50Z")
When I see a business closed for remodeling, I yell in an incredulous tone, “Remodeling?!?” It’s said by Tim Thomerson’s character in “The Wrong Guys”. When I drive over train tracks or a very bumpy road, I say, “Ay! Ay! Ay! Ay!” like the character Ramada said when she fell down the stairs in “Hot Shots!” When I see an abandoned shoe or sandal I point at it and say, “We must follow the shoe/sandal!” (Monty Python’s Life of Brian) There are others, but those are all I can think of for now. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultural-references-youd-find-quite-handy-if-only-anyone-else-knew-them-with-bonus-questions/623618/3 "2012-05-31T04:20:20Z")
a DUCK! online, everyone gets it. Kind of lame by now. IRL, not but ONE person has caught on. I thought MP was pretty well accepted by the losers I call friends. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultural-references-youd-find-quite-handy-if-only-anyone-else-knew-them-with-bonus-questions/623618/4 "2012-05-31T06:29:34Z")
The only one I got was the one about the strawberries. _The Caine Mutiny._ ---
**Author:** ![bldysabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@bldysabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bldysabba)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultural-references-youd-find-quite-handy-if-only-anyone-else-knew-them-with-bonus-questions/623618/5 "2012-05-31T10:22:20Z")
I’ve given up saying [Oom Beroofen](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-247680.html) if anyone sneezes. It’s from Right Ho Jeeves, and no one else seems to have found it funny enough to have it in their heads. IRL that is. The dope, of course, had a thread on it 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultural-references-youd-find-quite-handy-if-only-anyone-else-knew-them-with-bonus-questions/623618/6 "2012-05-31T13:40:12Z")
When my car does something for me I say “Thank you, HAL” ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultural-references-youd-find-quite-handy-if-only-anyone-else-knew-them-with-bonus-questions/623618/7 "2012-05-31T14:24:14Z")
When I hear that someone has cancer, I think to myself “Ohhhh cancer… Sad… cancer… sad…” in my best sad-sack middle-aged lady voice. It’s from one of the more obscure Kids in the Hall sketches with Bruce as teenager Rusty who has a way with older women, and some sort of mind-control over his mother. I think it was Dave Foley that says the Cancer line early in the sketch. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultural-references-youd-find-quite-handy-if-only-anyone-else-knew-them-with-bonus-questions/623618/8 "2012-05-31T14:33:00Z")
So. . .it’s come to this? ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultural-references-youd-find-quite-handy-if-only-anyone-else-knew-them-with-bonus-questions/623618/9 "2012-05-31T14:34:53Z")
> [@Typo\_Knig](#): > > When my car does something for me I say “Thank you, HAL” You don’t think people recognize a 2001 reference? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultural-references-youd-find-quite-handy-if-only-anyone-else-knew-them-with-bonus-questions/623618/10 "2012-05-31T14:35:05Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > a DUCK! > > online, everyone gets it. Kind of lame by now. A lame duck? How do you know she is a lame duck? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultural-references-youd-find-quite-handy-if-only-anyone-else-knew-them-with-bonus-questions/623618/11 "2012-05-31T14:36:17Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > So. . .it’s come to this? The Two Towers? ---
**Author:** ![notquitekarpov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@notquitekarpov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notquitekarpov)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultural-references-youd-find-quite-handy-if-only-anyone-else-knew-them-with-bonus-questions/623618/12 "2012-05-31T14:47:16Z")
When I have to correct myself about the number of something I am talking about, like, “two, no, three of my cultural references” (for example) I then immediately say, “amongst my cultural references are…” Some pick up the Python reference but, because I don’t do the voice, it goes over the heads of most. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultural-references-youd-find-quite-handy-if-only-anyone-else-knew-them-with-bonus-questions/623618/13 "2012-05-31T15:08:06Z")
“The answer lies in the hearts of all mankind!” and/or “The answer is twelve?” Also, I’m amazed at how many people don’t recognize “OBE” (overcome by events) or FUBAR (F’ed up beyond all recognition. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultural-references-youd-find-quite-handy-if-only-anyone-else-knew-them-with-bonus-questions/623618/14 "2012-05-31T15:17:36Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > The Two Towers? Haven’t had the pleasure. [xkcd, actually](http://xkcd.com/1022/). ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultural-references-youd-find-quite-handy-if-only-anyone-else-knew-them-with-bonus-questions/623618/15 "2012-05-31T15:33:55Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > It’s from one of the more obscure Kids in the Hall sketches with Bruce as teenager Rusty who has a way with older women, and some sort of mind-control over his mother. I think it was Dave Foley that says the Cancer line early in the sketch. I’m sorry I caused all that cancer. Several years ago (and I do not recall how the subject came up) I said “the pellet with the poison’s in the vessel with the pestle”, and people looked at me funny. Someone online said she was looking for a Greg to her Dharma, I asked if she’d settle for a Godfrey Parke to her Irene Bullock. No response. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultural-references-youd-find-quite-handy-if-only-anyone-else-knew-them-with-bonus-questions/623618/16 "2012-05-31T16:22:32Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I’m sorry I caused all that cancer. Speaking of Kids in the Hall… Sometimes (especially on the internet) someone will propose a dumb idea and he’ll assume that if people don’t like it, it must be because they’re not understanding it correctly. At that point, I always feel like saying: “This is a drug… for the world… to give worms to ex-girlfriends. You just don’t get it here!” ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultural-references-youd-find-quite-handy-if-only-anyone-else-knew-them-with-bonus-questions/623618/17 "2012-06-01T01:47:28Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > You don’t think people recognize a 2001 reference? The future isn’t what it used to be. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultural-references-youd-find-quite-handy-if-only-anyone-else-knew-them-with-bonus-questions/623618/18 "2012-06-01T02:47:13Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > “The answer lies in the hearts of all mankind!” and/or “The answer is twelve?” I think you’re in the wrong building, Sir. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultural-references-youd-find-quite-handy-if-only-anyone-else-knew-them-with-bonus-questions/623618/19 "2012-06-01T03:18:04Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > Grumbling to myself after a meeting with a manager: “Still haven’t tracked down that quart of strawberries, have you Cappy?” The Caine Mutiny. ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultural-references-youd-find-quite-handy-if-only-anyone-else-knew-them-with-bonus-questions/623618/20 "2012-06-01T03:26:30Z")
One night at my job-before-last, a guest called to ask for a wakeup call. It was ultra important - early flight or such - so I told him I’d also call his room at the appropriate time, just to be sure he was up. At 5:30 am, I’m a little punchy and silly, so I asked “Are we awake?” I was tickled when he responded appropriately! Almost no one ever asks me whether I’m black. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultural-references-youd-find-quite-handy-if-only-anyone-else-knew-them-with-bonus-questions/623618.md?page=2)