# Have you met someone who didn't know a really well-known pop or historical reference?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-met-someone-who-didnt-know-a-really-well-known-pop-or-historical-reference/653658
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [March 22, 2013, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-met-someone-who-didnt-know-a-really-well-known-pop-or-historical-reference/653658 "2013-03-22T17:57:13Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 5
### Author:  [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2013, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-met-someone-who-didnt-know-a-really-well-known-pop-or-historical-reference/653658/81 "2013-03-23T14:27:18Z")
My lack of knowledge regarding sports is the subject of much mirth at work. They call me _The Boy in the Plastic Bubble_ because I miss almost all references. A few years ago, my coworkers were astonished that I didn’t know our local team was in the World Series. (I didn’t even know it was happening). So my title was upgraded to _The Boy in the Titanium Sphere._ :rolleyes:
When people (or the news) talk about sports, I just hear the “wonka-wonk” sound that adults make in the Charlie Brown cartoons. I’ve really really tried to develop an interest and follow along, but the concept of being entertained by watching other people play with a ball completely eludes me.
The other day a co-worker was describing a nervous trip into the boonies, and I asked “Were you hearing banjo music?”. Blank stares. They’d never heard of the movie “Deliverance”.
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### Author:  [@OurLordPeace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OurLordPeace)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2013, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-met-someone-who-didnt-know-a-really-well-known-pop-or-historical-reference/653658/82 "2013-03-23T15:03:57Z")
> [@JohnT](#):
>
> Sometimes it doesn’t pay to answer a question with a question, as I found out when my college roommate asked:
>
> “Who did we fight in the Revolutionary War?”
>
> “Well, what language do we speak?”
>
> “What the hell does that have to do with anything!?!?”
This isn’t really the topic, but the roommate should have said _whom_, and the use of “we” when referring to actions taken by the government (or revolutionaries, many generations before this roommate) is actually more than a trivial error. If you can’t mentally separate yourself from the ruling class, won’t you always fall into line?
I’m getting a little agitated at reading most of these displays of ignorance, no matter the topic. Of course, some are more serious than others, which brings me to this…
Back in the fall, I was watching the very funny film _In the Loop_. The lady with whom I was watching the film was 32, intelligent, well-educated, etc. There’s a bit of dialogue that goes like this, in which two young foreign-policy apparatchiks, one from the US and one from the UK, are antagonistically discussing a memo:
US: We thought about using the font the SS used, but that had negative connotations.
UK: Heavy metal?
US: No, the SS.
She asked to re-watch that scene, two more times. She still didn’t get it. She didn’t know who the SS were, nor that sinister-looking fonts were sometimes used by heavy metal bands.
Similarly, at one point I mentioned the obvious implications of the scenes in Fight Club in which the characters use human fat (from liposuction) to make soap. She didn’t know the Nazis had done that.
Maybe it’s worse when people can’t be bothered to metaphorically clean up their own yard. I had a middle-school teacher in the mid-1990s who, while usually good at what he did, remarked that in American history, he was really only particularly ashamed (though maybe I’m getting his words wrong; that would make a big difference) of slavery and the Trail of Tears.
I had to learn, on my own, about so much more, like, say, the destruction of Cambodia, engineered by Henry “anything that flies on anything that moves” Kissinger, who once said that he couldn’t spend the holidays with his relatives because they had been turned into soap.
Full circle!
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### Author:  [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2013, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-met-someone-who-didnt-know-a-really-well-known-pop-or-historical-reference/653658/83 "2013-03-23T15:12:47Z")
Relevant [xkcd](http://xkcd.com/1053/).
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### Author:  [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2013, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-met-someone-who-didnt-know-a-really-well-known-pop-or-historical-reference/653658/84 "2013-03-23T17:15:39Z")
> [@OurLordPeace](#):
>
> Similarly, at one point I mentioned the obvious implications of the scenes in Fight Club in which the characters use human fat (from liposuction) to make soap. She didn’t know the Nazis had done that.\
Actually, they probably didn’t do that.
> **[Soap made from human corpses](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soap_made_from_human_corpses)**
>
> During the 20th century there were various alleged instances of soap being made from human body fat. During World War I the British press claimed that the Germans operated a corpse factory in which they made glycerine and soap from the bodies of their own soldiers. Both during and after World War II, widely circulated rumors claimed that soap was being mass-produced from the bodies of the victims of Nazi concentration camps which were located in German-occupied Poland. During the Nuremberg trials...
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### Author:  [@nashiitashii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nashiitashii)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2013, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-met-someone-who-didnt-know-a-really-well-known-pop-or-historical-reference/653658/85 "2013-03-23T17:23:12Z")
::Raises hand:: I’m one of those people. I get Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, et al confused and was somewhat unaware of their place in pop culture until about six year ago. I didn’t know what “freebird” was until four years ago. (I’m 30, so it’s not like I was alive when it was first produced.) Apparently this part of music history completely missed me, as I’m familiar with other aspects of late 1960s and 1970s music in addition to other eras before and after the time period when the above bands were popular.
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### Author:  [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2013, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-met-someone-who-didnt-know-a-really-well-known-pop-or-historical-reference/653658/86 "2013-03-23T17:28:20Z")
Not someone I met personally, but in 1999, my sister worked for a few months with a 20 year old from Appalachia who had never heard of Michael Jackson.
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2013, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-met-someone-who-didnt-know-a-really-well-known-pop-or-historical-reference/653658/87 "2013-03-23T17:52:04Z")
I never heard of “second breakfast” before. Does it have to do with regurgitation?
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### Author:  [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2013, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-met-someone-who-didnt-know-a-really-well-known-pop-or-historical-reference/653658/88 "2013-03-23T18:20:51Z")
> [@panache45](#):
>
> I never heard of “second breakfast” before. Does it have to do with regurgitation?
Google says it’s an additional meal in between breakfast and lunch as opposed to brunch which is at the same time but eaten instead of breakfast.
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### Author:  [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2013, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-met-someone-who-didnt-know-a-really-well-known-pop-or-historical-reference/653658/89 "2013-03-23T19:09:18Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#):
>
> My profound lack of interest in professional sports is widely enough known amongst my friends and colleagues that they’ll pre-emptively add the information in now when they mention players. 😃
> \
>
> I also seem to encounter a lot of people who say they’re “Gamers” but are completely unfamiliar with things like the _Grand Theft Auto_ series, the _Fallout/Elder Scrolls_ series, _Doom/Quake_, _Bioshock_, the _Civilisation_ or _Command & Conquer_ series, any of the _Total War_ games - because it turns out their definition of “Being a gamer” is playing Bejewelled or Plants vs Zombies a lot, or _maybe_ stretching to _World of Warcraft_.
I dislike watching sports intensely - about the only sport I will watch is the equestrian parts of the Olympics. I was an athlete when young before my body trashed out and I would much rather play the sport than watch the sport.
And as for gamers - many MMORPG players specialize in one MMORPG at a time. Platform players [Nintendo etc] tend to play multiple games. PC offline gamers can play multiple games. Most MMORPG players play one game because when you load in a raid schedule and guild required events there really is not much time left over to do more than one game at that level of intensity though you can dabble at Minecraft or something less involved at the same time.
[Afterlife, one of the top Everquest 1 guilds had literally a 4 hour per day/8+ hours on weekends guild schedule. If you couldn’t dedicate that type of time, you didn’t get into the guild.]
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2013, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-met-someone-who-didnt-know-a-really-well-known-pop-or-historical-reference/653658/90 "2013-03-23T19:23:23Z")
> [@Miller](#):
>
> A few years back, my dad was surprised to learn that U2 was still touring, despite their lead singer’s recent death in a skiing accident.
And wasn’t the lead singer Francis Gary Powers?
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### Author:  [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2013, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-met-someone-who-didnt-know-a-really-well-known-pop-or-historical-reference/653658/91 "2013-03-23T20:19:13Z")
I AM that person -
no pop figure since 1988 has entered my field of vision.
I know the name “J Lo” - I take it this is a female of some fame and /or notoriety.
If I go to Yahoo (I use their mail) - I see a wall of “celebrities” who mean absolutely nothing to me.
I just triet to remember the names I see there - J Lo was the only one who came to mind
and I am glad all over over this
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### Author:  [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2013, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-met-someone-who-didnt-know-a-really-well-known-pop-or-historical-reference/653658/92 "2013-03-23T21:28:35Z")
> [@interface2x](#):
>
> Years ago, my friend and I were laughing about [this jokey trailer of The Shining](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmkVWuP_sO0) when our coworker said “That looks really good, I want to see that!”
>
> Not only hadn’t she seen The Shining (no crime), but she hadn’t even heard of it.
Nor have I. I am deaf to much of pop culture. I don’t watch sitcoms or other TV (except certain sports). But I never thought LOTR was pop culture–I think it is more high culture. I watched each of the movies twice when they came out and recently watched all three again, in anticipation of the Hobbit. I am also a great fan of Harry Potter.
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### Author:  [@Renifer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renifer)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2013, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-met-someone-who-didnt-know-a-really-well-known-pop-or-historical-reference/653658/93 "2013-03-23T23:56:24Z")
> [@Honey](#):
>
> I met a girl once who was totally amazed that Paul McCartney had been in a group before Wings.
When my mom told my sister that Paul McCartney was one of the Beatles, my sister replied “Paul McCartney from PETA?”
She was nine or ten at the time.
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2013, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-met-someone-who-didnt-know-a-really-well-known-pop-or-historical-reference/653658/94 "2013-03-24T00:11:12Z")
I knew a young lady in Texas, a native of the state too, who in all honesty did not know where Mexico was. Really. (I’ve mentioned her before.)
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### Author:  [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2013, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-met-someone-who-didnt-know-a-really-well-known-pop-or-historical-reference/653658/95 "2013-03-24T00:18:49Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#):
>
> Same here.
>
> I haven’t watched TV in 15 years. This includes reality shows, talent shows, and cable TV shows/series. I have never watched, for example, American Idol, Survivor, Grey’s Anatomy, Walking Dead, Mad Men, The Big Bang Theory, NCIS, Jersey Shore, House M.D., etc. I mean, literally \*nothing \*in 15 years.
>
> Lord of the Rings? Hobbit? Have never watched them or read the books. Totally clueless.
Wanna go for a beer?
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### Author:  [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2013, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-met-someone-who-didnt-know-a-really-well-known-pop-or-historical-reference/653658/96 "2013-03-24T01:26:03Z")
My friends and I play _Who Am I_ whenever we have to wait for something. We’ve been doing it for years, so it gets fairly out there: Deep Blue, the constellation Orion, that sort of thing. One time a friend had a new girlfriend, so to be nice we start off with easy ones. We give her Justin Bieber. She’d never heard of him, which is fair enough and honestly only earns you points. And she grew up in Africa (different countries), maybe he isn’t famous there?
So the next one we discuss who we can give her that she will 100% know. A historical figure… who does everyone know…? Julius Caesar. - Never heard of him. She. Had. Never. Heard. Of. Julius. Caesar.
Well, we just stopped playing then. I didn’t even know what to say… Never heard of Julius Caesar… 😕
(She was a biologist, could hold an intelligent conversation. She said she only learned about African history at school, and I just couldn’t bring myself to point out to her that that should probably include Julius Caesar.)
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### Author:  [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2013, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-met-someone-who-didnt-know-a-really-well-known-pop-or-historical-reference/653658/97 "2013-03-24T02:39:19Z")
> [@gracer](#):
>
> (She was a biologist, could hold an intelligent conversation. She said she only learned about African history at school, and I just couldn’t bring myself to point out to her that that should probably include Julius Caesar.)
Maybe she’s heard of Linnaeus? Maybe?
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### Author:  [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2013, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-met-someone-who-didnt-know-a-really-well-known-pop-or-historical-reference/653658/98 "2013-03-24T05:08:42Z")
> [@panache45](#):
>
> And wasn’t the lead singer Francis Gary Powers?
Oh, wow, I never knew he was married to that Cher girl.
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### Author:  [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2013, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-met-someone-who-didnt-know-a-really-well-known-pop-or-historical-reference/653658/99 "2013-03-24T07:00:37Z")
I’ve taught high school for 15+ years, and in a class of about 30 eleventh graders there will usually be only one or two who know who Neil Armstrong is.
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### Author:  [@Essured](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Essured)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2013, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-met-someone-who-didnt-know-a-really-well-known-pop-or-historical-reference/653658/100 "2013-03-24T07:02:06Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#):
>
> I’ve run into more than one first-world adult person who’s never seen _Star Wars_, and I once worked with someone who’d never seen any of the Indiana Jones films.
Hell, I married a guy who hasn’t seen any of the Star Wars movies, or any of the Indiana Jones movies. Or the LoTR trilogy for that matter. They just aren’t the sort of movies he’s interested in. I did persuade him to sit through a few scenes of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and he humoured me, but only for a few scenes. Just not interested in that sort of thing and honestly, I don’t think it’s that big a deal, since everyone has different interests.
Now, someone not knowing about the Holocaust, or the SS or something that is such a big deal on a global scale would shock me. Or something that had a big impact on their local area. Or a big gap missing from their surroundings (like not knowing a state in your own country for example). But something for a genre they aren’t interested in? Nope, not surprising at all.
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