# Have you met someone who didn't know a really well-known pop or historical reference?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:** 9
### Author:  [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2013, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-met-someone-who-didnt-know-a-really-well-known-pop-or-historical-reference/653658/161 "2013-03-26T19:43:54Z")
I’ve read this thread through, and the only reference I didn’t get was the pro wrestling joke. Had to google it.
I don’t know whether to be proud or concerned that I’ve wasted my life.
This morning, a friend of mine who has been a guitarist in several local bands (including an 80s cover band) did not know the song “Rocket” by Def Leppard. He was probably in college when it came out. I didn’t believe he’d never heard it, so I pulled it up on Spotify. He’d legitimately never heard it.
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### Author:  [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2013, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-met-someone-who-didnt-know-a-really-well-known-pop-or-historical-reference/653658/162 "2013-03-26T19:52:46Z")
> [@Sister\_Vigilante](#):
>
> A married couple who are friends of ours invited us over, and their son answered the door in a Darth Vader costume. I’m a huge fan so I mentioned to him something about his fatherhood of a certain couple of people. Blank stare. Dad: “He hasn’t seen the original trilogy.” :eek: Not only did I just spoil the entire thing for a 7 year old kid, but he was wearing a Darth Vader costume based on 3 seconds of footage in Part III? WTF?
If it makes you feel better, Episode III has the Skywalker babies get helpfully identified as “Luke” and “Leia” before the latter infant gets handed off to Organa and the former infant gets handed off to Owen and Beru – smack dab in the middle of a Tatooine desert, complete with two suns in the sky.
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### Author:  [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2013, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-met-someone-who-didnt-know-a-really-well-known-pop-or-historical-reference/653658/163 "2013-03-26T19:52:51Z")
> [@Shakes](#):
>
> Fair enough, but I wasn’t laughing at nobody. And in my defence, my first Google reference for Yosemite Sam came up as Yo Sammity Sam.
You googled Yosemite Sam and it came up as Sammity? Are we using the same googles?
> [@Leaffan](#):
>
> I’ve never googled this either. Really, what is it? Do they drink pee from a cup or something?
> [@hajario](#):
>
> If only.
Still rather watch that than 1 guy 1 cup. Don’t google this either.
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### Author:  [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2013, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-met-someone-who-didnt-know-a-really-well-known-pop-or-historical-reference/653658/164 "2013-03-26T19:57:23Z")
I met a young woman a couple of years ago, perhaps 18-19 years of age, who had never heard of ‘Puff the Magic Dragon’ in any context.
At the time I blamed her homeschooling. Without regular exposure to a same-age cohort, I imagine a lot of things fall through the cracks. I may well be wrong.
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### Author:  [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2013, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-met-someone-who-didnt-know-a-really-well-known-pop-or-historical-reference/653658/165 "2013-03-26T19:58:14Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#):
>
> If it makes you feel better, Episode III has the Skywalker babies get helpfully identified as “Luke” and “Leia” before the latter infant gets handed off to Organa and the former infant gets handed off to Owen and Beru – smack dab in the middle of a Tatooine desert, complete with two suns in the sky.
Yes but now when he watches Part IV, he’ll say to himself, “Luke, Leia? Two suns? Nooooooooooooooooooooo”
If he remembers.
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### Author:  [@OurLordPeace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OurLordPeace)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2013, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-met-someone-who-didnt-know-a-really-well-known-pop-or-historical-reference/653658/166 "2013-03-26T20:02:31Z")
The person I referred to earlier who had never heard of the SS also had never heard the phrase “[something]- industrial complex.”
_Star Wars_ and alternative rock have played huge roles in my life. About the latter, I should stop being surprised when I encounter reminders that it actually is alternative. It’s not just about people not knowing of certain artists (does anyone know the origin of my username?), but more importantly ignorance of broader cultural ramifications. For instance, I’m still dismayed at those who don’t realize that a huge strain of punk rock culture is highly socio-political, and fiercely (even violently) opposed to racism, sexism, homophobia, classism, and all the other manifestations of structural violence that pervade and in fact constitute the culture against which punks rebel.
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### Author:  [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2013, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-met-someone-who-didnt-know-a-really-well-known-pop-or-historical-reference/653658/167 "2013-03-26T20:17:41Z")
From this thread:
I really didn’t know what “second breakfast” was, though on reflection I recall having heard of it from some of my Tolkien-influenced friends.
If I heard The Smiths or Morrissey playing, I couldn’t ID them, despite having multiple girlfriends and coworkers who were into them at some level. Likewise Ke$ha. I’ve seen some internet commentary about what a horrible person she is, but I wouldn’t know any of her music.
I couldn’t look at two people playing Minecraft and World of Warcraft and tell which was which.
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### Author:  [@OurLordPeace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OurLordPeace)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2013, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-met-someone-who-didnt-know-a-really-well-known-pop-or-historical-reference/653658/168 "2013-03-26T20:31:51Z")
As both a historical and a current reference, why do so many Americans know so little, and/or have the completely wrong idea, about anarchism? “Anarchist group/organization/federation etc.” is not an oxymoron. It seems to be an understood political term in Europe, Latin America, and elsewhere, but that context is so often lost on people here.
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2013, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-met-someone-who-didnt-know-a-really-well-known-pop-or-historical-reference/653658/169 "2013-03-26T21:01:31Z")
Case 1:
In the late 90s, I worked with a woman who grew up in Slovenia, and emigrated to the U.S. as an adult. She asked several of us to recommend books, movies, etc., which we felt were big touchstones for American culture. I recommended that she watch _Star Wars_ (I even loaned her a VHS tape of it), but she refused, saying, “that just looks so stupid.”
Fast-forward to 2012. I reconnected with her via Facebook, and learned that she’s now married, with two kids. And, she’s now a big _Star Wars_ fan, in large part because her son is hugely into it.
Case 2:
Just after getting out of college, I briefly dated a young woman who had, as far as I could determine, lived a _very_ sheltered life. She spent some time as a teenager in a psychiatric hospital. She only attended college for a short time, lived with her parents, never got a driver’s license, etc. Some of our conversations were very odd, because there were certain basic concepts that she simply didn’t get. The example which still sticks in my mind:
Me: “It’s about 5 miles away from here.”
Her: “Ummm…how far is that?”
Me: “You mean, how far is a mile?”
Her: “Yes, exactly. I never really understood that.”
Me: “A mile is 5280 feet.”
Her: “Hmmm, that doesn’t really help me picture it.”
Me: “OK, picture this…you’re riding in a car, on the highway. A mile is about how far the car goes in a minute.”
Her: “OK, that makes sense to me!”
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### Author:  [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2013, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-met-someone-who-didnt-know-a-really-well-known-pop-or-historical-reference/653658/170 "2013-03-26T21:14:49Z")
> [@StusBlues](#):
>
> I met a young woman a couple of years ago, perhaps 18-19 years of age, who had never heard of ‘Puff the Magic Dragon’ in any context.
>
> At the time I blamed her homeschooling. Without regular exposure to a same-age cohort, I imagine a lot of things fall through the cracks. I may well be wrong.
I wouldn’t blame homeschooling. I’m a public high school teacher, and once or twice in the past 10-15 years I’ve referred to _Puff the Magic Dragon_ and none of my students had any idea what I was talking about.
Someone my age? Sure, I’d probably expect them to remember _Puff_. I grew up in the 70s and 80s, so I remember (fondly) watching the animated special on TV once a year. And of course the song is from many years prior to that. But I haven’t seen or even heard of either (on radio or TV) in many, many years.
Someone who was 19 a couple of years ago? I would honestly be surprised if very many people under 30 these days are familiar with _Puff the Magic Dragon_ at all.
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### Author:  [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2013, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-met-someone-who-didnt-know-a-really-well-known-pop-or-historical-reference/653658/171 "2013-03-26T21:31:53Z")
I remember _Puff, the Magic Dragon._ I even remember the urban myth that the song is about getting high. I totally dug that scene between Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro in _Meet the Parents._
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### Author:  [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2013, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-met-someone-who-didnt-know-a-really-well-known-pop-or-historical-reference/653658/172 "2013-03-26T21:36:15Z")
> [@OurLordPeace](#):
>
> As both a historical and a current reference, why do so many Americans know so little, and/or have the completely wrong idea, about anarchism? “Anarchist group/organization/federation etc.” is not an oxymoron. It seems to be an understood political term in Europe, Latin America, and elsewhere, but that context is so often lost on people here.
For the same reason a lot of non Americans don’t have a clue about what could be a libertarian, I guess. Not part of the local political culture.
And anyway, few Europeans would know what Anarchists stand for, either, and I’m pretty sure a lot of them would state that “Anarchist federation” is an oxymoron too. I’m affraid you’re in a small minority, regardless of your country, if you have some knowledge about anarchism.
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### Author:  [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2013, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-met-someone-who-didnt-know-a-really-well-known-pop-or-historical-reference/653658/173 "2013-03-26T21:46:10Z")
By the way, I’m not into pop culture, and I’m probably more familiar with the names of American TV celebrities, say anchormen, (from reading those names here) than with French ones (I think I didn’t watch TV once during the last month).
I find it weird that people expect such a knowledge, in fact. I’ve read and watched Lord of the Rings many times, for instance, but I’m well aware that most of the population did not, and I wouldn’t expect anybody to know who Gandalf is, let alone to be familiar with a reference as obscure as “second breakfast”.
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### Author:  [@Tess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tess)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2013, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-met-someone-who-didnt-know-a-really-well-known-pop-or-historical-reference/653658/174 "2013-03-26T22:44:32Z")
My mother was speaking to a classroom of middle schoolers and mentioned Peter Pan.
Nothing but blank stares from the kids. Not one of them got it.
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### Author:  [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2013, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-met-someone-who-didnt-know-a-really-well-known-pop-or-historical-reference/653658/175 "2013-03-27T00:00:35Z")
nm
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2013, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-met-someone-who-didnt-know-a-really-well-known-pop-or-historical-reference/653658/176 "2013-03-27T00:01:06Z")
Just remembered this one: I once had a coworker who didn’t remember anything from the 60s. Now, we worked together in the mid-80s, and the guy was around 50. So during the decade of the 60s, he was 25-35. He didn’t remember any of the assassinations, hippies, Viet Nam, Beatles, or anything else from that decade.
The rest of us concluded that he had spent the 60s in a mental institution.
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2013, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-met-someone-who-didnt-know-a-really-well-known-pop-or-historical-reference/653658/177 "2013-03-27T00:09:06Z")
> [@Shoeless](#):
>
> A couple of weeks ago, after the new Pope was elected, my wife mentioned that he had taken his name after St Francis of Assisi.
>
> Me: “Are you sure?”
> Wife: “How many other Francises are there?”
> Me: “I don’t know… I thought maybe it was the mule.”
> Wife: “The what?”
> Me: “The mule.”
> Wife: “What mule?”
> Me: “Francis the talking mule?”
> Wife: “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
> Me: “You know, ‘Francis Joins The Army’? ‘Francis Goes To College’?”
>
> Apparently my wife spent a lot less time in her youth watching Saturday afternoon movies than I did.
When I heard the Pope’s choice of a name, the first thing I thought of was “Does this guy know how many people associate that name with a mule?”
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2013, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-met-someone-who-didnt-know-a-really-well-known-pop-or-historical-reference/653658/178 "2013-03-27T00:26:47Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#):
>
> Me: “It’s about 5 miles away from here.”
> Her: “Ummm…how far is that?”
> Me: “You mean, how far is a mile?”
> Her: “Yes, exactly. I never really understood that.”
> Me: “A mile is 5280 feet.”
> Her: “Hmmm, that doesn’t really help me picture it.”
> Me: “OK, picture this…you’re riding in a car, on the highway. A mile is about how far the car goes in a minute.”
> Her: “OK, that makes sense to me!”
I have the same problem with weights. Americans use pounds. I don’t know how much a pound, or multiple pounds, is. We use metric, i.e. kilograms here, and I don’t know how much multiple kilos are. It’s just something I cannot picture.
Strangely it hasn’t really been a problem that’s interfered with my daily life.
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### Author:  [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2013, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-met-someone-who-didnt-know-a-really-well-known-pop-or-historical-reference/653658/179 "2013-03-27T02:40:23Z")
> [@Tess](#):
>
> My mother was speaking to a classroom of middle schoolers and mentioned Peter Pan.
>
> Nothing but blank stares from the kids. Not one of them got it.
Not at all the same thing, but I was in a university literature class, and mentioned “The Admirable Crichton” and nobody knew what it meant.
(James Barrie’s second most famous play!)
I later turned it into an awful pun: knowing this is an admirable criterion.
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### Author:  [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2013, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-met-someone-who-didnt-know-a-really-well-known-pop-or-historical-reference/653658/180 "2013-03-27T02:43:45Z")
People less than 18 years old don’t know anything about anything that was before they were dumped into this suffering earth.
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