A cow-orker pointed out that someone had thrown a speaker into our dumpster. I put on a thick British accent and said “And it goes up to 11!” He looked at me like I had grown a pair of horns.
I was rather surprised. “It goes up to 11” is, IMHO, a relatively common movie meme, like “I am your father.” You’d think someone in his mid-20’s would be familiar with the phrase, even if he hadn’t seen the movie.
I am disappointed, but I am not surprised. The kids these days don’t know nothing. A friend complained that she got her shoes wet and I said “Those things don’t work on water, unless you’ve got power” and no one got it.
And for those that haven’t seen the movie, here is the relevant clip. Do make sure to watch it soon, this clip tends not to last that long.
Does your co-worker know there’s a fine line between stupid and clever?
I knew the phrase in the OP - great, great movie - but not the one from PSXer. I had to look it up. Then again, I haven’t seen or thought much about Back to the Future II since it came out. I saw it in the theaters and couldn’t tell you much about it now.
I am heartened by the early results of the poll.
You could ask yourself, “How much more common could this term be?” and the answer would be “None. None more common.”
Mid 20’s is too young to be readily familiar with the line.
Just asked a 23 year old co-worker…no idea.
A 35 year old beer salesmen just walked by also no idea, but I’ll call that a fluke, he was at least familiar with the movie. I’m 30 and know the movie, but I had to go out and rent it, it came out when I was 4 years old. I mostly ended up watching it because of other movies with the same group of actors (Best In Show etc). I think you’re going to have to look at the 30 and up crowd before you’ll be able to say “But it goes to 11” and have people know exactly what you’re referring to.
And while we’re talking about it.
I found myself behind this car twice in one month.
I’m tempted to do the pedant thing and say that that’s not the quote, but instead just tell you to play it again, Sam.
That’s silly. That’s like saying that the under 75 crowd is too young to be familiar with The Wizard of Oz.
Classics is classics.
My best friend is 28, and he’d not only never heard the line, he’d never seen the movie.
It is now one of his favorites 
As it should be.
Ha! I met a Derek Small last week.
Small nitpick: The actual quote is “These go to 11” - no “up to”.
And “But this goes to 11.”
I’ve got the movie, thanks to recs from WordMan and Crotalus.
It’s a fine quote.
I had a similar thing happen to me a year or two back.
There was a story on the BBC about a smaller version of Stonehenge being found.
I was reading it over the shoulder of a 20-something colleague.
Me - Ah! 18 inches high is it?
Him - No! what would be the point of that?
Me - :smack:
Good thing you didn’t say anything about it being trodden on by a dwarf. That would have really confused him.
I’m pretty sure most of my neighbors (those over 65, at least) don’t have the slightest idea what “these go to 11” means, nor have the seen the relevant movie. Just for kicks, I’m going to ask our next coffee get-together.
It’s from that Powerpuff Girls episode where the Professor won’t let Bubbles practice in the simulator if it’s set above “3,” but she sneaks in at night and sets it for “11,” right?
