# Is there any cultural reference that every American knows?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-cultural-reference-that-every-american-knows/593147
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [August 18, 2011, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-cultural-reference-that-every-american-knows/593147 "2011-08-18T12:51:13Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 6
### Author:  [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2011, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-cultural-reference-that-every-american-knows/593147/101 "2011-08-22T12:53:02Z")
just shoutouts to good ones: star spangled banner and “trick or treat”
regarding kilroy: they were teaching it in middle school when i was there roughly a decade ago.
as far as movie quotes? i think “Heeerrreee’s JOHNNYYYY” is more famous than any quote previously mentioned in the fact that people know it’s a quote and not just a statement of presence. IDing the movie? a taller order.
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### Author:  [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2011, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-cultural-reference-that-every-american-knows/593147/102 "2011-08-22T13:23:16Z")
> [@pancakes3](#):
>
> as far as movie quotes? i think “Heeerrreee’s JOHNNYYYY” is more famous than any quote previously mentioned in the fact that people know it’s a quote and not just a statement of presence. IDing the movie? a taller order.
Movie quote? It’s only a famous movie quote because it was a famous TV quote first.
And even then, I think you’d get a lot of blank faces on both nowadays.
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### Author:  [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2011, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-cultural-reference-that-every-american-knows/593147/103 "2011-08-22T14:48:15Z")
> [@TruCelt](#):
>
> We’ve got two claims of ninety-year-olds who wouldn’t know Darth Vader. I find this questionable. You do know they were only 56 when Star Wars came out, right? Do you really think no trick-or-treater has ever come to their door in a DV costume?
>
> Come to think of it, I nominate “Trick-or-Treat!” Who doesn’t know Haolloween? Even the small religious groups who are agaisnt it know what it is.
I’m not saying he’s never seen or heard of Darth Vader, just that he couldn’t identify him. I’m pretty sure if he saw a picture, he could tell you that he’s a character from a movie or tv, but I doubt he could name him or tell you it was Star Wars. If you made him guess the show, I think he’d be at least as likely to say “Star Trek” as “Star Wars.”
If you asked him who Luke’s father was, he’d tell you to look in the Bible.
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### Author:  [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2011, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-cultural-reference-that-every-american-knows/593147/104 "2011-08-22T14:54:31Z")
> [@Alan\_Smithee](#):
>
> If you asked him who Luke’s father was, he’d tell you to look in the Bible.
I don’t remember any of Luke’s family members getting a mention in the bible. Do you know where he’d suggest looking first? I can’t imagine it would be in the gospel but I can’t think of any sections of Acts where it would fit in either.
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### Author:  [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2011, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-cultural-reference-that-every-american-knows/593147/105 "2011-08-22T14:57:53Z")
> [@Ronald\_C.Semone](#):
>
> I assume, for example, that every American knows who George Washington was.
You’d be wrong. I worked a scummy summer job once in Decatur, IL. I asked this high school girl who George Washington was; she guessed that he discovered America. Her boyfriend knew that he was the first president – and that he grew hemp.
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### Author:  [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2011, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-cultural-reference-that-every-american-knows/593147/106 "2011-08-22T15:51:12Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#):
>
> I don’t remember any of Luke’s family members getting a mention in the bible. Do you know where he’d suggest looking first? I can’t imagine it would be in the gospel but I can’t think of any sections of Acts where it would fit in either.
It’s not there. But it’s what he’d think of.
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### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2011, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-cultural-reference-that-every-american-knows/593147/107 "2011-08-22T16:02:15Z")
Golden Arches
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### Author:  [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2011, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-cultural-reference-that-every-american-knows/593147/108 "2011-08-22T16:22:27Z")
Darth Vader isn’t in the bible??!!
Y’all have been reading the wrong bible. 😛
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### Author:  [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2011, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-cultural-reference-that-every-american-knows/593147/109 "2011-08-22T16:29:11Z")
> [@Mosier](#):
>
> The only other cultural reference with such universal understanding is probably the “baseball as a metaphor for sex” thing. Everyone knows that “did you reach second base?” means something relating to sex. Some people might think it refers to anything from touching over the clothes to kissing with tongue or even blowjobs, but I think most people at least understand that “second base” translates to some sort of sexual contact.
Underline mine. Non-universal actually 🙂 Someone recently explained the meaning of that baseball analogy in a GQ thread and I’m one of several foreigners who thanked that poster for that explanation.
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### Author:  [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2011, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-cultural-reference-that-every-american-knows/593147/110 "2011-08-22T16:33:45Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#):
>
> Darth Vader isn’t in the bible??!!
>
> Y’all have been reading the wrong bible. 😛
In the beginning was the Force, and the Force was in balance, and the Force was balance. And the Force became midichlorians and dwelt within us.
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### Author:  [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2011, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-cultural-reference-that-every-american-knows/593147/111 "2011-08-22T16:44:18Z")
> [@Mosier](#):
>
> …The only other cultural reference with such universal understanding is probably the “baseball as a metaphor for sex” thing. Everyone knows that “did you reach second base?” means something relating to sex. Some people might think it refers to anything from touching over the clothes to kissing with tongue or even blowjobs, but I think most people at least understand that “second base” translates to some sort of sexual contact.
> [@Nava](#):
>
> Underline mine. Non-universal actually 🙂 Someone recently explained the meaning of that baseball analogy in a GQ thread and I’m one of several foreigners who thanked that poster for that explanation.
Except when “did he get to second base” actually means “did he stretch a single into a double”. There needs to be more context to make the sexual connection unambiguous.
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### Author:  [@Tanbarkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tanbarkie)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2011, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-cultural-reference-that-every-american-knows/593147/112 "2011-08-22T17:25:49Z")
> [@Alan\_Smithee](#):
>
> In the beginning was the Force, and the Force was in balance, and the Force was balance. And the Force became midichlorians and dwelt within us.
Ugh, dude, that’s from the heretical prequel to Genesis. Everybody knows that the _real_ Bible starts with the Lord helping two droids miraculously dodge stormtrooper fire while Rebel soldiers die like flies all around them.
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### Author:  [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2011, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-cultural-reference-that-every-american-knows/593147/113 "2011-08-22T17:28:18Z")
“I’m not normally a praying man, but if you’re up there, please save me, Superman!”
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### Author:  [@ministryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ministryman)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2011, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-cultural-reference-that-every-american-knows/593147/114 "2011-08-22T18:32:26Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#):
>
> You think newborns, people in comas, and the mentally deranged count as Americans? If not, where are you drawing the lines?
Several of our former presidents qualified under those criteria.
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### Author:  [@Melysnl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melysnl)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2011, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-cultural-reference-that-every-american-knows/593147/115 "2011-08-23T23:24:40Z")
“What’s up?” is a strange question to people who didn’t grow up in America.
We use Fahrenheit instead of Celsius.
American Football!
Americans hardly know who other country’s presidents are but everyone else around the world knows who our president is.
McDonald’s, Starbucks, Playboy, Michael Jackson, and Oprah Winfrey all make me think of America.
Our restaurant portions’ sizes are huge.
Most people who have a washing machine have a dryer as well.
I recently had some job training a few months ago overseas and you could tell who was American by who had a battery operated toothbrush. ONLY Americans had them.
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### Author:  [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2011, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-cultural-reference-that-every-american-knows/593147/116 "2011-08-23T23:30:12Z")
We also wear plaid shirts with striped ties.
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### Author:  [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2011, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-cultural-reference-that-every-american-knows/593147/117 "2011-08-24T00:34:59Z")
It’s hard to believe, but there are people who just don’t absorb pop culture, nor want to. My mother was alive up to 1990, but I’m very sure she wouldn’t have the slightest idea what “Beam me up, Scotty,” “We’re not in Kansas anymore,” or “May the Force be with you” meant, since she never, ever went to the movies, and didn’t have a TV most of her life. Her experiences and friends just never approached the sources of those iconic quotes.
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### Author:  [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2011, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-cultural-reference-that-every-american-knows/593147/118 "2011-08-24T03:35:27Z")
> [@Musicat](#):
>
> It’s hard to believe, but there are people who just don’t absorb pop culture, nor want to. My mother was alive up to 1990, but I’m very sure she wouldn’t have the slightest idea what “Beam me up, Scotty,” “We’re not in Kansas anymore,” or “May the Force be with you” meant, since she never, ever went to the movies, and didn’t have a TV most of her life. Her experiences and friends just never approached the sources of those iconic quotes.
I don’t find that hard to believe at all. Well, maybe not knowing _The Wizard of Oz_, but I can still manage to believe it.
So what about Superman? Could she recognize a picture of him? If you said the name, could she tell you that he wears a cape? That he flies? Could she complete the “Look! Up in the sky!” quote?
If not, is there any pop cultural item she would know? Did she ever listen to music? Read books to her children?
What about Mickey Mouse and McDonald’s? Could she tell you anything about either of them?
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### Author:  [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2011, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-cultural-reference-that-every-american-knows/593147/119 "2011-08-24T11:48:50Z")
> [@Alan\_Smithee](#):
>
> I don’t find that hard to believe at all. Well, maybe not knowing _The Wizard of Oz_, but I can still manage to believe it.
>
> So what about Superman? Could she recognize a picture of him? If you said the name, could she tell you that he wears a cape? That he flies? Could she complete the “Look! Up in the sky!” quote?
Hard to tell for sure, as she’s dead now. But if you’ve never been to the movies and neither have your friends (movies are evil and the work of the devil), it’s not likely you will know this.
> [@](#):
>
> If not, is there any pop cultural item she would know? Did she ever listen to music? Read books to her children?
Lots of books (she was a primary grades schoolteacher), but none published by Disney or other “pop” sources. Mostly books about how God Loves You, Thornton Burgess animal stories and Noah’s Ark. News only from religious and “trusted” sources.
> [@](#):
>
> What about Mickey Mouse and McDonald’s? Could she tell you anything about either of them?
Maybe. Even those are hard to ignore.
I’m amazed at how many contemporary cultural references my neighbors don’t know in 2011, or if they’ve heard about something from CNN or NBC news, they don’t know what it is. iPad? Whatzat?
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### Author:  [@Mithras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mithras)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2011, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-cultural-reference-that-every-american-knows/593147/120 "2011-08-24T17:38:58Z")
I believe the easiest one that I don’t think has been mentioned yet is the alphabet song.
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