# Non-US Dopers: Please Share Any US Culture References You Didn't \*Get\* from Exported American TV/Mov **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 7, 2012, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017 "2012-09-07T18:05:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![DataX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DataX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataX)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/241 "2013-09-27T07:36:09Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Yes, but when it comes to reading things set in earlier english time periods, they don’t usually lay out the coinage system. It took quite a lot of reading as a child before I figured out the relationships between the coins, the difference between a sovereign, a guinea and a quid and so on. Yes - and everything an American would read written by a British person in school is pre decimal - hence the confusion. ---
**Author:** ![Cinnamon\_Imp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Imp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Imp)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/242 "2013-09-27T07:38:37Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > So what nickname _do_ you use for people named Randolph In some places, [Dolph](http://www.dolphlundgren.com/). ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/243 "2013-09-27T08:17:29Z")
In my entire school district, there was no place to buy food other than (maybe) one convenience store and a restaurant too far from the school buildings to walk to (and not serving anything that could be carried out). It was in a rural area with a couple of towns of less than 400 people in them. The nearest place to buy food was six miles away in one direction or (more likely) fifteen miles away in the other direction. There was no downtown to walk to. You had no choice except to bring everything you wanted to eat yourself or to eat in the cafeteria. ---
**Author:** ![Huvudtvatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Huvudtvatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huvudtvatt)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/244 "2013-09-27T11:00:42Z")
> [@Cinnamon\_Imp](#): > > In some places, [Dolph](http://www.dolphlundgren.com/). His name wasn’t Randolph though, He was born Hans Lundgren and he picked the stage name Dolph after some 1920’s football player. ---
**Author:** ![Arch\_Trout](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9f8e36/32.png) [@Arch\_Trout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arch_Trout)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/245 "2013-09-27T11:21:22Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > a “frugal fanny” would be a TIGHT Arse… > > Otherwise known as Scottish… :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/246 "2013-09-27T12:24:16Z")
> [@Cinnamon\_Imp](#): > > In some places, [Dolph](http://www.dolphlundgren.com/). Who, according to his website, just finished shooting for _Exependables 3_. Okay, he’s not a native English speaker. But he always makes such a point out of how well educated he is. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/247 "2013-09-27T12:36:18Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > “Over easy” is not the definition - it is the term to be defined. The part in red is the definition. > > You cannot use a term to define itself. How about fastball? I concede I overstated my point. I’ll qualify it better. Over Easy is a term which is much more literal, descriptive and easier to define than most American English idioms. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/248 "2013-09-27T12:41:53Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > What you are calling a college, I would term a Faculty (eg: Engineering Faculty) except of course, our university had a Teacher’s College - which was in some way affiliated, but also under different management on a different site than the “main” university The “Americans calling all educational establishments ‘school’” is definitely confusing and I’m not sure there’s a parallel which immediately springs to mind between what **Hippy Hollow** describes as a “College” and anything similar in the Antipodes. In my experience here, colleges tend to be one of two things: Training organisations smaller than a TAFE (Technical And Further Education institute)/Polytech, or private high schools who want to sound posh. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/249 "2013-09-27T14:07:53Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > TO some of us, the whole idea of a school cafeteria is alien full stop. I’ve never heard of a New Zealand school that had a cafeteria - a tuck shop, maybe - but that would be all. I think the reason that school cafeterias are typical in the U.S. is the [National School Lunch Program](http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/Lunch/AboutLunch/ProgramHistory_4.htm), which dates back to the Great Depression years of the 1930s and was designed to help both low-income students and farmers. > [@](#): > > Much of the production of the farm went begging for a market, surpluses of farm products continued to mount, prices of farm products declined to a point where farm income provided only a meager subsistence. Millions of school children were unable to pay for their school lunches, and with but limited family resources to provide meals at home, the danger of malnutrition among children became a national concern. Federal assistance became essential, and Congressional action was taken in 1935 to aid both agriculture and the school lunch program. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/250 "2013-09-27T15:32:16Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > How about fastball? > > I concede I overstated my point. I’ll qualify it better. Over Easy is a term which is much more literal, descriptive and easier to define than most American English idioms. It’s still not self-evident, and stating it again and again and again does still not define it. And fastball is not self-evident either: there is nothing in the term which indicates where is it from, or that it refers to a throw (it’s a throw right?) and not to an object, plus there are many places where a fast ball would refer to one that’s been kicked or slammed… or were you talking about the cocktail? ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/251 "2013-09-27T16:10:55Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > It’s still not self-evident, and stating it again and again and again does still not define it. And fastball is not self-evident either: there is nothing in the term which indicates where is it from, or that it refers to a throw (it’s a throw right?) and not to an object, plus there are many places where a fast ball would refer to one that’s been kicked or slammed… or were you talking about the cocktail? Like I restated its very literal, descriptive and easy to explain. I conceded that it wasn’t totally self evident. I can explain it by adding one word. Fastball: ball thrown fast. That is not possible with many other idioms. Raining cats and dogs. Kick the bucket. Bought the farm. Cold turkey. Those are as far from self-evident as they possibly can and just about every American would have difficulty telling you why those expression mean what they mean. ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/252 "2013-09-27T17:30:40Z")
I remember watching the sitcom A Different World (which was a spin-off of the Cosby Show). The show depicted life at an American college, and for the life of me, I couldn’t understand why soldiers in uniform were part of the main cast and would be present on a daily basis at a civilian educational institution. Only later did I learn about ROTC, so this actually made sense. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/253 "2013-09-27T17:46:19Z")
Yeah, [fastball](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fastball) is the most common overhand pitch in baseball. It’s a straight-forward pitch, as opposed to knuckleballs, curve balls, [etc](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitch_(baseball)#Changeups). Slowballs are occasionally thrown to mix things up, hoping to trick the batter into swinging too soon. Softball is both a different game, similar to baseball, and the bigger, softer ball that’s used. In softball, pitchers can only pitch underhand. So by a back formation, like calling regular mail ‘snail mail’ once email was a possibility, regular baseball can also be called hardball. ---
**Author:** ![Ken001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/43a26b/32.png) [@Ken001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ken001)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2013, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/254 "2013-09-28T06:35:52Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I think the reason that school cafeterias are typical in the U.S. is the [National School Lunch Program](http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/Lunch/AboutLunch/ProgramHistory_4.htm), which dates back to the Great Depression years of the 1930s and was designed to help both low-income students and farmers. Very interesting. I think British schools also have cafeterias funded by the local councils. ---
**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:** [September 28, 2013, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/255 "2013-09-28T07:10:43Z")
To tie together both the humor in the name Randy and the game of baseball, there is a recently retired American baseball player named Randy Johnson. “Johnson” is also a slang name for the penis. Johnson stands about 6’7", and is also known as the “Big Unit” because of his height. “Unit” is also slang for the penis. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2013, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/256 "2013-09-28T08:53:07Z")
I was trying to come up with a reason that cafeterias are apparently more common in the U.S. than in other English-speaking countries. But, first, note that the common British term for them is canteen or refectory. Second, note that the cafeteria as a type of restaurant was apparently more common in the U.S., particularly in the South and perhaps the Midwest, up to the 1980’s, although they’ve gone out of fashion recently. Third, maybe I’m just wrong about cafeterias being more common in the U.S.: > **[Cafeteria](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cafeteria)** > > A cafeteria, sometimes called a canteen outside the U.S. and Canada, is a type of food service location in which there is little or no waiting staff table service, whether a restaurant or within an institution such as a large office building or school; a school dining location is also referred to as a dining hall or lunchroom (in American English). Cafeterias are different from coffeehouses, although the English term came from the Spanish term cafetería, which carries the same meaning. > Instea... I think the commonness of cafeterias associated with various institutions (educational institutions at various levels, workplaces, etc.) has to do with the American habit of sticking large institutions where people spend their entire day out in the middle of nowhere. I think it’s just more common in the U.S. to put those educational institutions and workplaces somewhere that it’s impossible to walk to any restaurants or other places to buy food. But maybe I’m wrong about that too. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2013, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/257 "2013-09-28T16:38:12Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > I think the commonness of cafeterias associated with various institutions (educational institutions at various levels, workplaces, etc.) has to do with the American habit of sticking large institutions where people spend their entire day out in the middle of nowhere. I think it’s just more common in the U.S. to put those educational institutions and workplaces somewhere that it’s impossible to walk to any restaurants or other places to buy food. But maybe I’m wrong about that too. Some of the schools I attended were close to fast food places and others weren’t, but it’s my recollection that in elementary and middle school we weren’t allowed to just go off on our own during lunch anyway. This was in the 1980s and 1990s. I’ve heard of people who were in school before that time walking home for lunch if they lived nearby, but I suspect that by the '80s too many parents were worried about their kids being kidnapped by pedophiles and Satanists to be comfortable with the schools allowing kids to leave during lunch. One school I went to was also on a fairly busy street, so there’d presumably be concerns about kids being hit by cars if they were allowed to go off unsupervised. IIRC even at the first high school I attended there was some sort of rule limiting who could leave campus during lunch – maybe only seniors? I changed to a different school after a year, and at my second school we were free to go wherever we wanted for lunch. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2013, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/258 "2013-09-28T17:08:57Z")
I remember in high school I had these friends who were from Northern Ireland, and they told me that the REM song “Losing My Religion” made a big stir as being anti-religion and had been denounced (and maybe even banned from radio stations?). They were startled to learn it was a southern expression meaning “losing my cool/flipping out/getting really pissed off about something.” Christianity directs you to turn the other cheek/a soft word turneth away wrath, etc., When you “lose your religion” you did, or are about to do, something unChristian in that sense. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2013, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/259 "2013-09-28T17:23:43Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > This was in the 1980s and 1990s. I’ve heard of people who were in school before that time walking home for lunch if they lived nearby, but I suspect that by the '80s too many parents were worried about their kids being kidnapped by pedophiles and Satanists to be comfortable with the schools allowing kids to leave during lunch. I went to grade school in the 60s and 70s when plenty of students went home for lunch. In fact, in my school everyone had to leave for lunch except for the couple of kids with widowed parents. Because you see, “everyone else” had a mother at home (who BTW could pick up the five or six year old who was too young to walk alone or those who had to cross a busy street).Even though we really didn’t all have a mother at home - it was especially difficult during the years my mother was a crossing guard and we ate lunch in her car. I think the prevalence of mothers working outside the home had more to do with the change than Satanists. In a school of 800 ,mine was literally the only family with a married, employed mother and there were only one or two employed divorced mothers. ``` In high school, we couldn't leave for lunch but I think that had more to do with the logistics of students entering and leaving constantly than anything else. There were 4000 students who would begin their day anywhere between first and third period, have lunch between third and seventh period and leave for the day between fourth and tenth period. ``` ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2013, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/260 "2013-09-29T12:05:48Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > IIRC even at the first high school I attended there was some sort of rule limiting who could leave campus during lunch – maybe only seniors? I changed to a different school after a year, and at my second school we were free to go wherever we wanted for lunch. At my high school the only people officially allowed to leave school for lunch were those who lived in the immediate area and were going home for lunch (and had permission from their parents), and Seventh Formers. There were plenty of shops and food places near my high school so even in sixth form we used to head out for lunch sometimes, even though technically we (my friends and I) weren’t supposed to. By seventh form we basically went out for lunch every day, at least partly on principle. Besides, it’s far cooler to spend your lunch hours in a local cafe discussing movies, popular culture, girls etc than it is to be doing the same thing under a shady tree near the playing fields - at least when you’re 17/18. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017.md?page=14)