# 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:** 14
**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 29, 2013, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/261 "2013-09-29T14:35:13Z")
My town is pretty spread out and there really isn’t a downtown. There are only a couple of houses within easy walking distance. There are no stores within miles. Certainly no place for 2,000 students to go. It didn’t even occur to me that some schools let their kids leave campus till I heard about it after I graduated. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2013, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/262 "2013-09-29T18:34:57Z")
In a lot of the world, there isn’t such a thing as a “campus” for a University, much less for lower grades. That can make some aspects of school/college movies hard to understand. The way the educational system is organized is one of the things that people who have been wondering about something they’ve seen in movies but which wouldn’t make sense in their countries sometimes ask me about when they find out I used to TA in the US. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/263 "2013-09-30T12:11:10Z")
I remembered another significant one: car makes. The US often calls the same cars by different names to the UK, and has many cars that we just don’t have. While “he drives a Porsche” would have connotations that work internationally, many others don’t. For example, in Chuck, one of the characters loved his Crown Vic and the make of the car signified something about him. Took a fair bit of research for me to unpick that, but I think it was supposed to be obvious to Americans. ---
**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 30, 2013, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/264 "2013-09-30T12:54:03Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > In a lot of the world, there isn’t such a thing as a “campus” for a University, much less for lower grades. That can make some aspects of school/college movies hard to understand. The way the educational system is organized is one of the things that people who have been wondering about something they’ve seen in movies but which wouldn’t make sense in their countries sometimes ask me about when they find out I used to TA in the US. I used the word campus in a generic way, property that contains a school. Our high school in no way resembled a college. It’s just a building. The few high schools I’ve seen in this state which resemble college campuses are extremely expensive private schools. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/265 "2013-09-30T18:04:31Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I used the word campus in a generic way, property that contains a school. Our high school in no way resembled a college. It’s just a building. The few high schools I’ve seen in this state which resemble college campuses are extremely expensive private schools. And this is a thing that varies tremendously just across the US. In California even elementary schools commonly exist on a real campus, in the sense that they consist of multiple buildings spread across a large area. High schools are almost always like that. My wife is an elementary school teacher here in the San Francisco Bay Area, and her public school consists of maybe seven or eight buildings. Most of them are small, consisting of four or six classrooms. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/266 "2013-09-30T19:17:45Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > I remembered another significant one: car makes. The US often calls the same cars by different names to the UK, and has many cars that we just don’t have. While “he drives a Porsche” would have connotations that work internationally, many others don’t. > > For example, in Chuck, one of the characters loved his Crown Vic and the make of the car signified something about him. Took a fair bit of research for me to unpick that, but I think it was supposed to be obvious to Americans. The Ford Crown Victoria is (or was, I think they stopped making them recently) a large (by modern standards, very large) four door, rear wheel drive V8 sedan built using more traditional manufacturing techniques (e.g. it has a true underlying frame and a body built on top of this, as opposed to unibody construction like most cars nowadays). The Crown Vic is stereotypically popular among three crowds: cops, taxi drivers, and old people. Cops like it because it is powerful (gotta love that V8), RWD, cheap to repair after accidents, and has lots of space to hold prisoners, guns, and riot gear and still have enough space for a few boxes of donuts. I’ve driven one - damn that thing has a powerful engine. Mileage is pretty crappy though. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/267 "2013-09-30T23:08:39Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > …The way the educational system is organized is one of the things that people who have been wondering about something they’ve seen in movies but which wouldn’t make sense in their countries sometimes ask me about when they find out I used to TA in the US. I know that people from outside of North America tend to be bewildered by things likes the undeclared major or all the classes college students have to take that aren’t related to their degree. ---
**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 30, 2013, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/268 "2013-09-30T23:19:34Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > And this is a thing that varies tremendously just across the US. In California even elementary schools commonly exist on a real campus, in the sense that they consist of multiple buildings spread across a large area. High schools are almost always like that. > > My wife is an elementary school teacher here in the San Francisco Bay Area, and her public school consists of maybe seven or eight buildings. Most of them are small, consisting of four or six classrooms. Yeah there was a discussion here about the open plan of California schools that are seen on TV. Outside doors and no hallways. That is unheard of here. But then again it would be difficult to have that in an area that could have snow through a good part of the school year. Our high school started off as one building. There was a big population boom in the 70s so a second building had to be built, doubling the size. So some kids had to trudge across a parking lot in all weather. But the latest renovation included an addition connecting the two buildings. Now its one building again. ---
**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 30, 2013, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/269 "2013-09-30T23:23:50Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > The Crown Vic is stereotypically popular among three crowds: cops, taxi drivers, and old people. You forgot douchebag wannbes. Old people are usually seen in the Mercury equivalent, the Grand Marquis. The new Ford police interceptor is based on the newest version of the Ford Taurus. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2013, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/270 "2013-10-01T00:24:12Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > You forgot douchebag wannbes. Old people are usually seen in the Mercury equivalent, the Grand Marquis. Wannabe what? Taxi drivers? (Confused) ---
**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:** [October 1, 2013, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/271 "2013-10-01T00:50:34Z")
> [@robardin](#): > > Wannabe what? Taxi drivers? (Confused) Yes. Wannabe taxi divers. Wannabe cops. People who like driving in a car that makes others worry that there is an unmarked police car behind them on the highway. Other drivers tend to move out of the way. Since it wasn’t a particularly popular car to the general public, many are retired police cars. Ford stopped making them completely for the public in 2007 and continued to make police cars for until recently. I’m not saying all who own a Crown Vic are like that. Some just like a bigger car. But the original post said something about it being short hand in popular culture for a type of person. I barely remember it in _Chuck_ or what it was supposed to represent there. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2013, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/272 "2013-10-01T08:51:21Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Yes. Wannabe taxi divers. > > Wannabe cops. People who like driving in a car that makes others worry that there is an unmarked police car behind them on the highway. Other drivers tend to move out of the way. Since it wasn’t a particularly popular car to the general public, many are retired police cars. Ford stopped making them completely for the public in 2007 and continued to make police cars for until recently. > > I’m not saying all who own a Crown Vic are like that. Some just like a bigger car. But the original post said something about it being short hand in popular culture for a type of person. I barely remember it in _Chuck_ or what it was supposed to represent there. On a business trip to the states with four colleagues, The USA-ian amongst us was put in charge of hiring the car and he decided to treat us to a slice of USA life by renting a behemoth of the Crown Vic ilk with massive bonnet (hood), massive boot (trunk) and fuck-all (fuck-all) actual room inside. It looked ridiculous from afar and as we tramped across the Avis lot I couldn’t resist the temptation to hum the intro to [“Sabotage”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__zoCMZVN9w). They didn’t get the reference. ---
**Author:** ![sentrix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac8455/32.png) [@sentrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sentrix)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2013, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/273 "2013-10-01T11:57:00Z")
bangs definitely. a ‘bang’ in oz speak is a lay, as in sex. that michelle obama got bangs go figure. she looks hot. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2013, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/274 "2013-10-01T12:45:15Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > It took me ages to work out what a nickle and dime actually were worth. It’s generally obvious from context that they’re small, not very valuable coins, but the actual number of cents they represent? No need to say, everyone knows that! Nobody in the 21st century uses it this way, but the dime is actually its own unit, not just a number of cents. The dollar is divided into ten dimes the same way it’s divided into one hundred cents and one thousand mills. (I think the eagle was a unit too. It was/is ten dollars.) I don’t think dimes _ever_ caught on as units of account, actually. It’s used for the physical coin, and a colloquial expression of its value (“one thin dime”), but I don’t think there were ever price tags advertising something as costing “3 dimes,” or contracts obligating someone to pay “eight dollars and six dimes” for something, even though it would be technically correct. I think sometimes you see the odd mill in paperwork. Nickel is pure slang, though. It’s from back when nickel coinage was a novelty and not the standard. (The nickel replaced the silver “half dime.”) ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2013, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/275 "2013-10-01T12:59:24Z")
> [@Eliahna](#): > > They tried to explain repeatedly “well cooked - no runniness at all” and the people they were speaking to were apparently unable to translate that in their heads to the appropriate terminology. Could people that thick really be expected to give a concise explanation of what sunny side up vs over easy means? I’m American and I order my “over hard” eggs all the time as “I don’t want ANY runny yolk. Fry them, break the yolk, and flip it, cook it through.” I hate the term over hard about as much as I think runny yolks are disgusting - and over hard is a term that doesn’t actually seem to get used much - when I have used it, its 50-50 on if I get a blank stare. Never had a problem ---
**Author:** ![sentrix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac8455/32.png) [@sentrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sentrix)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2013, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/276 "2013-10-01T13:24:15Z")
personally. i like my eggs unferitilized. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2013, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/277 "2013-10-01T13:52:09Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > In the case of a big state university like the ones mentioned, the _institution_ may be quite prestigious because of the important research that is done there, faculty members who are experts in their fields and have published important books and articles, etc. But none of this is necessarily relevant to the education you’d receive as an undergraduate. At the University of Minnesota it depends a lot on when you went and what program you were in. I had undergrad classes of eight to ten people taught by tenured professors. I have a friend who went on to get his PhD from MIT - he was treated as a graduate student within his major in terms of his ability to access classes and work on research (he was really, really bright). When I was there originally, the General College was still open - the University of Minnesota at that point had a mandate to accept all Minnesota residents who had a high school diploma - the GC was set up as a transitional school for students who weren’t necessarily college material to give it a try. GC has, I believe, since been dropped and those students are moved into the community college system to see if they can be successful. Few from the community college system will be successful enough to transfer in to finish their four years at the U of M - but the State University system (Metropolitan State in the Twin Cities) will probably take them if they have been able to pass community college coursework. The University of Minnesota accepts 50% of the applicants now with a ACT composite range of 25-30. Mac’s is 37% with a ACT range of 29/32 (My husband is a Macalaster alum). 70% of people who apply get into Hamline (private university), ACT range of 21/27. (For reference, Harvard accepts less than 6% of its applicants and you need an ACT score in the 30s to even be considered). In general in the U.S. each state will have a flagship school - usually designated a University (which usually, but not always, means it offers graduate degrees) - and usually several smaller four year or four year plus graduate schools (either designated colleges or universities) that have lesser admission requirements. They will also have two year “community” colleges - which are semi transitional and trade or tech schools. There are private versions of universities, colleges and tech and trade schools - some accredited, some not, some for profit and some not. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2013, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/278 "2013-10-01T14:37:09Z")
> [@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. Additionally at workplaces it has both to do with American Work Ethic and American Laziness. Management likes to put a cafeteria in the building to make it easy for people who didn’t pack lunch (laziness) to grab lunch quickly. People often eat at their desks. Its supports the American idea of a work ethic that you can grab lunch in ten minutes and eat it at your desk while answering email. At the same time, the cafeteria becomes a place to hang out - the American laziness kicking in - it a break room, a spot to have a cup of coffee. A place you can escape from your boss or your coworkers for a bit - or a place where your boss and coworkers can go to get away from that desk you ate lunch at. But in the U.S. your laziness needs to be cloaked in work ethic if you are trying to get ahead - you need to go grab a cup of coffee to make you more alert, you take the TPS report up to the cafeteria to “look” at it. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2013, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/279 "2013-10-01T14:39:20Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > I remembered another significant one: car makes. The US often calls the same cars by different names to the UK, and has many cars that we just don’t have. While “he drives a Porsche” would have connotations that work internationally, many others don’t. > > For example, in Chuck, one of the characters loved his Crown Vic and the make of the car signified something about him. Took a fair bit of research for me to unpick that, but I think it was supposed to be obvious to Americans. As an American, I never, ever got the joke of Ford Prefect’s name from the Hitchhiker’s Guide series until someone explained it to me years later. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2013, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/280 "2013-10-01T15:24:27Z")
> [@delphica](#): > > As an American, I never, ever got the joke of Ford Prefect’s name from the Hitchhiker’s Guide series until someone explained it to me years later. Yeah, exactly the same problem. [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=13) [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=15)