# 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:** 16\ **Page:** 15
**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, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/281 "2013-10-01T15:33:34Z")
> [@sentrix](#): > > bangs definitely. a ‘bang’ in oz speak is a lay, as in sex. > > that michelle obama got bangs go figure. she looks hot. It means the same in the US. One of the meanings. Easy to figure out in context. And always available for a double entendre. ---
**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, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/282 "2013-10-01T15:46:47Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > It means the same in the US. One of the meanings. Easy to figure out in context. And always available for a double entendre. [Cite](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9d6f9j7gAdY). ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2013, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/283 "2013-10-01T16:08:07Z")
> [@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. > [@SciFiSam](#): > > Yeah, exactly the same problem. It has to be said – even in the UK it wasn’t exactly a well-loved classic car, familiar to all. ---
**Author:** ![Glazer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a88e57/32.png) [@Glazer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glazer)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2013, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/284 "2013-10-01T16:11:40Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > I hate the term over hard about as much as I think runny yolks are disgusting - I like the term Fried Hard myself. ---
**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:** [October 1, 2013, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/285 "2013-10-01T16:19:23Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > … > 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. > … It’s true - a very large percentage of the Crown Vics you see on the market are ex-police cars. Taxi companies buy a lot of these, so you see taxi stands where half the cars are ex-police Crown Vics and the rest are Mercury Grand Marquis (the slightly more upscale version made by Ford’s now-defunct Mercury marque). Many of the ex-police cars still have some police equipment on them, so taxis commonly have a movable spotlight and oodles of hard points to attach antennas and computer equipment. ---
**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:** [October 1, 2013, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/286 "2013-10-01T17:18:40Z")
> [@Glazer](#): > > I like the term Fried Hard myself. I’ve heard “hard-fried” eggs, which certainly works as an analogue to “hard-boiled.” ---
**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, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/287 "2013-10-01T18:27:08Z")
> [@WotNot](#): > > It has to be said – even in the UK it wasn’t exactly a well-loved classic car, familiar to all. True. At least it wasn’t when I read the books in the nineties. But it is still the same as me misunderstanding US car makes - it sounded like I was being sarcastic, and I wasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2013, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/288 "2013-10-01T20:43:10Z")
I’ve lived in the U.S. my entire life (68 years, today), and a whole lot of things in this thread are news to me. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2013, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/289 "2013-10-01T21:52:15Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > And her name is actually Patricia Neal. She uses Fannie Flagg as a stage name because it fits in with her public persona which plays up on her southern roots. Plus, there already was a famous [Patricia Neal](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_Neal). ---
**Author:** ![BleizDu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@BleizDu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BleizDu)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2013, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/290 "2013-10-04T23:27:14Z")
An example from this thread: > **[Redshirting Kids for Kindergarten](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=703949)** > > Hi fellow Dopers. So I came across this article: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/magazine/03kindergarten-t.html?pagewanted=all&\_r=1& That seems to advocate holding kids back a year before they start kindergarten. My son is almost 2.5... Another sport reference I didn’t get. “redshirting” But neither entries in wikipedia (redshirt in sport and redshirt in academics) explain why it’s redshirt and not yellowshirt or whatever. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2013, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/291 "2013-10-04T23:31:34Z")
> [@BleizDu](#): > > An example from this thread: > [Redshirting Kids for Kindergarten - In My Humble Opinion - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=703949) > Another sport reference I didn’t get. “redshirting” > But neither entries in wikipedia (redshirt in sport and redshirt in academics) explain why it’s redshirt and not yellowshirt or whatever. Wikipedia’s “[Redshirt (college sports)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redshirt_%28college_sports%29)” article says: > [@](#): > > According to Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged, the term redshirt comes from the red jersey commonly worn by such a player in practice scrimmages against the regulars. ---
**Author:** ![BleizDu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@BleizDu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BleizDu)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2013, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/292 "2013-10-05T06:58:57Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > Wikipedia’s “[Redshirt (college sports)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redshirt_%28college_sports%29)” article says: Thank you! I guess I’m used to etymologies being given near the beginning of wiki articles, and I must have read that article way too fast :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2013, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/293 "2013-10-05T16:29:06Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > When I was a kid I had no idea that “wash up” in America meant to wash your hands, because here it only means washing plates, cutlery etc. > > So when a mother in a TV show would tell tiny kids to wash up before dinner it was like they only washed the plates just before using them and even little kids had to do it. Sometimes multiple little kids and their older siblings or even adults had to wash the dishes before dinner. Even adults who are guests had to wash dishes before they ate. How many plates do these people have and why don’t they wash them after eating? I just ran into the opposite understanding of this in an old episode of _Ballykissangel_. One character is about to cook a meal and another offers to help. “Why don’t you wash up,” the first responds. I took this to mean that he wanted her to wash her hands as basic hygiene prior to food preparation, but he was asking her to wash the mixing bowls, utensils, and so on. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/294 "2013-10-06T00:59:56Z")
Sorry if this was mentioned already, but an Asian coworker asked me about the “copper-top” reference in the matrix. It was used as an advertising slogan for Duracell batteries, and it referes to how people still jacked into the matrix are being used as batteries. Same movie, “thiswill really bake your noodle” is a slang term for “this will make you think.” ---
**Author:** ![svd678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@svd678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/svd678)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/295 "2013-10-06T03:43:20Z")
Much of the commentary on Crown Vics has to be written by youngsters. “Back in the day” CV was the top trim line of the standard family-size Ford. Room for 3 people in the front seat, and room for adults in the back. I’m embarrassed to ask adults to ride in the back of my “full-sized”? car now. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/296 "2013-10-06T08:15:57Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > 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 And occasionally a place for small meetings. I’ve had both a performance review and a vacation-approval meeting at the cafeteria, during off hours. I’ve been in factories in France, Spain and Italy which had cafeterias, but during off-hours they were considered “closed” even if physically open - you simply didn’t think of them being there. [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=14)