# 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:** 3
**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 19, 2013, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/41 "2013-09-19T17:36:19Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > One Python reference I still do not get to this day is the one used by Eric Idle in the faux documentary where gangsters were trying to shake down the Manchester City Council (I think it was) and for the first time found themselves outclassed. > > Have I got it right? Is Manchester a particularly rough city, or is there something about the MCC that’s especially corrupt? Or have I missed the point entirely? 😕 I wouldn’t be surprised. There are jurisdictions in the US that are stereotypically corrupt - e.g. municipalities in New Jersey that guarantee lucrative contracts to Mafia-run companies, and of course the city of Chicago, where the dead vote early and often. ---
**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 19, 2013, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/42 "2013-09-19T17:54:45Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Yup, that’s him. He died 4 years ago, at age 50. Initial reports suggested his death might’ve been related to a blow to the head he’d suffered the previous day when the flight he was on had a rough landing, but it turned out to be heart disease. More related to the blow he put up his nose. ---
**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 19, 2013, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/43 "2013-09-19T19:57:58Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > I wouldn’t be surprised. There are jurisdictions in the US that are stereotypically corrupt - e.g. municipalities in New Jersey that guarantee lucrative contracts to Mafia-run companies, and of course the city of Chicago, where the dead vote early and often. “When I die, I want to be buried in Hudson County so I can remain active in politics.” Brendan Byrne, former New Jersey governor. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2013, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/44 "2013-09-19T20:29:05Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > One Python reference I still do not get to this day is the one used by Eric Idle in the faux documentary where gangsters were trying to shake down the Manchester City Council (I think it was) and for the first time found themselves outclassed. > > Have I got it right? Is Manchester a particularly rough city, or is there something about the MCC that’s especially corrupt? Or have I missed the point entirely? 😕 Missed the point entirely. It wasn’t Manchester City Council, but an [entirely different MCC.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marylebone_Cricket_Club) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 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/634017/45 "2013-09-19T20:43:46Z")
> [@WotNot](#): > > Missed the point entirely. It wasn’t Manchester City Council, but an [entirely different MCC.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marylebone_Cricket_Club) Ah-ha! Then I have two questions: (a) What about the Club would make it so daunting for gangsters to muscle in on, and (b) does everyone in Great Britain automatically associate “MCC” with Marleybone? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2013, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/46 "2013-09-19T21:42:15Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Ah-ha! Then I have two questions: (a) What about the Club would make it so daunting for gangsters to muscle in on, and (b) does everyone in Great Britain automatically associate “MCC” with Marleybone? 😕 Second question first: yes, everyone in Britain associates “The MCC” with Marylebone Cricket Club, Lords cricket ground, and (certainly when Monty Python was broadcast) the governing body for the sport of cricket. On the first question, you’re still missing the joke. There is nothing that would make the MCC daunting for gangsters. The image to have in mind is of something like an Edwardian gentlemen’s club, populated by elderly, reactionary, small-minded old buffers, whose sole purpose in life is to drink tea and quibble endlessly over the finer points of the most arcane rules of the most slow, boring and gentlemanly sport in christendom. The quote in question is this: > [@](#): > > Doug and Dinsdale Piranha now formed a gang, which the called ‘The Gang’ and used terror to take over night clubs, billiard halls, gaming casinos and race tracks. When they tried to take over the MCC they were for the only time in their lives, slit up a treat. So, you see, these violent – nay, psychotic – street criminals have successfully cowed a number of businesses which are commonly associated with, and often run by, what you might call the rougher criminal element. Yet, when they attempt to exert their influence on this most stuffy and retrograde organisation, this great bastion of English decorum and fair play, they are sliced to ribbons. Comedy! ---
**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 19, 2013, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/47 "2013-09-19T22:05:15Z")
> [@April\_R](#): > > [http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19990112](http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19990112) I wouldn’t be surprised if this is right in that “bangs” come from the horse-related term “bangtail”. There’s certainly precedent for it in hairstyles - c.f. “ponytail” and “pigtails” (sometimes colloquially “tails”). Ponytails are more or less socially acceptable for any age or gender, but if you are wearing pigtails you may be seen as trying to act like a schoolgirl (unless you are one), with implications of immaturity. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2013, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/48 "2013-09-19T22:08:07Z")
> [@WotNot](#): > > Second question first: yes, everyone in Britain associates “The MCC” with Marylebone Cricket Club, Lords cricket ground, and (certainly when Monty Python was broadcast) the governing body for the sport of cricket. > > On the first question, you’re still missing the joke. There is nothing that would make the MCC daunting for gangsters. The image to have in mind is of something like an Edwardian gentlemen’s club, populated by elderly, reactionary, small-minded old buffers, whose sole purpose in life is to drink tea and quibble endlessly over the finer points of the most arcane rules of the most slow, boring and gentlemanly sport in christendom. > > The quote in question is this: > So, you see, these violent – nay, psychotic – street criminals have successfully cowed a number of businesses which are commonly associated with, and often run by, what you might call the rougher criminal element. Yet, when they attempt to exert their influence on this most stuffy and retrograde organisation, this great bastion of English decorum and fair play, they are sliced to ribbons. > > Comedy! **[Voice of John Cleese]:** Thank you ever so much for clarifying this issue for me, but I still like my version better! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2013, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/49 "2013-09-19T22:29:27Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > **[Voice of John Cleese]:** Thank you ever so much for clarifying this issue for me, but I still like my version better! 😃 **[Also in the voice of John Cleese]:** I hope you weren’t offended by this post; I wrote it while I was drunk on my arse! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2013, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/50 "2013-09-19T22:36:55Z")
> [@Incubus](#): > > sunny side up is fried, but only cooked on one side (yolk is runny). Over easy is the same thing, but you flip the egg over and cook the other side. > > Basically its a fried egg with varying levels of yolk consistency. Yep - having been to the UK, what are standard fried eggs there is “sunny side up” here (fried, never flipped, yolk is runny and the whites are a little bit, too). “Over easy”, the way I usually like it, involves flipping the egg once but only briefly, so the yolk is runny (though a bit harder on the outside than sunny side up would be) and the egg whites are fried on both sides. “Over hard” means the yolk is fried hard all the way through, often accelerated by breaking it with a tap of the spatula after flipping it. ---
**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 19, 2013, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/51 "2013-09-19T22:51:23Z")
> [@PaulParkhead](#): > > Not TV or movies but music. I had no idea that the song by De La Soul, The Magic Number was basically sampled from Schoolhouse Rock. Apparently every American would have heard of that, but I never did. Interestingly enough, most of the poems/songs in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and Though the Looking Glass are parodies of works that were printed in schoolbooks for kids in the 1800s. He was lampooning the poems that he figured his readers were familiar with and might have had to memorize in class. We don’t feel that effect today because most of those source poems are no longer taught to kids, with the notable exception of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”. Modern readers see a set of largely original poems with one or two parodies for humor. Contemporary readers would have seen it more as a cover-to-cover Simpsons-esque lampooning of the educational system. ---
**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 19, 2013, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/52 "2013-09-19T23:03:25Z")
> [@robardin](#): > > Yep - having been to the UK, what are standard fried eggs there is “sunny side up” here (fried, never flipped, yolk is runny and the whites are a little bit, too). > > “Over easy”, the way I usually like it, involves flipping the egg once but only briefly, so the yolk is runny (though a bit harder on the outside than sunny side up would be) and the egg whites are fried on both sides. > > “Over hard” means the yolk is fried hard all the way through, often accelerated by breaking it with a tap of the spatula after flipping it. To complicate things I like my eggs over medium. Fried on both sides, cooked more than over easy less than overhard. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Woodhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@Miss\_Woodhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Woodhouse)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/53 "2013-09-20T00:01:59Z")
We can complicate the egg thing even more by tossing in basted eggs. Cooked under a cover with a teaspoon or so of water. The water steams up and cooks the eggs slightly more than sunny side up eggs, but not so much as if you flipped them over easy. It’s also easier to not break the yolk than flipping. And even though we tend to not have beans with our breakfast, we still take our eggs very seriously. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 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/634017/54 "2013-09-20T00:24:12Z")
Ah, thank you for explaining the egg thing. When we were in Los Angeles several decades ago, my husband wanted eggs for breakfast. I don’t eat eggs in any form, so no problem for me. He likes his fried but well cooked - no runniness at all. I tried to explain this to the person taking the order but was repeatedly asked whether he wanted them sunnyside up, over easy etc. No eggs were eaten that day. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/55 "2013-09-20T00:42:29Z")
> [@jabiru](#): > > Ah, thank you for explaining the egg thing. > > When we were in Los Angeles several decades ago, my husband wanted eggs for breakfast. I don’t eat eggs in any form, so no problem for me. He likes his fried but well cooked - no runniness at all. I tried to explain this to the person taking the order but was repeatedly asked whether he wanted them sunnyside up, over easy etc. No eggs were eaten that day. I’m perplexed as to why you couldn’t have asked what these terms mean. “I’m sorry. What does sunny side up or over easy mean?” If I was in a foreign country and they asked if I preferred my eggs flibbited, or podacked, I’d ask what these terms meant, rather than giving up. It’s not exactly difficult if you both speak essentially the same language. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/56 "2013-09-20T01:04:18Z")
> [@voltaire](#): > > If you find the answers in this thread interesting, you’ll probably also get a kick out of this tangentially related link: [What facts about the US do foreigners not believe until they come to America?](http://www.quora.com/How-Americans-Are-Different/What-facts-about-the-United-States-do-foreigners-not-believe-until-they-come-to-America) > > If you scroll down to “Related Questions” they ask the same question, but for various other countries. Interesting stuff. > > > [@April\_R](#): > > > > I tried to read that link but it required access to my gmail or facebook account, and that isn’t kosher. Sorry about that, I posted that from my phone and I guess that’s a loophole around their forced login, since I didn’t have to while using Opera Mini and NOT logged in to Google on my Android. But it’s a reputable forum and the gmail/facebook login \*is \*actually kosher. With such logins, you don’t actually give your login/pw to the 3rd-party site, instead it opens a window direct to gmail or facebook, you login direct to either one of them, then they transmit the fact that you logged in successfully to the 3rd-party site - they never see your password. Regardless, there is a (not so prominent) third option to login with any email address the old-school way. They try to get people to use their real names to signup, but there’s nothing (but a guilty conscience :o) preventing an alias and a burner email. The site itself is worth the bit of effort, as is the link I gave previously, but I do get why it might be too much hassle for some. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/57 "2013-09-20T01:12:45Z")
> [@jabiru](#): > > Ah, thank you for explaining the egg thing. > > When we were in Los Angeles several decades ago, my husband wanted eggs for breakfast. I don’t eat eggs in any form, so no problem for me. He likes his fried but well cooked - no runniness at all. I tried to explain this to the person taking the order but was repeatedly asked whether he wanted them sunnyside up, over easy etc. No eggs were eaten that day. Just say “Scrambled”. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/58 "2013-09-20T06:49:21Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > **[Also in the voice of John Cleese]:** I hope you weren’t offended by this post; I wrote it while I was drunk on my arse! 😃 Not at all. I was draining the dregs of a bottle of scotch, myself, at the time. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 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/634017/59 "2013-09-20T07:10:54Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I’m perplexed as to why you couldn’t have asked what these terms mean. > > “I’m sorry. What does sunny side up or over easy mean?” > > If I was in a foreign country and they asked if I preferred my eggs flibbited, or podacked, I’d ask what these terms meant, rather than giving up. It’s not exactly difficult if you both speak essentially the same language. 😕 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? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-please-share-any-us-culture-references-you-didnt-get-from-exported-american-tv-mov/634017/60 "2013-09-20T07:52:26Z")
> [@WotNot](#): > > Not at all. I was draining the dregs of a bottle of scotch, myself, at the time. 😃 **[Voice of Orson Welles]:** Great minds think alike! :dubious: [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=2) [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=4)