Non-US Dopers: Please Share Any US Culture References You Didn't *Get* from Exported American TV/Mov

[Loach]

@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.

[Loach]

@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.

[WotNot]

@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.

[Glazer]

@Dangerosa

I hate the term over hard about as much as I think runny yolks are disgusting -

I like the term Fried Hard myself.

[robert_columbia]

@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.

[Thudlow_Boink]

@Glazer

I like the term Fried Hard myself.

I’ve heard “hard-fried” eggs, which certainly works as an analogue to “hard-boiled.”

[SciFiSam]

@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.

[panache45]

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.

[panache45]

@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.

[BleizDu]

An example from this thread:

Redshirting Kids for Kindergarten

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.

[Lamia]

@BleizDu

An example from this thread:
Redshirting Kids for Kindergarten - In My Humble Opinion - Straight Dope Message Board
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)” 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.

[BleizDu]

@Lamia

Wikipedia’s “Redshirt (college sports)” 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:

[Miss_Mapp]

@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.

[Superhal]

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.”

[svd678]

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.

[Nava]

@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.