# Non-US Dopers, what mentions of contemporary American culture puzzle you? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 12, 2006, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-what-mentions-of-contemporary-american-culture-puzzle-you/383858 "2006-12-12T19:42:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 26
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-what-mentions-of-contemporary-american-culture-puzzle-you/383858/501 "2007-01-02T14:16:13Z")
Okay, seriously…you guys are speaking English, right? ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-what-mentions-of-contemporary-american-culture-puzzle-you/383858/502 "2007-01-02T14:28:02Z")
[QUOTE=Least Original User Name Ever] Okay, seriously…you guys are speaking English, right? [/QUOTE] Yes. I think that’s the problem. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-what-mentions-of-contemporary-american-culture-puzzle-you/383858/503 "2007-01-02T14:29:31Z")
[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog] Embankment. I’ve got you huffed on a demi-strile. ID [/QUOTE] Rotherhithe. (Diagonals are void, aren’t they?) ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-what-mentions-of-contemporary-american-culture-puzzle-you/383858/504 "2007-01-02T14:32:23Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] Rotherhithe. (Diagonals are void, aren’t they?) [/QUOTE] Sheesh. Why didn’t you tell me we were playing Goldsborough-Thompson rules? I wasn’t expecting my Bank Holiday blue token play to be in any way controversial. As you wish. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-what-mentions-of-contemporary-american-culture-puzzle-you/383858/505 "2007-01-02T14:39:32Z")
Listen, you guys, since this is a thread about “American culture for non-US’ers”, if you’re going to start tossing around funny terms from _wherever_, could you kindly explain? And btw, Bank Holidays are one of those concepts that most of us furriners have problems with. In most countries, banks only close on days that are holidays for everybody. Same with American Government Holidays: they’re not a “country shuts down” kind of holiday, like they’d be in most countries, but merely a " federal government offices shut down" kind of holiday. So not a holiday at all unless you’re a federal office worker. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-what-mentions-of-contemporary-american-culture-puzzle-you/383858/506 "2007-01-02T14:46:43Z")
Sorry for hijacking this thread. I originally demanded that it be flown to Cuba, but **GorillaMan** (correctly) pointed out that doing so would take me south of the river, and that would place me directly off-fotheringhammed unless I had a comissioner’s exemption. Apologies. It was truly a schoolboy error on my part. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-what-mentions-of-contemporary-american-culture-puzzle-you/383858/507 "2007-01-02T15:10:05Z")
Is shooting an Aussie illegal? _throws balled-up paper at Aussie instead_ ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-what-mentions-of-contemporary-american-culture-puzzle-you/383858/508 "2007-01-02T15:48:33Z")
I’d play but I’m in Spoon in fiendishly intractable way. Psst, Nava - [Mornington Crescent](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mornington_Crescent_(game)) ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-what-mentions-of-contemporary-american-culture-puzzle-you/383858/509 "2007-01-02T16:03:01Z")
Thank you, Struan, let me know where do you want the thank-you cookies sent… ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-what-mentions-of-contemporary-american-culture-puzzle-you/383858/510 "2007-01-02T23:44:03Z")
[QUOTE=Nava] Listen, you guys, since this is a thread about “American culture for non-US’ers”, if you’re going to start tossing around funny terms from _wherever_, could you kindly explain? [/QUOTE] [OK](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mornington_Crescent_(game)) ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-what-mentions-of-contemporary-american-culture-puzzle-you/383858/511 "2007-01-02T23:49:12Z")
[QUOTE=amarone] [OK](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mornington_Crescent_(game)) [/QUOTE] No cookies for you! ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-what-mentions-of-contemporary-american-culture-puzzle-you/383858/512 "2007-01-02T23:51:16Z")
You English types, always trying to bastardize our pure language… Heh. ---
**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:** [January 3, 2007, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-what-mentions-of-contemporary-american-culture-puzzle-you/383858/513 "2007-01-03T00:20:41Z")
[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog] Sorry for hijacking this thread. I originally demanded that it be flown to Cuba, but **GorillaMan** (correctly) pointed out that doing so would take me south of the river, and that would place me directly off-fotheringhammed unless I had a comissioner’s exemption. Apologies. It was truly a schoolboy error on my part. [/QUOTE] Indeed it was. Of course, under the Snider-Fosbury rules of 1909, it would have been quite alright to take this thread to Tanganyika or Singapore, but only if you changed at Charing Cross and passed through Waterloo (_not_ Waterloo International!) Station, provided it wasn’t Queen’s Birthday Weekend, in which case you can only transit through Heathrow Terminal 2 before lunchtime. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-what-mentions-of-contemporary-american-culture-puzzle-you/383858/514 "2007-01-03T00:35:29Z")
[QUOTE=Martini Enfield] but only if you changed at Charing Cross and passed through Waterloo (_not_ Waterloo International!) Station [/QUOTE] I’ve never understood the complication regarding trans-lateral intersections and Waterloo East. Can you elaborate? ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-what-mentions-of-contemporary-american-culture-puzzle-you/383858/515 "2007-01-03T00:51:37Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] I’ve never understood the complication regarding trans-lateral intersections and Waterloo East. Can you elaborate? [/QUOTE] I think old man Tewkesbury finessed that move in '27, but _gulp_ everyone else since has been trapped at Dollis Hill. ---
**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:** [January 3, 2007, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-what-mentions-of-contemporary-american-culture-puzzle-you/383858/516 "2007-01-03T00:57:03Z")
[QUOTE=Struan] I think old man Tewkesbury finessed that move in '27, but _gulp_ everyone else since has been trapped at Dollis Hill. [/QUOTE] Well, not strictly, but the Tewkesbury Maneouvre has been a bit harder to successfully play since the Blitz, although a modified version does allow you to go via Cabinet War Rooms. ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-what-mentions-of-contemporary-american-culture-puzzle-you/383858/517 "2007-01-03T03:32:10Z")
[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog] No cookies for you! [/QUOTE] What are these “cookies” of which you speak? As long as I can have biscuits with my nice cup of tea, I’m happy. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-what-mentions-of-contemporary-american-culture-puzzle-you/383858/518 "2007-01-03T05:05:06Z")
[QUOTE=amarone] What are these “cookies” of which you speak? As long as I can have biscuits with my nice cup of tea, I’m happy. [/QUOTE] Do you put gravy on those biscuits? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-what-mentions-of-contemporary-american-culture-puzzle-you/383858/519 "2007-01-03T07:35:41Z")
[QUOTE=amarone] [OK](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mornington_Crescent_(game)) [/QUOTE] no cookies for **amarone**? OK, then… here, thank-you biscuits for **amarone** … tin can’s empty, no more cookies or biscuits to go around ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-what-mentions-of-contemporary-american-culture-puzzle-you/383858/520 "2007-01-03T09:36:30Z")
[QUOTE=vivalostwages] Do you put gravy on those biscuits? [/QUOTE] Gravy on biscuits? Are you mad? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-what-mentions-of-contemporary-american-culture-puzzle-you/383858.md?page=25) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-what-mentions-of-contemporary-american-culture-puzzle-you/383858.md?page=27)