# Pop Culture Pulse Check **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 18, 2010, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-pulse-check/557559 "2010-10-18T15:52:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 46
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2010, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-pulse-check/557559/46 "2010-10-18T22:45:51Z")
Having now examined the preceding thread, I think this one has been running on a misinterpretation. What **DrDeth** actually said was that an _intelligent_ cultural observer would know Neil Gaiman–not necessarily that most people would. The post in question didn’t use the word “pop” at all, and the first mention of Gaiman in the thread is contrasting him with Larry the Cable Guy in the context of talking about correlation between tastes and intellect–no mention of relative celebrity status. The first mention of “pop culture” is from **Boyo Jim** , who at that moment doesn’t know who Gaiman is at all. **Shot From Guns** seizes that remark, backdates the “pop” part of it into **DrDeth** ’s earlier remark, and assumes a question of _popularity_ where there really wasn’t one. Nobody has claimed that Gaiman is as famous as Gaga, or Larry, or Octomom. The only assertion is that intelligent, culturally-conversant people ought to have a clue who he is. Expanding upon that assertion, > [@Hell's Kitchen, and it's viewers.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hells-kitchen-and-its-viewers/557096/62): > > > [@Hell's Kitchen, and it's viewers.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hells-kitchen-and-its-viewers/557096/57): > > > > Interesting that you relate cultural literacy to intelligence. > > Well, he’s a rather well known award winning author, not TV. A number of his books have been adpated for film, such as _Stardust_ and\* Coraline\*. > > And I do relate the two to an extent. For example, I expect any intelligent person to \*know who \*Robert Heinlein is, even if they don’t read SF. Now, sure- to be able to name all his books and discuss film adaptations veers past simple cultural literacy towards geekness. I expect them to \*know who \*Ang Lee is, who Ringo Starr is, and so forth. That’s just part of being well read. “Rather well known” here is the first suggestion of Gaiman’s degree of fame, and it’s hardly hyperbolic. We might debate _which_ names should be on the list, but the basic notion–that _smart_ and _literate_ people ought to recognize certain names–seems unremarkable to me. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-pulse-check/557559)._