# Things you hadn't heard about until much later **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 23, 2012, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-hadnt-heard-about-until-much-later/644945 "2012-12-23T18:14:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2012, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-hadnt-heard-about-until-much-later/644945/41 "2012-12-25T11:29:42Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > …though I really don’t see why it’s such a sensation. I don’t think anybody knows. It just is. What helps it is the cross-cultural popularity. It’s rare for an American or British song to be popular in Asia, and rarer for an Asian song to be popular worldwide, but this one is, which would explain the high hits number - the most populous countries in the world (America, Japan, China, India, etc) have all fallen for it. Meanwhile, back to the OP. For me I occasionally hear some people talk about an actor who we’re all supposed to know because they were in huge movies of the past five years that everyone saw. Well, everyone but me, apparently, because I had never heard of them before that moment. One example I can remember was Benicio del Toro, when he was being cast in the _Wolfman_ movie a few years ago, and more recently there was Ryan Gosling when everyone was talking about _Drive_. Apparently everybody had been watching them grow as actors and marking them for greatness, and I had missed out on them entirely. I imagine that there will be many more incidents like that, the fewer movies I watch each year, as I increase my curmudgeonly picky ways. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2012, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-hadnt-heard-about-until-much-later/644945/42 "2012-12-25T17:37:18Z")
> [@dnooman](#): > > We sadly aren’t that far from having TV shows like “Ow, my balls!” and “Fart sound showcase”. I’d feel old, but I’m too busy feeling like pop culture is devolving itself into oblivion. Watched any episodes of _Max Headroom_ lately? Twenty minutes into the future… and well over twenty years ahead of its time. It’s hard to remember that some of the jokes and sight gags there were meant to be funny and/or disturbing. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-hadnt-heard-about-until-much-later/644945/43 "2012-12-26T02:29:49Z")
I occasionally read or hear about something called a “Honey Boo Boo” but I have absolutely no idea what the heck he/she/it is. My wife is apparently living under the same rock that I am because when asked her about it, she had no idea either. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-hadnt-heard-about-until-much-later/644945/44 "2012-12-26T02:34:43Z")
I thought I saw Honey Boo Boo in the Gangnam Style video, but I could be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-hadnt-heard-about-until-much-later/644945/45 "2012-12-26T02:52:22Z")
I was in college in the mid-80s and didn’t watch much tv (and no Internet of course), especially in the summer when I was working for the school; so I had no idea what “Live Aid” ([Live Aid - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_Aid)) was until several weeks later. Same thing for “New Coke” and Bernie Goetz, too, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Win\_Place\_Show](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/win_place_show/32/13469_2.png) [@Win\_Place\_Show](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Win_Place_Show)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-hadnt-heard-about-until-much-later/644945/46 "2012-12-26T03:23:53Z")
Mine was [the Donner Party](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donner_Party), up until about two years ago. One of my Facebook friends posted a status-update during a winter storm two Christmases ago, about how she needed to get out of the house before “she went all Donner Party on her kids”. (granted, the post was written in sarcastic jest). Until then, I had never read in a history book, seen any History Channel stories of, or been told of, anything having to do with the Donner people. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-hadnt-heard-about-until-much-later/644945/47 "2012-12-26T07:12:51Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > North Korea says it’s a hit and who am I to argue? I heard about this a year or two back when Lil Kim was first seen in public with the woman he later married. At the time, she was mis-identified as the lead singer of a pop music group whose biggest hit was the horse-like lady number, which could be seen on Youtube. > > But this morning I bit the bullet and watched the [Gangnam](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0) video. I liked it (even more than the North Korean tune!), though I really don’t see why it’s such a sensation. I’m no rap expert (don’t care for that genre), but I thought Lil Kim was female. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-hadnt-heard-about-until-much-later/644945/48 "2012-12-26T15:34:37Z")
I ran a 5K recently with some friends, all much like me (librarians in their late 20’s and early 30’s, terminally dorkish). And at the end there’s a big party, you know, like you do. So this Wobble song comes on and all my white-ass friends know the dance to it! Usually I at least know a dance craze song _exists_, you know? I asked somebody how on earth people learned this thing and she said “You know, you go to white people weddings!” Dude, I just HAD a white people wedding! “Oh, sorry, your wedding was way past white people and all the way into a ‘Stuff White People Like’ wedding.” ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-hadnt-heard-about-until-much-later/644945/49 "2012-12-26T16:14:57Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > I’m no rap expert (don’t care for that genre), but I thought Lil Kim was female. I believe that was a reference to Kim Jong Un, not the rapper. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-hadnt-heard-about-until-much-later/644945/50 "2012-12-26T16:20:34Z")
In 1993, I was working for a small company in Westchester County, New York. While driving home one day in February, the radio station mentioned the traffic nightmare that still existed downtown due to [that morning’s events](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_World_Trade_Center_bombing). I had gone the entire day without hearing about the bomb that had been set off in the parking garage below the World Trade Center, killing six people and injuring hundreds. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-hadnt-heard-about-until-much-later/644945/51 "2012-12-26T16:58:57Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > This is embarrassingly true: Somehow the idea of seedless watermelons went under my radar and many years ago when I first had one served to me I had no idea such a wondrous thing had existed. It must have been like the first time primitive natives had seen a match. There are seedless watermelons? Nifty! ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-hadnt-heard-about-until-much-later/644945/52 "2012-12-26T18:04:35Z")
I just found out that British actor Patrick Stewart was knighted in 2010. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-hadnt-heard-about-until-much-later/644945/53 "2012-12-26T18:46:13Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > I ran a 5K recently with some friends, all much like me (librarians in their late 20’s and early 30’s, terminally dorkish). And at the end there’s a big party, you know, like you do. So this Wobble song comes on and all my white-ass friends know the dance to it! Usually I at least know a dance craze song _exists_, you know? Thanks - with the help of you and YouTube, I now know both the “Wobble” song AND dance! I will not be the most un-hip person at the weddings I attend in 2013. ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-hadnt-heard-about-until-much-later/644945/54 "2012-12-26T18:58:09Z")
While vacationing in Mexico, I had no access to U.S. new sources. I read a little Spanish and noticed that many Mexican newspapers featured a front page story about the U.S. being attacked by space aliens. It seemed unlikely, but I didn’t know for sure until I got back. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-hadnt-heard-about-until-much-later/644945/55 "2012-12-27T00:12:27Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > I believe that was a reference to Kim Jong Un, not the rapper. Oh. The only person I’d heard of being referred to as “Lil Kim” was a female performer I think is in the rap genre. :o ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-hadnt-heard-about-until-much-later/644945/56 "2012-12-27T03:14:36Z")
I was backpacking in the wilderness for a week and came out to find that Princess Diana and Mother Teresa had both died while I was communing with nature. Also, since I haven’t lived in a house with a television since 1972, nor listened to pop music since maybe 1980, much popular culture has escaped me since. When I bother to check in, it never seems like I missed anything. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-hadnt-heard-about-until-much-later/644945/57 "2012-12-27T04:27:05Z")
> [@laina\_f](#): > > While vacationing in Mexico, I had no access to U.S. new sources. I read a little Spanish and noticed that many Mexican newspapers featured a front page story about the U.S. being attacked by space aliens. It seemed unlikely, but I didn’t know for sure until I got back. Well? Don’t keep us in suspense. Did it happen? -D/a ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2012, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-hadnt-heard-about-until-much-later/644945/58 "2012-12-29T10:16:15Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I don’t think anybody knows. It just is. “Gangnam-Style” is a pleasant, catchy tune with an amusing, energetic video with solid production that doesn’t take itself seriously. Also, the fact that it’s in a language we Americans can’t understand may add to the novelty. We don’t understand a damn thing the guy is saying, but the fun & energy transcends language. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2012, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-hadnt-heard-about-until-much-later/644945/59 "2012-12-29T16:17:52Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Thanks - with the help of you and YouTube, I now know both the “Wobble” song AND dance! I will not be the most un-hip person at the weddings I attend in 2013. Honey, if you take me with you you’ll NEVER be. ---
**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:** [January 10, 2013, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-hadnt-heard-about-until-much-later/644945/60 "2013-01-10T17:19:39Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > In 1993, I was working for a small company in Westchester County, New York. While driving home one day in February, the radio station mentioned the traffic nightmare that still existed downtown due to [that morning’s events](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_World_Trade_Center_bombing). I had gone the entire day without hearing about the bomb that had been set off in the parking garage below the World Trade Center, killing six people and injuring hundreds. I was scheduled to move to my new apartment that day . . . from the East Village to Chelsea. I was sitting in my apartment, wonder why the movers were so late (my phone was already disconnected). Finally I went down to the laundromat and called on the pay phone, and was told something like “well you know, there’s gridlock all over; we’re coming from Brooklyn, and the bridges and tunnels are closed.” The mover had to explain to me what had happened. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-hadnt-heard-about-until-much-later/644945.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-hadnt-heard-about-until-much-later/644945.md?page=4)