# Unshared cultural knowledge **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 6, 2018, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unshared-cultural-knowledge/806000 "2018-01-06T22:16:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unshared-cultural-knowledge/806000/41 "2018-01-09T20:26:13Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > Is the song just an American thing? > I don’t think it’s well known in England, although the term grandfather clock is well known there. In its time it was a well-known “parlour ballad” in the UK (good for family singalongs) and George Formby Sr/s parody of it was a popular [music hall number](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDffwSNrZBU): but we just didn’t have the likes of Johnny Cash reviving it for a later generation. ---
**Author:** ![Ignotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecc23a/32.png) [@Ignotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignotus)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unshared-cultural-knowledge/806000/42 "2018-01-09T20:50:09Z")
Lots of people my own age don’t know the meaning of the Swedish words _orv_ and _rubank_, although one would presume the [film](https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vem_%C3%A4lskar_Yngve_Frej_(film)) would have given them a second chance to learn it. Did _ **you** _ get the double entendre of my username? ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unshared-cultural-knowledge/806000/43 "2018-01-09T20:51:39Z")
> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > I was with a group of friends a few nights ago. The owner of the house had a grandfather clock that he had just gotten working. I mentioned that the term “grandfather clock” came from the song, and was surprised that no one else in the group had ever heard of it. I’m 45 and know the song. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unshared-cultural-knowledge/806000/44 "2018-01-09T21:11:51Z")
I’m over 60 and never heard the song the OP refers to. I was sure that he must be mistaken about the origin of the name, but it seems corroborated by multiple trustworthy websites. I love the edirorial comment from etymonline: > [@](#): > > Grandfather clock is from 1894, originally grandfather’s clock (1876), “a furniture dealer’s name” [OED] from “My Grandfather’s Clock,” the 1876 song by Henry Clay Work that was enormously popular ( **and loathed** ) in late 1870s. It indicates that they were beginning to seem old-fashioned; they were previously known as tall case clocks or eight-day clocks. Highlight mine. (I saw that Exapno cited this too, but I found it independently and posted this before I read his comment. and he doesn’t call out the “and loathed”) > **[grandfather | Etymology of grandfather by etymonline](https://www.etymonline.com/word/grandfather)** > > "a furniture dealer's name" \[OED\] from "My Grandfather's Clock," the 1876 song by Henry… See origin and meaning of grandfather. I’ve seen all the old _Twilight Zone_ episodes, so, if this was featured in one, I must have heard it. But I have no conscious memory of it. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unshared-cultural-knowledge/806000/45 "2018-01-09T22:06:22Z")
I don’t remember ever hearing the grandfather’s clock song, but I knew the punch line. I don’t know how that counts. I never heard Bunny Foo Foo as a kid, but did hear it when my kids were little. And I’m well over 50 and grew up in the Northeast and never heard of Teddie Peanut Butter or its song. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unshared-cultural-knowledge/806000/46 "2018-01-09T22:52:46Z")
I know Little Bunny Foo Foo, I know what a grub is and what grub is also, I know who Johnny Cash is. The rest of the stuff y’all are talking about is utterly unknown to me, so, I’d say, regional knowledge maybe, but cultural knowledge generally? I have to disagree. I’m nearing 50 years of age. ---
**Author:** ![Clothes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5e925/32.png) [@Clothes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothes)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2018, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unshared-cultural-knowledge/806000/47 "2018-01-10T04:05:23Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > And I’m well over 50 and grew up in the Northeast and never heard of Teddie Peanut Butter or its song. It’s a sure-enough real brand and it’s still made in a rundown plant in Everett MA. I drove by it recently and stopped in and asked if I could take a tour. They looked at me like I was nuts - Peanuts! Yuh huh. Okay, I really didn’t want to do this, but here goes: Teddie Peanut Butter First with Vitamin A For good health and for your life (?) Have some everyday Kids love it for parties, Snacks and mealtimes too Teddie Peanut Butter So good and good for you. There. Preserved on the Internet forever, and saved from oblivion. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2018, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unshared-cultural-knowledge/806000/48 "2018-01-10T04:14:05Z")
> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > [Here’s the song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCFXhn9mMB0), just for reference. [Here’s the Robert Shaw Chorale version](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ml6qUK4k2TI) which is the one I grew up listening to. ETA: Dang it, **rowrbazzle**! ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2018, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unshared-cultural-knowledge/806000/49 "2018-01-10T09:14:06Z")
I can tell you where I was the one left out in the cold. Wedding etiquette. Growing up in a rural, working class, Midwest environment I don’t think I ever attended a wedding that middle class people wouldn’t declare “tacky” in some way… During the precious few times I attended weddings. They were mostly a courthouse affair in my environment. I married at 23 which seemed positively ancient relative to my peers, and we paid for everything ourselves and aimed for something really nice. It was a lovely day, but I’m sure we made numerous errors out of sheer ignorance. I think it was Etiquette Hell where a bunch of middle class people were declaring as “rude” stuff I’ve seen all my life and never once questioned. It certainly raised the question, for me, about whether these rules of etiquette really only function to serve as a gatekeeper for poor people. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2018, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unshared-cultural-knowledge/806000/50 "2018-01-10T13:09:43Z")
> [@Clothes](#): > > It’s a sure-enough real brand and it’s still made in a rundown plant in Everett MA. I drove by it recently and stopped in and asked if I could take a tour. They looked at me like I was nuts - Peanuts! Yuh huh. > > . I’d never heard of Teddie Peanut Butter until I started working at Textron Defense Systems, formerly the Avco Evertee Research lab, literally across the street from the Teddie Peanut Butter factory. On many days the smell of peanut butter permeated the air. I’d lived in the Boston area for four years , several years earlier, and don’t recall seeing or hearing of Teddie Peanut butter before that. It clearly didn’t make a big impression on me until it was literally under my nose. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2018, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unshared-cultural-knowledge/806000/51 "2018-01-10T16:41:01Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > It certainly raised the question, for me, about whether these rules of etiquette really only function to serve as a gatekeeper for poor people. Manners is the art of making people feel comfortable. Etiquette is the science of debilitating class distinctions. ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2018, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unshared-cultural-knowledge/806000/52 "2018-01-10T19:26:26Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Manners is the art of making people feel comfortable. Etiquette is the science of debilitating class distinctions. Absolutely. I saw a programme on British etiquette one time, populated with frightful snobs pontificating on the proper use of the proper utensils for eating the proper food. Then they asked a proper toff what he thought. It would be a terrible thing to make one’s guests uncomfortable at dinner was his response. Top man 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2018, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unshared-cultural-knowledge/806000/53 "2018-01-11T01:56:47Z")
Going to a foreign country on holiday? Keep your mouth shut in the shower. It’s not like at home, that water is likely to bother your tummy. How do people not know this one very simple and useful piece of information? They return with stories of how ALL the food made them sick, etc. When you ask you discover it never occurred to them to not let the shower water into their mouth! Doh! ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2018, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unshared-cultural-knowledge/806000/54 "2018-01-12T01:57:44Z")
And here I thought it was the street food. ---
**Author:** ![mistymage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mistymage/32/459_2.png) [@mistymage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mistymage)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2018, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unshared-cultural-knowledge/806000/55 "2018-01-12T03:01:02Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > And here I thought it was the street food. I would have guessed using ice in beverages. I know I try to ask for “no ice” even when just going into town simply because the chlorine tastes so yucky to me now. In a foreign locale there will be foreign beasties in the water and freezing doesn’t kill them. And I don’t mean foreign as in countries but rather outside your normal area. I never heard the song about the clock. Nor Teddy Bear peanut butter. Bunny Foo Foo yes both the song and the drink. I know grubs and I hate seeing them when we till the gardens up (which is why I finally started wearing gardening gloves vs feeling the dirt in my hands and under my nails.) I love Johnny Cash… especially his last years when he was doing covers of rock songs. ---
**Author:** ![motu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/motu/32/259_2.png) [@motu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/motu)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2018, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unshared-cultural-knowledge/806000/56 "2018-01-12T17:47:18Z")
Age 50, never heard the Grandfather Clock song, I know what grubs are, had a Drill Sergeant who referred to others as L’il Bunny Foo Foo quite often. From Chicago so I have no knowledge of Boston peanut butter or Cleveland celebrities. This absolutely stunned me when I read it, an ESPN article on the New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton. > [@](#): > > Yet Payton is giving the old blueprint his own interpretation. As the headlines around player protests gained momentum in October, Payton shifted his team’s focus in a different direction that week, with the passing of New Orleans rock ‘n’ roll legend Fats Domino. > > “I just felt like it was almost back-page news, even nationally. And it’s always just one of those moments where you talk to your team a little bit about someone like him,” Payton recalled. > > He ensured many of Domino’s greatest hits were played throughout practice that week. As they faced off against the Bears, the team wore a “Fats” decal on the back of their helmets in the Super Dome. > > “Elvis Presley felt awkward about being called the king of rock ‘n’ roll. [Domino] was the first artist that played in front of black-and-white America,” said Payton. “He’s a legend here in New Orleans, and when you really go back and look at his achievements, it’s amazing. It’s important to remember to go outside of football to share that.” > > Payton then received a reaction from his team that he didn’t expect. > > "I remember just talking a little bit about it, about Elvis, and then going through Fats Domino’s accomplishments, and then \*\*some of the younger players asked, ‘Who’s Elvis Presley?’ > \*\* > “Holy cow.” > > The two youngest members of the Saints, rookies Marshon Lattimore and Marcus Williams, are 21 years old. That subtle yet jarring reminder of the youth of his team helps keep Payton – and his motivational strategies – fresh. > **[Gas cans and cheese? Sean Payton will try anything for motivation](https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/21985739/nfl-sean-payton-turned-symbolic-gestures-keep-new-orleans-saints-motivated)** > > Sean Payton learned some of his motivational tactics from Bill Parcells. And it's not just about a great pregame speech for the Saints' head coach. ---
**Author:** ![blobus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@blobus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blobus)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2018, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unshared-cultural-knowledge/806000/57 "2018-01-12T19:13:15Z")
I’m 58 and I never heard the OP’s song. I figured it’s because I was raised in The South, but I see from other posters that it doesn’t hold. > [@John\_Mace](#): > > Is that how Georgia got it’s name? 😃 Naw, it was named for the Hoagy Carmichael song. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unshared-cultural-knowledge/806000.md?page=2)