# What properties would you say are referenced too often based on their ACTUAL popularity? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 17, 2020, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-properties-would-you-say-are-referenced-too-often-based-on-their-actual-popularity/925817 "2020-11-17T18:39:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2020, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-properties-would-you-say-are-referenced-too-often-based-on-their-actual-popularity/925817/41 "2020-11-19T02:27:12Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > I constantly see people talking casually about Netflix shows as it everyone has watched them- but of course only Netflix subscribers and likely not every single one of them either. > > Only about 1 person in five gets Netflix. Oh, you sweet summer child.\* (This of course does double duty–it is a reference to a premium series not everyone has seen and a comment on your naïvety in thinking that everyone who watches Netflix shows pays for Netflix.) ---
**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:** [November 19, 2020, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-properties-would-you-say-are-referenced-too-often-based-on-their-actual-popularity/925817/42 "2020-11-19T02:31:10Z")
If we only talked about shows that everyone is able to watch, we’d be talking about almost no shows. ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2020, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-properties-would-you-say-are-referenced-too-often-based-on-their-actual-popularity/925817/43 "2020-11-19T02:52:10Z")
I HAVE HAD IT WITH THESE MOTHERFUCKING SNAKES ON THIS MOTHERFUCKING PLANE! Everyone knows what it’s from and that’s Samuel L. Jackson. Hundreds and hundreds on memes long before the film’s release. But based on the box-office take, barely anybody actually went to see the movie. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2020, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-properties-would-you-say-are-referenced-too-often-based-on-their-actual-popularity/925817/44 "2020-11-19T05:19:11Z")
It was on cable. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2020, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-properties-would-you-say-are-referenced-too-often-based-on-their-actual-popularity/925817/45 "2020-11-19T05:27:55Z")
I’M TIRED OF THESE MUTHERFUCKIN’ SNAKES ON THIS MUTHERFUCKIN’ CABLE! ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2020, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-properties-would-you-say-are-referenced-too-often-based-on-their-actual-popularity/925817/46 "2020-11-19T05:37:11Z")
Harold Lloyd’s famous dangling from a clock scene has popped up in various movies (with different actors, of course). He’s not well-known today. ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2020, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-properties-would-you-say-are-referenced-too-often-based-on-their-actual-popularity/925817/47 "2020-11-19T06:21:40Z")
A future candidate, based on my son recognizing that it was a reference, but not knowing what was being referenced: “What’s with all these videos and shows that end with a freeze frame and that two chord hey-hey-hey-hey song? Is that from something?” I eventually figured out he meant Simple Minds’ “Don’t You Forget About Me” and the ending of The Breakfast Club. (And that isn’t quite how the movie ends, either. In the movie, the song starts playing as they leave detention and get picked up by their parents, then the freeze frame happens while Judd Nelson walks across the football field. But the references seem to mostly be a freeze frame coupled with the opening chords) Big movie for Gen X, but did Millennials watch it? It sure looks like Gen Z (my son was born in 2002) doesn’t recognize it at all, except as something being referenced. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2020, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-properties-would-you-say-are-referenced-too-often-based-on-their-actual-popularity/925817/48 "2020-11-19T15:15:37Z")
I saw the Downfall movie with German subtitles it is good. BTW the director and actor are OK with parodies, they really like them. Bruno Ganz the actor died last year. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2020, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-properties-would-you-say-are-referenced-too-often-based-on-their-actual-popularity/925817/49 "2020-11-19T15:22:45Z")
> [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](#): > > I HAVE HAD IT WITH THESE MOTHERFUCKING SNAKES ON THIS MOTHERFUCKING PLANE! > > Everyone knows what it’s from and that’s Samuel L. Jackson. Hundreds and hundreds on memes long before the film’s release. But based on the box-office take, barely anybody actually went to see the movie. But in that case, the line was added as a reaction to the memes that showed up when the internet found out Samuel L Jackson was going to be in a movie called Snakes on a Plane. So the line exists in the movie _because_ people were using it on the internet. ---
**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:** [November 19, 2020, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-properties-would-you-say-are-referenced-too-often-based-on-their-actual-popularity/925817/50 "2020-11-19T15:50:44Z")
> [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](#): > > Big movie for Gen X, but did Millennials watch it? I think most Millennials have probably seen it. I’ve seen it more than once. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2020, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-properties-would-you-say-are-referenced-too-often-based-on-their-actual-popularity/925817/51 "2020-11-19T16:07:46Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > I think most Millennials have probably seen it. I’ve seen it more than once. My daughter is 14 and I assume she’s seen it. If if she hasn’t, she recognizes references to it, so she’s at least aware of it. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2020, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-properties-would-you-say-are-referenced-too-often-based-on-their-actual-popularity/925817/52 "2020-11-19T16:26:58Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > I suspect most people are actually referencing _Blazing Saddles_ . Which was, of course, itself referencing _Treasure of the Sierra Madre_ . I prefer the _UHF_ reference. “Badgers? We don’t need no stinking badgers!” > [@Acsenray](#): > > Also “One of us! One of us! One of us!” – people might know it from dozens of sources – they might think the “Simpsons” or “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” or “Logan’s Run.” I wonder how many people know it’s ultimately from a 90-year-old movie. Gooble gobble! I’d forgotten how old that film was. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2020, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-properties-would-you-say-are-referenced-too-often-based-on-their-actual-popularity/925817/53 "2020-11-19T18:04:38Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > I prefer the _UHF_ reference. “Badgers? We don’t need no stinking badgers!” But when I exclaim, MASHED POTATOES, My Favorite!, no one knows what the hell I’m talking about. ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2020, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-properties-would-you-say-are-referenced-too-often-based-on-their-actual-popularity/925817/54 "2020-11-19T18:38:29Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > But in that case, the line was added as a reaction to the memes that showed up when the internet found out Samuel L Jackson was going to be in a movie called Snakes on a Plane. > So the line exists in the movie _because_ people were using it on the internet. Good point. I’d forgotten the memes inspired the line instead of the other way around. Guess this example doesn’t fit this thread, but rather a thread on “Internet popularity vs. Real-world popularity” ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2020, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-properties-would-you-say-are-referenced-too-often-based-on-their-actual-popularity/925817/55 "2020-11-19T18:43:43Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > > [@Acsenray](#): > > > > Also “One of us! One of us! One of us!” – people might know it from dozens of sources – they might think the “Simpsons” or “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” or “Logan’s Run.” I wonder how many people know it’s ultimately from a 90-year-old movie. > > Gooble gobble! I’d forgotten how old that film was. Heck, it already over 40 years old when I was in high school, and thought I was so cool for knowing from where the Ramones got it. Now I’ll have _Pinhead_ as my earworm for the rest of the day. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2020, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-properties-would-you-say-are-referenced-too-often-based-on-their-actual-popularity/925817/56 "2020-11-19T18:57:47Z")
I’m sure that a lot more people know the “Play it again Sam\*” and “Round up the usual suspects” than have actually seen _Casablanca_ \*It was actually “Play it, Sam” ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2020, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-properties-would-you-say-are-referenced-too-often-based-on-their-actual-popularity/925817/57 "2020-11-19T20:06:41Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > “Show me the money” probably fits in here somewhere as well. And, from the same film, “You had me at ‘Hello’.” (Often with something else substituted for “Hello,” _e.g._ “You had me at ‘Bacon’.”) ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2020, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-properties-would-you-say-are-referenced-too-often-based-on-their-actual-popularity/925817/58 "2020-11-19T20:37:13Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > And, from the same film, “You had me at ‘Hello’.” (Often with something else substituted for “Hello,” _e.g._ “You had me at ‘Bacon’.”) I did not know that. I’ve never seen Jerry Maguire and assumed ‘you had me at hello’ was much earlier. Honestly, if you put a gun to my head, I would have guessed When Harry Met Sally (which I also haven’t seen). And there’s another one. I’ll have what she’s having. We all know the line, many/most are probably familiar with the scene, but how many of us have seen the now 30+ year old movie? ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2020, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-properties-would-you-say-are-referenced-too-often-based-on-their-actual-popularity/925817/59 "2020-11-19T21:18:43Z")
> [@johnspartan](#): > > I see a LOT of memes, GIFs, etc., that all make reference to _The Room_ , a movie I guess someone named Tommy Wiseau (?) was in, and it’s a really bad film, and he, I suppose… makes big faces and overemotes in the movie? I haven’t actually seen it and I imagine 95% of my friends haven’t. I take it you haven’t seen _The Disaster Artist_, either. I think there was a spike in awareness of _The Room_ after that movie (and the book it was based on) came out, about the making of _The Room_. That film recreated some of the most famously bad scenes. > [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > I suspect most people are actually referencing _Blazing Saddles_ . Which was, of course, itself referencing _Treasure of the Sierra Madre_ . I admit, there was a time when I thought that line originated with _Blazing Saddles_ and didn’t realize it was referencing an earlier film. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-properties-would-you-say-are-referenced-too-often-based-on-their-actual-popularity/925817/60 "2020-11-20T20:23:56Z")
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