Up Front by Emma Hart

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Up Front: I Don't Think it Means What You Think it Means

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  • Jono Baddiley,

    heh - me and my wife use "ease down. Ease down. You'll blow the trans-axle" as a replacement for "that's more than enough effort, don't you think?"

    And don't get me started on "do you want to take a ride?"...

    Wellytron • Since Mar 2008 • 11 posts Report

  • James W,

    'I've fallen and I can't get up' is from, I believe, Urkel from Family Matters (I think that was the show).

    Since Jul 2008 • 136 posts Report

  • Hadyn Green,

    Me and the Missus use LOLspeak and TV references such as "Deviants, yes!" Some of my friends use TV quotes like "hey, it's that guy you are".

    It has come to the point that when someone says something funny and no one knows where it comes from we are astounded to discover that it is an original piece of speech.

    However, the one that I can't recall where it came from is "The Divil" (as in "the Divil, you say!" or "Sign of the Divil". Maybe one day I'll remember.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2090 posts Report

  • Hadyn Green,

    'I've fallen and I can't get up' is from, I believe, Urkel from Family Matters

    It was around well before Urkel

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2090 posts Report

  • Danielle,

    from Evelyn Waugh to Ferris Bueller

    The former: Craig
    The latter: me

    I'm not sure what that says about our respective personalities... or perhaps I *am* sure, and I don't want to admit it to myself. ;)

    (Giovanni is made of win for the Poe ref yesterday, though.)

    I find that our household is generally All References, All the Time. At some point, we might have to have an actual conversation about something, and I predict that we're eventually going to lose our ability to string sentences together in any meaningful way. Generation X, this is thy legacy.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report

  • Andrew Stevenson,

    OK I get the "I do not think it means what you think it means", but is the "You're wet. Yes its raining" from the non Kevin Costner Robin Hood movie (concluding the phase with "bloody Normans") ?

    "I know EXACTELY what you mean!" is one of our stock phrases, the reference is from travelling in Europe - but others we use are cultural references as opposed to private jokes.

    We also introduce variations to a known reference to suit the situation, just to see if the others will pick up on it.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 206 posts Report

  • David Ritchie,

    but is the "You're wet. Yes its raining" from the non Kevin Costner Robin Hood movie[...]?

    My guess is The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

    Since Nov 2006 • 166 posts Report

  • Emma Hart,

    It was around well before Urkel

    Bless you, Haydn. From the trivia section there, I now think I probably picked it up from Babs Bunny.

    is the "You're wet. Yes its raining" from the non Kevin Costner Robin Hood movie

    It's from the Rocky Horror Picture Show, RiffRaff and Brad.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    When I was in Hawaii in 1992, I saw the "I've fallen and I can't get up" ad and it being parodied on Saturday Night Live. I got an extra special bonus pop culture *ping* in my brain.

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report

  • Andrew Stevenson,

    It's from the Rocky Horror Picture Show, RiffRaff and Brad.

    D'oh - I fail at cultural references
    Its a fair cop guv'nor, but its me fundementalist upbringing to blame

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 206 posts Report

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    I've fawlin' and I can't get up!

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report

  • Rob Hosking,

    "dinner is Pre-paired!" was for a long time a saying in one of my flats. I think its also Rocky Horror, not sure.

    Going further back....I didn't know whether to be proud or ashamed of this sort of thing when, about two months ago, I got an email from an old friend in Christchurch who had met a fellow scientist who had used the terms 'electrickery', 'Shine Tiny Sun!' and 'Telling Bone.'

    She'd picked up it was from some TV or pop culture thing and thought I would know.

    I found some Catweazle excerpts on Youtube and posted them off.

    And now I look at this clip, I remember 'Hoot Not!' was a bit of a catchphrase in the Uni Tramping Club.

    South Roseneath • Since Nov 2006 • 830 posts Report

  • Rob Hosking,

    Its a fair cop guv'nor,

    But Society is to Blame.

    South Roseneath • Since Nov 2006 • 830 posts Report

  • Hadyn Green,

    "I know EXACTELY what you mean!"

    When I read this I got a *ping* but for a phrase we use all the time: "Nothing could possiblye go wrong...possibly go wrong"

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2090 posts Report

  • George Darroch,

    I've started asking for people to "be more constructive with your feedback please". Blank stares and twisted smiles.

    WLG • Since Nov 2006 • 2264 posts Report

  • 3410,

    "Nothing could possiblye go wrong...possibly go wrong"

    That's the first thing that's ever gone wrong.

    I'm predicting lolnui will have a slightly longer shelf-life than $%#&-quaxing, which has already mutated to just plain quaxing, but neither is in it for the long haul.

    Well, All things must pass. Nevertheless, it was my first neologism, and I'm very happy that it caught on as well as it did.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report

  • Andrew Stevenson,

    It could be a two stage thing; if you throw out a reference and someone gets it, then there is one *ping* only. Which allows you to establish the connection (Emma and the fishy song), or suffer the

    Blank stares and twisted smiles

    But introducing the wordplay and mashups in the references takes it to a higher level, allowing more reward pings - and if less is more then just think how much more more is.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 206 posts Report

  • JohnAmiria,

    Can any linguists out there coin a word for 'too lazy to google'? since both "You're wet. Yes its raining" and 'I've fallen and I can't get up' give an immediate result as to their origins. (All I need to know I can find on Wiki)

    My wife and I use the 'I've fallen and I can't get up' line all the time (I say it, and she laughs) usually when we're making fun of old people. A variation thereof is "Two times Two is Four" which isn't* even the correct quote but we both get it (can anyone name that movie?).

    When I was younger I used to drop the occassional "I'd buy that for a dollar'.

    [*so I'm wrong, Google/wiki doesn't know everything]

    hither and yon • Since Aug 2008 • 215 posts Report

  • Emma Hart,

    then there is one *ping* only

    W00t, two HFRO references in two days.

    And I just got all excited waiting for my son to get home so I could share an xkcd cartoon with him. It just never stops.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report

  • Tom Beard,

    'I've fallen and I can't get up'
    ...
    'You're wet. Yes its raining'

    My anglocentrism is showing: I didn't recall those catchphrases, but I immediately thought of "He's fallen in the water!" and "I made you all wet. Yesh, but my Martini ish shtill dry" in their place.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1040 posts Report

  • andrew llewellyn,

    When I was younger I used to drop the occassional "I'd buy that for a dollar'.

    Robocop doesn't seem to have lasted the distance as much as I'd expected.

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    Pop culture references messes up my life.

    When I was at high school, most of my friends listened to the morning show of the local FM radio station, but I didn't. One day most of them started ending sentences with "...and if you believe that, you'll believe anything" in a Scottish accent, which apparently came from one of the radio DJs.

    I didn't realise this and I just assumed that one of my hilarious friends had just made it up, and everyone was copying them. My attempts to riff off it were frowned upon because I wasn't doing it right.

    This has continued to be my default stance - I don't assume someone's quoting a pop culture reference that I don't get. I always think it's originally from the person saying it. As a result, I put the pressure on myself to come up with entertaining witticisms and find myself continually disappointing when all my witty friends turn out to be quoting some comedy writer's work.

    Flames, on the side of my face, breathing-breath- heaving breaths. Heaving breath...

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report

  • Hadyn Green,

    I remember the day I saw someone in the System used: "Today I have mainly been eating..."

    Amy once had to leave a stifling workplace where all of her phrases were met with blank stares and twisted smiles

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2090 posts Report

  • George Darroch,

    "I'd buy that for a dollar"

    Tell him he's dreaming!

    WLG • Since Nov 2006 • 2264 posts Report

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    "I'd buy that for a dollar"

    Tell him he's dreaming!

    I'll tell him that for nothing!

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report

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