Up Front: I Don't Think it Means What You Think it Means
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Tell him he's dreaming!
Ha! We use "jousting sticks" as code for similar situations.
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"Calm down, calm down!"
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I occasionally have to remind myself that while within my flat phrases like "can has bikkit?" and "rumbling fuzzy!" are, respectively, a polite request for a biscuit and a commentary on the auditory expression of our cat, they're not so well-understood in the wider world. E.g., when the fiance and I go and stay with my parents.
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Almost all posters have dangled a few of their own pop-references/in-jokes/group-talk/jargon just to see if people "get" them. Don't we all feel "oh so clever" that we are "in the know". ;-^
What hasn't been mentioned so far is the that the dark side of this practice is all about exclusion. if you don't pick up the reference then you aren't a member of the gang. Robyn G. gets close to it with her post about a high school radio catchphrase.
How do you pronounce "shibboleth"? Remember, the original use of that was literally life-or-death.From now on whenever anyone drops one of those "in-crowd" references into a post I shall comment "That Is Just F*cked Up" which I will abbreviate to TIJFU (pronounce "tidge-foo" - like kung fu) so that we all know what I mean.
This should in fact cause a circular logic singularity which will suck the whole Internet into a localised black-hole and we can all be ejected back into the real world.
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Can any linguists out there coin a word for 'too lazy to google'?
I can't at this time of night, but there's a website to which I'm always too polite to refer people.
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E.g., when the fiance and I go and stay with my parents.
Last week when my Mum was staying I had to explain a few phrases so she could understand what we were saying.
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What's weird about pop culture references is the way they cross generations. My 7y.o. has never seen Diff'rent Strokes but 'gets' "What you talkin' 'bout, Willis?"
(and no takers on my '2 x 2 = 4'?? Sometime I use 'I know my twelve times tables' which is also a misquote ... I really should re-rent the movie again shouldn't I?) -
no takers on my '2 x 2 = 4'?
In my brain all I heard was the Simpson's version of Barny singing "2 +2 is 4, 2 +2 is 4, ... ", followed by a "I can see why this is so popular".
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My boys (4 and a half and 3) use Doh when they get frustrated with something (or fall over).
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Almost all posters have dangled a few of their own pop-references/in-jokes/group-talk/jargon just to see if people "get" them. Don't we all feel "oh so clever" that we are "in the know". ;-^
What hasn't been mentioned so far is the that the dark side of this practice is all about exclusion. if you don't pick up the reference then you aren't a member of the gang.
Say no more Evan, we understand. Methinks you've been standing 'round at parties clueless to the lingo, eh bro? I know how you feel - I can't shake hands with a person of colour in social situations now, such is my fear of doing last month's hand movement. Is he coming at me with a fist bump or a low five ...?
From now on whenever anyone drops one of those "in-crowd" references into a post I shall comment "That Is Just F*cked Up" which I will abbreviate to TIJFU (pronounce "tidge-foo" - like kung fu) so that we all know what I mean.
Your are now the In-Crowd Police, have a badge with that.
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Your are now the In-Crowd Police, have a badge with that.
WE DON'T NEED NO STINKIN' BADGES!!
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Your are now the In-Crowd Police, have a badge with that.
Shut it, you slaaaag!
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I wuz waiting for that Sofie!
And since the fun has gone my known-only-to-me (cos its a misquote - how upmyself is that?) the "2x2=4/I know my twelve times tables" is a reference to **A Private Function** where the Liz Smith character is always keen to prove she's not ready for the old folks home by reciting multiplication tables.
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Blank stare, twisted smile
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What hasn't been mentioned so far is the that the dark side of this practice is all about exclusion. if you don't pick up the reference then you aren't a member of the gang.
Lemme tell you a story. Are we all sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin.
When I was at uni, I was in KAOS. While most of our code-word language was entirely harmless, we used to use 'duck' a lot, to mean 'bimbo'. Or himbo or he-whore, whatever.
It started with a friend of mine, Alex*, explaining to me that the reason people so often assumed I was a bimbo was that if it looked like a duck, and quacked like a duck...
Quickly, this evolved to the point where someone new could walk into the room and the conversation would go something like:
- Duck?
- Looks like a duck.
*pause*
- Quacks like a duck.
- Could be a duck.
This conversation could happen right in front of the object of it. Cruel? Absolutely. Moral of the story? There isn't one.
*not his real name, which is Karl -
Since this seems to be taking a 'I Was A Nerd At Uni' turn I'll add my bit...
When I first enrolled I went along to a meeting of a group called the Monty Python Appreciation Society.
Once.
It was full of people who only communicated in comedy catchphrases. Enjoy the works of various British comedies as I did, I didn't want to talk that way the whole time.
Also it was mostly guys: the only women there were already attached, if - it seemed - a little bit desperate.
I joined the Tramping Club. Still a high proportion of people who yelled 'Albatross!!' as if this were the wittiest thing ever, but at least not all the time.
It also had a couple of other advantages. You got out and about more, it got you fit.
Most importantly, you got to walk up hills behind women wearing shorts.
As far as incentives to develop some proper social skills went, it took some beating.
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Lucky my path did not cross with KAOS. At Uni I tried to make 'Quack my Duck" a euphenism for a handjob/masturbation but it didn't catch on.
(Hmmm. I'm pathetic. Maybe Evan is right)
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Yeah, in certain crowds, Simpsons quotes form a large part of my crowd's vernacular; web memes in others. There is a nice feeling of togetherness that comes from being able to chant lines of Ben Elton standup in unison, to the... let's say amusement... of onlookers.
And, yes, there's a downside: not just the exclusion of outsiders, but also the danger of turning into the obsessive pedant who feels compelled to point out how (pop) culturally literate they are by taking pains to identify every reference they come across, real or imagined (see also: every Wikipedia article with a "Cultural References" section).
It's too late for me (nice "Clue" quote, Robyn), but there may still be time for some of you...
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I have one group of friends where we frequently "communicate" (for values of communicate that don't include actually conveying any meaningful message) in lines from League of Gentlemen. Or use what could possibly be the most brutal put-down in history, as variations of "He's just got nothing going for him as a person." That was the original line, from one female friend explaining why she just wasn't interested in a particular male of her acquaintance. In our company it now leads to such witticisms as:
Rose (Who coined the line) - "Why can't I find a job?"
Me - "Because you've just got nothing going for you as a person."I've also been known to use lolcat for communications with flatmates. Such as the semi-irate text at midnight one week night, to the occupants of the room across the hall who were being noisy, asking "I can haz sleep now? kthxbai"
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Actually, now that I think of it, an anecdote:
My first exposure to "The Mighty Boosh" was a friend sitting me down in front of the live show. Big mistake -- three and a half bloody hours of references and in-jokes I didn't get -- put me off the whole show for years. The situation was compounded by being around fans who would rattle off catch phrases ad nauseam - I've only now started to develop a taste for the season three episodes showing on C4.
Eventually I was introduced to "Snuff Box", a series by the actors who play Bob Fossil and the guy who ran the zoo in season one. Delightfully surreal and profane, and all the more attractive for having almost no lines that can be quoted as a catch phrase -- all there really is is "*snaps fingers* Whisky!" and "Fuck you".
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I joined the Tramping Club. Still a high proportion of people who yelled 'Albatross!!' as if this were the wittiest thing ever, but at least not all the time.
xkcd weighs in on the subject.
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When I first enrolled I went along to a meeting of a group called the Monty Python Appreciation Society.
Oh yes, university clubs. I'm afraid the only ones I belonged to were the Unifems and STAR (students against racism). We didn't have any catchphrases. We were too busy being earnest. I did hang around with a group of people who called themselves HULC (the left handers' club). But all they did was watch Hitchhikers' Guide every Weds nite, or whatever nite it was on back in 1982. <sigh>
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"Can I do you now, sir?"
"I see NOTHING!"
"Sorry about that, Chief."
That gives away how old I am. And enables me to talk in code.
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'It's a cow'
(said in a very serious and thoughtful tone)
A gamillion points of win to whoever gets that one.
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All you nerds will spare a thought for Prince Charles then. While chatting to Black Youth on some Council music scheme he came out with “__Dig that crazy rhythm!__” and was ridiculed by the press for using dated hippy slang in a woeful attempt to 'get down with the kids'. Obviously the press was too young to spot the even older reference.
Besides, if anyone can be given a bit of latitude in the use of anachronism, surely it's His Royal Highness The Prince Charles Philip Arthur George, Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester, Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, Prince and Great Steward of Scotland, Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, Knight of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, Great Master and First and Principal Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, etc etc?
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