Obscure References that younger people might not get?

[TheLobster]

In which country? It's still very much the thing in the UK and international (IB) systems.

It's the internet. 99.9% of the time, there is only one answer to the "which country?" question.

 

[Bramblethorn]

My version of Excel has no drink can at the bottom. Should I demand a refund or kick the bloody machine until it falls down?

When skeumorphics pass their sell-by date.

*wanders off to check the stats on how many people are killed each year by toppling vending machines*

 

[Writer61]

*wanders off to check the stats on how many people are killed each year by toppling vending machines*

A quick check reveals that the US has more vending machines than Japan (which surprised me), but the latter has more per capita. Throw in the risk of earthquakes and the extremely low rate of gun deaths there, and I conclude that Japanese vending machines are more dangerous than American ones.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

'Drop a dime.'

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

'Clicker.'

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Everything that goes around, comes around. My daughter had no experience with phones with dials or tapes of TV shows until we started watching Stranger Things. That's also a lot of her exposure to Dungeons & Dragons. Someday we'll make her watch Back to the Future (when we're ready to deal with the whole "incest" subplot), and that'll be a source for her to learn about the 1980s, the 1950s, and the 1880s.

I watched Back to the Future with my 10yo a while back. Back when it came out, my mum had to explain that Ronald Reagan used to be a film star. I had to explain he used to be President and was an actor before that. And yes, my mum had hair like that. And I had clothes like that. And Tab was an American drink like Coke. Apart from that, it stood up remarkably well by itself. The flirting with his own mother was just a bit of a laugh, certainly at the level we wanted to think about it.

Seeing what people thought 2015 would be like in 1985 was very funny, apparently. Though not as bad as older kid reading Heinlein's Door into Summer, where a guy goes from the 1960s (when it was written) to the future of 2000. He actually did well on the tech, but the paternalistic attitudes to women, treating them as little more than pets...

Kids still have to read whole books and plays in the UK. Or rather, sit in class while that is done. Many will try to get away with the Sparks Notes and online equivalents, but 'twas ever thus.

 

[AG31]

In which country? It's still very much the thing in the UK and international (IB) systems.

U.S.

 

[Actingup]

U.S.

It might be time for a friendly foreign power like Canada or Mexico to colonise the savages?

(I know.. take it to the politics board)

Despite being an Australian Gen X and soaked in UK exports, I would only get about half the references in the list above (anything Monty Python, Hitchhikers, Fawlty Towers). My kids probably wouldn’t get them though. They would likely get Australian cultural references (‘that’s not a knife’, or ‘straight to the pool room’), but not necessarily. There are geographical divides (as you would hope) as well as generational divides.

 

[stickygirl]

I feel a bit between generations, having always been described as having an old head and leaning towards cultural references from my mother generation. Plus I work with old greys so I'm familiar quite a few comedy hits: "This week I'll mostly be eating acorns" or the muttering old man followed by "but I was I was very, very drunk". Oh yes, the Irish priests ( forget the show ) but "This cow close at hand, that cow very far away. Close at hand; far, far away."
There's a classic radio show called 'I'm sorry, I haven't a clue' and I nearly wet myself, listening to it in the car. I think that's been going for years. The BBC is mostly a pile of shite, but the comedy shows are hysterical.

 

[stickygirl]

*wanders off to check the stats on how many people are killed each year by toppling vending machines*

"Users may rock machines in order to obtain free products, release stuck products, or obtain change.[2] The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission found in a 1995 study that at least 37 deaths and 113 injuries had occurred due to falling vending machines from 1978 to 1995."
Source
Not as dangerous as snakes in Peru of course, where people pick up vipers and shake them all the time.

 

[TheRedChamber]

Note: Kenneth Williams was involved in the last three. Fabulosa!

My all-time favourite double entendre - Kenneth Williams playing a lawyer in (I think) Round the Horne in the mid sixties.

"Are you married?"
"Alas, no. My little criminal practice takes up all my time."

(2nd place Julian Clary opening his show with "I love a warm hand at my entrance.")
(3rd place to Frankie Howard. "Alas, my husband has returned! I am undone! I am undone!" - "Yes, I know. I was the one who undid you.")

 

[Bramblethorn]

"Users may rock machines in order to obtain free products, release stuck products, or obtain change.[2] The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission found in a 1995 study that at least 37 deaths and 113 injuries had occurred due to falling vending machines from 1978 to 1995."
Source
Not as dangerous as snakes in Peru of course, where people pick up vipers and shake them all the time.

You'd be very lucky to get change out of a viper.

 

[Writer61]

Oh yes, the Irish priests ( forget the show ) but "This cow close at hand, that cow very far away. Close at hand; far, far away."

That would be "Father Ted"

There's a classic radio show called 'I'm sorry, I haven't a clue' and I nearly wet myself, listening to it in the car. I think that's been going for years.

Started in 1972 with Humphrey Lyttleton in charge. His opening monologues often included a back-handed insult to the panellists. Incidentally, I have a draft plot with an FMC named Samantha, but I was struggling to name her sidekick. His working name is Dave, but I think he will be Sven.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

Aside from the obvious, Fawlty, Keeping, Served, AbFab, I only remember a few from here.

Dibley, Waiting, Dad's, Allo, Time, Reginald


https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/top/

 

[TheWorldBuilder]

Personally, I don't find 29 of those to be remotely funny and quite a few of the others declined in quality as they went past their sell-by dates. As with most of these TV polls, they're not demographically representative, there's a pre-selected short list and no option to vote against a show if it was trite or banal.

 

[TheArsonist]

what are the obscure references that you think younger people might not get?

OK, so this is nitpicky, but your list are not "obscure" references. If they were obscure, most people here would have no idea what you were talking about.

And as for references younger people (whatever that means – there's a pretty big difference between say 19 and 27 here) might not get: anything. There is nothing so well-known that there aren't a lot of people – especially younger people – who are not familiar with it. For example:

• Harry Potter: Sure, most younger people will have heard of it, but there are certainly people in their early 20s who haven't read them or watched the movies, and will not understand if you reference famous lines like "You're a wizard, Harry!"
• Donald Trump: Again, most people will know that he's the US president, but a young person who isn't interested in politics may not pick up on a reference to the "Big Beautiful Bill," covfefe, injecting bleach or what have you.

These are extreme examples, and of course lots of young people will get these references, but culture and pop culture is growing ever more fragmented, and for pretty much anything you can think of, there will be huge swathes of the population who are blissfully unaware of it. (Not that this is an entirely new phenomenon. I once met someone who had never heard of Natalie Imbruglia's version of "Torn" even though they were listening to pop music in 1997/98.)

I also think that as you grow older, it's hard to keep track of how fast pop culture touchstones move, and how, for example, a song that was a big hit 10 years ago may be completely unknown to someone in college today.

 

[TheWorldBuilder]

Natalie Imbruglia's version of "Torn".

If I commented that it was possibly the most disappointing video in the history of pop music, how many would get the reference?

 

[ChuckWolf]

In my stories, I try to avoid any real world pop-culture references, instead using fictional ones as part of the world-building.

I want the stories to have as much of a timeless feel as possible.

 

[TheArsonist]

If I commented that it was possibly the most disappointing video in the history of pop music, how many would get the reference?

It sounds faintly familiar, but if it's a quote from somewhere, I can't place it. I would assume it refers to the "lying naked on the floor" bit of the lyrics?

 

[TheWorldBuilder]

...and the obvious fact that MTV et al wouldn't have shown it if she did; especially with the other references to being bound or in chains.