While I'm at it....
Apr. 3rd, 2003 05:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
herewiss13Let's talk about cultural literacy. What stuff is just current fads and what has, or ought to have, entered the collective popular lexicon.
Because neither my girlfriend nor![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ase have any real knowledge of MacGyver...not even enough to get the "let's make a nuclear reactor out of these toothpicks, some salad dressing and this handful of pocket lint" reference. I'm only about 4 years older than they are...is this really a generation gap? I don't think I ever watched MacGyver when it was actually on, but I'm still familiar with the basic premise. Am I over-informed or are they (and presumably all those like them) under-informed.
There are lots of standards for cultural literacy...but what should the list be for 20th Century popular culture? Most everyone can hum the tune to 'Gilligan's Island" and know "A horse is a horse, of course, of course" and "Wiiil-burrrr". You've got "doh!" and "yadda, yadda, yadda" and the Fonz is a happy-go-lucky guy in a black leather jacket. "To Boldly Go Where no man has gone before" and "Lucy, you got some 'splainin' to do." I've never seen "The Honeymooners" but I still know "To the moon, Alice, to the moon!" Is this part of the "required" lexicon or is it extra? What knowledge ought to be assumed?
I really wish someone could explain it to me.
Because neither my girlfriend nor
ase have any real knowledge of MacGyver...not even enough to get the "let's make a nuclear reactor out of these toothpicks, some salad dressing and this handful of pocket lint" reference. I'm only about 4 years older than they are...is this really a generation gap? I don't think I ever watched MacGyver when it was actually on, but I'm still familiar with the basic premise. Am I over-informed or are they (and presumably all those like them) under-informed.There are lots of standards for cultural literacy...but what should the list be for 20th Century popular culture? Most everyone can hum the tune to 'Gilligan's Island" and know "A horse is a horse, of course, of course" and "Wiiil-burrrr". You've got "doh!" and "yadda, yadda, yadda" and the Fonz is a happy-go-lucky guy in a black leather jacket. "To Boldly Go Where no man has gone before" and "Lucy, you got some 'splainin' to do." I've never seen "The Honeymooners" but I still know "To the moon, Alice, to the moon!" Is this part of the "required" lexicon or is it extra? What knowledge ought to be assumed?
I really wish someone could explain it to me.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2003-04-03 09:53 pm (UTC)Well, I did say there are different areas of cultural literacy...music is _not_ one of mine. I recognized about 3/4 of the names of those musicians/groups. A music test would probably be flunked.
And I'm not just going on Ase...there's been a small and unrandom sampling of people I know too. ;-)
...I take it that you are familiar with MacGyver as well, then?
P.S. Was amused that, after these discussions I've had, someone on "Survivor" tonight talked about "MacGyvering" his shrunken sneakers into sandals using a machete. ;-) I am not alone!