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Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Correct me if I'm wrong

The other night the husband and I were at a friend's apartment playing a board game.
We only knew two out of the six other people that were there.
Two of the people we didn't know were:
A 26 year old female nurse who grew up in Connecticut, right by the New York border.
A 26 year old male who grew up in a suburb of Massachusetts, right outside of Boston.

During the course of the game I was repeatedly stunned by their lack of knowledge.
First came a question involving the term "who shot JR?".
They had NO IDEA what we were talking about, even when we reminded them it was from the TV show Dallas.
Next was a talking charades question that every team plays simultaneously. In other words there were four teams and one person from each team was acting out the charades for the other person on the team. During this turn I was the one acting and the husband was the one guessing. I looked at the card first and then passed it to the other team members who would be acting. The person was Dr. Ruth Westheimer.
Sure enough both the guy and the girl said "I don't know who this is!"
I thought to myself "they just don't remember her name."
So I pulled them both into the bedroom and said "You know, Dr. Ruth, the little old German lady who teaches sex ed."
They both stared at me blankly.
We went back out into the living room and proceeded to do the charades. Dr Torrie and I got it in about 5 seconds because I said in my best German accent "You put the penis in the vagina..." while sticking one finger into a hole I had made with my other fingers.
Next was a question about CBGB. Again they had never heard of it, so the husband said, "you know, the famous club where bands like the police, Guns and Roses, Social Distortion, and The Ramones got their start."
Nothing.
Now some of you may be insulted that I assume everyone should know about CBGB, but what made it even harder for me to fathom that they'd never heard of it, was that it's been ALL OVER the news here in New York for the past month because the landlord is trying to kick them out.

What I don't understand is, how do you grow up in the eighties and nineties, go to college and/or nursing school, read books, newspapers, magazines, surf the internet, watch TV, and interact with other people, and not know these things?

Is it just me, or should they have known these things?

*Saburban Misfit's comment made me realize that I don't think I made it clear that these people now live in NY.

posted by Torrie at Wednesday, August 10, 2005 |

17 Comments:

Commented by Blogger TheStolenOlive:


I will admit that I had no clue what CBGB was... but the other two they should have known. Unless they were raised in a barn.


11:24 AM 
Commented by Blogger Ern:


I didn't know what CBGB was either. But I have never been anywhere near NYC.

Also, I didn't know about "who shot JR?" until sometime in college, because I wasn't allowed to watch Dallas when it was on.

But they should have known about Dr. Ruth.


1:02 PM 
Commented by Blogger Elizabeth:


I knew what each of those things were including CBGB and I have been to NY a total of never. Those two need to get out of the damn house once in a while. Good God.


1:04 PM 
Commented by Blogger c:


1. ? Even *I* know who shot JR and I didn't even watch Dallas.

2. ???? Who DOESN'T know Dr. Ruth??

3. I was even more appalled by this one, for some reason. I've been to New York once, in high school, and I didn't know what CBGB was then. But once I hit college and started hanging out with people who listened to good music, I quickly learned. I can't believe that they live so close to NY and don't have a clue about CBGB.


1:18 PM 
Commented by Blogger Katy Barzedor:


Breathe, Jess, breathe...it was only on your TV show, remember?

It'll be alright.


1:53 PM 
Commented by Anonymous Anonymous:


I just want to be ultra-clear that it wasn't my house OR my friends who didn't know this stuff.

I bought S and I CBGB t-shirts recently specifically because we wanted to make sure people know about the place.


2:07 PM 
Commented by Anonymous Anonymous:


Uh, that was me, there, with the disclaiming and the t-shirts. Don't mind me.


2:07 PM 
Commented by Blogger ALRO:


How could they have missed those???

"You poot zee penas in-zee vagina - slooooowly - such as Axl rose theyar iz deamon-traitink to us wiz our goot fraiend Carly Simon...

You should see zem at CBGB tonight profomink for za crowt .. very very sexzy .. " *wink and ok sign*


2:55 PM 
Commented by Blogger Joseph:


someone find the rock they crawled out from under and throw it in the pond so that they can't get back under it.

Nice one Alshrim! LOL!!!


4:30 PM 
Commented by Blogger Squirl:


Then again, maybe they should just stay under that rock and not play games with people anymore.


8:50 PM 
Commented by Blogger S A J Shirazi:


Why do you hate every thing? It does not look so from your writing here.


7:17 AM 
Commented by Anonymous Anonymous:


Clearly they suffer from a limited pop culture IQ... I think if you don't watch shows like SNL, Daily Show, Family Guy, Simpsons, etc., you can miss out on a lot of stuff. It's all about finding humor in the wierd esoteria of our society.

Personally, I don't know who shot JR, but I know what it's from. I would have got the others :)

I also wanted to mention another great band that came out of CBGB... Talking Heads. They even mention the club in their song "Life During Wartime."

I know this, and I was born two years after they first played there :)


8:57 AM 
Commented by Blogger Katy Barzedor:


This ain't no Mudd Club
No CBGB's
I ain't got time for that now...


9:42 AM 
Commented by Anonymous Anonymous:


You wrote:
What I don't understand is, how do you grow up in the eighties and nineties, go to college and/or nursing school, read books, newspapers, magazines, surf the internet, watch TV, and interact with other people, and not know these things?

Is it just me, or should they have known these things?

My two cents: You are assuming they grew up as you did, that they watched tv, read newspapers, magazines, etc. You really wouldn't have gotten those references from books or even your friends if you were 6 because you'd be talking about kid things with your friends, not adult things like JR, etc.

Clearly I knew all of these references but I'm going to be 35 in 9 days. I'm gonna ask some of the youngins in the office to see if they have a clue...I'm sure they'd know CBGC's but not the others. I'm gonna conduct a highly unscientific experiement and let you know. Ha!

BUT in these kid's defense, not all of that stuff was common knowledge but rather pop-culture. See, my parents did not have a tv in the house until they had kids who they wanted to learn English. So when I turned 1 they bought a tv so I could watch this show called "Sesame Street" they heard about. TV was NEVER part of my life growing up. We were only allowed to watch tv if the Mom or the Dad said ok (which they mostly said ok). The TV was not on as background noise, did not go on the second Icame home from school and I never widdled away daylight hours sitting in front of it. Not until highschool/college. Seriously! Maybe it was similar for them, so there are a lot of things you take for granted because you know them but they were just never exposed to. Know what I mean?

Just playing devil's advocate. I can't help it lately. I'm a Leo but have a rising Libra. As you age your rising sign expresses itself more and more. This damn rising Libra is making me appreciate and actually respect other people's point of view, point of reference and makes me even want to understand them. It's outrageous, annoying and un-natural! Thank god at least my moon is in fire/Sagitarrius.

PS: It's almost someone else's birthday that I know...six days away to be exact...now, who could it be....who could it be? Hmmm..... :)


10:17 AM 
Commented by Blogger c:


OK, them living *in* NY and not knowing about CBGB is just wrong.

I mean, it's all over the papers and the news, right? About the eviction?


4:15 PM 
Commented by Blogger Opera Gal:


laryyssa -

you have just officially upset me:
As you age your rising sign expresses itself more and more. (endsnip)

I'm just getting used to the standard sun sign and I'm 40 -I don't want to learn about a new one.
sigh ...

i never watched a single episode of dallas but still knew who shot jr?
but there are all these Big Brother/Real Life shows people reference, and I am clue-free. bet they might have gotten those answers.


6:53 AM 
Commented by Blogger Opera Gal:


oh and yeah - not knowing about CBGB's? just wrong. NYC should kick them to the curb for that one.


6:54 AM 

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