Aging and cultural literacy.....

[osodecanela]

fogbear posted earlier today about an intern and an administrative assistant at the historical society, neither of whom could identify a picture of Carmen Miranda. One would hope that people working in a context bringing them into contact with "old things", would have a broader cultural literacy than these two. Jason had to tell them who she was.

I run up against stuff like this all the time.

About 3 months ago, when one of my staffers complained about miscommuncation regarding someone's name, I said, "Oh, you mean like Who's on First?" She's a mid-20's something and not only had no idea of what I was talking about, but no knowledge of who Abbott and Costello were at all. Neither did anyone else in the office, other than me.

The first time that I really felt like I was completely out of my time happened 20 years ago. I had a nurse practitioner student doing a preceptorship in my office. Lidia was probably 10 years my junior. She had just come out of the exam room looking a little rattled. I asked what was wrong and she replied that the patient she had just examined had a scrotal mass. I asked what it felt like and she replied, "like a third testicle." Without missing a beat I asked, "is he a pawnbroker?"

The WTF look on her face was priceless. Not a clue of what I was talking about. Apparently she had never seen a traditional pawn shop sign.



That night I shared the story with my parents and my grandmother. Grandmother started laughing so hard, I was afraid she was going to have a stroke.

Comments

[snousle.livejournal.com]

A shame, because that's a HILARIOUS one liner!

I guess this is what happens when you spend your life on video games and TV. I have to admit, I have no idea what young people are talking about these days, and they probably think the same thing about me, but I'd rather know about Abbot and Costello than whatever the latest shoot-em-up thing is.

[furr-a-bruin.livejournal.com]

It depends on what one watches on TV; if one watches things like Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello or other worthwhile programming, it's a very different thing than watching Wipeout or American Idol.

TV is a tool; as with a hammer, it can be used creatively or destructively. Suggesting it's purely destructive is one of the most annoying bullshit tropes in existence. And it's so simple to avoid - one little modifier to "TV" such as "trash" or "pointless" makes it clear that it's not "TV" that's the problem, but the choices people make about how to use it.

[fogbear.livejournal.com]

Did she even know what a pawnbroker is?

[bluebear2.livejournal.com]

I went to Dairy Queen and not only didn't they have malt as one of the flavours to choose from in the sundaes and milkshakes, nobody there had ever heard of malt and didn't know what it was. This the Dairy Queen!
Unbelievable. It used to be right there next to vanilla and strawberry.

[barbarian-rat.livejournal.com]

I'd never seen the three balls sign before ...

[lilbearmi.livejournal.com]

Alas... this is becoming an every day occurrence in our lives. So many younger folks just don't get that they have missed so much in quality humor, music, and entertainment in general, by just looking at what today has to offer.

[tilia-tomentosa.livejournal.com]

LOL and I'm not even from your culture, so I'd never seen such a sign. It's pretty. :)