Questions tagged [pop-culture]
The pop-culture tag has no usage guidance.
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Why a duck, in "ducked out"?
Maybe more a cultural question, about USA.
Not the same question as:
to duck out to do something
...this question is based on that, stop saying it's duplicated please :)
If "to duck out" is &...
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How did the phrase "back at Square One" originate?
A line from the TV series Monk (2002–2009):
Welcome to square one.
Pop culture has many instances of "Square One". It means "right where we started", emphasising comedically that ...
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What did Marge Simpson mean when she said "629,000 results. Wow. And all this time I thought that ‘googling’ yourself meant the other thing"
What did Marge Simpson mean when she said while googling her name
629,000 results. Wow. And all this time I thought that ‘googling’ yourself meant the other thing.
(S18 E17, April 22, 2007)
...
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What does "juice" mean in pop culture? [closed]
In Bob Dylan's song, "like a rolling stone", he says, "you only used to get juiced in it".
In a various rap songs also, they talk about "having juice", "being juiced", "juicing [someone else]", "...
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Why "wonder woman" and not "wonderwoman"? [closed]
It's kind of pedantic question perhaps, or maybe if the reason I'm not getting the point is not that English is my second language, perhaps you can call it a feminist outcry, but regardless:
Why is ...
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What does schizo mean in “schizophrenia” and “schizo tech”?
TV Tropes says that the Naruto universe lives in Schizo Tech.
The universe essentially mixes feudal society with modern technology (and clothing). The only exceptions are things like cars and guns. ...
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Is there a term for not identifying with your current age?
"Transgender" refers to someone who doesn't identify with their birth gender. "Transracial" refers to someone who doesn't identify with their birth race.
Is there a term for someone who doesn't ...
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What is the meaning of 'skrt'?
I've been learning English for many years and recently found this word 'skrt'.
I think people with hip hop background use this word a lot. And some use it as an adjective. From my understanding this ...
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Why using "this" in JavaScript is "like pair programming with Abbott and Costello"?
I'm aware that this question requires, in addition to some cultural context about Abbott and Costello, good expertise on quality JavaScript or OO coding. But I'm confident that there are plenty of ...
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What is 'Agni Dei in sugar'?
I am reading 'A Dog of Flanders' and here is the sentence that includes the phrase: She had neither brother nor sister; her blue serge dress had never a hole in it; at Kermesse she had as many gilded ...
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What's the word for 'commonly understood reference which evokes emotion'?
One hundred years ago if a speech included a particular bible reference, everyone (from a western country) would get it and understand the context.
Today there are less of these commonly held ...
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What does "bad girls go backstage" mean?
(sorry for my poor English)
I saw this phrase somewhere but I don't know what this means..
Good girls go to heaven, bad girls go backstage
What means 'bad girls go backstage'?
Maybe.. it's when ...
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"'Sup" and "whack" in 2000 as teen slang
In "Friends", season 7 episode 1 (2000), Joey, who is 31, wants to look and behave like a nineteen-year-old for his audition and uses "'sup" and "whack" in dialog with Chandler (from IMDb):
[Joey ...
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What does "that Frank Sinatra at the bar act" mean in this sentence?
When I read a comic book called "Thief of Thieves" by Robert Kirkman, I cannot understand the scene below:
The man is drinking alone at the bar counter and seems deep in thought. And the woman, who ...
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What does the title of the movie "A Scanner Darkly" mean?
I've seen the film (a long time ago) but I don't understand the title.
A noun followed by an adverb just doesn't make sense. What am I missing here?
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Word for not obscure but not mainstream
Is there some way to describe something that the average person doesn't know about but is still not obscure? Such as a musician who doesn't get much radio play but still has thousands or even millions ...
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Why do programmers say: "Did you meet the Spartans?" [closed]
English is not my maternal language and on development/IT forums, I've found the expressions "Did you meet the spartans?" or "I've met the spartans?". To set the context, they are speaking about a new ...
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"The immobility of countenance of a red Indian" [closed]
There is a sentence in The Naval Treaty (one case included in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle):
He had, when he so willed it, the utter immobility of countenance of a red ...
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"Living like Jim Morrison" . what does it imply or refer to? [closed]
In the Gods and Monsters song by Lana Del Ray “No one’s gonna take my soul away”, there is the line:
I'm living like Jim Morrison
What does this line mean?
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Is there a term for the stereotypical Japanese ghost girl with a white dress and long black hair that mostly covers her face?
There were a slew of Hollywood remakes of Japanese horror films that featured a similar ghost archetype. The most notable examples are (warning, links are images of examples) The Ring and The Grudge.
...
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Does etymology have a word like cladistics?
A recent question on EL&U about a current hip-hop expression led my research into a meme that is evolving faster than drosophila. This expression and its variants have gone viral on internet ...
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What is the meaning of "paint it black" and when to use it?
I stumbled upon the phrase "paint it black" in a tv series (Elementary) and was wondering what does it exactly mean?
Also, in which situations would you use it normally? Except when you tell the ...
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Error in "Better call Saul" phrase
Is it correct to say "Better call Saul!"? Or do I need to say "It's better call Saul!"?
Or even "It's better to call Saul!"?
I guess the third one is the correct one.
Obs.: "Better call Saul" is ...
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Where and when did "Bucket List" come to mean what it does today?
I'm not sure I had even heard the term "bucket list" until the movie came out. I get the feeling though that the term long predates the movie. Can anyone identify how "bucket list" came to mean what ...
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Origin of "That's what she said"?
That's what she said is a saying that flips a normal statement into a sexual one. Example:
"If you blow it too much, it'll explode" [A balloon]
That's what she said!
How did this phrase come ...
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Hidden meaning in "Got milk?" [closed]
I often see question "Got milk?" in ads related to milk and milk products. Does it have any hidden (maybe "Urban Dictionary" kind of?) meaning, any humorous/playful allusions in popular culture, ...
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Identifying accents of British actors
As an American, a large part of my impoverished experience of British accents comes from ancient BBC comedy imports on PBS. I'd very much like to identify the regional accents the following actors are ...
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If ______ gets outlawed, only outlaws will ______
What is the common origin of these and similar phrases, and how are they used? I've seen them in both silly and serious contexts.
If guns get outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.
If ...
user4727
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The word 'Yahoo'
In my country, people use the word "Yahoo" as an expression of enthusiasm, joy, jubiliation and victory.
What is the origin and original meaning of the word yahoo? As for that matter, what is most ...
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"Viewer discretion is advised"
This program contains material that
may be disturbing to some viewers.
Viewer discretion is advised.
Is that 100% correct English? This is the text shown before some TV programs. When I first saw ...
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Free as in 'free beer' and in 'free speech' [closed]
This phrase is all over the internet. They will say that something is free as in 'free beer' and free as in 'free speech'. I have never really understood this.
Are these the examples of two different ...
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What does the joke with the punchline about Chrome and Hollandaise mean, and why is it funny?
A joke goes like this: A friend at work had an unusual dental related problem recently. About a month ago he had to have a small steel plate inserted in his mouth. A week later he noticed the plate ...
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What does 'greatest' mean in art?
There's a whole bunch of lists of "greatest ..." in the world of art. Does it mean influence, artistic excellence, ...?
edit: I've seen a number of greatest movies lists and I wonder what they mean ...
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