Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> So why does everybody act surprised that I don't know certain rather 
> obscure facts? 

Because many of the facts you say you don't know really aren't very 
obscure, or if they are obscure, shouldn't be obscure in *your* culture. 
(Like, who RMS is. :-)

Now, I'll grant that making movie references (like to the Wicked Witch), 
I discounted that you're in a foreign country and maybe they don't show 
that classic amazingly famous movie on TV every single year. But it *is* 
classic *and* amazingly famous.

> See, now I wouldn't even bother watching such a film, since clearly I 
> won't understand any of it.

It's not that you won't understand it. It's perfectly comprehensible on 
it's own. It's a *bonus* that you already know the characters from 
something else.

It's like Stan Lee's cameo as a panhandler/beggar in Spider Man. It's 
funnier if you know it's Stan Lee[1].  It's doubly funnier if you know 
he didn't, due to contractual bits, get any royalties from the movie.

[1] Stan Lee - the guy who invented most of Marvel's comic book characters.

> People accuse me of being stupid, but I do realise there was a real ship 
> called the Titanic, that really did sink when it hit an iceberg. As 
> surely does most of the population?

They'd say "Why should we? What makes you think we studied the same 
history bits you did?"

That's culture. You *hope* people studied a lot of the same sorts of 
things you did.

> To me, not recognising the theme tune to the Wicked Witch of the West 
> just isn't on the same level as the two examples above.

Actually, I suspect you'd recognise it if you heard it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iQjXPKfWNY

And now if you just saw that video without any context, you'd understand 
the person's opinion of Hillary Clinton, see.

> Well let's see now. You could mean that they're just plain evil. Or 
> misunderstood. Or an oppressed minority. Or just Jewish. Or any number 
> of other possible meanings...

Uh, I think the point is to listen to the judge reprimand of Shylock's 
behavior in order to understand what someone else would mean if they 
called you a Shylock. Don'tcha think? :-)

> Depends if the actors know what the hell they're performing or not. ;-)

Well, true. This was a professionally-staged play, not a high-school 
performance or something. :-)

-- 
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
  Helpful housekeeping hints:
   Check your feather pillows for holes
    before putting them in the washing machine.

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