owlmoose | youth and october

Is it still PC to call it Indian summer? Well, whatever you call it, the season has finally arrived -- sunny blue skies, warm air. My favorite time of the year here. I wish I could go outside and bask in it.

Went to pick up some coffee a few minutes ago, and I paid with a fifty-dollar bill. The young women at the register joked with me about having to check it for authenticity, and I made a crack about being a hardened criminal. "Not likely, with one arm," said one of the employees. "Hey, it worked for the one-armed man," I replied. They looked at me blankly. "You know, like in The Fugitive." No response. So we moved on.

I'm not that old, am I? Okay, no reason for kids to know the TV series (which is even before my time), but at least they should have heard of the movie. The one-armed man is standard cultural knowledge, right? Right? Oh boy.

Not really related, but kind of. A student stopped me in the hall as I was on the way to the coffee shop (which shall go unnamed, but if you are reading this and you don't have one within a mile of you I'd be rather surprised) and asked after my arm. I mentioned tomorrow's appointment, and she commented that it seemed like everyone at the school is more concerned about getting the immobilizer off than I am. I thanked her for the thought, but I am truly amused. Given how eager I am to be done with it, I really don't think that's possible!

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"Hey, it worked for the one-armed man," I replied. They looked at me blankly. "You know, like in The Fugitive." No response. So we moved on.

You'd be surprised at the cultural references people don't get. I had a student write a paper describing the church of Santa Sofia in Constantinople and the church of Hagia Sofia in Istanbul as two separate buildings!

and all I was thinking was "Istanbul was Constantinople, now it's Istanbul not Constantinople..."

Heh. You should play her the song, maybe then she'd get it.

LOL What on earth makes you think these ignorant babies would 'get' the song?

As to your arm, as a well-respected icon of knowledge, you must expect these concerns. *It is not nice to throw books at a friend. You'll hurt the other arm!* ;-)

What on earth makes you think these ignorant babies would 'get' the song?

*mind is boggled* You *know* the song? I thought popular music was as a void to you. ;)

Don't worry, I won't throw books. Although I might hit you with my sign again... (You know, the one that says "I dislocated my shoulder, now please stop asking.")

Surprise!

If I ever teach that class again, I am definitely going to bring it in and make them listen to it, maybe even make them sing along!

and I thought it was silly when my HS social studies teacher did the Lindy for us :)

If I ever teach that class again, I am definitely going to bring it in and make them listen to it, maybe even make them sing along!

Can I be in your class? :)

I liked this recent article about Lenin's body in the NYT, where they quote an early-twentysomething Russian saying, "Lenin - was he a Communist?" :D

Oh good grief. That's like an American twenty-something not knowing who George Washington is. Doubtless now we will come up of all these examples of twenty-somethings not knowing who George Washington is.

I have read lately of twenty-somethings not knowing the dates of the Civil War or even its century.

I think Twin Peaks when I hear "one-armed man."

I wouldn't get all too hung up on PCness Owl, otherwise you might end up like my counrty- obsessive about it *shudders*

You think we aren't already? :)

Well, I live in San Francisco, some amount of paying attention to issues of political correctness comes with the territory.

I see.
I've always wanted to go to America and see what it is like over there. What's 'Frisco like?

I love it here. Here being SF, not Frisco, if you please. ;) The city is difficult to describe in a few words. Maybe I can just say that probably most everything that you've heard about it is true to some degree -- the people are liberal, the politcs are wacky (although not as wacky as in some other places), the nature is beautiful.

So you have never been to the USA? I have been to the UK once, briefly, just a couple of days in London on my way to Paris. I would very much like to spend more time there, though.

OK, is there something bad about calling it 'Frisco'?
No i have never been to the US. When i do i shall be calling in on Angel and we are going to go pubbing!
Though SF woud be another place to go, i have seen it in films and does look awesome.
Did you get up to anything whilst here? You should deffinitly come down and visit again, two days is simply not enough to experience london to it's fullest.

OK, is there something bad about calling it 'Frisco'?

Nah, not really, I'm just being a snob. ;) It just marks you as a non-native; no one who lives here calls it that. It's "SF" or "the City". It really is one of the greatest US cities, along with Seattle, New York, and Chicago (in my opinion). Where does Angel live?

We barely even scratched the surface of London, I know, and I really want to get back someday. Our visit was pretty much a glorified stop-over. We mostly focused on museums -- the Tate Modern, the museum of design (I forget what it was called) -- and walking around the city streets. We walked across the Tower Bridge and around the outside of the Tower of London. There's a Roman wall structure around there that we saw, and it totally boggled my mind to realize that it was the oldest thing I had ever ever seen outside a museum. That's the big difference between Europe and the US I think -- how much older everything is back there. If something is more than 50 years old in SF, it is positively ancient.

I see, well i'll remember this for if i go to SF.

Yes, Europe is an oooold place.

youth and october

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