Damnit, Jim!

I suspect that this will be my most popular blog entry ever. None of you were able to resist the tractor beam sent out by the simple title. But in another ten years, the phrase "I need more power Scotty" may no longer be recognized by the majority of Americans. (They'll all be too young, too old, or simply growing senile like me).



While you can certainly search on the web to find a cultural reference, you're only tempted to do so if you detect the allusion in the first place.



Last night I had to try to explain the difference between plagiarism and allusion to my six-year-old. She wanted to write a poem, and the first place she went for inspiration was Shel Silverstein's, "A Light in the Attic." When I told her not to copy from someone else she said, "But you said the three-headed dog in Harry Potter (Fluffy) was the same dog from Hercules (Cerberus)."



In a world without shared cultural experience, everything is either plagiarism or an uncaught allusion. As a friend said the other day (probably quoting someone else) "I understand the words, but I don't speak the language."



I once thought fame was being a clue in the NYT crossword puzzle. Then I realized fame was when people knew the answer. Words like "dot com", "Napter", "ISP", and "online" appear regularly in the NYT crossword now. But Mr. Ed is suddenly a "TV horse of old" (I apparently grew up in the middle ages). How many of you understand why the room fell silent when Eddie Murphy was about to give financial advice in "Trading Places"? How many of you know that Eddie Murphy is not Rex Harrison?



I now understand why ABC hired Dennis Miller for Monday Night Football. It is for people like me who are nostalgic for Howard Cosell's toupee. I know that there is an Annotated Dennis Miller site, but we need a global Nostalgia and Cultural Literacy server.



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What is your favorite cultural reference that will soon be lost?