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[peppergal]

Going kind of the other way...  I once referred to Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" in a lecture.  Afterwards, a student came up to me and said, "I didn't think you would know about Nirvana.  That's OUR music."  I laughed, and pointed out that the album was released around the time he was born.  Strictly speaking, it's MY music.  That was the first CD I ever bought (to go with my first CD player).  I danced to that song at my prom.  I camped out for concert tickets to see Nirvana.

[isotope]

I'll occasionally get that too.  The statement "OMG, I'm listening to Tool with my professor!" on the way to a field site comes to mind. 

Nirvana erupted when I was in high school as well.  The first band I ever saw in concert was Alice in Chains. 

[monita]

I'm teaching introductory cultural geography this term (totally not my field, but that's the world of an adjunct).  We do a little history with each region as background to modern populations and social issues. When prepping this course, I assumed that major historical events or world leaders would be at least vaguely familiar.   I was very, very wrong.  Here are some of the people/events they don't recognize:

-Moammar Ghadafi
-Ayatollah al Khamenei
-Castro, Chavez, or any other Latin American leader
-Russian occupation of Chechnya
-the military junta in Burma
-Mao Zedung and the cultural revolution (they had also never seen the Tiananmen Square photo with the tanks)
-the fall of the Berlin Wall (one recently wrote that the Berlin Wall went UP to symbolize the end of the Cold War - actually, several people thought the Cold War was a single, physical battle [no doubt in the snow, somewhere])

I find this much more horrifying than their lack of pop culture knowledge.  Speaking of which, I showed a fake news video from The Onion once about the US sending aid money to Andorra because we thought it was a war-torn African nation, and only one person laughed.  The rest said, "wait a minute.... is this real?"

[frogfactory]

I also don't know who Derrida is, but I first heard of (?) him when I wound up hanging around with a bunch of Philosophy faculty at my last university (don't ask).

I mentioned at one point that I had no idea who this person was or what all the references were about.  They look at me, horrified, until someone said "You really don't know Derrida?"

I said, "Nope, never heard of the guy."

They just shook their heads in disbelief and the conversation carried on.  No-one attempted to enlighten me then, either.

[prof_smartypants]

I also don't know who Derrida is, but I first heard of (?) him when I wound up hanging around with a bunch of Philosophy faculty at my last university (don't ask).

I mentioned at one point that I had no idea who this person was or what all the references were about.  They look at me, horrified, until someone said "You really don't know Derrida?"

I said, "Nope, never heard of the guy."

They just shook their heads in disbelief and the conversation carried on.  No-one attempted to enlighten me then, either.

I did the same thing with Foucault. I think I said something like, "Didn't he have a pendulum?"

[compdoc]

In case you are really wondering, both Foucault and Derrida are theorists. Derrida, French philosopher, made a huge difference to literary theory.  As far as I can tell, he is on his way out of favor, but people still cite him. Foucault, also a French philosopher, studied and wrote about social institutions, including prisons. His work has made a huge difference to rhetoricians.

[mad_doctor]

I also don't know who Derrida is, but I first heard of (?) him when I wound up hanging around with a bunch of Philosophy faculty at my last university (don't ask).

I mentioned at one point that I had no idea who this person was or what all the references were about.  They look at me, horrified, until someone said "You really don't know Derrida?"

I said, "Nope, never heard of the guy."

They just shook their heads in disbelief and the conversation carried on.  No-one attempted to enlighten me then, either.

Don't feel so bad.  They've probably never heard of Herbert Simon.

[mdwlark]

I also don't know who Derrida is, but I first heard of (?) him when I wound up hanging around with a bunch of Philosophy faculty at my last university (don't ask).

I mentioned at one point that I had no idea who this person was or what all the references were about.  They look at me, horrified, until someone said "You really don't know Derrida?"

I said, "Nope, never heard of the guy."

They just shook their heads in disbelief and the conversation carried on.  No-one attempted to enlighten me then, either.

I had a grad prof who used to say: "Derrida is like the Grateful Dead.  People followed him from gig to gig, mesmerized, but no one could explain what he said."

But he's been very influential, esp. for literary criticism. Immeasurable pints of ink have been spilled trying to account for him, and I doubt that I could do much more than summarize. So here's a link that might help:

 http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/derrida/

Don't tell anyone who's anyone, but I'm more impressed with the Grateful Dead. 

[peppergal]

- actually, several people thought the Cold War was a single, physical battle [no doubt in the snow, somewhere])

They are obviously confusing it with one of the Cod Wars.

[galactic_hedgehog]

- actually, several people thought the Cold War was a single, physical battle [no doubt in the snow, somewhere])

They are obviously confusing it with one of the Cod Wars.

Would these student know about codpieces?

[monita]

- actually, several people thought the Cold War was a single, physical battle [no doubt in the snow, somewhere])

They are obviously confusing it with one of the Cod Wars.

Would these student know about codpieces?

<snort>  No.  Or fish.  Or Iceland.

[flavorrocks1]

I was in a class once where the professor had just finished doing a reading of Charge of the Light Brigade and he asked "So what do you think?"  I naturally responded that he didn't do it as well as Alfalfa.  I laughed, he laughed. No one else in the class got it.

[phlegmatic]

I just showed part of the movie Office Space to a group of first year students, thinking it would be an easy source for applying our discussion about work life to the film. When I showed this last year to a group of seniors, only 2 students had never seen the film. When I showed it to the 1st years today, only 2 had seen it. All that within just a few years of age difference!

I wonder what this new generation's Office Space will be...

[mad_doctor]

I just showed part of the movie Office Space to a group of first year students, thinking it would be an easy source for applying our discussion about work life to the film. When I showed this last year to a group of seniors, only 2 students had never seen the film. When I showed it to the 1st years today, only 2 had seen it. All that within just a few years of age difference!

I wonder what this new generation's Office Space will be...

They're working on a new movie - Unemployed.

[phlegmatic]

As Jon Lovitz is on Conan tonight, I am reminded that I made an Acting! reference to a theater student who didn't get it. A theater student!

This is also apparently my new favorite thread.