Has quoting Seinfeld become a social taboo?

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A buddy mentioned some Seinfeld episode awhile ago to a small group at a party, and there was an awkward silence followed by a quick segue onto something else. Five years ago it was common to say, "Remember when Elaine..." etc, followed by a good chortle. My feeling is that now it's played, and while you might still enjoy it at home, don't speak of it in public.

― andy --, Saturday, 10 December 2005 00:25 (twenty years ago)

Pretty much, yeah. I think for a lot of people it's SO TOTALLY 90s OMG that it'll take a while to come back into fashion.

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Saturday, 10 December 2005 00:34 (twenty years ago)

the show fucking sucks and will not stand the test of time. people are already tired of it.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Saturday, 10 December 2005 00:34 (twenty years ago)

Huh- huh- huh-huh huh huh. YOu said "sucks".

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Saturday, 10 December 2005 00:35 (twenty years ago)

As soon as he said "Remember that Seinfeld episode where..." I was just like don't, don't, don't say it under my breath.

― andy --, Saturday, 10 December 2005 00:37 (twenty years ago)

haha! Beavis and Butthead >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Seinfeld of course.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Saturday, 10 December 2005 00:37 (twenty years ago)

not as bad as "remember that episode of the simpsons?" or "remember that sketch on saturday night live?"

― gear (gear), Saturday, 10 December 2005 00:38 (twenty years ago)

"remember that star trek episode?"

― kyle (akmonday), Saturday, 10 December 2005 00:39 (twenty years ago)

Original Series Star Trek is immortal - you can't kill fables that are also campy.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Saturday, 10 December 2005 00:40 (twenty years ago)

and tho I still love the Simpsons (at least up to season 8 or 9), its true they're only diminishing their cred as time goes on...

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Saturday, 10 December 2005 00:41 (twenty years ago)

okaaaay, who invited the dork

― gear (gear), Saturday, 10 December 2005 00:42 (twenty years ago)

I'm very guilty of bringing up old Simpson's episodes... err, I should really stop, and start reminding people of ALLY MCBEAL.

― andy --, Saturday, 10 December 2005 00:43 (twenty years ago)

Y'all are gonna LOVE this restaurant's menu.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Saturday, 10 December 2005 00:43 (twenty years ago)

Remember that episode of Slap Maxwell...?

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Saturday, 10 December 2005 00:43 (twenty years ago)

so glad I live in britain

― cozen (Cozen), Saturday, 10 December 2005 00:44 (twenty years ago)

Holy shit that restaurant should be torched yesterday.

― andy --, Saturday, 10 December 2005 00:45 (twenty years ago)

Remember that episode of... uh... Neighbours?

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Saturday, 10 December 2005 00:45 (twenty years ago)

I wish people would start using "not", "as-if", "schwing" etc. again.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Saturday, 10 December 2005 00:45 (twenty years ago)

I do finish sentences with "Not!" without a hint of irony.

― andy --, Saturday, 10 December 2005 00:47 (twenty years ago)

I tried to introduce "isn't!" into the popular lexicon a year of so ago, i.e. "That's a sweet hatchback... ISN'T!!" but so far it hasn't taken root.

― andy --, Saturday, 10 December 2005 00:49 (twenty years ago)

humour which "lasts" is not actually funny

― mark s (mark s), Saturday, 10 December 2005 00:49 (twenty years ago)

I dunno, slapstick seems to have worked well through the ages.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Saturday, 10 December 2005 00:51 (twenty years ago)

eh, not so much.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Saturday, 10 December 2005 00:52 (twenty years ago)

Mark Twain has some humor that's remarkably durable... maybe not gutbusting anymore, but still good by most standards.

― andy --, Saturday, 10 December 2005 00:55 (twenty years ago)

Y'all are gonna LOVE this restaurant's menu.

the triple lindy!

― thorstein veblen (Jody Beth Rosen), Saturday, 10 December 2005 00:57 (twenty years ago)

Swift can still elicit a chuckle as well...

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Saturday, 10 December 2005 00:59 (twenty years ago)

swift wz the we've got it maid of his day

― mark s (mark s), Saturday, 10 December 2005 01:00 (twenty years ago)

Quoting "The Office" is on the rise...

― andy --, Saturday, 10 December 2005 01:06 (twenty years ago)

i hear people referencing seinfeld all the time - not quoting it really, just noting that something is a "george costanza" type of situation.

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Saturday, 10 December 2005 01:09 (twenty years ago)

awww...moes

listen, this is ridiculous. its makes me sick to hear stuff like this. you can say or refer to whatever the hell you like. if you make reference to a seinfeld or simpsons or the partridge family or something you saw the neighbours cat do that morning and you get an awkward silence in response all you can do is smash those bitches in the face. all of them. what kind of boring ass spends their time working out what pop cultural references people can make? so gay.

― sunny successor (katharine), Saturday, 10 December 2005 01:58 (twenty years ago)

I have an intuitive sensibility about these things because I've just started watching Seinfeld again and it's just started to recently amuse me again after a good decade of not watching it. So, I have recently mentioned it a couple times, but I always had the good sense to start with, "I know Seinfeld is totally old news, but I they just started rerunning it again or something and its totally been cracking me up again. Anyway, this reminds me of the episode where Kramer/George/Jerry/Elaine... [fill in rest of plot]... that was just one the other night."

Either that gets a laughing affirmative response or else I just fill in the space with, "Ever see that one? Not a Seinfeld fan? Nah-well nevermind."

Turn the tables. Make the elitist fools feel defensive. Works every time!

― Fearless Dawg, Saturday, 10 December 2005 02:09 (twenty years ago)

for clarity's sake:
"one" = "on," of course, in the above.

― Fearless Dawg, Saturday, 10 December 2005 02:13 (twenty years ago)

"It's just a fleshwound!" Ahahahahahahahaha! Have you ever seen that one movie? These go to eleven! HA!

It's not quoting any particular show/movie that's bad - it's quoting the same shit all the time and thinking it's original & funny. Hmm, I'm having a deja vu.

― D.I.Y. U.N.K.L.E. (dave225.3), Saturday, 10 December 2005 02:21 (twenty years ago)

remember that episode of WKRP...?

― O RLY? (eman), Saturday, 10 December 2005 02:27 (twenty years ago)

John Coctostan

Yes! It's now time to start quoting Fletch again. I've been saying this for at least a year. I'm so ahead of the curve.

― Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Saturday, 10 December 2005 02:33 (twenty years ago)

remember that episode of WKRP...?

I do.

― Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Saturday, 10 December 2005 02:35 (twenty years ago)

It's not quoting any particular show/movie that's bad - it's quoting the same shit all the time and thinking it's original & funny. Hmm, I'm having a deja vu.

Reading too much into it with the "thinking it's original" bit and the "all the time" bit, unless you happen to know the people say the same line over and over. Usually people tend to only quote from entertainment when life seems to imitate art and therefore make the relevant connection.

― Remember This, Saturday, 10 December 2005 02:41 (twenty years ago)

what kind of boring ass spends their time working out what pop cultural references people can make?

Jerry Seinfeld, for one. Just sayin'.

― tremendoid (tremendoid), Saturday, 10 December 2005 02:43 (twenty years ago)

mo's burritos are awesome! marinated tofy joey back of donuts please!

― howell huser (chaki), Saturday, 10 December 2005 03:13 (twenty years ago)

katharine do you have a newsletter i can subscribe to?
the only things that it should be a social taboo to quote are summer blockbusters esp if i didn't see it and napoleon dynamite.

― oops (Oops), Saturday, 10 December 2005 04:20 (twenty years ago)

Not so taboo for ILX:
Pulling a Costanza - Office Interpersonal Habits

Just started yesterday!

― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Saturday, 10 December 2005 04:49 (twenty years ago)

I'd rather hear someone quote Curb, but I don't really see why it would bother anyone to quote something from Seinfeld, unless the reference is geninely uninteresting, which I'm guessing is what the "taboo" reference in this case was. The show had just as many strong points as weak spots, so just make sure it's still funny before you go quoting.

― billstevejim (billstevejim), Saturday, 10 December 2005 16:27 (twenty years ago)

haha i used to work at a moe's

― latebloomer: The Corridor (Yes, The Corridor) (latebloomer), Saturday, 10 December 2005 17:41 (twenty years ago)

so glad I live in britain

Quoting Little Britain

― Slumpman (Slump Man), Saturday, 10 December 2005 17:56 (twenty years ago)

Huh? People do it all the time at my work (= mostly undergrads). My old roommates used to do it too. I wonder if it's more cool for people who were too young for it the first time around.

― Sundar (sundar), Saturday, 10 December 2005 18:01 (twenty years ago)

People do it at my work all the time too (mostly 11-16 year olds) which is bearable. Adults doing it, and attempting to do the correct voices, is inexcusable. The worst part is that many catchphrases from the show make sense in the context of everyday conversation (eg "yeah i know" and "i don't like it")

― Slumpman (Slump Man), Saturday, 10 December 2005 18:06 (twenty years ago)

As much as I liked the show in the 90s I don't think it ever occurred to me that it would continue to resonate with generations to come.

― Sundar (sundar), Saturday, 10 December 2005 18:21 (twenty years ago)

I reference Night Court on the sly sometimes, luckily no one gets it and calls me out. Now, Northern Exposure, that has some references whose time have come..

― mike h. (mike h.), Sunday, 11 December 2005 00:15 (twenty years ago)

wow do people really remember enough of it to quote it?!?!??????!!!

― ken c (ken c), Sunday, 11 December 2005 00:55 (twenty years ago)

my guess is it's not as much remembering, but the fact that (at least here) they show reruns like twice a day.

― tres letraj (tehresa), Sunday, 11 December 2005 00:57 (twenty years ago)

haha i see i guess they show it more often in the US (here they show it mostly at like late night.. shame!)

― ken c (ken c), Sunday, 11 December 2005 00:58 (twenty years ago)

What do you mean? I would consider a person clever if they quoted from Seinfeld. I don't get the idea that it's 'gone out of fashion': for whom was it ever 'in fashion'? If you admitted to liking it the first time around, why not forever?

― maryann (maryann), Sunday, 11 December 2005 01:17 (twenty years ago)

worry

― RJG (RJG), Sunday, 11 December 2005 03:23 (twenty years ago)

For some reason my references like this are always to comic strips. Peanuts the most probably. But also Bloom County, Doonesbury, Calvin and Hobbes. I don't know if any of my friends notice me always referencing comic strips, or if they worry about me.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Sunday, 11 December 2005 03:36 (twenty years ago)

But to answer the question, I think Seinfeld references are still pretty common among people aged about 38-48. At least, I work with a couple people who make them sometimes.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Sunday, 11 December 2005 03:38 (twenty years ago)

I never seem to hear seinfeld references from ANYONE. GOod thing really, I never liked the show. I am an unapologetic futurama/simpsons quoter though and by thunder I'll go to me grave shouting "bite my shiny metal ass!"

― Trayce (trayce), Sunday, 11 December 2005 05:03 (twenty years ago)

worry

― RJG (RJG), Sunday, 11 December 2005 05:10 (twenty years ago)

hahaha my friend and i are in our respective homes watching snl. shakira is performing, and we're discussing that she sounds like she's yodelling. she then procedes to do some weird dance move, and friend says, "she's doing the elaine."

― tres letraj (tehresa), Sunday, 11 December 2005 05:11 (twenty years ago)

John Coctostan

Yes! It's now time to start quoting Fletch again. I've been saying this for at least a year. I'm so ahead of the curve.

hrmpf

― John Cocktolstoy (John Cocktolstoy), Sunday, 11 December 2005 10:11 (twenty years ago)

As the first line of my initiation post on that "Pulling a Costanza" thread said, I just got Season 5 on DVD for my birthday last week. So, the crew from Monk's has been on the brain a bit.

And the Costanza's might just be the funniest television family...EVAH.

― Big Loud Mountain Ape (Big Loud Mountain Ape), Sunday, 11 December 2005 15:08 (twenty years ago)

she's doing the elaine

"A full-body dry-heave set to music."

― nickn (nickn), Sunday, 11 December 2005 22:49 (twenty years ago)

In some ways I feel like "not that there's anything wrong with it" has transcended its origin as a Seinfeld quote.

"No soup for you," however, has not, and was never that funny to begin with.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 15 December 2005 21:16 (twenty years ago)

People were saying "not that there's anything wrong with that" on tv and in real life before the Seinfeld episode, which just highlighted how stupid the phrase really is. If anything, Seinfeld is only responsible for making the phrase a joke rather than a serious disclaimer.

― Soup For You to chew on, Thursday, 15 December 2005 21:22 (twenty years ago)

Well, but were they using it in direct reference to teh gays?

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 15 December 2005 21:23 (twenty years ago)

YES, actually the only reason I remember is because I watched that episode with a friend who was coming out of the closet and we had been hearing and saying and mocking the exact phrase for quite a while!

― Soup For You, Thursday, 15 December 2005 21:24 (twenty years ago)

I like Seinfeld.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 15 December 2005 22:19 (twenty years ago)

i didn't know there were people who didn't like seinfeld before i came to ilx!

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Thursday, 15 December 2005 22:40 (twenty years ago)

"Not that there's anything wrong with that" is one of the weakest/most dated Seinfeld things, I think.

I must have seen it many years after it was first aired but it kind of jarred in a "that's a surprisingly corny thing for Seinfeld to come out with" kind of way. It's really a variant of the "some of my best friends are x disclaimer, and surely predates Seinfeld as a jokey cliche?

― Alba (Alba), Thursday, 15 December 2005 22:45 (twenty years ago)

(this may be a UK/US difference)

― Alba (Alba), Thursday, 15 December 2005 22:46 (twenty years ago)

(not that there's anything wrong with being American)

― Alba (Alba), Thursday, 15 December 2005 22:47 (twenty years ago)

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