Cultural touchstones you have never experienced

dances with wolves

the english patient

lawrence of arabia

milo forgot paying taxes, voting, acting like a decent fellow, living with near-sightedness, etc.

i have never been offered drugs by steve coogan

having "the talk" from my parents

skiing

disney's "the rescuers"

living in a dorm room with that one poster of the two girls kissing

I've never seen Goodfellas, or taken any drugs. Is 39 too late to start? Is taking drugs actually a cultural touchstone?

yes

Se7en. Top Gun. It's a Wonderful Life. Say Anything. Any of the Alien series. Weird Science.

Also, never saw more than a stray episode of Transformers or G.I. Joe as a kid, which left me befuddled during many a late-night dorm-room conversation.

I've never been to a Sunday church service (or Wednesday).

I have zero childhood stories about broken bones.

I have never seen The Goonies or any Indiana Jones film.

I have never eaten peanut butter outside of a Reeses' Cup or an M&M.

I have never fantasised about a big white wedding, or any wedding at all really.

I have never stolen a hotel bathrobe.

Jimi Hendrix playing the Star Spangled Banner at Woodstock.

I never ever had a hypercolour t shirt.

And I never ever played the "never ever" drinking game.

I have never read nor watched a Harry Potter story. Nor been to church in an 'official' capacity, nor had sex in a car as a teenager (or adult, for that matter.)

Never seen any of the Godfathers movies, taken any recreational drugs, or, in fact, ever even been drunk.

I have never read nor watched a Harry Potter story.

sames.

summer camp

that john candy saturday morning cartoon set at summer camp

i have never experienced pokemans firsthand

vegas

have skied but have never water skied

I've done neither ]:

summer camp was not what i had been lead to believe

bad-boy biker boyfriend

i would hope something as boring as harry potter would not constitute a cultural touchstone but i'm too old to judge. i've also seen all the movies.

rave

No Harry Potter, no Lord of the Rings. Only saw the first of the "new" Star Wars. Never did heroin.

> i would hope something as boring as harry potter would not constitute a cultural touchstone but i'm too old to judge. i've also seen all the movies.

I run in nerdulous circles.

Nice segue, PP.

seance.

OMG ANNA YOU HAVE NEVER EATEN PEANUT BUTTER?!?!?!

that's a britishes thing, though, right?

that's the only possible excuse

No cocaine, no heroin, no Farrelly Bros. movies; no snow-skiing; no truffles, no caviar as such (I've had fish eggs in their usual sushi presentations, but no "caviar"). No raves, no Vegas, no summer camp. No Aerosmith except in passing.

Oh, and the Carpenter poll reminds me, I haven't seen The Thing.

no drugs

Never read a Harry Potter book (not an accident)
Never saw "Rocky Horror..."
Never watched "Saved By The Bell"
Never watched "The Soprannos"
Couldn't give a fuck about any of the above.

i think there are some people in this thread who simply may not be old enough to experience certain touchstones

Drugs
Parental Divorce
Anything Church-related except for a few weddings

E.T.

Divorce
Adolescent dating
Adolescent drinking/rebellion
Many many shows and movies I never saw until adulthood, if ever
Moon boots
Braces/retainer
Still have never broken a bone!

Oh shit, me too. No broken bones ever.

I never kissed a girl. I got close once. About a millimeter.

Transformers cartoons
Prom

what have you been doing with all the unfinished pints of Guinness

three

i left one on a table outside the bridge in ballsbridge last Saturday sher if I knew you were around it was for the taking hey

never read Moby Dick or travelled abroad by an aeroplane, but have been to Paris, Salzberg and Tralee by boat.

I have been interested in how these things take on weight as time goes by.

One says "I have never ____." Just for the sake of argument let's say it's "I have never seen 'Casablanca'" or "I have never been to a Dead show" or whatever. It becomes a point of perverse pride.

Then a very fetching someone invites you to a Dead show, or "Casablanca" is on cable when you're bored in a hotel room. You're conflicted not because you want/don't want to do the thing, but because it would eliminate one of the ways in which you are unique.

At this point I would probably tune away from "Seinfeld" even if it were the most attractive thing on the teevee. NOT because I'm too hifalutin to watch "Seinfeld," or have any particular grudge against it or its fans.

But because as soon as I watched "Seinfeld," I would cease being a person who has never watched "Seinfeld" (which is rare for persons of my age and class and temperament). I would start being a person who HAS watched "Seinfeld" - so in that one small way I would start being like almost everyone else of my age, class, and temperament. A small part of my identity would vanish, and I might be ever-so-slightly poorer in spirit as a result.

ur in luck Seinfeld is pure shite

Never driven a car

do you not like stout in general darragh or just the Guinness?

This thread is too US-centric.

Ye Mad Puffin, it's not whether you've watched Seinfeld or not that matters. If you experience watching Seinfeld or not-watching-Seinfeld the same way as others, then you would still lose part of your identity. But how 'rare' of a personality and world experience you have is highly contextual, dependent on what city and country you live in, making it difficult to gauge. Arguing that a small part of your identity would vanish because you performed a given act more people have performed in your surroundings is illogical and simplistic.

Here's a Cultural Touchstone I've never experienced:

(1) Sharing my personal information on the Internet.

the only thing i want to avoid to make myself "unique" wd be death tbh

stout, ale, lager, beer all out I'm afraid nv

ok i'm struggling with which ones are lies and which are previously unsuspected facts at this point

anyway isn't this thread some kind of drinking game at this point?

A slurpee drinking game?

This thread is too US-centric.

I've never bowed to the Queen.
I've never rode in a double-decker bus.
I've never turned into a werewolf and run through Piccadilly Circus.

i've never been a big bottomed bird all over the newsie wewsies

I've never eaten a sausage roll in a lift while looking for a lavatory

i was raised in New Jersey in the '70s and have never bought a Springsteen album or seen him live.

I've never locked myself out and had to crawl through the transom to get back in.

This seems to have happened a lot back in the day.

nor have i learned to drive

I have never played golf (although the miniature variety is good) and I never intend to

This thread is too US-centric.

I've never bowed to the Queen.
I've never rode in a double-decker bus.
I've never turned into a werewolf and run through Piccadilly Circus.

― pplains, Tuesday, July 14, 2015 9:20 PM (23 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This poor little cunt needs reading comprehension skills.

"Cultural touchstones" are inevitably going to be touchstones of the posters' culture. So USians are going to talk about things that they perceive most USians would regard as touchstones. As would someone from Peru or Perugia or Peshawar or the Pennines.

If Britishes and others have things to share, they don't need anyone's permission to do so! Indeed I rather wish they would.

gor' blimey we've got a right rum customer 'ere

top lad

can't believe deems isn't a man for the pints

Never been in a fistfight
Never had a graduation or went to prom
Never went to college
Never went home with someone I met that night
Never been outside North America
Never smoked a cigarette

Never been to jury duty
Never taken acid

I've never bowed to the Queen.
I've never rode in a double-decker bus.
I've never turned into a werewolf and run through Piccadilly Circus.

― pplains, Tuesday, July 14, 2015 9:20 PM (1 hour ago)

this is like a lost morrissey single

Never been outside the US (despite growing up all the fuck over its eastern half)

UK: never been to Ibiza, Agia Napa etc; never been to Thailand, India etc either; never been to a music festival as such

I never her.

búm

I've never been to Canada

I've been to paradise but I've never been to me.

Never heard a whole Gasolin' record
Never seen an episode of Borgen
Never seen Klovn The Movie
Never partied at Tisvildeleje

Never washed a hat

never been to Spain (or Belfast but I guess this is common for people south of the border i dunno)
cant swim
never broke a bone (surprisingly)

never kicked a ball in the street

never read or seen Game of Thrones

I've never had a pet donkey.

turns out I am the anti deems

I have never driven a car
I have never read nor seen any of that Harry Potter business

that's about all I've got

ive never driven a car.
I didn't go to my university graduation, and high school graduations don't exist where im from.
never seen the film "the lion king".
never seen or read game of thrones

I haven't seen any non-Pixar animated Disney film since Beauty & The Beast.
Have never watched an entire James Bond film.
Haven't seen or read Game of Thrones. Or Walking Dead.
Haven't seen Titanic or Avatar or Gone With The Wind or The Sound of Music or Grease or any of the Fast and the Furious films.

Never watched an episode of Survivor or American Idol or Everybody Loves Raymond.

your mom

anyway isn't this thread some kind of drinking game at this point?

― This is for my new ringpiece, so please only serious answers (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, July 14, 2015 5:08 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I was thinking the other day that if this was actually never have I ever then I'd have been really fucking drunk about 5 posts in.

yay that;s 2 of us

E, let's get together and play this game <3

x-post - high five!

oh dear you know that's asking for trouble which obviously means that I think it's a fantastic idea :)

>:) one day one day