Related: "na-na na-na na-na" https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/na-na_na-na_na-na I always wondered if anyone else noticed, how the Jackson 5 smuggled it into ABC. https://youtu.be/ho7796-au8U?t=01m24s
In French it's "na-na na-na nère"
Shave and a Haircut
91–100 of 155 posts
Re: Shave and a Haircut
#92> The former prisoner of war and U.S. Navy seaman Doug Hegdahl reports fellow U.S. captives in the Vietnam War would authenticate a new prisoner's U.S. identity by using "Shave and a Haircut" as a shibboleth, tapping the first five notes against a cell wall and waiting for the appropriate response. With the mass export of western culture, I wonder if there are any songs, tunes, or patterns like this that would still…
For the US, "where does the shortstop play" is a pretty good one. Some people might get through K-12 without learning that, but surely not many.
I'm an American and the best I could answer for that is "on the baseball field." I know it is a baseball position. Many other countries play baseball too. (Looked it up, oh I remember now, but wouldn't have been able to answer on demand.)
Wikipedia tells me "baseball is considered the most popular sport in parts of Central and South America, the Caribbean, and East Asia, particularly in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. "
I don't think there is such a shibboleth with both good precision and recall. American culture is exported around the world, but also is no longer a monoculture with only 3 broadcast networks. Any shibboleth that is ubiquitous enough in the US will be exported globally. Any part of US culture that is not global probably isn't as universal in the US.
Even basic US civics (which would be known by more educated people globally) is far from universal: Only 77% of Americans can link the first amendment to freedom of speech and only 83% can name even one of the three branches of the federal government. And that's of the population of Americans who agree to take a university run political knowledge survey (https://www.annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org/political-commun...)
Re: Shave and a Haircut
#93Related: "na-na na-na na-na" https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/na-na_na-na_na-na I always wondered if anyone else noticed, how the Jackson 5 smuggled it into ABC. https://youtu.be/ho7796-au8U?t=01m24s
Have you heard it in Queen's "We are the champions"? "No time for losers, for we are the Champions" ... etc
I'm glad I'm not the only one. I noticed that and asked a friend, and they didn't see it. To me, when you consider both how it sounds and the theme of the song, it has to be intentional.
Re: Shave and a Haircut
#94> The former prisoner of war and U.S. Navy seaman Doug Hegdahl reports fellow U.S. captives in the Vietnam War would authenticate a new prisoner's U.S. identity by using "Shave and a Haircut" as a shibboleth, tapping the first five notes against a cell wall and waiting for the appropriate response. With the mass export of western culture, I wonder if there are any songs, tunes, or patterns like this that would still…
Maybe some TV ad jingle. I bet you could do just the rhythm of "give me a BREAK, GIVE me a break, BREAK me off a piece of that" and get three even knocks back as a response.
Re: Shave and a Haircut
#95Wow, this is very interesting. In Mexico, it's used to insult another person. I always thought it was a Mexico-thing.
This always trips me up when I enthusiastically knock on my friends door to this tune. Oops
Re: Shave and a Haircut
#96It's rather striking that a dollar today is worth considerably less than a penny when this was written, at least with respect to grooming services.
Re: Shave and a Haircut
#97[dead]
Re: Shave and a Haircut
#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
I once interviewed a candidate for an engineering position in Seattle. It quickly turned out that he had fabricated his entire work history and education. My first clue was that he claimed two years of work experience at Costco HQ in Issaquah, Washington but he pronounced it as "Is-ACK" (the local pronounciation is "IS-uh-kwah"). No one who spent two years in Issaquah would ever pronounce it that way, regardless of t…
I'd say the Washington shibboleth should be "Puyallup"
I once met someone who lived in Seattle a couple years and said "Puget Sound" with a hard g
Re: Shave and a Haircut
#99Earlier quoted context omitted.
For the US, "where does the shortstop play" is a pretty good one. Some people might get through K-12 without learning that, but surely not many.
I'm an American and the best I could answer for that is "on the baseball field." I know it is a baseball position. Many other countries play baseball too. (Looked it up, oh I remember now, but wouldn't have been able to answer on demand.) Wikipedia tells me "baseball is considered the most popular sport in parts of Central and South America, the Caribbean, and East Asia, particularly in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan…
Agreed on the general diffusion of knowledge; I think it's probably a step in the right direction for various cultures to have some basic understanding of those with which they are not personally familiar. We Americans shouldn't count on the shortstop being a secret to the world, nor should we be willfully ignorant of things that are popularly known elsewhere.
Shibboleths, like all language, evolve. Some die off, become ineffective or unuseful. Others spring up. Does tiktok live here, now? I fear that I would fail a modern test, but I try to keep up.
Re: Shave and a Haircut
#100Related: "na-na na-na na-na" https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/na-na_na-na_na-na I always wondered if anyone else noticed, how the Jackson 5 smuggled it into ABC. https://youtu.be/ho7796-au8U?t=01m24s
“Batman!”