3 ms·
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.
by samatman 3y ago
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.
- StevePerkins 3y agoI don't give a damn! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who%27s_on_First%3F#Sketch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who%27s_on_First%3F#Sketch
- ddingus 3y agoWell, that is who plays short stop. The position is a different matter. As if! (the shortstop cares) Great bit, BTW. I loved it as a kid.
- humanistbot 3y agoI'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-communication/civics-knowledge-survey/ https://www.annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org/political-commun...)
- spiesd 3y agoAgreed 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.
- WalterBright 3y agoDuring the Battle of the Bulge, the Germans infiltrated the American lines with ersatz officers sowing confusion by giving conflicting orders in perfect English. The GIs hit on the idea of asking them baseball questions. Failing to answer them correctly got the fake officers shot on the spot. My dad (WW2 vet) told me I would have been shot on the spot. My utter disinterest in baseball distressed him.
- themadturk 3y agoAmerican love of baseball is absolutely a trope in WWII films. It was part of a recent "Masters Of The Air" episode where a German interrogator tried to establish rapport with a captured American flier by discussing the most recent World Series. It's like baseball was the only American sport during the 1930s and '40s.
- WalterBright 3y agoI've been enjoying MotA. My only gripe is the crews laughing, talking and cheering about the target during the briefing. They didn't do that. They were terrified.