Who is some famous person you have mentioned in conversation, and the other person had never heard of them?

David Hume, widely considered to be the the most important philosopher ever to write in the English language.

Oh man this happened a few months ago. The person in question did not know who Nigella Lawson was. WTF?! How did she go through her whole life without at least hearing of her? I do not know.

This happens to me quite a bit when I’m teaching. I understand if it’s an old-time celebrity (Claudette Cobert or Dinah Washington) or some classic artist or designer (Paul Rand or Frank Lloyd Wright), but I mentioned Cindy Lauper in class one day and they had no idea who I was talking about.

Uh oh. Going to google Nigella Lawson!
@cprevite Cindy Lauper doesn’t compare to Jesse Owens!

@Keep_on_running I googled…were you joking?

@Dutchess_III What do you mean? She’s one of the most famous cooks in the world, she’s had dozens of TV shows, books, public appearances…

Samuel Johnson.

@Dutchess_III: Well not in terms of achievement, no – but certainly in terms of popular culture awareness.

By the way, how are @Dutchess_I & II?

(I think you’re talking to me, not yourself, @Keep_on_running)! I have never heard of her. Perhaps because she’s English. We don’t get any English channels here. Have you heard of Julie Childs?

They are fine, as far as I know! I (one) is still lost in Wis.dm and II is somewhere on Minekey!

@Dutchess_III Yes, I know, I was so shocked by your accusation I couldn’t see straight. ;) Yeah, I’ve heard of Julia Child, watched Julie and Julia not long ago lol.

I have this all the time.
In my job there are some people who have no idea who some persons are that I talk about.
My girlfriend has a ‘problem’ with memorizing names or/and no interest to do so of people who are in the news, be they celebs, politicians, athletes, etc.

Feelin’ kinda like the squirrel in the video aye @KOR? Go see one of the most recent questions in Social!

Squirrels are funny and endearing lol.

Bad Brains. I was telling my girlfriend how they influenced a portion of my youth. To my surprise she had no idea who they were. This coming from a girl thatt when i met her was singing 7seconds songs and dancing around to the Buzzcocks.

Richard Dawkins

Gerard Butler.

I must be that person you’ve all been talking to. I went to a fancy dress party in my twenties. A couple came dressed in coordinating costume. One was Pol, the other Pot. (No memory of what those costumes were.) I had no clue who Pol Pot was but I remember not caring since they were such a pretentious couple.

I once worked with a girl who is the same age as me (mid twenties) who didn’t know who Dolly Parton was!

Like you, @cprevite, I have that experience while teaching. The most recent one: Stevie Wonder!

I have cut down on popular culture references while teaching so as to stop embarrassing myself quite so much.

@linguaphile: My god! I may have just left the room if my students hadn’t heard of Stevie.

@SavoirFaire: I have tried, but once I get rolling, my stream of consciousness just flows. Lol. :^)