Generating Superficial Rapport: Connecting over Pop Culture

An example:

The Pop Culture Metaphor

Making an outrageous pop culture comparison consistently gets a quick laugh. Additionally, the metaphor or simile emotes on several levels and seeds various other conversation threads. If I simply say, ?I saw a nerd walking down the street?, I haven?t cashed in the sentence?s comedic keyword (nerd). The label nerd, while chuckle-worthy, won?t elicit any big laughs because it?s not specific. Now, if I were to say, ?I saw this nerd walking down the street that looked like Minkus from Boy Meets World?, I would get a bigger laugh. By specifically referencing Minkus, I?m not only painting a vivid word-picture, I?m also categorizing his personality and style. The variety of nerds can range from a Minkus-looking nerd to an Urquel-looking nerd to a Booger from Revenge of the Nerds-style nerd (to name only a few). In each case, you have a different set of physical attributes (skinny nerd, black nerd, fat nerd, respectively), a different social environment (school acquaintance nerd, next-door-neighbor nerd, college nerd), a different nerd role (antagonist nerd, lovable loser nerd, somewhat-cool nerd). Again, this only lists a few of the infinite number of contexts you can attach to a pop culture metaphor.

However, once you establish the context you want to highlight, you can amplify the humor by spotlighting it. For example, say I?m telling a story about seeing a nerd (who looked like Minkus) and he gave me the finger for no reason. The story?s humor hinges on the nerd?s absurdly unwarranted behavior. If I said, ?I saw this nerd walking down the street that looked like Minkus from Boy Meets World. As he walked by, he totally flipped me off! Seriously, the guy looked just like Minkus ? he even had the dorky argyle sweater and awful glasses!?, I?d be focusing on the wrong context. The humor is not because the nerd looked exactly like Minkus ? rather it?s because Minkus was such a timid (though bitterly repressed) character on the show, imagining him flipping someone off is funny.

So, to highlight the context of Minkus?s behavior, we could say, ?I saw this nerd walking down the street that looked like Minkus from Boy Meets World. As he walked by, he totally flipped me off! Seriously, maybe Minkus mistook me for that piece of trailer-trash Shawn Hunter and thought I stole Tapanga from him or some shit. Whatever, I?m totally telling Mr. Finni Monday morning.? Now that will get a big laugh. Why? Because I isolated the humor in the story (a nerd acting ridiculously), tied the abstract word ?nerd? to a relatable icon (Minkus), then I figured out what context to relate my Minkus metaphor to (Minkus?s timid, bitterly repressed behavior), and made a wacky analogy that ties into the plotline of the show (Shawn Hunter stealing Minkus?s unrequited love interest)*.

* For all you hardcore Boy Meets World fans who are all upset because it was actually Cory ? not Shawn ? who pursued (and stole) Tapanga from Minkus, stop your crying and recognize my comedy of error: 1.) I got to use the adjective ?trailer-trash? to describe Shawn (funny in itself); 2.) It calls for the listeners? input since they can correct you, leading to a Boy Meets World vibe session; 3.) It keeps you from looking totally try-hard as if you are IMDBing the logistics of awful TGIF t.v. shows.

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About Rob J. Rob J. is a writer and dating instructor in New York City. Themes that resonate in both his teaching and writing are masculinity, genuineness, rational self-interest, and general awesomeness.

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