Ten years ago, in my late 20s and early 30s, other people would always understand my Seinfeld references. To almost any American I could say, “You know that Seinfeld where…,” and before I’d even described the episode, the other person would say, “Yeah, yeah, you mean the one where…” It was uncanny, how others would know exactly what I was talking about before I even said it.
In Turkey, I stopped making Seinfeld references. No one understood what I was talking about. “Seinfeld? Who is Seinfeld?”
When I first came back to the US, I looked forward to once again being able to pepper my conversation with Seinfeld references. But in the 13 years since Seinfeld went off the air, the memories of even the most rabid fans have grown fuzzy, and onto the scene has appeared an entire generation of adults who were 12 when the farewell episode aired.
So now not only do I have to follow, “Remember that Seinfeld episode where…” with an actual description of the episode, sometimes even that doesn’t work, and I’m left feeling like I’ve just shot an airball or raised my hand for an unreciprocated high-five.
In Turkey, I was stripped of the ability to shortcut a point by making a pop culture reference. Now, having come back to the US, I’ve been stripped of it again. Guess I’ll have to learn how to speak now.