Thursday, October 03, 2013

Aloha, Narnia

None of them recognized Aloha Oe? It wasn't like they had to spell it!

And then, Children's Book Series: "The impetus for these books came from a vision the author had of a faun carrying an umbrella and parcels in a snowy wood" is Final? If none of them had gotten The Chronicles of Narnia it would have been a major facepalm. (Especially since "the Narnia series" was accepted as correct.)

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8 Comments:

At 11:49 PM, October 03, 2013 Anonymous Kathie had this to say...

Neither husband nor I ever read C.S Lewis, so hadn't the foggiest notion.

OTOH, I recognized "Aloha Oe" within a few notes -- seem to recall it on the weekly radio show out of Honolulu by Harry Owens and his Royal Hawaiians, during my childhood.

 
At 11:56 PM, October 03, 2013 Anonymous Kathie had this to say...

P.S. I'd guess husband and I were too old to read the Narnia series by the time it was published in the US. And I'm not sure my parents would've approved of Lewis' religious views.

 
At 9:34 AM, October 04, 2013 Blogger The Ridger, FCD had this to say...

You can't be that old - 1951? It's probably just another one of those things I think are universal that aren't (I remember how astonished a friend was when I told her I had never heard of "Bedknob and Broomstick" until the movie).

 
At 11:21 AM, October 04, 2013 Anonymous Kathie had this to say...

"Bedknob and Broomstick"? Only heard of the movie title, barely, but don't know it.

Checked with husband: By the time each of us was 12-13, we were eschewing the youth sections of our respective hometown public libraries (where, if they held the Narnia series, they'd have been shelved -- not sure what years they were published in the US, though).

He said he read a lot from the public library then because they still didn't have TV yet in his rural region. My family had a set since I was 5, but I wasn't allowed to watch much -- save for cultural programming, just a few entertainment shows, and (starting with Huntley-Brinkley) national network news with my dad after dinner.

 
At 7:32 AM, October 07, 2013 Anonymous Picky had this to say...

Isn't this the problem with general knowledge quizzes? That there is no such thing as general knowledge? I'd have got the Narnia reference, but that's just an accident of my age and taste and the culture I live in. It's apparently "general knowledge" to know who current popular singers or reality show folk or fashion models are: I'm not included in that generality. Similarly there's no reason Kathie or anyone else should know the ins and outs of Lewis's stodgy works. Quizzes are luck-of-the-draw.

 
At 9:33 AM, October 07, 2013 Blogger The Ridger, FCD had this to say...

I'm not doing anything other than noting things that surprise me. I'm not saying people "should", I'm only remarking on how often things I think are very well-known turn out not to be. After all, there's something on every show I don't get, but they do, easily.

 
At 10:59 AM, October 07, 2013 Anonymous Picky had this to say...

Sorry, I didn't mean my "should" to be taken as deontic. I'm one of those British shall/will types; I meant simply there is no reason to assume that Kathie or whoever would have sufficient acquaintance with some artificially created realm called "general knowledge" to make her or them knowledgeable about Narnia stuff. I suppose I'm agreeing with you, but without the surprise: I think the whole quiz business is based on a fiction. (Yes, I know, it's entertainment and I'm being too po-faced about it.)

 
At 11:28 AM, October 07, 2013 Blogger The Ridger, FCD had this to say...

Ah, yes. I should (hee hee) have remembered you were British. Modal usage is one of the things that separates us.

 

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