Buffy language and reference help

[Cangel]

Hi guys :heart:

Well as many of you probably know, I'm not native to English, hence might get some language problems from time to time.
Now I'm rewatching Buffy and Angel I've decided to really pay attention to the language and try to get everything. I'm looking up the words I don't know (from the first episode I already learned 'to nurture' and 'spry' :D), but there are always some references aor witty jokes I don't get. I was thinking maybe after watching an episode I could post here what's unclear and you guys could help me understand?
Well, after watching 'Welcome to the Hellmouth' the phrases I didn't get are:

Cordelia: Willow! Nice dress! Good to know you've seen the softer side
of Sears.

Buffy: It's two hours on the freeway from Neiman Marcus?

Buffy: What? You, like, sent away for the Time-Life series?

Buffy:Hello! Would you like a copy of 'The Watchtower'? (lowers the dress)

Buffy: Okay, first of all, what's with the outfit? Live in the now,
okay? You look like DeBarge!

[Joyce Summers]

Cordelia: Willow! Nice dress! Good to know you've seen the softer side
of Sears.

This is a reference to Sears, the store. It had recently come out with a range of women's clothing advertising it with the tagline 'Come and see the softer side of Sears'. Or something to that effect. So Cordy is basically saying it looks like Willow has bought her clothes from that store, which was not exactly hot with the teen populace.

Buffy: It's two hours on the freeway from Neiman Marcus?
Another reference to a store- one that holds a lot of designer fashion names. Buffy is saying that Sunnydale is two hours along the freeway/motorway/autobahn away from Neiman Marcus.

Buffy: What? You, like, sent away for the Time-Life series?

Time Life have lots of series of books that are essentially like encyclopedias. They had recently released a Supernatural themed one that covered ghost sightings, demons, myths, legends etc and this is what Buffy is probably referring to, jokingly saying that is what Giles is using as a reference rather than centuries old tomes. It then turns out to be true- that's exactly what he bought. (And with the deal he got a free calendar)

Buffy:Hello! Would you like a copy of 'The Watchtower'? (lowers the dress)

The Watchtower is a religious magazine. Thus implying frumpiness. So Buffy thinks the dress makes her look religious and old fashioned.

Buffy: Okay, first of all, what's with the outfit? Live in the now,
okay? You look like DeBarge!
DeBarge were a musical group in the 80s. They are remembered, at least by mine (and Buffy's) generation as just having the awful style clothing of the 80s. That is the terrible brightly colored shirts with blazers having the sleeves rolled up. Just like the vampire was dressed. It was an awful look then and is remembered as even more awful now.

Hope that helped. :D And really good thread idea!

[Bangelxx]

yah, what joyce said:)
the only one I know is the sears one :p

[Starlet]

Thanks, Joyce:) I didn't know about those things.
I'm no native to English too and I have sometimes problems with understanding as well.
I thought maybe I could post my questions here, too?
When I'll watch Buffy episode and won't be able to understand something...

[Joyce Summers]

No problem, glad I could help :) I had no idea I had so much pop culture knowledge. I don't know whether to be proud or ashamed. Haha

And I think you could post your questions here too Starlet. I think that was SS's intention- you know any questions from the non-English-as-a-first-language people as regards to references or whatever.

[Cangel]

Okay, this educational TV thing is not really working for me as well as I had hoped. But finally I finished the 2nd episode, lol. So here's what I didn't understand of 'The Harvest':

Buffy: Oh, yeah. There was this time I was pinned down by this guy that played left tackle for varsity... Well, at least he used to before he was a vampire... Anyway, he had this really, really thick neck, and all I had was a little, little Exact-O knife...
(what's an Exact-O knife?)

Cordelia: Of course we're going to the Bronze. Friday night? No cover?
(I don't get the 'no cover' part)

Jesse: I am not okay, on an *epic* scale.
(I don't get the 'epic' part)

Buffy: He came 'cause this town's a mystical who's it.
(the 'who's it' part)

Buffy: Um, wait! Guys! Here! (hands Willow her bag) You get the exit cleared and the people out. That's all! Don't go Wild Bunch on me.
(the 'Wild Bunch'...if it's just the words, I'd get it, but the way she said it sounded like it's some dort of reference)

[The Kinslayer]

Good idea for a thread. Well I can´t help you much, but I think that [the] Wild bunch is a movie and I guess it has something to do with how the characters behave. But´s it better someone else give it a proper explanation. Let´s see if I can come up with something I don´t understand and need explaining.

[Dancing man]

Okay, this educational TV thing is not really working for me as well as I had hoped. But finally I finished the 2nd episode, lol. So here's what I didn't understand of 'The Harvest':

Buffy: Oh, yeah. There was this time I was pinned down by this guy that played left tackle for varsity... Well, at least he used to before he was a vampire... Anyway, he had this really, really thick neck, and all I had was a little, little Exact-O knife...
(what's an Exact-O knife?)

Cordelia: Of course we're going to the Bronze. Friday night? No cover?
(I don't get the 'no cover' part)

Jesse: I am not okay, on an *epic* scale.
(I don't get the 'epic' part)

Buffy: He came 'cause this town's a mystical who's it.
(the 'who's it' part)

Buffy: Um, wait! Guys! Here! (hands Willow her bag) You get the exit cleared and the people out. That's all! Don't go Wild Bunch on me.
(the 'Wild Bunch'...if it's just the words, I'd get it, but the way she said it sounded like it's some dort of reference)

lol im English and im sturggling to help.

Jesse: I am not okay, on an *epic* scale.
(I don't get the 'epic' part)

I think the Epic part just means she's really upset and epic is a world of big or huge etc.

Buffy: He came 'cause this town's a mystical who's it.
(the 'who's it' part)

I think this means the town is a who's who of deamons and they all get drawn to the town.

Not sure If this helps at all.

[Joyce Summers]

Buffy: Oh, yeah. There was this time I was pinned down by this guy that played left tackle for varsity... Well, at least he used to before he was a vampire... Anyway, he had this really, really thick neck, and all I had was a little, little Exact-O knife...
(what's an Exact-O knife?)

Exacto knives are craft knives. Very small and used by artists to carve out designs. NOT practical for beheading.

Cordelia: Of course we're going to the Bronze. Friday night? No cover?
(I don't get the 'no cover' part)

I don't know whether this is what she meant but when I used to go to clubs no cover meant there was no one covering the night. No DJ or live band, just the management playing songs through the stereo system.

Jesse: I am not okay, on an *epic* scale.
(I don't get the 'epic' part)

Epic means huge, grand and extreme. Big blockbuster, action films are EPIC movies because they are made on such a grand, amazing scale. Jesse is saying that not only is he not okay but he IS REALLY, REALLY not okay. So he is not okay on a very huge scale.

Buffy: He came 'cause this town's a mystical who's it.
(the 'who's it' part)

Whosit is a term used in the English Language when we don't the actual word, or have forgotten the actual word. Similar words are thingy, whatsamacallit, thingymabob. So you could say, if you forgot the word 'remote'- could you pass me the thingy. Or you forgot the word 'nighclub' you could say 'It's a party whosit'. In this case Buffy has forgotten the word Nexus or Hellmouth or some similar word and so replaced it with whosit.

Buffy: Um, wait! Guys! Here! (hands Willow her bag) You get the exit cleared and the people out. That's all! Don't go Wild Bunch on me.
(the 'Wild Bunch'...if it's just the words, I'd get it, but the way she said it sounded like it's some dort of reference)

This is a popular culture reference. The Wild Bunch was a western movie about a gang of outlaws I believe who were, therefore, pretty wild. They had a habit of bursting into places in big Whole-Gang-Finale-Moment style, rather than being careful and thinking it through as Buffy was asking the others to do so in The Harvest. Also, interestingly enough, it featured a character named Angel.

I have again proved I have too much useless pop culture knowledge in my brain. Hope it helped though!

[nerd4hire]

Want some exacto knife pics?

Exacto knives (http://images.google.ca/images?q=exacto%20knife&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&sa=N&tab=wi)

Hey, apparently I was confused on the "no cover" thing too, and I'm even from here. I thought she meant No Cover-charge - meaning the charge you sometimes have to pay at the door of some clubs for some, usually most nights. Wait a minute, I think I might be right, because "No Cover", in the sense I understood it would mean the club would be even more packed.

On the Wild Bunch thing it's worth mentioning that particular Sam Peckinpah classic was famous, perhaps infamous for the way it glorified (almost romanticized) the scenes of violence. It's a thing film historians talk about. It's like Joyce said, I'm just giving you a little more on it.

[slayerpower]

No cover

I think that means they don't have to pay to get into the Bronze, though there is a guy taking money in front of the Bronze that night, so obviously a mistake by Cordy or the writers.

[Joyce Summers]

I think that means they don't have to pay to get into the Bronze, though there is a guy taking money in front of the Bronze that night, so obviously a mistake by Cordy or the writers.

Exactly and then my meaning was meaning no live band or hired DJ and yet there is both at some point in the two episodes.

So maybe the writers meant something ENTIRELY DIFFERENT?! Haha. But more than likely...they slipped up.

[nerd4hire]

I don't think there is a band during the night of the Harvest, because when Luke appears all vamped out doesn't Cordelia say something like "Hey, I thought there was no band."

On the other hand, are you sure the doorman is collecting money at the door? I know he's looking at a collection of something in his hand, but is that money?

When the vampires walk past him, doesn't he ask for IDs not money? Does that mean he would ask for IDs first not money, or does that mean because the Bronze serves both adults and underage, he asks for IDs, and collects phoney IDS. As I recall he was giving each of whatever he collected a good examination almost like he was double-checking something. Has anybody ever been to a club where the doorman collected the cover? Isn't there always someone behind a counter who does that? I have been to clubs in California before. It's been awhile, but I don't recall the doorman collecting the cover.

[Joyce Summers]

Oh yeah- I forgot about Cordelia's comment to Jesse; whoops! Haha.

And well the doorman always collected the charge when I went to clubs- And I grew up in Californiaso....

Basically, what usually happened, especially if it was a popular club, you queued and one guy let you in, one group of about twenty at a time and then one guy would check your ID (Only letting you in if you were 18 and stamping you if you were old enough to drink) and then you'd move along to the entrance to the club, where right at the entrance someone was there to collect your entry fee. She/He was essentially the doorman as they were always stood exactly where the guy was in The Harvest so I always presumed he was taking the entry fee off of people.

[nerd4hire]

Oh yeah, right, I get it. That kind of makes sense for California, or at least Southern California. I think as you go farther North though, isn't there usually a counter person, sometimes a coat check person. It's a weather thing, I think.

With the Bronze though, even though it's Southern California, there's only one person at the door, so what would that mean I wonder?

Somebody on the crew appears to have put some thought into it though, because they draw attention to the fact the bouncer is inspecting whatever's in his hand. Even if it's money why is he looking at each bill? And why doesn't he ask for money?

Don't you just love it when the little details in BTVS can drive you nuts? That's one of the reasons you can watch the eps forever. Trying to pick the continuity errors from the stuff that matters.

[The Chosen]

On the "no cover" thing, I always assumed Cordy meant that Buffy didn't have to lie to her parent about where she was going since it was a weekend.

[Keanoite]

I'm with Joyce, I always assumed the "No Cover" in question meant no cover due to the lack of a Band/DJ. We never see the gang paying to get into the Bronze again. Also, the Bronze really doesn't strike me as a club club if you know what I mean? It's more Central Perk then anything, they would hardly charge people to get in if there wasn't a band.

[Jenny]

Somebody on the crew appears to have put some thought into it though, because they draw attention to the fact the bouncer is inspecting whatever's in his hand. Even if it's money why is he looking at each bill? And why doesn't he ask for money?


Yeah cause then the vamps wouldn't have had anybody to drag inside when they took over the club. lol.

The 'No Cover' is referring to the fact that there is no cover charge to get into the club that night. It will often cost you 10-30 dollars just to be allowed entry into a club. Nights that clubs have 'no cover' are very popular with the monetarily-challenged younger set - hence why all happy about 'No Cover' ... :)

LOL in response to the expensive cover here, I am in the country's capitol city...tons of tourism and politicians with big pockets! :D