Upon my moving into the Asylum, I began to experience high-intensity exposure to a body of references simply referred to as the "Canon". Composed of quotes, in-jokes, and silly noises, this oral tradition was an important part of everyday communication in the Casa des Hosehead.
The major suite of references for the Canon come from Monty Python -- I've got a reference to transcripts of sketches here, and if you know if any others, feel free to drop me a note and a URL. I didn't realize until several months later just how much of the Canon comes from The Final Ripoff.
Some Common Quotes:
Another set of references comes from Douglas Hofstadter, and all things dealing with cognitive science. "Memes" is a big word in our set.
There were also the ubiquitous phrases: "mmmm, yeah!" which is rumored to be the mystical phrase uttered by a certain local system administrator, after which problems magically go away. This rumor is in part propagated by a man with who the eternal phrase, "French, you are very smart, but you are a bum!" originated. Finally, who could hang with Hoseheads without hearing and repeating the ever-popular, "I see that now!", due largely in part to a reaction to an earlier phrase, "Mentos are for everyone". Boy, what wacky, exciting people we all are!
What Canon would be complete without the musical stylings of They Might Be Giants? Or the Dead Milkmen? Or, although more rarely, King Missle? Not this one, true beleivers. In fact, I've pissed off many a roommate (both of the actual and the transitive stripe) with occassional periods of TMBG excess. Tee hee.
"Bob" makes an entrance, as well. 'Nuff said.
Finally, a major part of the canon involves Cosmic Encounter, that wholly remarkable games where, yes, you too can be a bastard!
A memetic organism that both feeds and feeds off of the Canon is Tiltology, which isn't a religion so much as it is a healthy daily supply of nine essential vitamins and nutrients, including Vitamin X!
Last modified: October 20, 1995
James "Eric" Tilton, Occassional Hozhed, tilt+@cs.cmu.edu