'Retro' References

The following is a list of pop culture references made by New York Times columnist, Maureen Dowd. Try to see how many you know.

1. "Nosey Parker"
2. "Ma Barker"
3. "Norma Desmond"
4. "Palin’s Imelda Marcos moment"
5. "Hillary’s inner Eve Harrington"

I'm guessing you recognized the same number of references as me: zero. That's because they refer to TV shows, movies or celebrities from at least 20 or 30 years ago. Most people under 40-years-old have little chance of knowing them.

An article by Ralph Keyes details this problem. Keyes describes the use of outdated references, which he calls "retrotalk." He believes that it alienates young readers and immigrants. As he discribes in the artitle:

"Falling back on retro-references this way can give press coverage the flavor of a private conversation among those born before 1960. The implicit message to younger readers seems to be: Hey, if you don’t know what we’re talking about, maybe you should butt out. Haven’t you got some twittering to do?"

Many journalists are guilty of this behavior. In his article he lists examples from a variety of newspapers: Minneapolis Star Tribune, New York Times and Washington Post. The OP-Ed pages of the New York Times, which Keyes calls the "citadel of retrotalk", is especially bad.

While editing we should mindful of obscure references. Just because we get a reference, doesn't mean the readers will. Journalists should strive to make their writing as clear as possible. When writing contians these references, it's doing the readers a disservice.