Team Jen

"... and my heart felt like it was playing a game of Quidditch in my chest."

"What?"  He stops the car to look at me full in the face.

"You know, Quidditch.  The flying broom-soccer-dodgeball game from Harry Potter?  It's all whizzy and jumpy and bounce, bounce, bounce.  That's totally the perfect description of what a heart palpitation feels like."*

He starts driving again.  "Pfft.  Maybe if you're trying to explain it to a twelve year old."

"Right.  Because no one over the age of twelve ever bought a Harry Potter book or saw a Harry Potter movie."  I shake my head.  Seriously, have all the VH1 pop culture shows we've watched been in vain? 

He shrugs.  "I'm just saying that's an esoteric reference."

"And I'm saying you're wrong."

Internet, what say you?  If another adult mentioned Quidditch, would you catch the reference? 

(Or possibly the Snitch?)

*am healthy and fine - talking about an incident a long time ago

Comments

[Tarah]

What's sad is that I haven't seen a full Harry Potter movie straight thru (i know i know!) but even i know what it is!

[Dana Whitaker]

Totally got the reference, and I am well over the age of 12. My sister, who is older than I am, also would get the reference. As would her (even older) boyfriend. So, firmly Team Jen.

[Caitlin C]

I'm 21, have never seen a Harry Potter movie or read a Harry Potter book, and I caught the reference. So Jen 1, Fletch 0

:)

[Summer]

TOTALLY GOT IT! I love Harry Potter, I have read all the books and seen all the movies to date and I intend on going to the themepark when it is finished being built, so yes I got your "quidditch" reference...silly Fletch.

[Mrs Pop]

I totally got it.

[megan]

who wouldn't get it!?!?

[Jessi Brown]

Yeah, I get the reference, but I like Harry Potter... :)

[Jen D]

Would totally get it. Has Fletch not read HP?! Or seen any of the movies? DIdn't those make like a gazillion dollars at the theater?

[stephani]

I would totally get any Harry Potter reference...obvious and sublime. The books were awesome and a great surprise when I began reading them. It was not what I had expected and they were fantastic reads! I can't wait til my son is old enough to read and appreciate them.

[Maryann]

Not only do I get the references, I cannot wait for the latest movie to come out

[Kristen]

I would catch the reference but I would have to slow the conversation to break it down to my fiance. I agree, boys are silly.

[sheri]

everyone in my house would get it - me, my 2 boys who are in elementary school, my step daughter who's a junior in HS - and that man i live with who's older than dirt (aka known as "dad" by stepdaughter)

[Allie]

Um yes. I would absolutely know what you were talking about. Fletch lives under a rock

[Laura]

Um... I wrote a graduate school dissertation on Harry Potter, so YES, adults SHOULD know what quidditch is! If they don't... sad for them!

[Kimberly]

Absolutely.

[Michelle C.]

I would understand, but I taught 5th grade around the time the first 2 or 3 Harry Potter books were published. I wanted to see what had captivated my students, so I read and then I got interested so I continued to read!!!

[Lonnie Hendrickson]

but of course it would be understood, not only by me (39) but by totally everyone around me, from my 7 year old nephew to my 70 year old dad, and all my friends in between.

[Kelsey]

I'm not a Harry Potter fan, but even I still get the reference. Harry Potter has been around for the last 5 + years, if you haven't read the books, seen the movies or have even heard people talking about them, than you really have been living under a rock.

[Veronica]

28, HUGE Harry Potter fangirl. My friends and I still dress up in our respective house colours for the movies.

[Pearl]

Not only do I totally get it...so would my retired Lt. Col. husband. Need to work on Fletch.

[Cindy]

I have never read any Harry Potter OR watched the movies, and I still got it!

[Michele]

I get it. Sounds a bit, er, juvenile though. I bet Fletch got it too though - sometimes the guys make fun just to (try to) keep an edge. :-)

P.S. Loved your first book. Amazon just delivered the next two!

[Annie]

Definitely know what you were discussing, despite not ever having read a HP book (easier to wait for the movies).

[ROBIN]

i would absolutely get it! my boyfriend? not so much. sigh.

[Kelly A.]

Like one person posted previously, I'd get the reference before you even finished the word. Tell Fletch he should read the Harry Potter books! :)

[Tracey]

I totally get it but my husband has apparently been sleeping through all of those Harry Potter movies we've taken the children to because he drew a blank! I think I'll pop one in the DVD player right now! I have to admit to being 40 something and reading more of the books than my kids!

[Kelsey]

I find it extremely difficult to believe there are people on the face of this planet who don't know what Quidditch is. Although, when the Chamber of Secrets movie came out (freshman year in HS), a bunch of girls in my (all-girls) school made a banner in red paint that said "The Chamber will be open in XX days." And the day it came out, it changed to "The Chamber of Secrets has been opened."

I've definitely been surrounded by HP fanatics since the series came out.

Anyway, the point is that Fletch is disgustingly out of the loop and you should probably fix that ASAP.

YAY TEAM JEN!!!!

[janelle]

i'd get it. hubs would get it. but i'm an elementary school teacher who LOVED the books so....yeah. fletch is just dumb. end. of. story. tee hee...

[cj waggs]

Not only would I know what you are talking about, but I would delve into a deep conversation on how my heart palpitations are less like Quidditch, and more like wizard chess.

When book 5 came out (I was 14), my younger sister and I were on vacation and my poor mother only thought to purchase one copy before setting us all up in a remote tv-less lake house three hours from civilization for a whole week. There was definite hair pulling.

(for books 6 and 7 my mother sprang for two copies, fearing we had grown to similar heights and were therefore capable of pummeling one another)

[Liz]

Yip I'd get it (read the books, watched the movies), my man would have no idea even though he has watched the movies .....

[Jessica]

Ohhhh... C'MON!!!! Hasn't Fletch every thought "If I weren't a Muggle...." How could he NOT get it???

[Caribbeansue]

My husband would have gotten it at "Q", me - not so much until you said flying broom game, then the light would have come on. We own all the books but I have not read them yet and have only seen the movies with the HP fan of a husband I have.

[Tifani]

I am 39...granted I have two kids, but I would understand as would my husband and most all of the people in our circle of friends. If someone didn't get it, I would ask him/her where on earth he/she has been hiding?

[Kerrilynn]

So... yea... I will admit that I am an avid Harry Potter fan. As well as the Stephanie Meyer series, Twilight. Yup, and I'll be 26 on saturday! However, right now I am reading Proust with bits of L. Frank Baum's Wizard of Oz Series... Go Team Jen!!!

[Wendylicious]

Not only would I have gotten it, my big tough Devil Dog Marine husband would have too. He read the last Harry Potter book on the plane during his last Iraq deployment.

We would totally love to play Quidditch! (he would make a great beater)

[Manic Mommy]

I wouldn't have gotten it unless my 10-year-old was standing over my shoulder reading your post with me. And then I would have played dumb and been like, "Oh yeah, that Harry Potter game thing!"

[Laura]

Fletch I am SOoo with you on this one. Very obscure reference. I give you points for not laughing out loud.

[Shan M]

I've been told to watch out for heart palpitations (recent health problem due to thyroid) and I've been worried that I wouldn't have been able to identify them because it has never happened. This is a PERFECT description. I understand completely now.

[Carrie]

Jen - YOU ROCK!!! I have not read ANY HP books, nor have I seen ANY HP movies, but I TOTALLY got your reference!
AND I am older than you...
Which reminds me - I am thinking that actually might be Linda Evangelista in the "Freedom 90" video, not your favorite - and MINE Elaine Irwin...

[Melissa F.]

My 62 year-old Uncle would get it, and he's about as out of the pop-culture loop as they come.

[Lisa]

Um, I had no clue what you were talking about, but I am on your side with that one. I actually thought I was the ONLY one over 12 that DIDN'T read Potter. Just cannot get into it! At least I am not the only one!

[tracee]

I know he lives with you, but is his side of the bed under a rock? And if he tells you it's a "girl thing," I can honestly say that I see just as many men reading Harry Potter on the subway as women.

[Alicia]

There is no better way to explain a concept then by applying it to Harry Potter.

[Jennifer]

I would totally get it, although I'm twenty and grew up with the books and movies. But my mom is in her forties and would also get the reference. I think most of the world would.

[Becci]

Team Jen!! Not only does my husband get it (albeit reluctantly) but both of my dogs get it. Shame on Fletch for missing such an obvious reference.

[AJ]

Totally would get it! TEAM JEN!!

[Kim]

This post made me giggle...
Just the other day my co-workers and I were talking about Harry Potter. Not one of them have read the books or seen the movies!! Soooo very sad.

[Molly]

34-year-old mom and Harry Potter fangirl here. I totally get the reference and think it is a great one! (I'm a PA -- I might have to start using that example in my assessment questioning: "So, Mrs. Smith, do your heart palpitations feel more like Quidditch or table tennis?") Rock on.

[Christine in Indy]

Uhhhh....yes I got it. Who DOESN'T get it?

[FunnyGal KAT]

I not only caught the reference, but I made the same one a few weeks ago. And the Pretend Husband looked at me like I'm crazy (which I might be, but not because I joined the bajillions of people who read the Harry Potter series).