Gilmore Girls

Lorelai: It's totally not Feng Shui! Feng Shui (pronounced 'feng-shway') is the oriental art of placing objects in an arrangement which is perceived as in total harmony. One is supposed to take in all measures -- balance, symmetry, "flow", "energy", function, form, etc. In this way, it was a precursor to many modern concepts of interior decoration and architectural planning and design.

Lorelai: How's The Money Pit? Lorelai says this to Luke as she enters his apartment, which has been under renovation for a number of weeks. The Money Pit is 1986 a movie starring Tom Hanks and Shelley Long about a couple who struggle to repair a hopelessly dilapidated house. The whole movie revolves around this house which is constantly under renovation. The term predates the movie, of course, and refers to any house which needs either constant repairs or an older one which one presumed had a certain number of problems but every new step opens up another can of expensive difficulties far beyond original expectations.

(Lorelai is making coffee) Luke: Not everybody likes it that strong. Lorelai: Well, then I shall convert them. I am the Jehovah's coffee girl. Jehovah's Witnesses are members of a religious sect who go around knocking on doors and proselytizing.

Farmer's Market Guy: (to Taylor, who is dressed in his Revolutionary War re-enactor's uniform) Cool threads. Very "one if by land." Referring to the poem Paul Revere's Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch Of the North Church tower as a signal light,-- One if by land, and two if by sea; And I on the opposite shore will be

Emily: What do you think of the Romanovs? Luke: They probably had it coming. The Romanovs were the last imperial family in Russia. After Tsar Nicholas II gave up the throne, he and his family where placed under house arrest and later sent to Siberia then to Ekaterinberg where Tsar Nicholas II, his wife Tsarisa Alexandra and their 5 children - 4 daughters (Grand Duchesses) and there 1 son (Tsarvich) who was the heir to the Tsar throne - along with a number of their servants where murdered by the Bolshevik guards on July 17, 1918. There are still rumors that one of the Grand Duchesses and Tsarevich Alexei managed to excape, as they never found those 2 bodies. Recently, the Russian Orthodox Church in Russia canonized the last Tsar and his family as saints.

Lorelai: She's Patricia Hearst and my mother's the SLA. Patricia Hearst is an heir to the Hearst fortune. She was kidnapped in the early 70s by the Symbinese Liberation Army (SLA) and brainwashed into assisting in a bank robbery. She has also acted in several of John Water's movies.

Jackson: It's the library of Alexandria. It's the Colossus of Rhodes. It's pop rocks. The library of Alexandria was founded at the beginning of the third century B.C. and was believed to have been the largest library in the Mediterranean world. There is much debate about how and when it was destroyed. The Colossus of Rhodes was a statue of the patron God Helios that stood at the entrance to the harbor of the island of Rhodes in Greece until an earthquake destroyed it in 282 B.C. Commonly known as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Pop rocks were a candy first introduced in 1975, from which small amounts of carbonation are released causing a popping sensation in the mouth and a sizzling noise. Fairly popular in the 80s, there was even an urban myth about how someone who swallowed pop rocks followed by a carbonated beverage died due the gas released causing the person's stomach to explode. This myth was mentioned in the movie Urban Legends.

Lorelai: It's an upside-down world where the Horchow house is considered low rent and diamonds less than 24 carats are Cracker Jack trinkets. Cracker Jack is a snack food consisting of caramelized popcorn and peanuts. There would be a small surprise in most packets of Cracker Jacks, usually a cheap toy or plastic jewelry. Horchow is a high-end luxury home furnishings catalog.

Rory: Just assume that Jeanie's gonna get Major Healey out of whatever scrap he's in. I Dream of Jeanie TV show that ran from 1965 to 1970 about an astronaut, Major Nelson, who finds a bottle with a genie in it after crash landing on a deserted island. Starring Barbara Eden as Jeanie, Larry Hagman as Major Nelson and Dan Daily as Major Healey, Major Nelson's somewhat bumbling and opportunistic friend.

Lorelai: I'm Cathy Coffee, mister, the bastard offspring of Mrs. Folger and Juan Valdez. Mrs. Folger was the made-up character who was the spokeswoman for Folgers coffee in tv commercials in the 70s and 80s. Juan Valdez is the made-up spokesman for Columbian coffee. Seen in commercials in the 80s and 90s.

Lorelai: Yeah, Taylor, this isn't Charlie Rose. Charlie Rose is a PBS show with lots of interviews and discussions.

Taylor: You there! (points at town troubadour) When Lady Godiva here (points at other troubadour) wanted to be town troubadour over you, I stood by your side. Why aren't you backing me now? Lady Godiva's tale is a myth, probably with some truth. She was an 11th Century noblewoman. When she repeatedly asked her husband, Leofric, Earl of Mercia, to lower taxes in Coventry, he finally challenged her. If she would ride nude on horseback through the market, then he would lower taxes. Lady Godiva took him at his word, and did precisely that, using her long hair as her only covering. In the end, he purportedly kept his word and eliminated the onerous taxes. It's also the source of the term "Peeping Tom" -- When she did it, an order went out for all the peasants to shutter their windows and stay indoors. A local tailor named Tom, however, could not resist and, after making a hole in the shutters, snuck a look or two at Ms. Godiva in all her glory, for which he was supposedly struck blind.

Lorelai: (to Luke) But your re-enactment of Jerry Lewis and the Diner Guy is gonna wow the critics. This is a reference to a skit by Dean Martin and Jerry Lee Lewis. Martin owns a diner, and Lewis takes a job waiting tables and does a horrifically funny job of it.

Farmer's Market Guy: (to Taylor) Don't like to be touched. That's cool. Got a little David and Lisa thing happening. Made a mental note. No problem. David and Lisa is a 1962 movie about a guy in a mental institution who falls in love with a girl with schizophrenia.

Lorelai: We certainly are entertaining, Mac. Rory: Indubitably, Tosh. Mac and Tosh are the Goofy Gophers of Looney Tunes fame.