<p>Or why do people in general find such references so rewarding?</p>
<p>To me, I sometimes get excited whenever I hear a reference to something familiar, but I really don’t know why. It is a reminder to how things tie in with things to the past, and it makes me feel like I’ve been exposed to “culture”, but I often wonder why an one-line reference (often superficial) often has that effect.</p>
<p>I think it’s a feeling of nostalgia. We recognize said references because we’ve familiarized ourselves with those things. Often times these things eventually die off or we grow out of the phase. But when stumbling upon it again later on, you stop and think about all of the hopefully good times you’ve had with whatever it is.</p>
<p>I’ll set up an example: Pokemon. We all know that at a certain age one needs to step away from the gameboy and let go of Pokemon. Sure, we can talk about it once in a while, but we don’t obsess over which Pokemon is the strongest or which is the coolest-looking after a while. But then after we forget about Pokemon for a while, and then find it in a reading (Lol, doubt a reading would refer to Pokemon), we go, “OMG POKEMON!” and the kid in us emerges and remembers the good ol’ days when a gameboy in your pocket and a Squirtle in your heart was all that you had to worry/think about.</p>
<p>Oh yeah - nostalgia! That’s it!</p>
<p>I love it when other books mention other books in an odd analogy form. I find it so geekishly funny.</p>
<p>You feel like you’re in a secret club that only people who’ve heard the reference know about.</p>
<p>^lol good pt too</p>