My wife asks me why I use television references so often in conversation. Frankly, it’s because for better or worse, television in the past four decades is a common language of reference among our generation.
If I use the words “and they told two friends, and so on. And so on. And so on…” most people near my age will laugh and understand the reference, much better than “’tis a tale told by an idiot.”
On the other hand, maybe E. D. Hirsch was right.