[noonespecial]

My 66yo father, who once asked incredulously, "who is this 'Lady Goo Goo'?" recently told me how he got the airline to bump him to 1st class for free. He then wryly remarked "Oppa Gangnam style".

That, right there, is what I call global penetration.

[pyoung]

Not to belittle your point, as it is a rather amusing anecdote, but Lady Gaga came to prominence in 2008 almost 4 years ago. In 2008, my older relatives from the rural midwest where still trying to figure out e-mail. Now, they all have facebook accounts.

[_debug_]

> recently told me how he got the airline to bump him to 1st class for free.

Not sure what you mean? Can you please elaborate? How is the Gangnam Style video related to your father getting to fly 1st class?

[NathanKP]

The point is that even his father who is not familiar with Lady Gaga, another famous pop icon, is familiar with Psy and comfortable using the meme created by his song.

His father interpreted his free upgrade as "Gangnam style".

[noonespecial]

He knew the meme well enough to know that "Gangnam style" meant "living large" more or less.

For someone who usually takes a pass on all things pop culture, this was unexpected to say the least and speaks to the enormity of the influence this music video has had on all layers of society.

[Kliment]

Gangnam is the part of Seoul known for the number of rich people who live there. It's associated with luxury. Getting to fly first class is definitely Gangnam style.

[Surio]

Juxtapose "who is this 'Lady Goo Goo'?" next to "Oppa Gangnam style", and you've solved the puzzle of what he wanted to convey. ;-)