What I find fascinating about your comment is that you're invoking pop culture references in the style of Darmok, when in the episode (which is imo one of the top 5 episodes in all of Star Trek) Darmok is using metaphorical references from his culture's history.
Doing this the same way would be more akin to bringing up famous generals or Statesmen to describe your current situation. "Napoleon at Waterloo, his canons silent": I just engaged in a great struggle after many victories and have finally been defeated. "Bismark, his uniform bloodied": I'm trying to get consensus on a very difficult topic and some are so opposed that they would seek to gravely sabotage my efforts . "Washington on the water, his men ready": I'm doing something insanely risky but the cause is worth it. And so on.
Anyway, it's pretty easy to use the Darmok construction to communicate as long as there's a common understanding of the culture.
I love that episode, too. I don't recall it ever being clear if the references were literal historical, mythical, or what. And anyway, when we make references to history we are necessarily using our mythologized, cultur-dependent version of it. You refer to Napoleon the myth, more than Napoleon the human.
To me, the point is using common cultural stories or referents - historical or fictional is not relevant.
Ron Paul is a real person, and he did raise his arms in a famous historical moment. I think he even said "It's happening". But just like Bismarck with a bloody uniform, the point is not the literal reality but rather what that moment signifies in our common cultural frame of reference.
From another angle: Bismark meant something very different in 1870 Prussia, 1918 USA, and 1937 Germany. In fact even with a historical figure or event, you are stuck referring to the contemporary cultural associations.
I think this is actually wgat we do when we drop gifs into conversation: we pull up a moment from Friends or Seinfeld that all participants are familiar with, to lend their emotional tenor to the conversation. And if you don't get the original reference, you very quickly pick up on the meaning. (I had no idea that it was Drake doing the clever idea meme, but I knew just what that reply meant!)
Bottom line, references to history, to memes, or gifs are fascinating ways to communicate based on shared culture and I enjoy using them.
Who said the Tamarians weren't speaking the formal version of their language and that there wasn't a more colloquial version, referring to more recent events?
I'm sure their teenagers had a phrase ending with "...his eyes rolling!"
You're right, it's possible the depiction of the Tamarian language really is the same thing as the gifs we jab back and forth on the internet. Because why wouldn't it be, I suppose!
I was a History major at one time and used to pull books off the shelf to look up specific battles depicted in movies as I watched them and I wouldn't have understood a word of that without the 'splanations given.
/single data point suggesting thou art excessively well-versed in military history.
Yeah, fair enough. I'm assuming way too much about the mean understanding of state and military history. But, it would be quite fun to start speaking Tamarian using Terran military history references. Side note: my catalog of Chinese military history is pretty grim, and I'll have to rectify this in order to claim that I'm actually fluent in the Terran dialect of Tamarian.
Doing this the same way would be more akin to bringing up famous generals or Statesmen to describe your current situation. "Napoleon at Waterloo, his canons silent": I just engaged in a great struggle after many victories and have finally been defeated. "Bismark, his uniform bloodied": I'm trying to get consensus on a very difficult topic and some are so opposed that they would seek to gravely sabotage my efforts . "Washington on the water, his men ready": I'm doing something insanely risky but the cause is worth it. And so on.
Anyway, it's pretty easy to use the Darmok construction to communicate as long as there's a common understanding of the culture.