Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?/References

References/Trivia

Cultural References

The episode title is a pun on the song "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" from the Great Depression.
The sequence where Homer reminisces about the old couch contains references to the following:
- The prime-time soap opera TV series Dallas (specifically, the "Who Shot J.R.?" episode)
- Hands Across America
- The fall of the Berlin Wall (which Homer considered to be boring, so he changed the channel)
- Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. (much more to Homer's liking)
New Coke - When Herb commiserates with his fellow bums about losing his car company because of the car that Homer designed, he says, "Forbes called it the blunder of the century. A bit overblown, don't you think? What about New Coke?" At this, one of the bums protests and says he was the inventor of New Coke.
2001: A Space Odyssey - When Homer has the furniture store salesperson demonstrate the Spinemelter vibrating chair on full power, the light show he experiences and Homer's face being under different light colors is exactly like the movie's penultimate scene.
The Wizard of Oz - When Herb presents gifts to the Simpson family, Homer dejectedly comments, "I do not suppose there is a vibrating chair in that bag for me?". This was similar to the Scarecrow's line to the Wizard when the Lion, Tin Man and himself were presented with gifts that reflected what they had all along.

The vibrating chair can be seen in the attic in later episodes.
Surprisingly for such a revolutionary device, the baby translator is never seen again.
The drinking bird, which Herb cites as an example of a little idea being a big moneymaker, is seen again in the seventh-season episode "King-Size Homer."
Originally, Barney Gumble was going to win in his fight against Joe Frazier, but Joe Frazier's son objected to that idea (as Frazier was a world champion at the time of the show's airing), so they changed it to Frazier winning. Also, George Foreman was originally supposed to be in the episode instead of Joe Frazier, but Foreman was unavailable.
The waiver that Mr. Burns has Homer sign became a law school discussion topic. In real life, if Homer had later discovered he became sterile due to his employment at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, he would have still been able to sue, as Burns did not specifically state Homer was sterilized, instead calling it an award. That is considered deception, so Burns would still be vulnerable to being sued.