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A scene in The Social Network Mark wants the mailing list of Phoenix Club members from Eduardo. The conversation was :

Mark Zuckerberg: These guys know people. And I need their emails.

Eduardo Saverin: Sure.

Mark Zuckerberg: Good. Give me the mailing list.

Eduardo Saverin: Jabberwock12.listservharvard@edu.

Mark Zuckerberg: These guys! They're literary geniuses cause the world's most obvious Lewis Carroll reference is in there.

Eduardo Saverin: They're not so bad.

Mark Zuckerberg: I'm just saying.

So what's the Lewis Caroll reference?

EDIT

Ok so it was a poem of Lewis Caroll named "Jabberwocky". Jabberwocky is a nonsense poem written by Lewis Carroll (from the answers see below). But why Mark is mocking them by saying "literary geniuses"?

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    While it may work in this case as it isn't a big change (and I'm glad the question got better by it), try not to completely alter the question by extending it based on already given answers, as this might make already given answers invalid. Either ask a new question or try to ask the question you're really after right from the beginning.
    – Napoleon Wilson ♦
    Nov 27, 2013 at 18:33

2 Answers 2

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There is a famous poem by Lewis Caroll called "Jabberwocky", which the e-mail adress Jabberwock12.listservharvard@edu seems to be referencing.

EDIT: As to the updated question, Mark is mocking them because to him those guys seem to pretend being sophisticated and literary by chosing this poem as e-mail adress. But it is actually a very famous poem, which is why Mark calls it "the world's most obvious Lewis Carroll reference". Add to this Mark's general cynicism/arrogance and dislike of the Phoenix Club members. So to him this reference isn't as elaborate as it may be supposed to seem and they are just boasting to seem like literary experts, while they aren't.

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  • Added new question. Please see.
    – Anirban Nag 'tintinmj'
    Nov 27, 2013 at 18:26
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    +1 Also note the dialogue provides a character contrast between Mark (arrogant and dismissive of others) and Eduardo (less critical of others, and able to befriend them)
    – Shiz Z.
    May 12, 2015 at 21:11
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Eduardo Saverin: Jabberwock12.listservharvard@edu.

Jabberwocky:

"Jabberwocky" is a nonsense poem written by Lewis Carroll in his 1871 novel Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, a sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The book tells of Alice's adventures within the back-to-front world of a looking glass.

"Jabberwocky" is considered one of the greatest nonsense poems written in English. Its playful, whimsical language has given us nonsense words and neologisms such as "galumphing" and "chortle".

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