They do not know what the word means but they know that this is important and this is what makes the discussion of the word even more humorous. There are a lot of people who feel that they are not true book lovers when they do not even know enough details about Huck Finn.
This is a novel that was created back in 1884 and it has been reprinted countless times since then. Right now, people can even read it through ebooks if they just want to stay updated with this. There are also some people who would recommend it as a book report to give people a glance of another type of life from the one that they are living in now.