Automoderated users, Autopatrolled users, Bureaucrats, Comment administrators, Confirmed users, Forum administrators, Interface administrators, Moderators, Rollbackers, Administrators
116,199
edits
Aluminum Christmas Trees: Difference between revisions
Changed British spelling "aluminium" to American "aluminum" to match spelling in page name; de-recentified examples, spelling, replace redirects, potholes, markup, added text, when?, verify, copyedits
No edit summary |
Looney Toons (talk | contribs) (Changed British spelling "aluminium" to American "aluminum" to match spelling in page name; de-recentified examples, spelling, replace redirects, potholes, markup, added text, when?, verify, copyedits) Tag: Disambiguation links |
||
| (2 intermediate revisions by one other user not shown) | |||
Line 5:
|'''Homer Simpson''', ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'', "Last of the Red Hat Mamas"}}
Remember ''[[A Charlie Brown Christmas]]'' (1965) when Lucy said, "Get the biggest
This can also occur in a period work when the writers ''did'' do the research, but the truth they uncovered is so bizarre or surprising that audiences think they ''must'' have just made it up. In this case, they may add a [["Not Making This Up" Disclaimer]].
There was actually a brief revival of ''real''
Compare [[Tech Marches On]], [[Seinfeld Is Unfunny]], and [[Poe's Law]]. A subtrope of [[Reality Is Unrealistic]] and [[Truth in Television]]. Frequently found in [[Unintentional Period Piece]]s.
Nothing to do with the Christmas tree the Skylab astronauts made from left-over
It could simply be a case of [[Small Reference Pools]].
Line 22:
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* In ''[[Azumanga Daioh]]'', Tomo believed reindeer didn't exist. This can be [[Truth in Television]] as in the [[Santa Claus]] mythos, Santa's sleigh is powered by ''flying'' reindeer. Meanwhile, outside the countries they live in, "real" reindeer are not commonly featured in non-Christmas media, or in zoos, etc. When they are, they tend to be called by their other name: caribou. From this, many Santa-believing children assume that "reindeer" means a magical deer that can fly, so belief in them eventually goes out the same window as belief in Santa. (Flying caribou, we regret to say, almost certainly ''are'' fantasy.) It also doesn't help that until fairly recently, Santa's "reindeer" were depicted as flying roe deer or white-tailed deer, rather than caribou. These depictions, in some cases ''themselves'' due to the Aluminum Christmas Trees phenomenon, are semi-examples of [[Call a Smeerp a Rabbit]].
* ''[[Darker than Black]]''. As noted on the [[Cloak and Dagger]] page, the British [[Secret Intelligence Service]] is popularly called
** Also with the British spies of ''[[Darker than Black]]''- it's easy to think that the designs of November 11's cigarettes, black with white skulls on them, are just a joke. Nope, they are an actual British product, which fits perfectly with November 11's [[Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor|sense of humor]].
* Although it didn't reach [[Urban Legend]] level in reality, the whole "Rail Tracer" idea in ''[[Baccano!]]'' has some (possibly unintentional) equivalent in reality. The original [[Murder, Inc.]] rode trains and committed hits in various cities so that their crimes were essentially untraceable, as police from the cities where the crimes were committed would naturally suspect local criminals, who likely would have alibis for the time the murders were committed.
** Completely intentional. {{spoiler|The train-hopping assassin is kind of important to the plot.}} Welcome home, Claire!
* In ''[[Naruto]]'', there was some controversy over a claim that
* The title character of ''[[Rurouni Kenshin]]'' fits this trope in two respects. One, he's loosely based on an actual person, and likewise, so were a number of the other characters (see below). Kenshin's original was named [[wikipedia:Kawakami Gensai|Kawakami Gensai]]. Potentially, Kenshin's [[Bishounen]] to the point of [[Dude Looks Like a Lady]] appearance could be an example of this. [[Word of God]] states that Gensai had feminine features and carried out assassinations in drag, but this doesn't seem to be reported elsewhere and like the term rurouni might have been something Watsuki made up. It also might have something to do with Uesugi Kenshin,<ref>Kenshin is not Himura's birth name. He was orphaned and given that name by his master, who might have been inspired by Uesugi Kenshin, who was a famous swordsman</ref> who is presented as a bishonen in some historical fiction works.
** Shinomori Aoshi was based off historical character [[The Shinsengumi|Hijikata Toshizo]], and his boss Kanryuu based on Takeda Kanryuusai. Also, there really was a [[The Shinsengumi|Saito Hajime]]. And Saito Hajime was married, which the author predicted would be so unbelievable that there was a tag that said "[["Not Making This Up" Disclaimer|This is historical fact]]" when Saito mentions he's married. He also spent much of his later life as a school teacher and died of an ulcer.
* An episode/chapter of ''[[Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei]]'' has most of the girls visit Nozomu at his ancestral home, but [[The Generic Guy|Nami]] doesn't make it on time, because she's on the "Normal train
* One episode of ''[[Lupin III]]'' shows Lupin in a race driving a six-wheeled car. At the time of production, the Tyrrell P34 was competing in F1, using the four small wheels up front to maintain traction while having better aerodynamics than a pair of taller wheels.
== [[Comic Books]] ==
Line 38 ⟶ 37:
** In ''[[Star Trek: New Frontier]]'', it is assumed (though never said outright) that Katerina Mueller's scar was from a ''mensur'' duel from her Heidelberg days. Apparently, the practice is still in existence in the 24th century (though probably on the DL).
** There is a [[Genius Bonus]] about that in ''[[Batman: The Animated Series]]'', where Duvall tells [[Jonah Hex]] "You cannot defeat me. I am a Heidelberg fencing champion". Jonah is not impressed...
** E.C. "Oscar" Gordon, protagonist and narrator of ''[[Glory Road (novel)|Glory Road]]'' by [[Robert A. Heinlein]], briefly considers going to Heidelberg after leaving the army, in part to be able to claim that the scar he got in Southeast Asia is actually a
* On a related JSA note, in the 1980s new stories were told about the JSA, and how it disbanded in the 1950s due to pressure from the House Un-American Activities Committee to unmask, and answer charges of suspected Communist sympathies. Some younger readers thought that the HUAC couldn't possibly be real. Though by now, The HUAC hearings have become such a staple of comics (due to the real life impact they had on that industry) that any regular reader would know about them.
* As in ''[[Watchmen (comics)|Watchmen]]'', there really is [[wikipedia:Galle (Martian crater)|a smiley face crater on Mars]]. This smiley face is called Galle (which is another huge element of the series). Dave Gibbons admits that was incredibly lucky.
Line 48 ⟶ 47:
** For added surprise, Rock & Rye is both a whiskey cocktail and a commercial liqueur made with rye whiskey and rock sweets.
* Amazingly enough, ''Giant Size Man-Thing'' was [https://web.archive.org/web/20190614043334/https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Giant-Size_Man-Thing_Vol_1_5 an actual, six-issue, comic book series]. Marvel had many "Giant-Size" comic books in the 1970s, in this case for the character [[Man-Thing]]. Other titles included ''Giant-Size Invaders,'' ''Giant-Size Marvel Triple Action,'' and the legendary (if less innuendo-laden) ''Giant-Size X-Men.''
** Ridiculously enough, this trope ''also'' applies to ''Power Pachyderms'', and everything described about it in [http://www.menagea3.net/strips-ma3/cakewalk this] ''[[Ménage à 3]]'' strip.
* In some ''[[Superboy]]'' comics, the title character being subjected to a spanking machine, which gets destroyed due to being [[Made of Iron| Man of Steel]]. Speaking of which, one can find an actual [https://www.google.com/patents/US920837 patent] for such device.
== [[Film]] ==
* In ''[[Good Night and Good Luck]]'', preview audiences thought that "[[Your Costume Needs Work|the actor playing McCarthy]]" was way over the top. All clips of Joseph McCarthy in the film were footage of the late senator himself. To be fair, though, the editing of the film did significantly increase the "over the top" effect—much of it plays like a greatest-hits compilation of McCarthy's most extreme moments.
* From ''[[Monty Python
** Also from ''
* From ''[[A Christmas Story]]'': the "Red Ryder" model of BB guns really existed in [[The Thirties]] and weren't just a product of Jean Shepherd's imagination. Daisy manufactures Red Ryder BB rifles even today. They've been in continuous production, too, not [[The Red Stapler|reintroduced after the movie]] [[Vindicated by Cable|became popular]]. While the Red Ryder didn't have "the compass in the stock and the thing that tells time", another model in the product line, the "Buck Jones", ''did'' have both a sundial and a compass in the stock. The Buck Jones was a 60-shot pump action, though, not a carbine action, 200-shot. The most likely explanation is that Shepherd merged the two models in his memories.
** And "You'll put someone's eye out" was a warning that many mothers issued concerning it... in no small part because this was a ''distressingly'' common accident in the first part of the 20th century among suburban and rural boys who used such guns.
** Lifebuoy soap is almost completely forgotten now but it's actually still being made.
* Many viewers probably laughed at the "anachronistic" fountains on the grounds of the French royal palace in the 1998 movie version of [[Alexandre Dumas]]' novel ''[[The Man in the Iron Mask (1998 film)|The Man in the Iron Mask]]''. Truth is, not only were they real, but they're also [[Older Than They Think]]: the Alhambra in Granada, Spain, has fountains powered not by electricity, but by gravity, with an aqueduct that brings water from the uphill Darro river. The very idea of gravity-powered fountains, in fact, dates back at least [[wikipedia:Fountain#Ancient Roman fountains|to the ancient Romans]].
** Pre-electricity fountains were to be found in parks and ornamental gardens throughout Europe at one point. They've mostly been replaced or fallen out of use now, though.
Line 65 ⟶ 64:
* The humongous bank vault door in ''[[Tron]]'' may look like a slightly over-the-top prop. It (along with the laser lab and computer room) is real and can be found at the [https://web.archive.org/web/20100527190408/https://publicaffairs.llnl.gov/news/news_releases/2009/NR-NNSA-09-03-06.html Lawrence Livermore Laboratory.] The door does weigh four tons; it serves to allow heavy equipment to access the [https://lasers.llnl.gov/newsroom/project_status/ laser lab]. The false bits: it opening by itself (it's opened by hand—the hinges are frictionless and perfectly balanced—one fit man can do it); the fancy but hackable electronic lock (it's locked by a simple manual mechanism inside—its purpose is to stop radiation from getting out, not thieves and spies from getting in); and the reaction closeup shot facing away from the door (this was shot in Disney Studios' parking lot).
* The climax of ''[[The Terminator|Terminator 2]]'' involves a tanker truck full of liquid nitrogen crashing into a steel mill. That's not as ridiculous as people assume. Large volumes of liquid nitrogen are transported in tanker trucks in real life, because it's used in the manufacture of trunnion hub girders.
* Look at how many people smoke cigarettes in movies set from the
* In ''[[Dr. Strangelove]]'', [[General Ripper]]'s paranoia about fluoridating water is most likely to come across as simply a manifestation of him being insane. However, his suspicion was shared by the ultra-right John Birch Society, and thus was an allusion to an actual conspiracy theory which was shared by people with similar ideology as the fictional character.
** Sadly, this theory ''still'' exists. It is not uncommon in certain parts of rural small-town America to occasionally read local letters to the editor insisting on the "truth" of it (usually as part of a longer screed about the evils of government). Not helped when the "conspiracy" was given national voice in 2009 by conservative icon Glenn Beck.
* In ''[[Who Framed Roger Rabbit?]]'', Eddie charges A.K. Maroon $100 to spy on Jessica, and Maroon thinks that's too much, agreeing to it only when he demands paying half upon completion. It seems like a paltry amount to most viewers, until they remember the movie takes place in 1947 -- $100 in 1947 was [https://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl?cost1=100.00&year1=194706&year2=
* The [[Anachronism Stew]] in the [[Mel Brooks]] film ''[[History of the World Part One]]'' includes a "stand-up philosopher" in ancient Rome. There was a point in time when Romans actually hired philosophers to recite at dinner parties so that the host could look cultured.
** Which was just another custom they swiped from Greeks wholesale. In Ancient Greece there were traveling philosophers for hire who ''advertised'' their guest-entertaining services to wealthy hosts with pretensions of culture.
Line 78 ⟶ 77:
* The Korean movie ''[[A Tale of Two Sisters]]'' is extremely symbolic, and there is a lot of stuff that goes on that doesn't immediately make sense and you have to think about it in order to get what is going on. Therefore, Western viewers can be forgiven for the [[Epileptic Trees]] they come up with in trying to deduce the symbolism of the tents right by the road in a scene where two characters are driving at night. These tents are actually a common sight in rural areas of Korea as they serve an agricultural purpose.
* The World Sudoku Championship that featured in the mockumentary ''Colours By Numbers''? It's real, as are some of the competitors mentioned.
* The film ''[[To Hell and Back]]'' was based on [[Audie Murphy]]'s experiences in [[World War II]]. Audie Murphy is famous for being an incredible [[Badass]] and managed to earn every single medal the American military could award, and was even awarded medals by the French and Belgians! Yet, despite how epic the film was, Murphy's scenes were actually ''toned down'' because he felt nobody would take his accomplishments seriously if they tried to portray them faithfully. Additionally, some folks didn't believe that he played himself in the film, credits or no credits.
* The entire story in ''[[I Love You Phillip Morris]]'' counts as one of these; if the film didn't specifically tell you at the beginning that "This actually happened," there's no way anyone could believe it.
* The tag line "More of this is true than you would probably believe" in ''[[The Men Who Stare at Goats]]'' pretty accurately sums up the weirdness that the movie is based on.
Line 85 ⟶ 84:
** Though that scene takes place in 1937 at the absolute latest, and probably closer to 1935. It's before George decides to send his brother to a four-year college, and his brother graduates before George falls in love, gets married, and has a baby. All of that happens before WWII begins. So it was anachronistic, if not necessarily unrealistic.
** Also in ''[[It's a Wonderful Life]]'', there is a brief shot of a rotisserie powered by a record player. That may seem improbable today, but those things actually did exist.
** Also, $8,000? Surely that isn't more money than could conceivably paid back in a week, right? Well, some fans forget that the movie is set on Christmas Eve 1945, and that $8,000 [https://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl?cost1=8%2C000.00&year1=194512&year2=
* ''[[Nacho Libre]]'': the story of a monk who wrestled under a mask to earn money for his orphanage? Too silly to be anything other than a comedy? Tell that to [http://www.traditioninaction.org/RevolutionPhotos/A180rc_FrayTormenta.htm Fray Tormenta].
* To a modern viewer, the "anti-drug" message of ''[[Reefer Madness]]'' is assumed to be straightforward. Not quite: that movie, and others like it, were made under the strict censorship of the [[Hays Code]], which didn't allow lurid material unless some kind of moral statement was made. Adultery? Murder? No problem, filmmakers could tack on some kind of token "moral message", and stay within the rules of the game. Another infamous example is ''Child Bride'', which [[Getting Crap Past the Radar|includes an extended scene of a 12-year old skinny-dipping]] by claiming to draw attention to the problem of child marriage.
Line 96 ⟶ 95:
* ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'' and some other pirate movies feature female pirates. [[Hollywood History]]? Not so! There were female pirates, notably Anne Bonny, Mary Read, Jeanne de Clisson and Grace O'Malley. Zheng Yi Shao ended up being one of the most successful pirates ''ever''.
** Similarly, the commonness of [[The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything]] would imply that real pirates were all bloodthirsty ravenous wild men. Only a few of them ''were'' that terrible, but many liked to be thought of that way because people who're frightened out of their wits are much more likely to give up their valuables. In other words, yes, [[The Princess Bride (film)|the Dread Pirate Roberts]]' reliance on reputation ''was'' sort of used in real life.
* Some people have been surprised to learn that The Castle Aaaaargggh from ''[[Monty Python and the Holy Grail]]'' is a real place and not "only a model". It's called Castle Stalker, and it's in an inlet on Loch Linnhe in Scotland. 'Camelot' in the "Knights of the Round Table" song wasn't a model, either - it, and all other castles depicted in the film (other than the aforementioned Castle Aaaaargggh) were in fact Doune Castle in Stirlingshire, Scotland. Although the shots looking up at the French throwing animals over the battlements ''was'' done with a mock up (for logistical and safety reasons). On the special edition DVD, there's a surreal moment when Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam travel to Doune Castle (and the other locations used in the film) - and buy a copy of their own movie script in the castle's gift shop.
* ''[[Star Wars]]'' has elected officials who happened to have titles such as "Queen", and that some places actually ''did'' elect monarchy, including medieval Ireland, early modern Poland and Horde. There are still elective monarchies, including Malaysia, Cambodia (where the King is elected by other members of the Royal Family), and Wallis-and-Futuna, a French territory in the Pacific Ocean, which is divided into three traditional kingdoms each led by a king elected among the local aristocracy.
** Podracing in ''[[The Phantom Menace]]'' seems to be as much of "crazy SF stuff" as anything can hope to get, yet the only fantastic part in it was antigravity. That is, ''[http://www.ridingvintage.com/2013/06/motorcycle-chariot-racing.html motorcycle chariot racing]'' was a real thing for a while, and jet-propelled racing vehicles were tried — though not both at once <ref>jets didn't became popular because their exhaust is dangerous in several ways to vehicles in its general direction, and a chariot's tugs would threaten to point-blank blowtorch their own cart too, making even a simple turn risky</ref>.
* Many viewers of ''[[Borat]]'' [[Global Ignorance|did not know that Kazakhstan was a real country]]. In fact, it is the ninth largest in the world and also the largest landlocked country.
** This has more to do with Hollywood often making up a new "[[The Great Politics Mess-Up|former Soviet republic]]" when they need a villain to steal a nuke from somewhere, often adding "-stan" to the end, like the Republic of
** Also, Kazakhstan is where Russia launches all of its rockets into space thanks to a lease agreement between the two governments (Kazakhstan doesn't have much of a space program, so they don't really need the Baikonur Cosmodrome).
* The system James Bond uses at the end of ''[[Thunderball]]'' is commonly viewed as the most unrealistic thing James Bond ever does, even in 1965. That device is the [[wikipedia:Fulton surface-to-air recovery system|Fulton Surface to Air Recovery System, or STARS]], a very real and very safe air recovery system, with only one death throughout its history, caused by improper use. The pocket-sized breathing device used by Bond during the movie, on the other hand, was fake but thought to be real, even by the Royal Navy, who tried to get some from the producers, only to be told it was only as effective as the user's ability to hold his breath.
** There are small chemical oxygen generators, but not pocket flashlight size, closer to a hipflask volume.
* The smoking ticket gag in ''[[Airplane!]]''
** This really applies to any TV show or film made before the smoking ban, including the famous "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" episode of ''[[The Twilight Zone]]'', where William Shatner lights up right before seeing that ''thing''... on the wing.
* In ''[[Blast from the Past]]'', Dr. Calvin Webber (Adam's father) likes him some [http://recipecurio.com/hot-dr-pepper/ hot Dr Pepper].
** A personal bomb shelter for a private home owner was common during the Cold War Era, and many can be made to recreate one’s home like [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SptOUafCHzs this model].
* There are actually two ice-related function in ''[[Frozen (Disney film)|Frozen]]'' that are the real deal.
** The harvesting of ice was common in the 19th century when owning an icebox,
** Buildings made of ice, like the one Elsa made, has been a common practice in many Nordic countries like Sweden and Norway<ref>overall it's not as popular as Igloo types, mostly because solid ice is both harder to work with than compressed snow bricks and less heat insulating</ref>. Japan and Canada have also made ice hotels and
* Many people who watched ''[[Turning Red]]'' thought that the overinvested and even stalker-ish nature of all female adults in Meilin family towards their children is an exaggerated humorous comment on helicopter parenting in general. As many Asian people can tell, they are actually [[Education Mama|how most Asian mothers just ''are'']], and in fact the very over-the-top scene of Ming stalking her daughter Meilin was in turn based on the film director Domee Shi's actual experiences.
== [[Literature]] ==
Line 122 ⟶ 121:
** In ''[[Mort]]'', one of the early books from Albert's life is from, "Back before they invented spelling." Terry Pratchett isn't just being funny here. Prior to the rise of dictionaries, words were just spelled phonetically, with no real regard to consistency.
** Surely the idea of a brutal war being [[Jingo|fought over an island that's just risen from the ocean]] is a fantasy narrative device used by Terry Pratchett to poke fun at the idiotic nationalism of a bygone age? [[The Other Wiki]] [[wikipedia:Ferdinandea|disagrees!]]
*** ''[[G.I. Joe]]'' comics had a similar storyline with the emergence of Cobra Island.
* ''[[Good Omens]]'' mentions the angel Aziraphale's collection of Infamous Bibles, named from errors in typesetting. Amazingly, ''all'' of these Bibles (other than the Charing Cross and the Buggre Alle This Bibles) ''[[wikipedia:Bible errata|actually exist]]''.
{{quote|These Bibles included the Unrighteous Bible, so called from a printer's error which caused it to proclaim, in I Corinthians, "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall inherit the Kingdom of God?"; and the Wicked Bible, printed by Barker and Lucas in 1632, in which the word not was omitted from the seventh commandment, making it "Thou shaft commit Adultery." There were the Discharge bible, the Treacle Bible, the Standing Fishes Bible, the Charing Cross Bible and the rest. Aziraphale had them all. Even the very rarest, [...] the Buggre Alle This Bible.}}
* In [[Charles Dickens]]' ''[[Great Expectations]]'', there is a character who has turned his house into a miniature castle complete with moat and drawbridge. To modern readers this may seem eccentric, but this was actually quite common for wealthy Victorians.
Line 129 ⟶ 128:
* The character of John Blackthorne in ''[[Shogun]]'' is quite obviously invented by the author, surely? Well... no. He's an [[expy]] of [[wikipedia:William Adams (sailor)|William Adams]]
* The "rest cure" described in ''[[The Yellow Wallpaper]]'' was considered a proper treatment for certain mental illnesses around the turn of the 20th century. The author went through it herself, and was quite happy to learn that her story helped to discredit it as quackery.
* Stephen Fry's retelling of ''[[The Count of Monte Cristo (novel)|The Count of Monte Cristo]]'' is titled ''The Stars' Tennis Balls'' (or just ''Revenge'' in the U.S.), which sounds like an [[Intentionally Awkward Title]] and/or a pun on ''[[The Stars My Destination]]'', another ''Monte Cristo'' retelling. However, the seemingly ridiculous title references a quote from the Jacobean tragedy ''The Duchess of Malfi'': "We are merely the stars' tennis balls, struck and banded which way please them."
* Hold on: a black bosun onboard ''[[Aubrey-Maturin|HMS Sophie]]''? Multiracial crews with sizable Muslim, Jewish, and Lascar minorities? ''East Asian'' crew members, and all living in relative harmony? Surely [[Fan Nickname|P.O'B.]] is rewriting a bit of [[Politically-Correct History]]? As it turns out, nope. He wasn't. The Royal Navy's global reach and perpetual manpower shortage meant that it would recruit whatever seamen were available, wherever they were. It helps that the best captains and crews would largely ignore race - as long as you were a good seaman, you were in.
* [[Douglas Adams]] invented a lot of ridiculous things, but [[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy/The Restaurant At The End of The Universe|telephone sanitizers]] were [https://web.archive.org/web/20120716225644/http://tlb.org/telsan.html not one of them].
* ''[[The Eye of Argon]]'' features the now-infamous "scarlet emerald". There is in fact such a thing as a red emerald, though it's more commonly known as [[wikipedia:Scarlet emerald#Bixbite|red beryl]] or, archaically, bixbite..
* The titular house in ''[[Anne of Green Gables]]'' was based on a real farmhouse on Prince Edward Island, which [[w:Green Gables (Prince Edward Island)|still exists today]], is a Canadian National Historic Site and Federal Heritage Building, and the destination of thousands of international tourists every year.
* All of the dishes in the late Brian Jacques' ''[[Redwall]]'' series are real. He found out about Turnip'n'tater'n'beetroot pie from a New York restaurant, in fact.
* Hobbits are among the most common creatures in the ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''. For decades, many readers thought they existed in the fantasy realm and those with dwarfism were closest to a hobbit. The most well-known and common form of dwarfism, Achondroplasia, is found in a dominant gene and two dominant genes would kill a fetus, which it’s why those born are heterozygous and have 25 percent chance of having a normal-sized offspring since they would lack the gene. Yet, in 2003, archaeologists in Indonesia found fossil of a human-like species, [http://www.turkanabasin.org/humanevolution/hew-07/ Homo floresiensis], which stood on avenge 3.5 feet (1.1 m) in height, similar to the hobbit species in Tolkien’s work. It was even nicknamed “hobbit” after the work.
Line 153 ⟶ 152:
* In the BBC's version of ''[[Robin Hood (TV series)|Robin Hood]]'' there was much derision when the character of Isabella was appointed Sheriff of Nottingham. However, there ''was'' a female Sheriff of Lincolnshire in approximately the same time period, who (like the fictional Isabella) was appointed by Prince/King John. There's still no excuse for the hang-gliding though...
* Remember mockolate (fake chocolate made from suspicious substances) on ''[[Friends]]''? Disgusting and potentially hazardous? Well, so does anyone who grew up in the Soviet Bloc.
** Unfortunately, this will soon{{when}} become [[Truth in Television]] in the USA with Hershey switching many of its products to fake chocolate.{{verity}}
* The writers of ''[[Heartbeat]]'' learned that at the time when the series is set, bobbies were still wearing capes. They shot some test scenes with Nick wearing a cape but audiences felt it looked too weird so they switched to the more familiar modern-day overcoat. (And when some fans wrote in to point out the inaccuracy, the producers wrote back explaining that Aidensfield was in a region selected to test the new police uniforms before they were adopted across the country.)
* In ''[[Sesame Street]]'', the Count's obsession with counting seems like it would just be an [[Incredibly Lame Pun]]. However, in Eastern European folklore regarding vampires, one way to escape a vampire was to scatter seeds on the ground, as they had a compulsion to count them all, and would be distracted until they finished. This may also be the strangest ever example of [[Fridge Brilliance]].
Line 161 ⟶ 160:
** There is also some evidence that Shakespeare had—at least briefly—a black girlfriend.
** A similar case was President Nixon's black Secret Service agent in "The Impossible Astronaut". He actually had at least one black Secret Service agent in real life.
** The very next episode revealed that Canton was kicked out of the FBI {{spoiler|for wanting to marry another man. Some felt this wouldn't even have occurred to someone in 1969 - except the episode is set less than a year before a gay couple in Minnesota applied for a marriage license, and was also the year of the Stonewall Riot (the reaction to a police action credited with starting the Gay Rights movement).}}
* ''[[Barney Miller]]'' - Wojo had to improvise when the precinct room was out of coffee. Barney does a disgusted spit take at the result - hot Dr. Pepper. The soft drink company actively marketed this treatment of their drink in the early '60s, but it didn't catch on.
* Many modern American viewers can't make sense of a scene in the original ''[[Captain Scarlet]]''. [[Token Black|Lt. Green]] is manning the gun turret on a moon rover. After blowing up all the enemies (for the moment), he asks, "Do I get a coconut?" The response is something like, "When we get out of this, you'll have all the coconuts you can eat." This is often misinterpreted as a racist joke. It's actually a reference to [[wikipedia:Coconut shy|Coconut Shies]], where coconuts were a common prize. (See the song [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nf670orHKcA "I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts"].) They're still common enough at fairs in England.
* On the mid-to-late 1980s episodes of ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'', Nora Dunn and Jan Hooks appear on a recurring skit involving a Lifetime network show called ''Attitudes'', which appears to be an outrageous spoof on the sort of shows that aired on Lifetime. It was actually a parody of [[wikipedia:Attitudes (TV series)|a real show]].
** Ditto for [[Christopher Walken]]'s ''[[The Continental]]'' recurring sketch. The kicker: Walken actually remembers seeing the original version as a kid.
** On the season 34 episode hosted by Anne Hathaway (her first time hosting), there was a CSPAN sketch showing various deadbeats who would be benefiting from the bailout during the 2008 housing crisis-cum-recession. Then-cast members Darrell Hammond and Casey Wilson played a couple named Herbert and Marion Sandler (no relation to [[Adam Sandler|Adam]]) who cheated Wachovia Bank out of a lot of money and made off like bandits. [[Lorne Michaels]] didn't know until ''after'' the sketch aired that Herbert and Marion Sandler were a real couple that actually did this (making the "People Who Should Be Shot" caption underneath them during their time onscreen [[Dude, Not Funny|a little uncomfortable to laugh at]]). Because of this, NBC's ''SNL'' video website and the network reruns edit out the entire part featuring Darrell Hammond and Casey Wilson as Herbert and Marion Sandler (though the shots of them as background characters weren't edited in any way).
* ''[[Stargate SG-
* In the ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'' episode "Legendaddy", Robin didn't know that the North Pole was a real place. She only knew it as the legendary place of residence of Santa Claus.
** Barney's story about early sailors mistaking manatees for mermaids is actually true, although they were more accurately the closely related sea cows.
* There is a blog, ''Polite Dissent'', that
* In the ''[[Scrubs]]'' episode, '''My Lucky Charm''', a character named Jerry has
* In the ''[[Kenan and Kel]]'' episode, '''Freezer Burned''', Kel accidentally switches a sign leading to the freezer, rather to the restroom. While trapped in the freezer, along with other customers, Kel purpose that to stay warm by rubbing icicles to make a fire. This idea got rejected immediately. However, an episode of ''[[MythBusters]]'' did confirm that one can make a clear convex lens out of ice to
* In the ''[[Power Rangers]]'' franchise, most [[Monster of the Week|Monsters of the Week]] work well even thirty years later; Terror Toad is just as terrifying when viewed by
== [[
* [[The Trojan War]] was long believed to have been pure myth until the ruins of Troy were actually discovered in Turkey. They still turned out to have grown in the telling somewhat, however.
* Archaeological discoveries apparently related to myths and legends tend to be all over the place with regards to this trope. Each new find has different groups declaring that a tale is confirmed, disproved or needs to be rewritten and all can usually offer up at least a token bit of evidence for their viewpoint. Even ''the discoverers themselves'' are often at odds with each other over how to interpret what they've dug up.
== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==
* A story arc in the 1980s Old West comic strip ''[http://www.riphaywire.com/latigo/?p=535 Latigo]'' starts with one character, who is a bit [[The Ditz|impractical and thoughtless]], rejoicing at finding a "three-dollar gold piece". It's got to be a fake, right? Nope, the US mint tried it, from 1854 to 1889. ''Nobody'' liked it. In the 35 years it was produced, less than half-a million were struck, at all three US Mint facilities, combined.
* A ''[[Garfield]]'' strip where he put on another performance on top of the fence had money thrown at him by the resident of some distant Pacific island in the form of a millstone. The Yap islands in the Pacific really do use enormous round stone discs with a hole in the middle as a form of currency. See [[wikipedia:Rai stones|The Other Wiki]] for details.
** This is a very good example of an
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
Line 196 ⟶ 193:
** A few others aren't proper PEOPLE'S names, exactly, but do reference things that were actually in Japan. Hida was the name of one of the old feudal provinces on Honshu Island, and Ikoma is the name of a mountain.
* The musical ''[[1776 (musical)|1776]]'' is filled with odd or bizarre details that are ''true'', discovered because its authors [[Shown Their Work|did an amazing amount of research]]. For instance, John and Abigail's "pins/saltpetre" [[Running Gag]] comes right from their letters to each other (as do much of the lyrics of their duets); and Benjamin Franklin is carried into Congress in a sedan chair,
▲== [[Theater]] ==
▲* The musical ''[[1776 (musical)|1776]]'' is filled with odd or bizarre details that are ''true'', discovered because its authors [[Shown Their Work|did an amazing amount of research]]. For instance, Benjamin Franklin is carried into Congress in a sedan chair, but it's not because he's [[Too Important to Walk]] -- it's because his gout is acting up and he ''can't'' walk (and the servants carrying him were prisoners from the local jail). Sometimes the details were so hard to believe, the writers had to ignore or change them [[Reality Is Unrealistic|because they were afraid the audience would think they had made it up.]] The most significant example of this would be a line taken from something [[John Adams]] wrote in one of his letters -- that if the Founding Fathers did not ban slavery, "there will be trouble a hundred years hence." The writers had to modify the line because if they quoted it word-for-word no one would believe they hadn't put those words in Adams' mouth with the clarity of a century of hindsight.
** It didn't always help. Ill-informed critics -- like [[Roger Ebert]] -- mistook the genuine details used to show that the Founding Fathers were real people as flights of fancy and complained the musical did them a disservice in presenting them so.
* Performances of ''[[The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)|The Complete Works of William Shakespeare]]'' often result in the audience asking "did [[Shakespeare]] really write that?" afterward; he did. Sort of. Many of the Shakespeare quotes are verbatim.<ref>Quite a few are not, though; Hamlet didn't really use the words "Piss off" to Horatio, nor did Juliet reply to Romeo's "Call me but love, and I'll be new baptized" with "Okay, 'Butt Love'."</ref>
Line 207 ⟶ 203:
* Many gamers thought that [[wikipedia:Colin McRae|Colin McRae]] was a dour Scottish rally driver character made up by Codemasters to narrate their new driving game.
* There's a part in ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater]]'' where Sigint tells Snake the story of a unit of Russian "bomb dogs" during [[World War II]], who were to be used to destroy tanks (and failed because the Russian tanks had been used for the training, [[Hoist by His Own Petard|causing the dogs to attack them instead of the German Panzers]]). Since he describes it as a secret military project, it's safe to assume it's just the usual Hideo Kojima insanity and just another detail in a game about psychic bee soldiers and electric megalomaniac Communists. It isn't. [[wikipedia:Anti-tank dog|The bomb dogs were real]] and the plan ended up that way.
** ''MGS'' is basically what the world would be like if fringe military research projects actually worked. [[wikipedia:Project MKULTRA|Mind control]], [[wikipedia:Stargate Project|psychic soldiers]], [[wikipedia:Entomological warfare|weaponized animals]], [[wikipedia:Unmanned ground vehicle|robot assassins]], [[wikipedia:Strategic Defense Initiative|space lasers]], and most of the rest of it have all been given serious research dollars at one time or another.
** There's another take on the antitank dogs, and it's even more hilarious. Y'see, the original idea was to train dogs to run to the tank, drop the mine and return back—after all, the multi-use dogs are much more practical. Only the dogs weren't as stupid as to run all the way to the tanks under fire—they would leave the trenches, drop the mine right there and then jump back.
** Additionally, the flying platforms seen in the game were jet versions of [[wikipedia:HO-1 Pawnee|this]] experimental US aircraft. Oh, and the drone used by Snake at the beginning of Operation: Snake Eater, and the WIG? [[wikipedia:Lockheed D-21/M-21|Both]] [[wikipedia:Bartini Beriev VVA-14|real]].
Line 217 ⟶ 213:
* ''Namco Museum Volume 4'' for the original Playstation contained an arcade game called ''Genpei Toumaden'', which up until then had not been released in the U.S. Renamed ''The Genji and the Heike Clans'', the game features a "character" called "Taira no Kagekiyo". A number of American game players may or may not know that he isn't a character created by Namco for the game. Kagekiyo was a true historical person. A member of the "Taira" ("Heike") clan, he fought during Japan's "Genpei" Wars where he died in battle. In the game, he comes back to life and seeks revenge on the Genji clan.
* "Dr. Ryuta Kawashima" isn't a character Nintendo created for the ''[[Brain Age]]'' series, he's a [[Real Life]] Japanese scientist whose research inspired the creation of the games.
* The world of ''[[Fallout]]'' mirrors quite a number of ideas from the
** The Fat Man? [[wikipedia:Davy Crockett (nuclear device)|It's a real thing.]]
** Remember the [http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Punch_gun Punch Gun], or its latest incarnation, the [https://web.archive.org/web/20131110122953/http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Ballistic_fist Ballistic Fist]? There existed a [http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/OSS_Pistol_Glove real version] of those gun-gloves, used mainly by spies as a concealed weapon. Not only that, but it functioned the same way -- to fire the gun, you had to push down the plunger on the front by punching your target with it.
*** They use those in ''[[Inglourious Basterds]]'' to take out {{spoiler|Hitler's guards}}.
* A surprisingly large number of people think the [https://web.archive.org/web/20081005050126/http://www.rt66.com/~korteng/SmallArms/m3irsnip.htm M3 Carbine] in ''[[Return to Castle Wolfenstein]]'' is some crazy fictional gun. Nope, it just wasn't silenced.
** Same for the
* In ''[[Kingdom of Loathing]]'', one can mine for asbestos ore (a fibrous, horrendously toxic material used in fireproofing). There's a whole family of different minerals called "asbestos", you ''do'' mine for them, and some of them ''are'' chunky. It's also not inherently toxic at all—it's completely inert silicon oxide. Asbestos health hazard comes from the fact that its fibers are ''very'' easy to break, so even when it isn't disturbed it constantly gives off a stream of microscopic glass needles that tend to accumulate in lungs and irritate the hell out of them, eventually leading to inflammation and/or lung cancer.
** Although the ''Kingdom of Loathing'' version was created when prehistoric fire-breathing dragons died and then were buried in landslides and such, undergoing a process similar to the creation of crude petroleum, which is
* ''[[Assassin's Creed:
** What's more, those wanted posters in the series from ''[[Assassin's Creed II]]'' weren't just made up to give the games a bit of an Old West flavour. [[wikipedia:Pittura infamante#Imagery|There really were wanted posters in Renaissance Italy.]]
* ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' has Sea Salt Ice Cream, which is a favorite of many a character from the second game on. It sounds too weird to exist and even if it did, the salt would lower the freezing point of the mixture, making it difficult to maintain a solid form in the real world. Not only does this stuff exist, it's sold in Tokyo Disneyland, where the creator of ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' tried it and loved it so much he put in ''[[Kingdom Hearts II]]''.
* Baslam in ''[[Ys
* The [[Copy Protection]] of ''[[Leisure Suit Larry|Leisure Suit Larry 5]]'' (the Aerodork pamphlet) includes many destinations that sound fake, [[Unfortunate Names|being overtly sexual]] (Intercourse, PA; Spread Eagle, WI; Loveladies, NJ; etc.) All of these towns/cities are real.
* The ''[[Soul Series]]'' has Cervantes, who [[Dual-Wielding|Dual Wields]] Soul Edge and a pistol sword, that is, a sword fused with a gun. This may sound like just another over-the-top detail about [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|Ghost Zombie Pirate Lich]], but it isn't. [[wikipedia:Pistol sword|Pistol swords did exist and were in use since the XVI century]]. They were, however, considered [[Awesome but Impractical]], and were thus quite rare. They were quickly eclipsed by the much more practical bayonet.
* Most of the tourist attractions in ''[[The Adventures of Sam & Max: Freelance Police|Sam
* With all the weirdness and silly humor associated with ''[[Portal (series)|Portal]]'', you'd think that Cave Johnson's moon rock poisoning was just another silly joke. In fact, lunar dust is an actual hazard to humans. It's just as destructive to human lungs as asbestos, since it's just as sharp and brittle unlike earth dust, which has been rounded by natural actions (wind, rain, etc.) that don't exist on the moon, and you will die a slow, horrible death if you breathe in too much of the stuff.
* The ocarina, featured in ''[[The Legend of Zelda:
** And the rupee is a [[wikipedia:Rupee|real currency.]] Of course, in real life it's represented by coins and bills, not colorful gems.
* The [[Mascot Mook|mud crab]] is not something made up for the universe of ''[[The Elder Scrolls]]'', [[wikipedia:Scylla serrata|it's a real species of crab]]. In ''Oblivion'', they even look like the real thing!
* Some of the more memorable enemies of ''[[EarthBound]]'' are its animated enemy trees which explode when defeated. Not quite as farfetched as one would think: [[Australian Wildlife|Australia]] ([[Everything Trying to Kill You|no surprises there]]) is home to the eucalyptus tree genus, which are prone to exploding when exposed to fire. Admittedly, they don't look much like ''[[EarthBound]]'''s exploding trees, and they certainly aren't animated or otherwise trying to kill you.
* The Rocketbelt featured in ''[[Pilotwings]]'' actually exists, although [[Awesome but Impractical|impractical]], since it burns through its fuel in 30 seconds.
* ''[[The World Ends With You]]'' has the sewer at the end of the game: just another [[Absurdly Spacious Sewer]], right? Nope, that sewer really exists in Shibuya.
* Followers of the [[Let's Play]] thread for ''[[Hatoful Boyfriend]]'' were convinced that the bird photograph used for Anghel Higure was either Photoshopped or a bird that had been shot (or 'shopped from a bird that had been shot). [[wikipedia:Luzon Bleeding-heart|Bleeding-heart doves]] do exist, and the namesake red stain on their chest is natural.
* Before Wikipedia or the Internet, it was difficult to explain that [[Pokémon]] were inspired by mythological animals.
Line 247 ⟶ 243:
* In the ''[[Homestar Runner]]'' short "Meet Marshie", the titular talking marshmallow mascot advertises "all-marshmallow mayonnaise". To those not in the know, it just sounds like a silly (and rather disgusting) idea, but "[[wikipedia:Marshmallow creme|marshmallow creme]]" is an actual product sold in some parts of the world. Apparently, it goes well with peanut butter.
** It does, the sandwich is called a "fluffernutter". The disgusting part is when the Fluffy Puff variety is used in the context of less desserty sandwiches, like veggie burgers.
== [[Web Comics]] ==
Line 255 ⟶ 250:
* How many people realized the "Sogs" featured in [http://pbfcomics.com/?cid=PBF224-Commander_Crisp.jpg this Captain Crunch parody] were actual characters in old Captain Crunch commercials?
* ''[[Digger]]'' by [[Ursula Vernon]] frequently invokes this trope; most notably with the Hyenas' creation myth, and [[wikipedia:Vampire pumpkins and watermelons|the vampire squash.]] A direct result of the author having been an anthropology major in university, and being fond of [[Shown Their Work|showing her work]] (she often comments on her website about the sources of the various odd myths, folklore, and biological quirks used in her comic).
== [[Web Original]] ==
Line 266 ⟶ 260:
* ''[[Syphon Filter]] 2'' has the caseless round-firing H11 assault rifle. Looks and sounds like science fiction, but it's actually a [[AKA-47|renamed version]] of the [[Rare Guns|G11]]. Even [[Harsher in Hindsight]], there have been real-life cases of people being set on fire by tasers.
* For people who entered into fandom during the 2010s, the tradition of "[[I Do Not Own]]" disclaimers, as chronicled [https://fanlore.org/wiki/So_I%E2%80%99m_on_AO3_...(the_forgotten_history_of_disclaimers) here]. As fanfiction and fandom has become more organized and well known, younger or newer members of fandoms didn't get why the fic author has to point that they aren't the original copyright holders, specially as they are reading in a site obviously geared towards ''fan'' fiction.
* The line "Penguins are getting taller. Soon they'll be bigger than people again." was randomly placed on its own between a paragraph of racial slurs and a paragraph calling for genocide in the 800
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* ''[[South Park]]'':
** [["Not Making This Up" Disclaimer|
** The episode about Mormons has a similar disclaimer.
** Another episode of ''[[South Park]]'' features Cartman tricking Butters that the world is coming to an end just so he can take his place when Kyle and his friends go to [http://www.casabonitadenver.com/ Casa Bonita]. What some people may not realize is that the place isn't a figment of the creators' imagination, but rather an actual restaurant in the Denver, Colorado area. They have everything featured in the episode, from the more tacos flags to professional divers. There's even a second one in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Line 283 ⟶ 277:
* ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'':
** If you saw the episode parodying [[Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Hamlet]]'' before reading the actual play, you might be surprised to discover that the ear poison was used in the original, and not merely a comedic prop used in the parody. Shakespeare's usage was based on a contemporary urban myth circulating in the day (the murder of that myth was well-known, the method was unverified).
** The episode "All Singing, All Dancing" opened with the family watching what seemed to be a Western, with The [[Man With No Name]] walking into a dusty town - and then breaking into song about 'painting his wagon' with [[Lee Marvin]], horrifying Bart and Homer who wanted them to kill each other. The portrayal is exaggerated in the episode, which also inserts Lee Van Cleef dressed as [[For a Few Dollars More|Colonel Mortimer]], but it surprised a lot of fans who later discovered the film ''[[Paint Your Wagon]]'', starring [[Clint Eastwood]] and Lee Marvin, actually exists. And it was ''after'' Clint gained his credibility in the [[Dollars Trilogy|Leone westerns]]. And, yes, they both sang. [[Dreadful Musician|Well... okay...
** In the 1996 episode "Two Bad Neighbors", Homer tries to trick [[George H. W. Bush]] into coming outside by claiming his sons, George Bush Jr. and Jeb, had arrived. According to the DVD commentary, the writers (and the 1996 audience) had no idea George Bush ''did'' have [[George W. Bush|a son who shared his name]], and thought this was just Homer being an idiot as usual. [[Hilarious in Hindsight|After 2000, Homer doesn't seem so stupid after all.]] (At least about this one thing.)
** In the future Christmas episode, Homer has an invisibility cloak. This seems like a throwaway gag about future technology when Homer wants to take Bart's kids on a tour of the shady parts of Springfield, but scientists really are working on this in real life. https://web.archive.org/web/20111209114147/http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/225375/20111005/invisibility-cloak-refaction-mirage-effect.htm
** In “Homie the Clown”, the cities Krusty mentions actually exists.
*** Walla Walla and Seattle are in Washington.
*** Keokuk is in Iowa.
*** Cucamonga is in California.
** In “Last Exit To Springfield”, Moe orders the restaurant's top
** The idea of Spider-Pig that Homer explained in the film version was actually done by Marvel with the 1980s comic series known as ''[
* A hamburger with donuts instead of buns and full of bacon? Surely that was an invention of ''[[The Boondocks]]''! Nope, it's called [[wikipedia:Luther Burger|The Luther Burger]], is very, very real, and may or may not have been actually invented by Luther Vandross. Either way, you'll probably die if you try to eat it.
* On ''[[The Fairly OddParents]]'', [[Adam West]] does [[Adam Westing|the trope that was named for him]] by playing a version of himself who thinks he's Catman. One might be surprised to learn he isn't just being a [[Captain Ersatz]] of ''[[Batman]]'', but is actually modeled after a small time Batman villain of the same name.
** Also like three superheroes. Oddly, all the Catmen look the same. One of them has a girl sidekick called 'The Kitten.'
* This one might be a coincidence, but one episode of ''[[Batman Beyond]]'' features Terry trying to see
* In ''[[Titan Maximum]]'', Willy picks up [[Badass Adorable|Clare's sword]] and declares it to be made of "aggregated carbon nanorods", a substance harder than diamonds. [["Not Making This Up" Disclaimer|A disclaimer appears on-screen]] adding that despite this being a sci-fi show, ''[[Shown Their Work|this is in fact a real substance.]]''
* In ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]'', one of Squidward's favorite foods, canned bread, actually does exist in reality.
** Having an actual lake underwater may sound fiction but they happen to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmvtweE5abc exist].
* In the ''[[Family Guy]]'' episode "Mc Stroke", Peter claims to be a business man from Asia looking to invest in Mc Burger Town, as a way to spy on his local franchise. When the restaurant employee tells Peter that he doesn't look Asian, he says “Well, I guess we'll just take our millions of dongs elsewhere”. Most people probably thought that this was just Peter being stupid/a penis joke (or perhaps, a reference to Gedde Watanabe's character of the same name in ''[[Sixteen Candles]]''), but dongs are a real currency, and in an Asian country to boot: Vietnam.
* A surprising number of people outside of Mexico and
* While the penguins being depicted, known as '''Adélie''', are normally found in the Antarctic coast, but the ''[[The Penguins of Madagascar]]'' were correct to show penguins finding themselves in urban settings. There's a species of penguins known as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_penguin Jackass] penguins that does voyage into urban places, where humans are common, mostly in South Africa. The penguins got that name due to the sounds they make, which it's similar to that of a donkey.
* If you watch the original ''[[Scooby
== Other/Multiple Media ==
Line 310 ⟶ 304:
** Ambergris was mentioned in an episode of Adam West's ''[[Batman (TV series)|Batman]]''.
** It's in a [[Star Trek: The Animated Series|TAS]] episode, too.
** And an ''[[Encyclopedia Brown]]'' case.
** And in an episode of ''[[Flap Jack]]''.
** It is an item required for some of the shopkeeper quests in ''[[Assassin's Creed:
** In one of the ''[[Aubrey-Maturin]]'' novels, Maturin is marooned with nothing but a large piece of ambergris.
** It was also important in the original (comic book) version of the ''[[Tales from the Crypt]]'' story "Forever Ambergris", but not the television adaptation, making the title a [[Non-Indicative Name]].
** And in the original ''[[Advanced Dungeons and Dragons]]'' as a valuable [[Vendor Trash]] item gained from whales.
* NAMBLA:
** "Cartman Joins NAMBLA" might be the worst ''[[South Park]]'' episode ever on first viewing because the NAMBLA concept is [[Even Evil Has Standards|too creepy]] even for Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Unfortunately, it is a real group; once you know this, the satire makes sense.
Line 328 ⟶ 323:
** The sharp, pointy metal ones any way. You can find fully plastic ones that look more like a combination of badminton birdies and rugby balls nowadays.
* "This looks Photoshopped."
** Ladies and gentlemen, [[Cracked.com]]'s [http://www.cracked.com/article_16556_15-images-you-wont-believe-arent-photoshopped.html "Images You Won't Believe Aren't Photoshopped"], which is only the first of a multi-part series Cracked did.
* Noted on the [[Unfortunate Names]] page is the name Zoltan, which people tend to assume is a sort of "joke" or made-up name, given the B-movie ''Zoltan: Hound of Dracula'' or the nerd cult from ''[[Dude, Where's My Car?]]''. It's an actual Hungarian name and is, for instance, the middle name of Hungarian-American author [[Dragaera|Steven Brust]], Hungarian soccer player Zoltan Gera, fantasy artist Zoltan Boros, Five Finger Death Punch guitarist [[Awesome McCoolname|Zoltan Bathory]], and orchestral composer Zoltan Kodaly, among others.
** Along similar lines, Kermit is a real name. For several years Lucasfilm's official Darth Vader stand-in for promotional appearances was a man called [https://web.archive.org/web/20110911225733/http://www.starwars.com/hyperspace/member/kessel/f20060420/index.html Kermit Eller], who eventually got sick of the attention ("the whole Muppet thing just got old") and decided to use his middle name, Bryce, instead.
Line 343 ⟶ 338:
*** This bit about crickets is not accurate. It is true that they cannot survive the cold, but most northern areas are plenty warm enough for them to survive during non-winter months. They die before winter, burying eggs which produce young in the spring. They are indeed common in colder climates.by noise levels (which can be highly annoying, at times).
** Also, if you think the [[Stock Sound Effect]] of crickets in the background to indicate night-time is in any way exaggerated, you are entirely wrong.
* [[wikipedia:Bedbug|Bedbugs are real.]] However, they'
** They're not exactly dangerous to human health (they aren't known to carry any diseases and their bites are more or less the same as a mosquito's). They're just bloody persistent and extremely hard to get rid of. Not only can they go for months without a meal, but fumigation '''does not work very well'''. So you cannot starve them to death or poison them. Luckily, pest control has ways to get rid of them, so call them first before attempting removal.
** The only reliable way to kill them is to heat the affected home to 140 degrees
*** Diatomaceous earth kills them, by being sharp and hard enough that they abrade themselves to death by walking around.
* Similarly, a group of non-Americans (primarily early-20s) traveling in the US were surprised to find that IHOP, the Cheesecake Factory, and Denny's were real restaurants and not no-brand-names-were-harmed TV inventions.
*
** The mould theory was quickly debunked, though. Murphy died from a deadly combination of over-the-counter drugs. So killer mould is probably still laughable.
*** It's not laughable at all. Black mould is a major problem in parts of the US that are known for sudden torrential rain, have poor drainage, and do not freeze (for instance, coastal east Texas).
* Tattoos in Britain. Nowadays they are so associated with vulgar lower-class stereotypes that people refuse to believe that people like [[Queen Victoria]] and [[Winston Churchill]] had them. But in fact they were first brought to England by Captain Cook in the eighteenth century, having visited Tahiti, and became a craze among the upper classes (and, obviously, sailors). They were associated primarily with the upper classes until around [[World War II]].
** Oddly fitting, given that both "Britannia" and the "Picts" were names derived from being "tattooed".
* Alcoholic root beer. The general consensus is that the soft drink commonly called root beer is actually a recent invention, but recipes for mildly-alcoholic beers using fermented sassafras root bark as a main ingredient have been around for at least some 200
* It is a frustrating experience for history enthusiasts to explain to others that the Ancient Romans, Greeks, Chinese, Aztecs and Egyptians had invented highly advanced technology.
* Articles in ''[[The Onion]]'' are often [[Poe's Law|mistaken for being genuine]] - see [https://www.literallyunbelievable.org www.literallyunbelievable.org]. An article called "Creationist Museum Unveils 5000
* When it comes to any work set in a school, the idea of the area becoming a terrified location isn’t that hard to believe to the point there’s such fear of going to one called [https://web.archive.org/web/20140505021450/http://www.fearofstuff.com/humans/fear-of-going-to-school/ Didaskaleinophobia].
* The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tasmanian_devil Tasmanian devil] is a real species of marsupial found in Tasmania. While they don’t spin around like in the cartoon, but they got their name from the call they made being described as coming from hell by early European explorers.
* Former US President Barack Obama isn’t the first politician to have his own brewery. In a beer company in Boston has a brand called [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Adams_%28beer%29 Samuel Adams] named for one of the earlier governors of Massachusetts who happened to brew his own beer.
* [[Tar and Feathers]] was an actually form of punishment and humiliation that dates back to Medieval Times, rather play for laughs.
* ''[[The Ren and Stimpy Show]]'' episode, “My Shiny Friend”, focuses on Ren’s attempts to curb Stimpy’s addiction to TV.
** ''[[Clarissa Explains It All]]'' had two episodes, one where the title character watches TV for 24-Hours for research study, and another where Janet tries to banned TV for a week to curb everyone’s addiction.
** In the third ''[[The Sims|Sims]]'' game, if a Sim is employed in the '''Journalism''' Career path, they would be required to watch TV for a certain amount of hours to improve their job level.
*** While they were played for laughs, Television Addiction is actually a real condition.
* In ''[[Arrested Development]]'', Tobias Funke, has fear of being in the nude, to the point he even showers with shorts on. In the Third ''Sims'' Game, a player can chose a '''''Never Nude''''' trait that results them taking baths with their swimsuit on. Yet, there is a name for this known as Gymnophobia, which is an actual condition.
* For many professional wrestling fans, Death Valley sounds like a dark haunting place, fitting for someone like [[The Undertaker]]. Though the man behind Taker is actually from Texas just like [[Mark Henry]] and [[Shawn Michaels]], the town of [[w:Death Valley|Death Valley]] actually exist; it's really a desert located in California, and is the home to the lowest elevation and highest ambient temperature in North America. While now lacking a permanent population, in the 1940s, [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] forced over 10,000 people to live in the hellscape, but The Undertaker is both twenty years too young, and the wrong ethnicity to have been born there.
** Similar to the Jack Black example seen in the Films section, [[Vince McMahon]] had a 'mad monk' called '''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Shaw Friar Ferguson]''', but it was dropped due to the feedback. To top it off, this was ''13 years before
{{reflist}}
| |||