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Title Confusion: Difference between revisions
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{{examples}}
==Examples where the title itself is mistaken for something else:==
=== Anime and Manga ===
* A common misconception of entry-level ''[[Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch]]'' fans is that the abbreviation is "Mermaid Melody". In fact, "Pichi Pichi Pitch", and sometimes "Pichi" or "P3", is the shortened title on every piece of merchandise, as well as the biggest part of the logo. Because this isn't common in other series (imagine calling ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' "Bishoujo Senshi" or ''[[Angelic Layer]]'' "Kidou Tenshi"), it's assumed that people just automatically think this because the first half of the title is the English part. The English and German versions of the manga have, in retaliation, moved "Mermaid Melody" to tiny font ''after'' the "Pichi Pichi Pitch".
** However, the French and Italian versions have ''embraced'' the Title Confusion, making "Mermaid Melody" bigger than "Pichi Pichi Pitch" (or, in the Italian version, "Principesse Sirene") on the logo rather than the other way around. This may be an example of a [[Market-Based Title]], as [[Gratuitous English]] is more common in Europe than [[Gratuitous Japanese]] is, and if you must have both in the title, it would make more sense to emphasize the one that would get more attention instead of stay true to the source.
* [[Urusei Yatsura]] is often called Lum.
** That's because the English manga used the title "Lum" with "Urusei Yatsura" written in small print under it. This was probably a good decision, since people can pronounce "Lum" (especially back then before the modern manga boom).
** When the show was dubbed for French TV, it was actually re-titled ''Lamu'' (Lum's name in the dub, taken from the Japanese pronunciation / spelling of "Lum", which is ラム).
*** There was a bad British dub of the early episodes (cropped into widescreen) called ''Lum the Invader Girl''.
=== Film ===
* [[The Movie]] of ''[[The X-Files]]'' is simply called "The X-Files"; the phrase "Fight the Future" was just its tagline. Confusing these two is rather like saying that every other episode of the show was called "The Truth is Out There". The second movie, however, is titiled ''The X-Files: I Want to Believe''.
** See [[wikipedia:Image:XFilesMoviePoster.jpg|the poster]]; by where "Fight the Future" is placed in relation to the title, it could easily be mistaken for a subtitle. Half the time, ''I Want To Believe'' is written in the ''same'' position when it comes to the newer movie, so it looks like [[Ascended Fanon|the writers have surrendered]].
** The poster's not the half of
*** And that poster has another, more obvious tagline already!
* The obscure 1970s movie ''[[Death Bed: The Bed That Eats]]'' is often referred to as ''Death Bed: The Bed That Eats '''People''' '' due to Patton Oswalt's infamous rant about the movie where he consistently and incorrectly refers to the movie by that title.
=== Literature ===
* The Flemish playwright Hugo Claus originally titled his first novel ''The Duck Hunt'', then decided to change it to ''The Metsiers'' (title in Dutch: ''De Metsiers''), the name of the family on which the plot focuses. The novel ends on a duck hunt during which {{spoiler|the mentally ill son of the Metsiers family gets shot in the face and dies}}, but Claus wanted the title to put the whole emphasis on the title characters (some scholars insist that this is such a deliberate and important choice). Then the novel was translated into French, English, etc. with the title ''The Duck Hunt''.
* The Analects of [[Confucius]] are mistitled in English. The actual title, ''Lún Yǔ'', means "discussion over Confucius' words" -- "analects" are a collection of excerpts from a literary work, an inaccurate description for the book in question.
* ''[[Alice in Wonderland]]'' and ''Alice Through the Looking-Glass'': really ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' and ''Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There''
=== Live-Action TV ===
* The British television spy series starring Patrick McGoohan was titled ''[[Danger Man]]'' in the UK, ''Secret Agent'' everywhere else, but the chorus of the American theme song by Johnny Rivers is "Secret Agent Man."
* It's stunning how often people refer to [[David Letterman]]'s CBS show as ''Late Night with David Letterman'', the title of his old NBC show which went off the air in 1993. The CBS show is called ''Late '''Show''' with David Letterman'', and was circa 1993 seen as more of a continuation of ''[[Late Night]]'' than the actual continuation of ''Late Night'' with unknown comedy writer [[Conan O'Brien]] at the helm, which Jimmy Fallon became the host of after Conan stopped doing so. But it's been 15 years, people! Learn the name, already! Especially since ''Late Night'' still exists as ''Late Night with Jimmy Fallon'' and is completely separate from ''Late Show''.
* Although the title of ''[[Doctor Who]]'' refers to the main character [the Doctor], his name is, in fact, ''not'' actually "Doctor Who", being instead just "the Doctor"- something most people unfamiliar to the series seem to miss.
** In fairness, he's referred to as "Doctor Who" in at least three episodes of the original series, and various comic strips published about his adventures during its run by people who ''should'' have been familiar with it also referred to him that way.
=== Music ===
* [[The Beatles]]' ninth album (dubbed "The White Album") is actually titled "The Beatles." Because of the design, and that its release was 8 years into their fame, most people seeing the cover assume it has no printed title.
=== Video Games ===
* ''[[Wing Commander (video game)|Wing Commander]] Prophecy'' is sometimes referred to by fans as "Wing Commander 5", as the fifth "main line" WC, even though it's never been used outside the fandom using it as a working title, when almost nothing of the game was yet known to anyone not involved with production of the game.
** ''[[Mega Man (video game)|Mega Man]] & Bass'' used to get a similar treatment, fans stubbornly referring to it as ''Mega Man 9'', until the real ''Mega Man 9'' was announced.
* There is no such character as "Carmen San Diego". The [[Edutainment Game]] series instead centers on [[Carmen Sandiego]], whose surname is spelled as one word for whatever reason.
* To quote from [[The Other Wiki]], the video game ''Granada'' "is sometimes mistakenly referred to as 'XGranadaX' or 'Granada X' because of ambiguity in the design of the logo."
=== Web Comics ===
* The web comic ''[[Dinosaur Comics]]'' is still occasionally referred to as ''Daily Dinosaur Comics''. [https://web.archive.org/web/20030220043058/http://www.qwantz.com/ This] is where "Daily" came from. Note the top of the page "Welcome to qwantz.com", then immediately on the next line "daily dinosaur comics". Since "qwantz.com" isn't a suitable title for the comic, the descriptive text was likely mistaken for the title back in the day, and it stuck.
=== Web Original ===
* Even though the most popular character is named Strong Bad, and the feature he hosts is called Strong Bad E-mails, the [[Web Animation]] series as a whole is called ''[[Homestar Runner]]''. People get this wrong even though the website is called ''homestarrunner.com''.
** [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in the introduction when even Homestar doesn't know the name of the site. "[http://www.homestarrunner.com/firsttime.html Homestarrunner.net...IT'S DOT COM!]"
=== Western Animation ===
* ''[[Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines]]'' is popularly known as ''Stop That Pigeon'' or ''Stop The Pigeon'' because of its theme song. As a matter of fact, ''Stop That Pigeon'' was the series' working title, and instead of Dick Dastardly, a German baron was intended as the squadron leader.
** In an episode of ''Yogi's Treasure Hunt'', Dastardly captures a bunch of HB characters, and starts ''[[Cool and Unusual Punishment|torturing them with clips from the show]]''. One of them remarks "Oh no! Not these ''Stop The Pigeon'' cartoons!". Bonus points for the audio being the [[Ear Worm|"Stop The Pigeon" portion of the theme song looped over and over]] and the "clip" being Dastardly in a plane chasing the pigeon [[Wraparound Background|also looping over and over.]]
* A minor example: ''The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries'' were often thought of as just ''Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries'', which is understandable given that the title appears five times in the theme tune without the "The"; the "The" only appears in the title card.
* The BBC TV adaptation of ''[[Journey to the West]]'' is titled ''[[Monkey]]'' but often called "Monkey Magic!" after the memorable chorus to the theme song.
* Another minor example: ''Pontoffel Pock, Where Are You?'', a [[Dr. Seuss]] television special about a boy and a piano that takes him to any part of the world, is misremembered as ''Pontoffel Pock, Where '''the [[Gosh Darn It to Heck|Heck]]''' Are You?'' due to the refrain of the title song. The only time a [[Title Drop]] without "the Heck" is used is when Pontoffel escapes and Neefa Feefa is left behind, yelling the title.
** On DVD the special is instead called ''Pontoffel Pock and His Magic Piano.''
* The title of ''[[The Berenstain Bears]]'' is often misremembered as "The Berenst'''e'''in Bears", with accompanying mispronunciation.
== Examples where the meaning of the title is missed ==
=== Anime and Manga ===
* The "cheeky angel" in ''[[Tenshi na Konamaiki]]'' is Megumi, not the mischievous spirit who transformed Megumi into a girl.
* In a double case, ''[[Rurouni Kenshin]]'' had a period where American viewers, upon hearing the title, would ask "Which one is Roan?" This is a result of people confusing "rurouni", meaning "wandering swordsman", with "[[Ronin]]".
=== Film ===
* In ''[[The Thin Man (film)|The Thin Man]]'', the title refers to the person detective Nick Charles (who is out of shape in the book) is seeking. In the later sequel movies, it refers to Charles.
* ''Girls of the [[Playboy]] Mansion'' is not, contrary to what it sounds like, a porn show, but rather a documentary on the lives of the three Hugh Hefner wives.
* Those unfamiliar with ''[[Bambi]]'' often believe that its title character is female, since "Bambi" is today considered only a girls' name.
* ''[[Zombieland]]'' refers not to the Pacific Playland amusement park where the characters are headed, but rather to the zombie-infested world (or possibly just the United States) where they all live.
=== Literature ===
* Non-fiction example: The biologist Richard Dawkins has often remarked about how many of his critics do not seem to have read his books past the title page. ''The Selfish Gene'' in particular is a magnet for this, with people assuming that he claims that ''people'' should behave in a selfish manner, that human selfishness has some kind of genetic cause, or even that genes have emotional states comparable to selfishness in humans. There's actually been quite a bit of philosophical argument about whether or not the book itself bears this out.
* Leonard Nimoy's 1977 book ''[[I Am Not Spock]]''. The book was an autobiography which dealt with the differences between Nimoy and his famous ''[[Star Trek]]'' character. Of course, everyone read the title and assumed that he hated playing Spock. Years later, a ''Paramount executive'', believing this, almost refused to let Nimoy direct ''Star Trek III''! Nimoy later published a book titled ''[[I Am Not Leonard Nimoy|I Am Spock]]''.
* The title ''[[Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea]]'' is often assumed to mean the depth at which the ''Nautilus'' travels, which is problematic since this is greater than the diameter of the Earth. In fact, the name refers to the ''horizontal'' distance traveled underwater, coming close to twice around the world.
* ''[[Dead Souls]]'' is not about souls in the spiritual sense. The word "soul" meant "person" in Imperial Russian statistics, particularly concerning peasant population. The eponymous dead souls are serfs who died before the latest update of the state records, making them factually dead but legally alive.
=== Live-Action TV ===
* The title of the TV show ''[[Lost]]'' refers to how the greatly flawed characters are all metaphorically lost, wandering through their broken lives, before becoming physically lost on a mysterious island. This physical act of being lost is only the manner in which the series' themes and motifs are played; "getting rescued" is not the focus of the show and in fact {{spoiler|half the characters are rescued halfway through the series and then ''willingly return to the island'' three years later}}.
** It was intentionally marketed as (and began as) a series about people physically lost on a mysterious island.
* The live-action/animation hybrid ''Vanpires'' had a title which actually referred to the series' villains. The good guys were named the Motorvators.
* A promotional press conference early in its run revealed that at least one reporter thought that the ''[[3rd Rock from the Sun]]'' was where its aliens were ''from'', rather than where they were ''visiting''... likewise the continuity announcers on [[Sky 1]], where the series premiered in the UK.
* Many people get confused as to what the hell the title of ''[[30 Rock]]'' is supposed to mean. Try watching the [[Title Sequence]] carefully and you'll eventually get it. {{spoiler|It comes from the street address of NBC's headquarters in New York City, 30 Rockefeller Center, where the show is set.}}
* Many non-viewers erroneously assume that ''[[Angel]]'' had a female main character, since Angel is more commonly a feminine name; in fact the title character is male. ''[[Dark Angel]]'' may have added to the confusion.
* ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' is often thought of as [[Department of Redundancy Department|unnecessarily repetitive]] by those unfamiliar with the show. In actuality, it refers to the Stargate program and its flagship team: [[SG-1]].
* On first hearing, ''[[Firefly]]'' sounds like the name of the characters' ship. In actuality, Firefly is the type of ship and Serenity is its name.
=== Newspaper Comics ===
* Charles Schulz was allegedly very annoyed by fans who wrote to him under the assumption that "[[Peanuts]]" was the name of one of the characters - in the early days, he often got letters saying "[[Media Research Failure|I love your new strip with Peanuts and his dog!]]" (The name of the comic strip was not his; it was an example of [[Executive Meddling]]. The original title, "Li'l Folks", was too similar to another strip of the time.) To get around this, the Sunday strips were, for a long while, subtitled "featuring Good Ol' Charlie Brown," although the subtitle has recently been dropped, presumably because nowdays the only person who ''wouldn't'' know who Charlie Brown was would be living under a rock.
** Though in Brazil, the strip title ("Minduim", from ''amendoim'', "Peanut") was turned into Charlie Brown's nickname.
=== Theatre ===
* ''[[The Merchant of Venice]]'' is not Shylock, but Antonio, as made explicit by the original full title: ''The moſt excellent Hiſtorie of the Merchant of Venice. VVith the extreame crueltie of Shylocke the Iewe towards the ſayd Merchant, in cutting a iuſt pound of his flesh: and the obtaining of Portia by the choice of three chests.''
* One version of ''[[Richard III]]'' was retitled simply ''Richard'' in the US because many people assumed it was third in a series, and, not having seen the first two, didn't bother to see it.
=== Video Games ===
* ''[[The World Ends With You]]'' doesn't refer to [[The End of the World as We Know It]]. Rather, it describes the [[Emo Teen|hero's]] [[Nietzsche Wannabe|solipsistic outlook on life]] at the onset of the game. {{spoiler|He gets better.}}
** Mind you, the Japanese title is the [[Glurge]]-ical ''It's a Wonderful World''.
* The title of the game series ''[[Guilty Gear]]'' is often assumed to be [[Gratuitous English]]. It in fact refers to the main character Sol Badguy, the prototype Gear who feels responsible for the creation of the Gears.
* The ''[[Modern Warfare]] 2'' mission ''No Russian'', the controversial "airport level" centered on the player-character killing civilians to maintain his cover in Vladimir Makarov's Ultranationalist group, is often presumed to mean "don't kill any Russians," because Makarov and the Ultranationalists are themselves Russian, and the first line is Makarov doing a [[Title Drop]], using the phrase as an order to the player and his other lackies before the shooting starts. The airport, however, is ''in Russia,'' and as such, the people waiting in line to pass through the metal detectors before boarding outbound flights are most certainly Russian, barring a few tourists or businessmen returning home. "No Russian" means "don't speak any Russian, use English," to disguise the fact that the attack is conducted by Russians {{spoiler|because Makarov intends to frame the United States for it}}.
* The protagonist of ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]'' series is not Zelda. Zelda is the princess that the hero ([[Canon Name|default name]] Link) must save every game.
* [[The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion]] does not actually take place in Oblivion, which is the series' version of Hell. The game takes place in Cyrodil, with Oblivion being visited through in-game portals.
=== Real Life ===
* The popularity of actress [[Zooey Deschanel]] almost certainly caused some to think that the original Zooey (from J.D. Salinger's ''Franny and Zooey'') must be female. He's not.
== Often occurs when a [[Revival]] or [[Media Franchise]] uses idiosyncratic names ==
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=== Live-Action TV ===
* ''[[3rd Rock from the Sun]]'' and ''[[30
=== Music ===
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