History Main / ThatSoundsFamiliar

!!Examples:

** Another TerryPratchett example would be [[{{Discworld}} Inn Sewer Ants and Den Chewers]].

* {{The Indian in the Cupboard}} has Little Bear thinking that he and the other {{Living Toys}} come from something called "plaz-tek".

* In UnLunDun is absolutely full of these- not surprising, since the title of the book is "Un-London".

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' has Leela, a member of the Sevateem, which is a corruption of "Survey Team". The Sevateem were at war with the Tesh (the Technicians).

* In an ''{{Intragalactic}}'' strip, Captain Benjamin tells the story behind [[{{YouMeanXmas}} Joelmas]], which is a corruption of the plot of ''MysteryScienceTheater3000''.

* The ''{{Fallout}}'' games have several settlements whose names are apparently derived from corrupted names and degraded signage:
** ''Fallout3'' has the town of Arefu, whose name comes from a traffic sign hanging over heard reading "Careful" with the first and last letters worn out; Andale, an apparent reference to the real life town of Annandale and "The Pitt", located in the remains of Pittsburg.
** ''FalloutNewVegas'' has Novac, named after a malfuctioning "NO [=VACancy=]" motel sign and "Freeside", located in what used to be Fremont Street. The ''Old World Blues'' DLC is centered around a scientific research facility named "Big Mountain", commonly abbreviated as "Big MT". The corruption of the name, coupled with its secluded location and the fact that people who tried exploring the crater tended to not come back led to it being known as "The Big Empty" in the Mojave Wasteland.

* In the first ''StarTrek'' movie, V'Ger started out as the Voyager probe.
** In turn, parodied by a ''Codename: KidsNextDoor'' ep, where Ramon-4 started out as an ill-fated Rainbow Monkeys project (the 4 coming from [[XtremeKoolLetterz "4Ever"]]).

* The ''StarTrek'' ExpandedUniverse book ''The Sundered'' has this with an apparently alien race called the Neyel, who turn out to be a long-lost offshoot of humanity from the vanished ''O'Neill'' asteroid colony, who adopted BioAugmentation to the point that they no longer look human. Many of their terms fall into this category, such as their word for captain or leader, ''drech'tor'', which comes from 'director'.

* In the ''StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "The Omega Glory", the inhabitants of an inexplicably Earthlike planet retain several of the founding documents of the United States of America, but mispronounce the words -- for example, they read the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution as "Eee Plebnista, norcom, forcom, perfectumum..." -- and blindly venerate the documents as "holy" without understanding what they mean.

** ''Fallout3'' has the town of Arefu, whose name comes from a traffic sign hanging over heard reading "Careful" with the first and last letters worn out; Andale, which is an apparent reference to the real life town of Annandale and "The Pitt", located in the remains of Pittsburg.

* Indian in the Cupboard has Little Bear thinking that he and the other {{Living Toys}} come from something called "plaz-tek".

* In the fantasy trilogy "Water", the Atlanteans have a magic sword called Eikiss Cali Werr.

* In an ''Intragalactic'' strip, Captain Benjamin tells the story behind [[{{YouMeanXmas}} Joelmas]], which is a corruption of the plot of ''MysteryScienceTheater3000''.

* Futurama parodies Star Trek's V'Ger with VGINY (the name enlicits a chuckle from Fry whenever it is mentioned)

** ''FalloutNewVegas'' has Novac, named after a malfuctioning "NO [=VACancy=]" motel sign. The ''Old World Blues'' DLC is centered around a scientific research facility named "Big Mountain", commonly abbreviated as "Big MT". The corruption of the name, coupled with its secluded location and the fact that people who tried exploring the crater tended to not come back led to it being known as "The Big Empty" in the Mojave Wasteland.

** ''FalloutNewVegas'' has Novac, named after a malfuctioning "NO VACancy" sign. The ''Old World Blues'' DLC is centered around a scientific research facility named "Big Mountain", commonly abbreviated as "Big MT". The corruption of the name, coupled with its secluded location and the fact that people who tried exploring the crater tended to not come back led to it being known as "The Big Empty" in the Mojave Wasteland.

** ''FalloutNewVegas'' has Novac, named after a malfuctioning "NO VACancy" sign. The ''Old World Blues'' DLC is centered around a scientific research facility named "Big Mountain", commonly abbreviated as "Big MT". The corruption of the name, coupled with its secluded location and the fact that people who tried exploring it never came back led to the crater being known as "The Big Empty" in the Mojave Wasteland.

** ''FalloutNewVegas'' has Novac, named after a malfuctioning "NO VACancy" sign. The ''Old World Blues'' DLC is centered around a scientific research facility named "Big Mountain", commonly abbreviated as "Big MT". The corruption of the named, coupled with its secluded location and the fact that people who tried exploring it never came back led to the crater being known as "The Big Empty" in the Mojave Wasteland.

* In ''{{Zardoz}}'', the name of the eponymous "god" is a deliberate corruption of [[spoiler:[[Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz The Wi]]'''[[Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz ZARD]]''' [[Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz of]] [[Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz '''OZ''']].]]

* In ''{{Zardoz}}'', the name of the eponymous "god" is a deliberate corruption of [[spoiler:[[Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz The Wi'''ZARD''' of '''OZ''']].]]

* [[{{DoctorWho}} Doctor Who]] has Leela, a member of the Sevateem, which is a corruption of "Survey Team". The Sevateem were at war with the Tesh (the Technicians).

* In ''{{Zardoz}}'', the name of the eponymous "god" is a deliberate corruption of [[Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz The Wi'''ZARD''' of '''OZ''']].

** For non-Americans, this had to be the craziest TOS episode '''ever'''! This troper saw it when she was a very young teen, and the father and sisters she was watching with, were gobsmacked! (Father was very disappointed, I think, looking back...)
*** So seconded! That episode was just weird! When that flag came in, a shark was jumped.

* In ''{{Zardoz}}'', the name of the eponymous "god" is a deliberate corruption of [[TheWonderfulWizardOfOz The Wi'''ZARD''' of '''OZ''']].

* In ''{{Zardoz}}'', the name of the eponymous "god" is a deliberate corruption of [[TheWizardOfOz The Wi'''ZARD''' of '''OZ''']].

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<<|LanguageTropes|>>

** Every species in the galaxy has some drink whose name is a variation on Gin and Tonic, which has confused etymologists for centuries. The drinks are all completely different; it's just the name that is identical. Variations listed include jynnan tonnyx, jinond-o-nicks, chinanto nigs, txjin-anthonty-ks, and of course, the Terran gin and tonic. This phenomenon has puzzled galactic historians for centuries.

** The word ''Belgium'' is considered the most obscene profanity in the galaxy. The casual use of the word is considered a shock to most cultured beings. One of the ''other'' reasons humanity is shunned is that we use that word far too casually for the galaxy’s tender sensibilities.

**Every species in the galaxy has some drink whose name is a variation on Gin and Tonic, which has confused etymologists for centuries. The drinks are all completely different; it’s just the name that is identical. Variations listed include jynnan tonnyx, jinond-o-nicks, chinanto nigs, txjin-anthonty-ks, and of course, the Terran gin and tonic. This phenomenon has puzzled galactic historians for centuries.

*In the ''StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "The Omega Glory", the inhabitants of an inexplicably Earthlike planet retain several of the founding documents of the United States of America, but mispronounce the words—for example, they read the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution as "Eee Plebnista, norcom, forcom, perfectumum..."—and blindly venerate the documents as "holy" without understanding what they mean.