History NonIndicativeName / RealLife

** It doesn't help that literal Indians, as in people who came from the Indian subcontinent, have been living in the Americas far longer than people expect, and comprise only ''part'' of the people blanket-labelled as "West Indian" today. In UsefulNotes/TrinidadAndTobago, an island country in the Caribbean, Indians were settled in large numbers by the British in the 19th century to work as laborers, and their descendants still make up the plurality of the population.

*** The Dallas Cowboys haven't played in the Big D itself ever since they left the Cotton Bowl in 1971 (Texas Stadium was in Irving, the current one is Arlington). They also don't have their HQ in the Big D either; they had that in Irving during the existence of Texas Stadium, and moved it to Frisco a few years after their current stadium opened.

*** The Miami Dolphins do play in a city with the word "Miami", but it's Miami Gardens.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amaterasu_particle Amaterasu particle]], an ultra-high-energy cosmic ray, is named after the Japanese goddess of the sun, but it neither came from our sun (it came from outside the Milky Way), not was it detected in Japan (it was detected in Utah, USA)..

* Sweet potatoes are only distantly related to the common potato, and have even less genetic relation to yams, despite the terms being synonymous in the US.

* UsefulNotes/FormulaOne has a few instances of this. The Luxembourg Grand Prix was in Germany, the San Marino Grand Prix was in Italy, and the 1982 Swiss Grand Prix was held at a track near Dijon, near the Franco-Swiss border. Though to be fair on that last one, [[JustifiedTrope Switzerland had banned motorsport in the country in]] TheFifties.[[note]]More accurately, Switzerland banned motorsport that involved direct on-course competition between vehicles. Races against the clock, such as rallies and hillclimbs, were not banned and remain legal to this day. More recently, the country lifted the ban on on-course competitive motorsport, but only for electric vehicles, in hopes of getting a stop on the UsefulNotes/FormulaE circuit, which it finally got in the 2017–18 season.[[/note]] The European Grand Prix has been held in Germany, Spain, and the UK, but the 2016 race was held in Baku, Azerbaijan, which is in Asia. Somewhat downplayed with the Budapest track: it is not located in the city of Budapest proper, but rather Mogyoród, which is on the outskirts of Budapest.

* "Hamburgers" are made of beef, not ham. Well-worn {{Outside Joke}}s aside, Hamburger never ''did'' mean "a burger made from ham" but instead "[someone or something] from Hamburg", in this case a ground-meat sandwich. The suffix "burger" is itself a {{snowclone}} based on the custom in German-speaking countries of naming snack foods after the town with which they're most closely associated (Hamburg, in this case), much as "Frankfurters" (the sausage used for hot dogs) are associated with Frankfurt-am-Main (they're also called wieners, as similar sausages came from Vienna, or "Wien" as it's called in German). In the 19th century chopped beef patties were known as "Hamburg steaks" (and still are in much of the world), so a "Hamburger" was a Hamburg steak sandwich. Also, "ham" is not a meat in its own right, but the cured hindleg of a pig. In the case of actual hamburgers, though, the non-indicative name is complete; there are half-a-dozen potential origin points of the hamburger sandwich ranging from Boston, Massachusetts to Seymour, Wisconsin, anywhere between 1885 and 1900. Regardless the hamburger sandwich was already an extant dish by the time of its debut at the 1904 World's Fair.

* UsefulNotes/TheOttomanEmpire, towards the end, was full of positions with this type of name, thanks to MissionCreep. For example, the Head Gardener was actually the Sultan's personal executioner, and Soup-Seller started out as a title for a CampCook but eventually became the title of a Janissary regimental commander.

* Extra virgin olive oil has (thankfully) ''nothing'' to do with whether or not someone has done inappropriate things with the oil or the bottle it's in. It's a measure of acidity, and it has to do with a) how the oil was obtained (only oils obtained by cold-pressing the olives can qualify as extra virgin or virgin) and b) whether or not any chemicals were used to obtain the oil or to refine and process it. (Extra virgin and virgin olive oils ''cannot'' have any chemicals used in the process of obtaining the oil, and cannot be refined or processed with chemicals after the fact.) Furthermore, it is not uncommon for oils marketed as extra-virgin or virgin to not qualify in some way (ex. to have been refined with chemicals after pressing), or to be "cut" with lesser-quality olive oils. The best way to know for sure is by smell and taste: real extra-virgin and virgin olive oils usually have a distinct "fruity" smell and flavor to them, and cause a slight burning sensation when swallowed straight. Color is also a good indicator, as the real stuff tends to be golden yellow or green in color, but this isn't as reliable as the smell-and-taste test--although that being said, even the smell-and-taste test isn't foolproof, as some varietal or regional forms of olive oil (like oil made from the Kalamata olive and oil from Liguria in northwestern Italy) have a natural "buttery" smell and flavor rather than a "fruity" one.

** Despite their name, the foul poles and foul lines themselves are in fair territory -- a batted ball that hits a foul line is considered fair and in play, and a batted ball that hits the foul pole is a home run if it hits the pole on the fly and an automatic double if it bounced in fair territory first.

*** Played with by NJ/NY Gotham FC since changing its name from Sky Blue FC in 2021. While the team represents the whole NYC metro, it has always played its home games in New Jersey (and deliberately put "NJ" first in its new name). It currently shares the New York Red Bulls' stadium.[[note]]While Gotham has played one home game each season at the Philadelphia Union's stadium since 2021, it can be justified as an attempt to build a South Jersey fanbase.[[/note]]

** Seattle-Tacoma International Airport is neither located within the city limits of either UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}} OR Tacoma, but rather in the suburb SeaTac (which was established in 1990[[note]]The airport itself was established in 1944[[/note]] was named ''after'' a nickname for the airport itself).

** Most of Canada's major city airports have such codes. Pretty much the only one that doesn't apply is Vancouver International Airport (YVR). Notable cases include Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) and Montréal–Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (YUL). Subverted by Calgary's airport, which is now officially known as YYC Calgary International Airport.

* There is a street in Hong Kong called Boundary Street. It used to be the actual boundary between British-controlled Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland, but the name stopped being indicative when the UK decided to buy some more land from China and incorporate it into the city.

* Australia's Rottnest Island's name is from the Dutch for "rats' nest." A Dutch sea captain named it after seeing the island's sizable [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quokka quokka]] population and mistaking them for large rats.

*** The Canadian Hockey League has American teams.

*** The Western Hockey League has five teams on the US side of the border, four in Washington (the state) and one in Oregon. In fact, the US teams are all grouped in the "U.S. Division".
*** The LHJMQ (Quebec Major Junior Hockey League) has teams in all three of the Maritime provinces. It once had teams in the other province of Atlantic Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as the US state of Maine.

** Australian rugby union followed suit in 2017, when the National Rugby Championship added a team from Fiji.

*** More recent terminology has most of these things renamed from "(X)fish" to "Sea (X)", so Starfish becomes Seastar, Jellyfish becomes Sea Jelly, etc. However, the "(X)fish" comes from the fact that the word "fish" comes from a noun meaning "an animal that lives in water" and all these names were actually ''quite'' indicative because they do live in water. Except for silverfish, but [[JustForPun that's another kettle of fish entirely]].

** The UsefulNotes/WarsOfTheRoses are a [[JustForPun flowery]] name for a series of civil wars in England between the rival branches of the House of Plantagenet; the House of Lancaster and the House of York. Their house symbols were a red rose and a white rose respectively, hence the name.

* Russian dressing, Italian dressing, and French dressing were all invented in the US. In fact in France ''and'' Italy you nearly always get oil and vinegar on your salad.

* The Buffalo Wing contains no buffalo meat but rather a fried chicken wing tossed in hot sauce, as Music/JessicaSimpson rather embarrassingly found out on her reality show. They were first sold at a bar in Buffalo, [[UsefulNotes/New York NY]], which is where the name comes from. This naming has carried over to other foods, so if you see something labeled as "Buffalo style" that just means it's spicy, it has nothing to do with any large nearly extinct mammals.

* The French Dip sandwich is not French in origin. It was invented in Los Angeles by two different people (depending on who you ask, they're the original inventor). The only thing French about the French Dip is it's served on a baguette (although it is true that one of the possible inventors was a French immigrant). Interestingly, many aficionados of the sandwich as it is served at the two original restaurants would argue that the French Dips sold else where aren't really French Dips: while in most places, the sandwich has the hot roast beef in a baguette and served with a cup of the jus for the eater to dip the whole sandwich into, at both of the original places the bread is dipped in the jus first and then the beef is added, with the wet sandwich served to the consumer without a side of jus (because at that point it's overkill).
* Wits in the US armed forces claim that "MRE" (Meal, Ready to Eat) is non-indicative in three ways, i.e. it's not a meal, it's not ready and you can't eat it. The accusations are in some sense correct. While the entree, which is what the packaging is labeled with, isn't a full meal, it does come with a number of sides to make it a complete meal. And they do require some preparation like adding water and heating, meaning they're rarely really ready to eat straight from the package. How true the third charge actually is varies from meal to meal, though they have certainly been accused of being [[NondescriptNastyNutritious designed with taste as at best an afterthought]].

* Many restaurants will idiotically call their drinks medium and large sizes without having a small size. However, a medium implies that there is supposed to be something less, only using the name because it is the average size of a medium, but still not having anything to compare it to.

* Many a MultiEthnicName. Creator/CameronDiaz said she grew up being questioned as for why she looked like a Nordic blonde yet had a Latino surname. When table tennis player Bruna Yumi Takahashi went to the Usefulnotes/OlympicGames in Tokyo, she said that from the airport immigration on it was a parade of the locals doing a DoubleTake, looking back and forth between a credential with very Japanese surnames, and [[https://www.rbsdirect.com.br/imagesrc/25302770.jpg?w=770 a face that couldn't look less Nipponic]].

* The [[http://www.pcguide.com/ref/case/switchTurbo-c.html Turbo button]] on older [=PCs=] actually slowed down the computer to play games designed for slower computers.

* UsefulNotes/FormulaOne has a few instances of this. The Luxembourg Grand Prix was in Germany, the San Marino Grand Prix was in Italy, and the 1982 Swiss Grand Prix was held at a track near Dijon, near the Franco-Swiss border. Though to be fair on that last one, [[JustifiedTrope Switzerland had banned motorsport in the country in]] TheFifties.[[note]]More accurately, Switzerland banned motorsport that involved direct on-course competition between vehicles. Races against the clock, such as rallies and hillclimbs, were not banned and remain legal to this day. More recently, the country lifted the ban on on-course competitive motorsport, but only for electric vehicles, in hopes of getting a stop on the UsefulNotes/FormulaE circuit, which it finally got in the 2017–18 season.[[/note]] The European Grand Prix has been held in Germany, Spain, and the UK, but the 2016 race was held in Baku, Azerbaijan, which is in Asia.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabukich%C5%8D]], the famous red-light district in Tokyo, Japan, was named because a kabuki theater was planned to be built within the city as its main attraction. The theater was never built, but the name stuck.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabukich%C5%8D,_Tokyo Kabukichō]], the famous red-light district in Tokyo, Japan, was named because a kabuki theater was planned to be built within the city as its main attraction. The theater was never built, but the name stuck.

* The [[UsefulNotes/ProvincesOfIndonesia Indonesian province]] of Southwest Papua is located on the ''north''western edge of the island of New Guinea.

*** And in 2014, the Big Ten went up to fourteen members (with the addition of Rutgers University and the University of Maryland). [[SerialEscalation And then]] it announced that UCLA and USC would join in 2024... oops, make that UCLA, USC, Oregon, and Washington.