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1[[quoteright:269:[[Webcomic/{{xkcd}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/b8ee99e1_cf26_4ead_9d62_044039b08905.png]]]]
2[[caption-width-right:269:[[Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles That's a fact, Jack!]]]]
3
4->"''Welcome to the American Museum of Pop Culture, with artifacts dating as far, far, back...as six months ago.''"
5-->-- '''Joel [=McHale=]''', ''Series/TheSoup''
6
7Classics, almost by definition, are works that are considered to be of high quality, are influential on later works, and are widely known. However, one will often find that only scholars and enthusiasts have first-hand knowledge of the material in question, and that the masses know it either only by title or by homages, parodies, direct references and allusions found in more populist works. Essentially, various bits and pieces of high culture are most widely known through their use in pop culture (which also puts them on track to become {{standard snippet}}s). Ill-informed people might even think these bits and pieces are original to the popular work, AndThatsTerrible ([[SturgeonsLaw nine times out of ten]]).
8
9StockShoutOuts such as PietaPlagiarism exist because of this phenomenon. (Most artists would be copying some other usage than the sculpture.)
10
11Frequently results in BeamMeUpScotty, ItWasHisSled, and CoveredUp. See also HalfRememberedHomage.
12
13See also these tropes:
14
15* AluminumChristmasTrees: People think a RealLife thing is fictional.
16* BreakawayPopHit: A [[CoveredUp pop cover]] of a song created for a specific work surpasses the popularity of the original song.
17* ItWasHisSled: The TwistEnding used to be a surprise, but now everyone knows it.
18* MainstreamObscurity: Can be considered an {{exaggerat|ed trope}}ion of this trope, where all one knows of the work is via Pop Cultural Osmosis.
19* MemeticMutation: A snippet of the work gets wide exposure through endless online repetition.
20* OlderThanTheyThink: The work actually did ''not'' come up with the idea/concept.
21* OnceOriginalNowCommon: Thinking a work relies on clichés when those ''weren't'' clichés when the work was made.
22* ParodyDisplacement: A parody is better remembered than the work it parodies.
23* PraisingShowsYouDontWatch: All you know about a work is that it's supposed to be good.
24* RepurposedPopSong: A popular song gets used in an advertisement.
25* SmallReferencePools: Only making references to very well-known things.
26* TheThemeParkVersion: Taking nothing from the original story or situation but the broad details, which ''still'' may be inaccurate.
27* WrongfullyAttributed: A work or saying from one person is credited to another.
28
29Compare/Contrast PopCulturalOsmosisFailure (when someone ''doesn't'' get the reference), PopCultureIsolation (in which the reference is well-known in one or a few major areas, but virtually unknown elsewhere).
30
31----
32!!Examples:
33
34[[foldercontrol]]
35
36[[folder:Advertising]]
37* Several slogans from old radio commercials live on as catch phrases in WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes cartoons, while virtually nobody remembers their actual origins. Examples are: "Turn off that light!" (referring to air raid warden during World War II), "Was this trip really necessary?" (referring to a slogan used to encourage people not to take unnecessary trips to free up gas and rubber for the war effort and to free up space on trains to ferry troops to their duty locations.), "B.OOOOOOO!" (referencing a Lifebuoy soap commercial against body odor) and "Aha! Something new has been added!" and "So round, so firm, so fully-packed. So free and easy on the draw" (referencing Lucky Strike cigarettes).
38* Alka-Seltzer had middling sales when first introduced, up until advertisement was made with the now-ubiquitous familiar sound of '''two''' tablets put into a glass of water and starting to fizzle while dissolving. This made the product tremendously popular, so much that consumers forego the fact that only ''one'' tablet is needed at a time, and the fact that the company sells the antacid in pouches of two tablets doesn't quite help.
39[[/folder]]
40
41[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
42* There are some related to the mediums of manga and anime themselves:
43** "Manga" is the Japanese word for comics, and "anime", the word for animation. The ''whole'' spectrum for both forms of media.[[labelnote:(!)]]--The terms apply even to American media; in technical terms, for the Japanese, ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' comics are "manga" and [[Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon Disney's]] ''{{WesternAnimation/Cinderella}}'' is "anime"--[[/labelnote]] However, outside of Japan, "manga" and "anime" are the terms referring to Japanese-made works in particular. As such, if a non-Japanese states that they have a preference for said media to a Japanese individual, it's highly likely that the Japanese doesn't take this as meaning "Japanese media" because of the neutrality of the terms.
44** The term "doujinshi" is applied to fan-made works of all kinds, including hentai doujinshi (or H-doujinshi for short). However, a great portion of non-Japanese readers are under the impression that '''''all''''' ''doujinshi are H-doujinshi'', which is not the case at all, due to the fact that the term was introduced abroad referring to the H portion.
45* ''Manga/{{AKIRA}}'': Most anime fans, when speaking about Shotaro Kaneda, are referring to the protagonist of ''AKIRA'', with many unaware that [[ShoutOutThemeNaming the character was named after]] the main character of ''Anime/{{Gigantor}}''.
46* ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'' was subject to this for a long time outside of Asia due to NoExportForYou. The series was never legally available in any form in English outside of Asia for decades, but many OccidentalOtaku were still familiar with the show, its tropes, and its characters due to the sheer number of references to the series in {{anime}} that ''did'' make it over.
47* ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'' was huge in its heyday, but due to the sheer amount of SchoolgirlSeries it spawned in its wake, has gradually become less well-known in comparison. One long-lasting impact the series did have, however, was coining the phrase "[[GratuitousEnglish mai waifu]]" (spoken by [[DirtyOldMan Mr. Kimura]] when discussing his [[UglyGuyHotWife gorgeous wife]]). The phrase was picked up by fans of the series to describe their own fictional crushes. Eventually shortened to just "waifu" (and expanded to "husbando"), it's become a staple of anime culture to the point that even people unfamiliar with the series are aware of the term.
48* Fans of ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' can generally sing along with "Fly Me to the Moon" without knowing the original artist, or even one of the dozens of famous American artists who covered it in the four decades before NGE came out.
49* The "Kyubey's Face" shots from ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' -- where all you see are his eyes, with the background being the color of his skin -- were actually first used for Kero in ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura''.
50* "Kashikoma!" is a Japanese word that means "I understand!" or "Capisce!" However, most people today associate the phrase with ''VideoGame/PriPara'', due to said word being Laala Manaka's catchphrase.
51* ''Franchise/DragonBall'':
52** Even the most casual anime fan knows about ''Dragon Ball''...only whenever someone hears the name Son Gokū, ''very few'' people are going to ever going to think about the original Monkey King from ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'' over the iconic Saiyan protagonist, [[BilingualBonus since Son Gokū is the Japanese rendering of the Chinese name Sun Wukong]]. This expands to many other works that involve the usage of Wukong's name in that form of Japanese rendering (also ranging to Japanese dubs of any original ''Journey to the West''-based media), which only shows how a majority of people are rarely associated with the original works and/or drama adaptations. It's to the point that in a nutshell, where people don't realize that ''Dragon Ball'''s version of Wukong/Gokū was based off another prior monkey character with the same exact name (孫悟空), and that the name Wukong/Gokū (悟空) is actually a common Buddhist name.
53** ''Dragon Ball'' itself gets this from Americans and other English speakers. Many people outside of Japan aren't aware that ''Dragon Ball Z'' wasn't the first series in the franchise, and this was especially true in its heyday. This is mostly thanks to the widely-popular and {{memetic|Mutation}} English dub of ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' from the '90s, which set itself apart from [[Manga/DragonBall earlier parts of the story]]. The Japanese and English versions of the show were initially very different, [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks with mixed reception]]. A common derisive stereotype among fans of the Japanese original is that dub fans ''only'' know and love the early, less faithful version the franchise, when in reality the newer uncut dubs from Creator/{{Funimation}} are much more popular, and most modern English-language ''Dragon Ball'' material is fully uncensored and far more faithful to the Japanese original.
54** When most people nowadays hear "Kamehameha", most people will think of the attack from ''Dragon Ball'', and not the Hawaiian king from which it got its name.
55* There's a little obscure 1998 anime called ''Manga/{{Nazca}}'' that's far, far more well known as "That anime from the ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'' opening."
56* ''Literature/{{Anpanman}}'':
57** To many people outside of Japan, Anpanman will forever be associated with Music/{{BTS}}, as they sung a song about the character being a hero.
58** "Baikin" is a common Japanese word meaning "germs". But if you look up that word in Japanese, most of the results show Baikinman from this show. It got to the point where the association of the word "baikin" with the character lead to him starring in a commercial for a germ-removing air conditioner aired in the early 2000s.
59* A lot of people assume {{Eurobeat}} music to be made specifically for the ''Manga/InitialD'' anime adaptation, rather than existing music licensed for use in the anime. It wasn't until ''Initial D''[='=]s third season, ''Initial D Fourth Stage''[[note]]''Initial D Third Stage'' is a feature-length movie rather than a season of episodes, so ''Fourth Stage'' is [[NonIndicativeName actually season 3]].[[/note]], that Eurobeat musicians started to cash in on the series' popularity with songs about the series itself and more songs about cars.
60[[/folder]]
61
62[[folder:Arts]]
63* 19th century British cartoonist John Tenniel had a long career as a cartoonist in ''Magazine/{{Punch}}''. But today he is only remembered for illustrating ''Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland'' and ''Literature/ThroughTheLookingGlass''.
64** Subverted in that some of Tenniel's ''Punch'' cartoons -- most notably perhaps "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dropping_the_Pilot Dropping the Pilot]]", his reaction to the dismissal of UsefulNotes/OttoVonBismarck as German chancellor -- are still very familiar from being reprinted in historical textbooks and referenced by more modern cartoonists. It's just that most people don't realize they were drawn by the same artist as Lewis Carroll's books...
65* Thanks to many biopics about Creator/LeonardoDaVinci, painter Andrea Mantegna is nowadays better known as Da Vinci's mentor than for his own work.
66* To many art fans, Jean-Paul Marat is remembered more for Creator/JacquesLouisDavid's striking painting than the actual historical character. The work has in fact done a lot to transform a very radical politician into an innocent victim.
67* There was once a supermarket themed art exhibition in France called the "Orrimbe show", that would've likely faded into obscurity if the creators of the exhibition hadn't asked Jean-Michel Jarre to produce music for the event. Jarre ended up creating Musique pour Supermarché, an album that was famously pressed only once and had its master recording destroyed in front of an audience.
68[[/folder]]
69
70[[folder:Comedy]]
71* ''Film/ANightAtTheOpera'' has ruined ''Il Trovatore'' for many people. Just ''try'' to hear the Anvil Chorus without thinking of Chico and Harpo after you've seen it...
72-->"A ''battleship'' in ''Il trovatore''?!!
73* The "Mah Nà Mah Nà" song does not originate from ''Series/TheMuppetShow'', or even ''Series/SesameStreet'', but rather [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063660/ an Italian mondo documentary film set in Sweden]].
74** Speaking of ''The Muppets'', many 90s kids think the Beach Boys song "Kokomo" was written for the ''It's Not Easy Being Green'' VHS or ''Muppet Beach Party''. And then there were people who thought that the music video itself was only a VHS-exclusive short on several Disney tapes and not a promotion for another video, which also happened with the Music/ParachuteExpress "Doctor Looney's Remedy" music video on ''WesternAnimation/AGoofyMovie''.
75* Music/ModestMussorgsky's ''Music/NightOnBaldMountain'' has unfortunately become known as either a general theme music for a comic nemesis, the escape from the Witch's castle in ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'', or the near final segment in ''WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}}'' that scarred generations of children.
76** Hey, they stole that for ''VideoGame/EarthwormJim''!
77** The opening was used in the Maxell "Break The Sound Barrier" ad.
78* "Countin' the Beat" by the Swingers is known to a generation of Australians as the UsefulNotes/{{Kmart}} theme song.
79* Many talk shows cause this, from Radio/RushLimbaugh with "My City Was Gone" by Music/{{Pretenders}}, to Rachel Maddow with "Stealing the Stock" from the ''Film/OceansTwelve'' soundtrack.
80* The song called "The Merry Go Round Broke Down" created by Cliff Friend and Dave Franklin is better remembered as the music for the WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes theme song, WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck sings a more complete version of the song with different lyrics in "Daffy and Egghead".
81* Eddie Cantor's "Merrily We Roll Along" is better remembered as the [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Merrie Melodies]] theme.
82* To people who grew up in TurnOfTheMillennium, the song "Funiculi, Funicula" is better known as the tune to the ''WesternAnimation/VeggieTales'' song "Larry's High Silk Hat".
83** Or as the memetic [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czTksCF6X8Y pizza "theme"]] featured in ''VideoGame/SpiderMan2'' video game.
84*** [[SpaghettiAndGondolas Actual pizzerias as well]] may be associated with this song.
85** Japanese children will know the song as "The Ogre's Pants", which is a folk song that is sung to the same tune. The song is well-known in Japan for being the favorite song of Baikinman and Dokin-chan from ''Literature/{{Anpanman}}''.
86* Some people who have sent e-cards or have given certain American Greetings cards will associate "The Barber of Seville" with [[https://youtube.com/watch?v=39AM2jYpZKQ The Birthday Sock]].
87** A version of the song was also performed by Buck in ''WesternAnimation/IceAgeCollisionCourse''.
88[[/folder]]
89
90[[folder:Comic Books]]
91* This might be happening to ComicBook/{{Batman}}, if Website/YouTube comments are to be believed.
92-->'''Random viewer on the Joker from WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries:''' That's not the Joker, he doesn't even have [[Film/TheDarkKnight the scars]]!
93** A lot of people forgot or don't realize that the Joker was based on [[http://anyeventuality.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/themanwholaughs.png Conrad Veidt's]] character in the 1928 movie ''Film/TheManWhoLaughs''.
94* A lot of comic book characters are much better known world wide from full length cartoon or movie adaptations than they from their original source material. In fact: this is literally the case with everyone of them: either in Europe (''ComicBook/TheSmurfs'', ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'', ''ComicBook/{{Tintin}}''), the US (every superhero character, save Superman) or Japan (lots of manga comics are much better known as ''anime'' cartoons).
95* ''ComicBook/{{Tintin}}'': If people outside China and Japan have heard about the Japanese-Chinese war of the 1930s it will be mostly through the album ''[[Recap/TintinTheBlueLotus The Blue Lotus]]'', where it is a large part of the plot.
96* ''ComicBook/SuskeEnWiske''[='s=] frequent time travels have taught many children in the Benelux of countless historical characters and time periods.
97** Nowadays more people will think of Barabas as the professor in ''Suske en Wiske'', rather than the Biblical character.
98** There is a Suske en Wiske story called De Texasrakkers ("The Texas Scoundrels"), which was originally a shout-out to the popular 1950s TV western series The Texas Rangers, but this show is nowadays completely forgotten. In fact: mention The Texas Rangers today in Flanders or the Netherlands and everybody assumes you mean De Texasrakkers.
99* ''ComicStrip/{{Nero}}'' readers will recognize several Belgian and international politicians between 1947 and 2002 from their cameo appearances in the series.
100** In Flanders more people will think of Nero as the titular character of this comic strip than the Roman Emperor UsefulNotes/{{Nero}}.
101* ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'' shaped most people's impression of Gaul and the Roman Empire.
102* ''ComicBook/DeKiekeboes'': When hearing the word ''Constantinopel'' many young readers will rather think of Kiekeboe's son than the former name of Istanbul.
103* ''ComicBook/LuckyLuke'' features cameo appearances of several WildWest icons, which are only familiar to people outside Europe because of said cameos.
104* ''WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck'' (& Co.), and ''The Disneyverse'' in general, are simply ''filled'' with retold classics, movie and music references and the like, providing lots of kids their first contact with Greek myths, Shakespeare's plays, classical history, etc.
105[[/folder]]
106
107[[folder:Comic Strips]]
108* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': In the 10th Anniversary Collection, Bill Watterson admits that he's "not at all familiar with FilmNoir or detective novels", so the stories featuring Calvin's HardBoiledDetective alter ego Tracer Bullet are "[[HalfRememberedHomage just spoofs on the clichés of the genre]]."
109[[/folder]]
110
111[[folder:Fanworks]]
112* ''Fanfic/NewGirlMortimermcmirestinks'': Langston cites the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E15YesterdaysEnterprise Yesterday's Enterprise]]" to explain the alternate timeline situation. While Emily gets the reference, [[PopCulturalOsmosisFailure Arish doesn't]], switching to ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII'' as another comparison.
113[[/folder]]
114
115[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
116* Many fairy tales and literary classics are nowadays much better known in animated adaptations by Creator/WaltDisney than the original tales. Expect many people to be surprised that certain characters and scenes are '''not''' in the original tales or that the stories in general have far DarkerAndEdgier content. It has gotten to the point that many assume that all these Disney adaptations are in fact [[FairyTale fairy tales]], while many, like ''Literature/{{Pinocchio}}'', ''Literature/AliceInWonderland'' and ''WesternAnimation/LadyAndTheTramp'', for instance, are not.
117** ''WesternAnimation/TheThreeLittlePigs'' cemented the idea in many people's mind that "Literature/TheThreeLittlePigs" are all individual characters and that none of them get eaten by the Big Bad Wolf. In the original story they have no individual personalities and the first two are eaten by the wolf. Many people will also automatically start singing "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" whenever the story is mentioned.
118** ''WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs'': Since this film came out, many adaptations of ''Literature/SnowWhite'' have turned the dwarfs into individual characters and have the prince kiss Snow White back to life. In the original fairy tale the dwarfs were not individualized and Snow White was saved when the prince accidentally dropped the coffin, causing the apple she ate to fall out of her throat. Another change in story is that the Evil Stepmother actually attempted to poison Snow White three times, with her third attempt being the poisoned apple.
119** ''WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}}'' made the role of Jiminy Cricket as Pinocchio's conscience much more central to the story. In the original novel Jiminy is only a minor character, who gets squashed accidentally by Pinocchio even before he leaves the house. The majority of the book didn't even make the film.
120** ''WesternAnimation/{{Bambi}}'': Thanks to this film, many people refer to a baby deer as a "Bambi". The original story is also far more adult.
121** ''WesternAnimation/AliceInWonderland'': To the general public this is their main impression of [[Literature/AliceInWonderland the original novel]], even though Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum and the story they tell about the Walrus and Carpenter appear in ''Alice Through The Looking-Glass''.
122** ''WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty'': Many people expect the Prince fighting a dragon at the end, which is a scene added by the Disney version, not present in the original.
123*** The famous ‘Once upon a dream’ tune comes directly from Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty waltz. Good luck getting through the original song without ‘I know you; I walked with you...’ running through your head at some point.
124** ''WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook1967'': The general public instantly thinks of this movie whenever ''Literature/TheJungleBook'' is brought up in conversation. Never mind the fact that this film has barely anything to do with the original story, except for the fact that Mowgli is indeed raised by wolves and that the characters' names are the same. For instance, Creator/RudyardKipling's novel Baloo is a serious character and Kaa is a friend of Mowgli.
125** ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989'': The original fairy tale has a totally different central theme. The story is very religious, and the mermaid is drawn to the humans because she longs for an immortal soul, something that only humans have. She wants to go to heaven after her death, and not to become the sea foam. Marrying the prince was just the means to get that. Although she died by the end of the story, the ending suggests that she might get what she wanted.
126** ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'': In the original ''Literature/ArabianNights,'' the story takes place in China and the number of wishes isn't restricted to just three.
127** ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'': While lots of people criticize the movie for being not faithful to the [[Myth/GreekMythology original myths]], it does reference some of them. The twelve labors are shown during the montage, and the whole premise has some similarity to titanomachy/gigantomachy. The former features titans, and the latter has Hercules. The battle with cyclops references both titanomachy and Literature/TheOdyssey. That being said, the whole "coming of age" story of the movie has nothing to do with the myths, and most of the characters were changed dramatically. Hades was never an antagonist to Hercules, Hera was never his loving mother (or a mother at all), and Megara was his wife... which he killed along with their children, thanks to Hera messing with his mind. Yeah, greek heroes were not very "heroic" by today's definition.
128* ''WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}}'':
129** There's likely not a soul on Earth who doesn't associate "L'apprenti sorcier" by Paul Dukas with WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse.
130** Or take "Dance of the Hours" from Ponchielli's ballet ''La Gioconda.'' When you hear it, you'll either think of the dancing hippos from ''Fantasia'', or you'll start singing, ''"Hello Muddah, hello Fadduh, here I am at Camp Granada..."'' (Creator/AllanSherman's well-known funny song). Or both.
131*** It was also used as the tune of the ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'' song "The Garfield Opera".
132** There probably aren't that many people who wouldn't think of dinosaurs when listening to ''Theatre/TheRiteOfSpring".
133* ''WesternAnimation/{{Dumbo}}'': Dumbo's name is a pun on the 19th century circus elephant Jumbo, something that not many people nowadays remember now.
134* ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'': Probably not many children nowadays will be aware that when the Genie encourages Aladdin while barking and waving his fist he briefly transforms into TV presenter [[Series/TheArsenioHallShow Arsenio Hall]]. Outside of the USA virtually nobody.
135* ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'': Younger people have the wrong impression that the song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" originated from this movie. Nope: It is almost half a century older!
136* When ''WesternAnimation/{{Moana}}'' came out, eagle-eyed viewers liked to point out the "{{Easter egg}}" in ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch'' where David Kawena (the boyfriend of Lilo Pelekai's older sister Nani) is seen wearing Maui's fish hook as a necklace. The internet was quick to point out that this was the equivalent of thinking that every character that wear a cross or crucifix in movies is in reference for ''Film/TheLastTemptationOfChrist'', never mind the fact that ''Lilo & Stitch'' predates ''Moana'' by fourteen years.
137* Surprisingly averted with the usage of "We Go Together" from ''Film/{{Grease}}'' in ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretLifeOfPets'', with most fans of the film (most of whom are children) claiming they knew what the song being played was as soon as it begun in the scene. It helps that ''Grease'' is one of the most popular choices for school musicals, that many of the parents of said children grew up watching the 1978 film adaptation of the musical, and that ''Secret Life of Pets'' happened to premiere a few months after Creator/{{FOX}} televised a successful live production of ''Grease''.
138* This happened with the classic songs featured in ''WesternAnimation/{{Trolls}}'' thanks to its monster popularity. On Google, the Trolls versions of the songs have more results than the original versions. The cover of ''True Colors'' that Music/JustinTimberlake and Creator/AnnaKendrick recorded for the film's soundtrack also pops up on Youtube as the first result before the original Music/CyndiLauper version.
139* Many people outside of Japan believe that ''Hyokkori Hyoutanjima'' was a ShowWithinAShow made for the movie ''Anime/OnlyYesterday''. It was an actual puppet show on NHK in the 1960's, when the childhood sequences of said film take place, but [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes most episodes of the show are very hard to find]], which could have lead to this confusion. And when people don't associate it with this film, they'll associate it with [[Music/HelloProject Morning Musume's]] cover of the theme song.
140[[/folder]]
141
142[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
143* The ChestBurster scene from ''{{Film/Alien}}'' and the [[MiniMecha power loader]] scene from ''{{Film/Aliens}}'' are two of the most widely referenced and parodied moments in modern film. Even if you haven't seen the movies, you know those scenes, or at the very least the line:
144--> '''Ripley''': Get away from her, [[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch you bitch!]]
145* The 1925 Russian film ''Bronenosets Potyomkin'', usually called ''Film/BattleshipPotemkin'' in English-language sources, is generally considered hugely influential on later cinema. There is a particular scene set on some stairs leading down to the harbour in Odessa which has been imitated several times, including in ''Film/TheUntouchables1987'' and one of the ''[[Series/PoliceSquad Naked Gun]]'' films. It is reasonable to assume that, in modern times at least, more people who are not cineasts will have seen these homages/parodies than have seen the original film.
146** ''Battleship Potemkin'' is parodied with the title ''Battleship Kotemkin'' in the 1976 Italian comedy movie ''Il Secondo Tragico Film/{{Fantozzi}}'' (second of a long series based on a few corporate satire / dark humor books with protagonist [[TheChewToy accountant Ugo Fantozzi]]) and it's portrayed as overly long and overly boring artsy film. In this chapter of the Fantozzi series, one of the new executives of the company that employs Fantozzi is a fanatic cineast who forces everyone in his department to attend film screening and dicussions after work hours. When he sets up one of those screening the same night of the final European Cup football match, Fantozzi opens the debate after the screening with the iconic line "Battleship Kotemkin is crazy bulls**t!" and everyone revolts. [[HilarityEnsues Hilarity ensues]] and the exec is forced to screen loads of terrible b-movies as punishment. To this day most Italians think that ''Battleship Potemkin'' is a movie that lasts several hours, it's hard to understand and generally liked only by snobs.
147** In some versions, Fantozzi and the other "revolutionaries" eventually burn the copy of the film ''Battleship Kotemkin'' and are then sentenced by the court to re-enact the Odessa stairs sequence on a weekly basis, the exec ('dottore') posing as the director and Fantozzi literally appearing as the baby in the pram.
148* By now, a notable percentage of the people who reference ''Film/CitizenKane'' as a cinema classic and could recognize the opening scene from any one second of footage have actually never seen the film and wouldn't be able to identify any other line, shot or sequence from the whole movie ([[ItWasHisSled okay, maybe one]]).
149** Similarly, Creator/OrsonWelles has reached more Internet notoriety through out-takes of his 1970s TV commercials where he is audibly drunk and complaining about the bad lines he has to recite. His voice too will probably have many fans of ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'' think of The Brain, which was a direct vocal parody of Welles' voice.
150* People these days seem to think that "KlaatuBaradaNikto" is that funny nonsense line from Sam Raimi's horror comedy ''Film/ArmyOfDarkness'' (1992) (aka ''The Franchise/EvilDead 3'') or the names of three 1983 ''Franchise/StarWars'' toys. Actually, the phrase comes from the black-and white sci-fi classic ''Film/TheDayTheEarthStoodStill1951'', where the sentence is used to stop Gort, the powerful invincible robot of the alien Klaatu, from destroying the Earth as punishment for the humans killing his peaceful master.
151* Many TurnOfTheMillennium Internet users will be familiar with the ''Scary Maze Game'', a ScreamerPrank presented as an UnwinnableJokeGame that ends with a girl's NightmareFace suddenly appearing with a bloodcurdling scream. Many of these same users will be unfamiliar with the girl and her origin -- Regan [=MacNeil=] from ''Film/TheExorcist''.
152* As famous as the 1932 classic ''Film/{{Freaks}}'' is, many more people are familiar with the parodies and allusions to its "One of us! One of us!" scene out of context. What's more, in these parodies, the phrase often comes off as ''threatening'', the direct opposite of how it's played in the film (although the recipient sees it as such). Parodists also don't seem to remember the "Gooble-gobble" part most of the time, although that's arguably for the best.
153* Due to his habit of [[SatireParodyPastiche pastiching]] rather obscure movies, Creator/QuentinTarantino is perhaps responsible for more Popcultural Osmosis than any other mainstream filmmaker.
154** The light-producing suitcase in ''Film/PulpFiction'' is a homage to a similar item in the 1955 FilmNoir ''Film/KissMeDeadly''.
155** When people hear Bobby Womack's "Across 110th Steet" nowadays they will probably associate it quicker with the opening scene of ''Film/JackieBrown'' rather than the movie Womack originally wrote it for: ''Across 110th Street'' (1972).
156** The yellow track-suit Uma Thurman wears in ''Film/KillBill'' during the climatic fight scene against O-Ren Ishii will probably remind more people of this film than the movie this costume originally homaged: ''Film/GameOfDeath'' (people tend to associate it more with star Creator/BruceLee than the film itself). Similarly the song "Flower of Carnage" was originally used in ''Film/LadySnowblood'' and the character Gogo Yubari (played by the same actress in the same outfit) are a direct reference to ''Film/BattleRoyale''.
157** The opening of ''Film/DjangoUnchained'' may lead many people into thinking it was written for this movie, while in reality it is the opening theme of Sergio Corbucci's spaghetti western classic ''Film/{{Django}}''.
158** Not too many people know that "pulp fiction" is a term that has been in use long before Tarantino's film. It referred to the hard-boiled crime fiction (i.e. Phillip Marlowe and Sam Spade) that appeared in magazines made from wood-pulp paper throughout the early 20th century.
159* Creator/EdwardGRobinson's distinct facial features and speech mannerisms have been used for every stereotypical mob boss in animated cartoons, including Rocky and Mugsy in WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes and the Mob boss of the Ant Hill Gang in WesternAnimation/WackyRaces.
160* The archetypal monocle-wearing German military officer is always a caricature of Creator/ErichVonStroheim's stock roles.
161* Any imitation of Count Dracula (and often of vampires in general) nowadays is a reference to Creator/BelaLugosi's portrayal of him in the 1931 classic ''[[Film/{{Dracula 1931}} Dracula]]'', down to his Hungarian accent. Similarly any pop culture appearance of FrankensteinsMonster will be modeled after Creator/BorisKarloff's make-up in ''Film/Frankenstein1931''.
162* How many are aware that WesternAnimation/BugsBunny's catch phrase "Of course you realize this means war!" was lifted from Creator/GrouchoMarx saying this in Film/DuckSoup and "Ain't I a stinker?" from Lou Costello in Creator/AbbottAndCostello.
163* The voice of puppet character Mortimer Snerd by Creator/EdgarBergen likewise also inspired the dimwitted voice of many cartoon characters.
164* The line "Monkeys is the cwaziest peoples" is heard in a lot of animated cartoons, but actually came from film comedian Lew Lehr's catch phrase.
165* When characters in old Looney Tunes or MGM cartoons use the term "Come with me to ze casbah" they are actually referencing the 1937 film ''Film/{{Algiers}}'', where Creator/CharlesBoyer's "Pépé Le Moko" used this line. Note that people will probably not realize this, even if they HAVE seen this movie because it was only used in the trailer, which unfortunately, is [[MissingEpisode lost]].
166* "Badges? We don't need no stinking badges!" Despite being quoted ([[BeamMeUpScotty albeit, incorrectly]]) and parodied in pop culture for decades, most people have no idea this line is a reference to the Creator/HumphreyBogart film ''Film/TheTreasureOfTheSierraMadre'', often attributing its origins to ''Film/BlazingSaddles'' instead. However, without the understanding that the line in the latter film is intended to be a parody of the former, the joke itself does not make sense. (The actual, original quote from the film goes, "Badges? We ain't got no badges. We don't need no badges! I don't have to show you any stinkin' badges!")
167* ''Film/StarTrek2009'' has instantly recognizable [[PowerTrio characters]], themes and objects -- even for those who have never seen a ''Franchise/StarTrek'' episode in their life.
168* Many people associate the line "I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass...and I'm all out of bubblegum." with VideoGame/DukeNukem rather than with "Rowdy" Wrestling/RoddyPiper's character in ''Film/TheyLive''.
169* The Valkyries rode helicopters (Creator/FrancisFordCoppola's ''Film/ApocalypseNow'', Music/RichardWagner's "Music/RideOfTheValkyries"). Also, the famous scene in ''Apocalypse Now'' where Colonel Kilgore says, "I love the smell of napalm in the morning," is actually a lot longer than people care to remember making it a cause of BeamMeUpScotty.
170* That melody that everybody associates with clown cars and elephants? The one that goes doot-doot-doodle-doo-dah-doot-doot-doo-dah? ''Enter the Gladiators'' by Julius Fucik.
171-->'''Hypothetical Roman announcer at the Coliseum''': And now, in this corner, Brutus the ''Destroyer!'' (calliope music)
172* Any time-lapse footage of city life is likely to be a reference to ''Film/{{Koyaanisqatsi}}'', either directly or indirectly.
173* You know how the canonical sound of [[SlowLaser lasers firing]] is a sort of "pew pew pew" effect? You can thank Creator/BenBurtt, the audio designer for ''[[Film/ANewHope Star Wars]]'', for that. The original sound effect was created by holding a microphone up to a taut wire while hitting the other end.
174* ''Franchise/FridayThe13th'': Lots of Jason Voorhees [[{{Expy}} expies]] and parodies have [[HockeyMaskAndChainsaw a hockey mask and a chainsaw]], despite the "real" Jason not putting the mask on until [[Film/FridayThe13thPartIII the third film]] of the series, and never once using a chainsaw, which probably comes from ''Film/TheTexasChainsawMassacre''.
175* Mike Myers' line "You put the wrong [=emPHAsis=] on the wrong [=sylLAble=]" is the one and only reason ''View From The Top'' has any kind of lasting pop cultural significance. The saying itself is much older than the 2003 movie.
176* ''Film/{{Casablanca}}'': Not many people could tell you the plot, but everybody knows "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine", "Here's looking at you, kid" and "Play it, Sam" (even if, due to all the parodies of that scene, they always [[BeamMeUpScotty misquote that last one]] as "Play it again, Sam"). And of course, even people who've never seen it still associate "As Time Goes By" with the film even though the song is [[OlderThanTheyThink a good decade older]].
177* ''Film/GroundhogDay'': Many viewers probably assume the film makers thought up the annual event where a groundhog sticking his head up from the ground is celebrated by local people. It is, in fact, a very real tradition. Today, however, the term "Groundhog Day" has become a concept that describes a feeling of [[GroundhogDayLoop having to relive the same day over and over again]].
178* The exclamation "D'oh!" is nowadays more closely associated with Homer Simpson's catch phrase in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' than Creator/LaurelAndHardy actor James Finlayson, from whom it originated.
179* The theme music of ''Film/CapeFear'' (1962) will be recognized by most Simpsons fans as the {{leitmotif}} of Sideshow Bob.
180* Nowadays, people are likely to associate ''Film/PaintYourWagon'' with the Simpsons episode "All Singing, All Dancing" and would probably be amazed that this 1969 film starring Creator/ClintEastwood and Creator/LeeMarvin actually exists. In reality, though, the plot is more than just characters singing and dancing about painting a wagon.
181* Opening scrolls at the start of a film are now attributed to ''[[Film/ANewHope Star Wars]]'', but they actually originated in the 1930s film serials ''Film/{{Flash Gordon|Serial}}''.
182* The MauriceChevalierAccent is nowadays used for every French character in English-language comedy. Most people are completely unaware it all originated with Creator/MauriceChevalier's popularity in 1930s Hollywood movies. Chevalier's thick accent made him the stock Frenchman from which all other Frenchman in comedy and animation are now derived. And if they do not use that accent, they use [[Franchise/ThePinkPanther Inspector Clouseau's.]] (Creator/PeterSellers)
183* Thanks to ''Film/TheShining'' the line "Hééééééére's Johnny!" has become the thing you shout when you cut your way through a door with an axe and stick your menacing face through the hole. That this line was Ed [=McMahon=]'s way of introducing Johnny Carson on Series/TheTonightShow is only remembered by older American TV watchers or by ''Series/TheNoddyShop'' viewers, since some episodes spoof this when Johnny Crawfish tells a joke.
184** Also, scenes of a villain chopping through a door with an axe generally cause viewers to think of ''The Shining''. In fact, the first time it appeared in film was in ''Film/BrokenBlossoms'', a 1919 film by Creator/DWGriffith (yes, the same guy who made ''Film/{{The Birth of a Nation|1915}}'').
185* Creator/PeterLorre's voice is recognizable, even to those who have never seen any of his movies. This is due (aside from his unique appearance) to his caricature being used in a number of WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes shorts.
186* [[http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2007/aug/07/howthemuppetsmadeusallbergmanexperts This article]], referencing an utterly hilarious ''[[Series/TheMuppetShow Muppet Show]]'' [[https://youtu.be/Mqv_qYBgEk0 sketch]], is all about how parodies of Creator/IngmarBergman films are immediately recognizable, such as ChessWithDeath, even by people who have never watched any of his films.
187* If you showed most people today stills from ''Film/TheCabinetOfDrCaligari'', they'd think it was some sort of Creator/TimBurton thing. See LooksLikeCesare.
188* The word "inception" means the beginning or creation of something. Ever since [[Film/{{Inception}} the film]], it's more often used to describe something that's inside something else of the same nature.
189* ''Film/{{Psycho}}'' - PsychoStrings and PsychoShowerMurderParody.
190* Most people may recognize Pete Postlethwaite's speech at the end of ''Film/BrassedOff'' from the start of the album version of Music/{{Chumbawamba}}'s BlackSheepHit "Tubthumping".
191* The infamous "YOU ARE TEARING ME APART, LISA!" line from ''Film/TheRoom2003'' was actually done as an homage to ''Film/RebelWithoutACause''. Most people don't know this, and think that it originated in ''The Room''. Additionally, the comments sections of most [=YouTube=] uploads of the ''Rebel Without A Cause'' scene are flooded with references to ''The Room''.
192* Many people associate scarecrows in media with ''Film/TheWizardOfOz''. A good example is [[http://www.toonarific.com/show.php?show_id=2249 this website]].
193** People tend to associate the quote "How do you like them apples?" with ''Film/GoodWillHunting'', when it actually was first used in ''The Wizard of Oz''.
194* Many people who've watched ''Film/{{Ted}}'' have no idea that ''[[WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfTeddyRuxpin Teddy Ruxpin]]'' is a real toy. Many comments on commercials (and some videos of the cartoon) for the toy have people stating something about Ted in them.
195* The same thing happens with Stretch Armstrong whenever he's mentioned in films, a major example being ''Film/TheSecretLifeOfWalterMitty''.
196* ''Film/AnchorsAweigh'': The scene where Creator/GeneKelly dances with Jerry from ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' is better known than the rest of the plot, due to it being featured in some many compilations of old musicals and being referenced in ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' and ''WesternAnimation/MagicAdventuresOfMumfie'' [[note]] Britt Allcroft said that the "Gotta Dance, Gotta Whistle, Gotta Sing" scene was based on this scene. [[/note]].
197* ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' has a sketch where a film crew is making a movie called ''Scott Of The Antarctic'', about the failed expedition of polar explorer Robert Falcon Scott. Most viewers nowadays would be amazed that there actually ''is'' a movie with that title. "Scott Of The Antarctic" (1947), which is a faithful adaptation of the actual real life tragedy, but mostly forgotten nowadays.
198* The word ''avatar'' has become more well known among the general public thanks to ''Franchise/{{Avatar}}'', but most people will rather think of blue aliens ([[Franchise/AvatarTheLastAirbender or Airbenders]]) than what the concept actually means. (That is, when they aren't digitally literate enough to associate it with the little pictures people put near their online pseudonyms; the film's script explicitely played up the Internet associations of the term, even if it's only depicted on screen in a very loosest sense.)
199* Many porn actors like Ron Jeremy, John Holmes, Traci Lords, Linda Lovelace, La Cicciolina, Lolo Ferrari... are better known as punch lines in film and TV comedies, stand-up monologues and/or comedic blogs than the number of people who actually ''saw'' one of their movies. Some of them have even moved beyond the porn, consider it an OldShame, and get tired of people bringing it up as if they're still involved with that scene.
200* ''Film/TheJazzSinger'' is famous for being the first successful sound film and a milestone in cinematic history. Ask any cinephile what they know about the movie and they'll tell you it stars Al Jolson singing in {{Blackface}}. Apart from that most people, even movie fans have never seen this picture in its entirety and it's not difficult to see why. Apart from the novelty of being the first sound picture it's hardly a cinematic masterpiece and very dated. Jolson himself, by the way, was once one of the biggest singers in the world, but today he is only remembered for appearing in this movie.
201* Discussed by Creator/DavidCronenberg in his DVDCommentary for ''Film/TheFly1986'': The phrase "Be afraid. Be very afraid" comes from this movie and served as its {{Tagline}}, but has been quoted so often that many people don't realize it derives from a specific work. And if kids of TheNineties ''do'' know it's from a movie, many get what movie it was wrong, thinking it originated in ''Film/AddamsFamilyValues'' (and thus missing a layer of the joke in that Wednesday is quoting a notoriously upsetting BodyHorror film).
202* The BeachKiss scene from ''Literature/FromHereToEternity'' everyone mimicked or spoofed was actually an allusion to one from ''Film/TheBlueLagoon1949''. Viewers today will recognize the scene from parodies or allusions from later movies than the ones that originated it.
203[[/folder]]
204
205[[folder:Literature]]
206* "April is the cruellest month" comes from Creator/TSEliot, ''Literature/TheWasteLand''
207* Behind Creator/{{Shakespeare}} and the Bible, Mary Shelley's ''Literature/{{Frankenstein}}'' is probably the biggest sufferer of this trope. The novel draws heavily on contemporary Gothic horror, feminist theories, and ''Literature/ParadiseLost''. And yet when most people think of Frankenstein...
208--> "[[http://www.cracked.com/article_17221_6-writers-who-accidentally-crapped-out-masterpieces_p2.html The book's influence could have ended there, but film was invented soon afterward and directors scrambled to pour cash into Frankenstein-themed special-effects extravaganzas, bastardizations of Shelley's work that reached their pinnacle in 1931, when Universal Pictures released Frankenstein, ensuring that Shelley's well-spoken, tortured creature would be forever remembered as a bumbling green retard through countless film adaptations thereafter]]."
209** Frankenstein's monster's skin color is referred to as yellow (jaundiced) in the novel.
210** Much like Dracula, a lot of this is down to the movie being based on the play. Despite being almost forgotten now, the 1823 play (which changed the monster into a mindless beast and removed all of the NatureVersusNurture ambiguity in favor of it being an [[HumanoidAbomination Abomination]] Against God) was the best-known version of the story for a century.
211* The extent to which ''Literature/MobyDick'' is well-understood is emphasized in ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact'' when Lily Sloan, despite knowing the basic plot of the book, is stymied when Captain Picard (mis)quotes a central line from the text.
212* It's impossible to list all the comic books, novels, fantasy horror movies, roleplaying games, video games, fantasy/Sci-Fi art and music videos that feature blatant rip-offs, allusions, homages, parodies or additions to Creator/HPLovecraft's Franchise/CthulhuMythos tales.
213** Most people nowadays likely associate Arkham Asylum with Franchise/{{Batman}}.
214** ''Webcomic/ProblemSleuth'' and ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' both feature monsters that clearly resemble Lovecraft's elder gods. The author, Andrew Hussie, has outright stated that he's never read a word of Lovecraft, and based his monsters entirely on secondhand references to the Cthulhu mythos.
215* You've probably encountered the tropes the ''Literature/HoratioHornblower'' series popularized long before you ever heard of the series itself.
216** And that obscure little work of fiction got a ShoutOut in the episode "Smile Time" of Series/{{Angel}}, with a purple stuffed thing that communicates via a horn on its face named Ratio. It's likely you didn't get the joke.
217** And the only reason a lot of people have even heard of Horatio Hornblower in the first place is that Creator/GeneRoddenberry repeatedly referenced the books when explaining ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' and Captain Kirk in books and articles about the show.
218* "Ask not for whom the bell tolls." You've heard that pithy phrase, usually said when someone else is in trouble, but who said it? How about "No man is an island" ? Well, they both came from the same paragraph of the same essay, but missing the context.
219-->"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."
220--->--Excerpted from ''Meditation XVII'' by Creator/JohnDonne (1623 - he was contemplating his own death at the time)
221* The JekyllAndHyde trope is significantly more popular than ''Literature/TheStrangeCaseOfDrJekyllAndMrHyde'', the novel that spawned it. When many people think of Jekyll and Hyde, their notions are colored by the adaptations -- including "adaptations" like ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk''.
222* ''Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' -- 42 is the Answer to The Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything.
223* ''Literature/{{Casabianca}}'': "The boy stood on the burning deck/Whence all but he had fled..."
224** This reference has become somewhat coloured by various transformations into a dirty schoolyard-esque song, such as those known by Nanny Ogg in the ''Discworld'' novels. All that need be known (and is indeed given) is that the opening lines are 'The boy stood on the burning deck/His name was Henry Rollocks' and that it starts out 'harmless enough'.
225* Many associate "The game's afoot" with Literature/SherlockHolmes, but it's actually from ''Theatre/HenryV.''
226* Most of Creator/LewisCarroll's songs and rhymes in the ''Literature/AliceInWonderland'' books were parodies of once-common Victorian standards which, with the exception of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and the possible exception of "The Spider and the Fly", are considered obscure trivia by most modern readers.
227* Most people know the phrase "water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink", but hardly anybody knows that it came from Samuel Coleridge's ''Literature/RimeOfTheAncientMariner'' or that the original wording was "nor any drop to drink".
228* ''Literature/HansBrinkerOrTheSilverSkates'': Everyone knows the tale of the little boy who prevented a flood by sticking his finger inside a dyke, except that—you know what?—it's a StoryWithinAStory.
229* Used for a joke in the ''Literature/ConfederationOfValor'' series. The Taykan species are SpaceElves. Thanks to popcultural osmosis from humans, they're well aware of their physical similarity to classical elves and apparently find the comparison amusing: Torin Kerr once met a di'Taykan named [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Celeborn]].
230* ''Literature/OfMiceAndMen'' is clearly about a big guy named Lenny and a little guy named George, and absolutely nothing else, if all the references to those characters in various sources is any indication.
231* ''Literature/TheSatanicVerses'': Most people know more about [[OvershadowedByControversy the blasphemy controversy around this novel]] than that they've actually read it. Including many Muslim fundamentalists who want Creator/SalmanRushdie dead.
232* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_Rebellion The June Rebellion]] would have been an obscure, long-forgotten historical footnote if not for ''Literature/LesMiserables''.
233* "Into each life some rain must fall" is from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "The Rainy Day".
234* ''Literature/NorthangerAbbey'' features several references to real Gothic romance novels that were popular at the time but have all been forgotten, leading many modern readers to assume Jane Austen was making them up.
235[[/folder]]
236
237[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
238* ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' has done a similar takeover of John Philip Sousa's march ''The Liberty Bell''.
239** The show has also made certain historical and cultural characters more notable among geeks who watch the show, but mostly as part of a surreal sketch that has little to do with whom they actually were.
240** Alan Whicker is nowadays better known from the Python sketch "Whicker's World" than as an actual TV presenter who had a travel show under that very name.
241** To a lot of people, Creator/MontyPython "is that guy who made that funny Holy Grail film". That Python is not an actual person, but the collective pseudonym of a team, and that they also made other films AND originated from a long-running TV series, is far less known among the general public. Many of Monty Python's most popular sketches are also far better known outside the context of the original series and often show up in heavily edited form in compilations. As a result, even scenes from films and TV series that only feature two or three of the Python actors have been branded as ''Python films'', despite not having anything to do with them.
242** Creator/AngeloBronzino's painting "Art/VenusCupidFollyAndTime" is fairly obscure nowadays, even in art circles, but one specific detail on the painting may ring a bell to Python fans. Cupid's foot has been used in the intro of every episode of "Monty Python's Flying Circus" and is now their official logo.
243** Mention the Spanish Inquisition today and some people might start laughing instantly because it reminds them of the Python sketch of the same name. People outside the English-speaking world may also be unaware that the phrase "I didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition" is an actual idiom, expressing someone's irritation over being asked too many questions.
244** How many people nowadays are aware that the "Dennis Moore" song is a literal parody of the theme song of the 1950s TV series "The Adventure of Robin Hood"? Both melody and lyrics are very similar ("Robin Hood, Robin Hood / Riding through the glen/ Robin Hood, Robin Hood/ With his band of men").
245* ''Series/IronChef'' fans may not realize the original theme music, and indeed much of the incidental music, was from the movie soundtrack for ''Film/BackDraft''.
246* Pop culture even has a habit of obscuring itself. Adam Savage of ''Series/MythBusters'' is frequently credited for the quote, "IRejectYourReality and substitute my own!" Actually, the line originated from the 1985 SoBadItsGood film ''The Dungeonmaster'' (Ragewar outside of the US).
247* More people know [[Series/TheAdventuresOfBriscoCountyJr "The Ballad of Brisco County, Jr."]] from NBC's coverage of the Olympics than from the original show.
248* Most people not familiar with ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' will simply refer to characters as "The Red Ranger" and "The Pink Ranger" etc. What they don't realize is that, as of February 2015, there have been no less than 27 different Red Rangers, with many more off-screen, and a few more debatable ones.
249* Similar to ''Power Rangers'' is the ''Franchise/UltraSeries''. Many people unfamiliar with the series assume ''Series/{{Ultraman}}'' to be a long-running show and will refer to all Ultras as "Ultraman" under the assumption that they are all the same character as the original. In reality, ''Ultraman'' only ran for [[ShortLivedBigImpact 39 episodes from 1966-1967]], and the other Ultras are different individuals who star in their own completely separate but related shows, with the first Ultra being just called "Ultraman"[[note]]Although in some like ''Series/UltramanNexus'', ''Series/UltramanTheUltimateHero'', and ''Series/UltramanTowardsTheFuture'', the heroes are only ever identified as "Ultraman" in-universe, rather than the respective Ultraman Nexus, Ultraman Powered, and Ultraman Great, as the series were intended to be remakes[[/note]].
250* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' is better known through parodies these days to the point where many people know the endings to famous episodes without ever having seen them. Outside the USA people know it most from being spoofed in ''The Simpsons''.
251* The name Heisenberg is today much more associated with [[Series/BreakingBad Walter White]] than with German physicist Werner Heisenberg.
252* Mention the name ''Big Brother'' today and most people will think you're referring to the reality show ''Series/BigBrother'' rather than a central character in Creator/GeorgeOrwell's novel ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour''. This is actually rather sad seeing that the novel warns against a society where government surveillance on people is total, while this TV show exploited this concept.
253* When people see a collie nowadays many will refer to it as a "''Series/{{Lassie}}''".
254* ''Series/SamsonEnGert'': In Belgium and the Netherlands most people will not think of the biblical character when hearing the name "Samson", but of a talking bobtail dog.
255* ''Series/FCDeKampioenen'': Carmen's dog Nero was originally named after the Belgian comic strip character ''ComicStrip/{{Nero}}''. Since 2002 the comic strip has been terminated and the albums are no longer available in regular stores, making the original reference more obscure. Most younger people will probably assume it's a reference to the Roman emperor UsefulNotes/{{Nero}}.
256* ''Series/SpittingImage'': This show featuring puppet versions of famous celebrities has also caused some MemeticMutation. Today many people in the UK remember UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan and UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher more as in their grotesque villainous puppet versions than as Real Life people. A good example is Thatcher beating up members of her cabinet in many sketches, which a lot of people almost assume she did.
257* ''Series/LesGuignolsDeLInfo'' had similar effects in France, such as how president Jacques Chirac is remembered.
258* ''Series/TheNoddyShop'': Many characters on this show spoof popular celebrities, leading some people in the target demographic to believe that they were original ideas. For example, Johnny Crawfish is based off Creator/JohnnyCarson and Bonita Flamingo is based off Carmen Miranda.
259* Some fans of ''Series/TheNanny'' often believe that the character of Lamb Chop was specifically made for one episode of the show, when she actually was a real character who dates back to the 1950's and was popular at the time the series aired, due to the character having [[Series/LambChopsPlayAlong her own show]] at the time.
260* ''Series/StrangerThings'' and its many references to ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''. Let's be honest. Does the average viewer of the show know who [[DemonLordsAndArchdevils Demorgorgon]] is or what [[{{Cthulhumanoid}} mind flayers]] are? Chances are they know those things better as inhabitants of the Upside-Down than as classic staples of the D&D Monster Manual. Even if they do know the naming origins, they'll think that the D&D versions look like the ''Stranger Things'' ones.
261* [[https://youtu.be/RUp5hU7jGtI As seen in this video]], many children nowadays seem to associate ''Series/MisterRogersNeighborhood'' with the spin-off ''WesternAnimation/DanielTigersNeighborhood'', to the point where they will think certain things on the spin-off began there rather than Mister Rogers, like the "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" song, which is used as the first half of the opening for ''Daniel Tiger''.
262** The same thing is beginning to happen with ''Series/DonkeyHodie''. For instance, many people tend to believe that Purple Panda is an original character and should have be named Sancho Panda to fit with the ''Literature/DonQuijote'' pun when he originated on ''Mister Rogers' Neighborhood'', and searching for the Fred Rogers song "I Like To Take My Time" on Google has the ''Donkey Hodie'' version recommended as a result before the original.
263* A majority of comments on the theme music to ''Series/TheMatchGameHollywoodSquaresHour'' will talk about winning a car. Since that series [[ShortRunners only ran for a few months]], ''Series/ThePriceIsRight'' used a few of the music cues from the show, including the theme being used in the 90s for the car plug, so more people remember the song from its tenure on ''The Price Is Right'' than the actual show it came from.
264* "Inai inai baa!" is the Japanese phrase used in what is known to the English-speaking world as "Peek-a-boo". Beginning in 1996, it was hard to not hear that phrase and think of the NHK children's show called ''Series/InaiInaiBaa''. It doesn't help that the characters sometimes yell "Baa!" to introduce themselves, and that [[EveryEpisodeEnding every episode ends with the characters playing peek-a-boo to say goodbye to the viewer]].
265[[/folder]]
266
267[[folder:Magazines]]
268* ''Charlie Hebdo'' was already half a century old and mostly known in France and/or to readers of adult comics. It was only in January 2015 when they suddenly became notorious worldwide. Unfortunately, it had more to do with the deadly terrorist attack on the headquarters of the magazine, which resulted in several deaths. As a result, ''Charlie Hebdo'' brings up more associations with Muslim terrorism, religious fanaticism and the right for freedom of speech than the actual ideology and content of the magazine. Most people have never read an issue and thus have only a vague notion what the magazine is about.
269[[/folder]]
270
271[[folder:Music]]
272* The videos [[https://youtu.be/watch?v=OzOh9cTbX60 here]] and [[https://youtu.be/-v1i9U_Or0U here]] feature 158 songs that quote, "You have heard but don't know the name of", because they've been featured in many different media.
273* Music/JohnPhilipSousa's ''The Liberty Bell March'' is automatically associated with Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus. No exceptions.
274* A large proportion people hearing ''In the Hall of the Mountain King'' by Edvard Grieg, written for a scene in Creator/HenrikIbsen's play Theatre/PeerGynt would not know that it wasn't originally:
275** The "Alton Towers" theme song.
276** Or the in-game music to ''Series/ManicMiner''.
277** Or the leitmotif to the syndicated ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'' cartoon (Robotnik's Lair's theme in the series proper).
278** Or scene music from a certain ''Manga/AstroBoy'' episode.
279** Or the song that Creator/PeterLorre whistles when he goes hunting little kids in ''Film/{{M}}''.
280** Or the theme for Orson's brothers in the ''ComicStrip/USAcres'' segments of ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends''.
281** Worse yet, one dance remix of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" has been [[MisattributedSong miscredited]] on file-sharing services as a remix of the ''WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget'' theme, despite there being only a very vague similarity between the two songs.
282* Similarly, the first movement of Beethoven's ''Moonlight Sonata'' is better known to many 8-bit-era gamers as "the title music to ''VideoGame/JetSetWilly''".
283* Play the Russian folk song "Korobeiniki" to anyone in the world, except Russians, and they are almost certain to identify it as video game music. Specifically, the ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}}'' theme.
284* The song "Anything Goes":
285** It does not come from ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom''. It's an authentic show tune of the period, from a Cole Porter musical of the same name, and, by the way, normally sung in English.
286** ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' uses "Anything Goes" (and many others) to establish ITS AlternateHistory [[AfterTheEnd post-apocalyptic]] setting.
287* Likewise, "Puttin' on the Ritz" was originally performed by Harry Richman in a film called... ''Puttin' on the Ritz'' (you would think the name was a dead giveaway).
288** It did ''not'' originate from ''Film/YoungFrankenstein''. Similarly, its [[SuspiciouslySimilarSong close musical cousin]], concerning the naming history of Istanbul, was not originally by Music/TheyMightBeGiants.
289** Nor was it originally performed by Creator/FredAstaire, he just sang it in ''Film/BlueSkies''. It also wasn't originally performed by Taco, though it's either his '80s hit or the aforementioned ''Young Frankenstein'' that most people know the song from today.
290* Many people know the "Love Theme" from Music/PyotrIlyichTchaikovsky's ''Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture'' only from its use to show that someone has fallen in LoveAtFirstSight.
291** In innumerable TV shows (WesternAnimation/SouthPark, Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir) and movies (''Film/WaynesWorld, Film/{{Clueless}}'')
292** Oh! You mean the romantic kiss song from the first ''VideoGame/TheSims'' game?
293* Just try listening to "Hoedown" from Music/AaronCopland's ''Rodeo'' without thinking "Beef: It's What's For Dinner." Or Music/EmersonLakeAndPalmer.
294* The BBC's use of Booker T. & The [=MGs=]', "Soul Limbo". Also known as the Cricket music.
295* Music/FleetwoodMac's outro to "The Chain", otherwise known as the Formula One Racing music.
296* ''Film/SinginInTheRain'' did this to most of the songs in the movie, most notably the title tune which was a standard song to be sung by aspiring actors in film in the '20s, '30s and '40s.
297* Music/{{Kesha}}'s "Take it Off" is a pop version of "The Streets of Cairo" (usually associated with snake-charming in pop-culture).
298* Know what the song "Spybreak!" sounds like? [[MemeticMutation What if I told you]] it's the song that plays during the lobby shootout scene in ''Film/TheMatrix''? If you already did, did you even know who the Propellerheads were before you did the research? The movie came out two years after the song.
299* The song [[https://youtu.be/ZThquH5t0ow "Surfin' Bird"]] by The Trashmen has been greatly popularized through its use in other shows:
300** It was played in the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "I Dream of Jesus". Just take a look at [[http://www.google.com/trends?q=surfin+bird this graph]].
301** Oddly enough, averted in the case of ''Film/FullMetalJacket''. Despite it being one of the most famous war movies of all time and made by [[Creator/StanleyKubrick a household name director]], very few people associate "Surfin' Bird" with it -- or at least, the association got transferred over to ''Family Guy''. In fact, given the plentiful references to the film throughout ''Family Guy'', it's more than likely where Seth [=McFarlane=] and co. know of "Surfin' Bird" from.
302** That small peak in 2004 coincides with the release of ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield}} Vietnam'', which for a fair few gamers might be the thing they associate with the song.
303** Pee-wee Herman performed it in ''Film/BackToTheBeach''.
304** Spanish speaking viewers however may have found out about the song earlier back when it was sometimes played during the credits of ''Ah, qué Kiko'' (a spinoff of ''Series/ElChavoDelOcho'').
305** And the few people who watched CBS's Saturday morning lineup in the 1998–99 season would know it from the show ''WesternAnimation/{{Birdz}}''.
306** ExploitationFilm fans would associate with an infamous scene of ''Film/PinkFlamingos''.
307** The Trashmen's song itself CoveredUp "The Bird's the Word" and "Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow," both by the Rivingtons.
308* How many people under 25 or so can hear "The Final Countdown" without thinking of ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment''?
309** People from the Detroit Area have a different reaction to The Final Countdown, mostly identifying it as "The Pistons Intro Song."
310** ''VideoGame/SaintsRow2'' fans will identify it as that awesome 80s song that will never, ever, ever, ever leave their head.
311** Also used in ''Series/HowToKillAMockingbird''.
312* Similar to the "Pistons Intro Song" above, Music/TheAlanParsonsProject's instrumental tune "Sirius" (aka the song right before "Eye in the Sky") is far more familiar as the intro song for the Chicago Bulls during the Jordan era.
313* Utter the line "Right here, right now", and nearly anyone with associate it with Music/FatboySlim's song of that name, not the movie (''Film/StrangeDays'') [[{{Sampling}} it's sampled from]].
314** Or the [[https://youtu.be/7z6dxQVhE8o Jesus Jones hit]].
315** Or [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mueirlYAwlI this classic]] from ''Film/HighSchoolMusical3SeniorYear''.
316* For a certain generation in Britain, the lyrics to ''O Sole Mio'' will forever be "Just one Cornetto! Give it to meeeeee!"
317** "[[Music/ElvisPresley It's now or never, come hold me tight...]]"
318* Many Americans are undoubtedly familiar with "Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here." Considerably fewer might be aware of the fact that the tune is from a ''Pirates of Penzance'' ditty called "Come, Friends Who Plow the Sea."
319** [[SelfDemonstratingArticle And that's not even the song's correct name.]] It's properly titled "WithCatlikeTread".
320** British radio listeners might know it as ''Tune to Creator/KennyEverett', tune in to Kenny Everett'' - a promo jingle for Ken's radio show.
321* The "Polovetsian Dances" from Alexander Borodin's opera ''Prince Igor'' tend to be more commonly associated with ''Kismet'' and a certain Pine-Sol commercial these days.
322* The nursery tune "Pop! Goes The Weasel" was originally a piece of ''dance'' music that was popular in London dance-halls and American stage acts in the 1850s, and as a playground singing-game for kids dancing in circles. Nowadays, it's irrevocably associated with Jack-in-the-Boxes, to the point where such a toy playing any ''other'' tune feels like a SubvertedTrope.
323* Music/AlsoSprachZarathustra. Ever since ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'' it's a StandardSnippet for MundaneMadeAwesome.
324* "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life" has become such a popular standard that some first time viewers of ''Film/MontyPythonsLifeOfBrian'' will laugh when the characters sing this song, because they assume the Pythons are simply covering a well known song. In reality it was completely written by Python member Creator/EricIdle.
325* In Brazil, "[[https://youtu.be/PTomUb3r1m0 Il Guarany]]" is forever associated with a statal news radio program that plays on week nights. Even if the show [[https://youtu.be/nBiuPklo8Hk now uses]] [[{{Narm}} somewhat laughable]] "[[SuspiciouslySimilarSong updated versions]]".
326* The phrase "the revolution will not be televised" is infamous everywhere, but how many people know it originated from Music/GilScottHeron's ''Music/TheRevolutionWillNotBeTelevised''?
327* The album cover of ''Music/UnfinishedMusicNo1TwoVirgins'' has become infamous thanks to the image of Music/JohnLennon and Music/YokoOno posing in the nude. It is also frequently shown in documentaries about Lennon, Yoko Ono and Music/TheBeatles, pops up in lists of controversial album covers and has been spoofed and parodied countless times. But the younger generations who may recognize the image may not even be aware it's not just a photograph, but an actual album. Needless to say that even those who ''know'' this have hardly ever listened to it, left alone more than once.
328* Possibly the only thing many people know about "He's So Fine" -- the only thing a not insignificant number of people know about Music/TheChiffons period, if they even remember the name of the band -- is that a judge ruled Music/GeorgeHarrison inadvertently plagiarized it when he wrote "My Sweet Lord." (If "My Sweet Lord" doesn't ring a bell, it's Greg's grace from ''Film/MeetTheParents'')
329* Jazz musician Mongo Santamaria is perhaps best known today as the punchline of a throwaway joke involving the character Mongo in Film/BlazingSaddles.
330* The melody of Gracie Fields' 1930s song "Sing As We Go" lives on as the Creator/MontyPython song "Sit On My Face" from AudioPlay/MontyPythonsContractualObligationAlbum.
331* Julius Fucik's "Entry of the Gladiators" has been used by so many circuses that most listeners have trouble imagining it in its original context of an Ancient Roman arena and will more likely imagine clowns popping up.
332* The name "Franz Ferdinand" may remind people more of the band Music/FranzFerdinand rather than the Austrian archduke Franz Ferdinand who inspired his name.
333* Music/JethroTull brings up more associations with 1970s ProgressiveRock than the 17th century British agriculturist after whom they were named.
334* Metal fans will probably associate Music/EdGein more with the band than the serial killer.
335* Music/FallOutBoy is more remembered as a pop rock band than the sidekick of Radioactive Man from WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons, which was the source for their name.
336* Music/MollyHatchet may remind more people of a Southern Rock band than then notorious prostitute who murdered her clients.
337* Nobody knows US gym teacher Leonard Skinner. But you've probably heard of the band who took their name from him: Music/LynyrdSkynyrd, as a TakeThat for sending them to the principal's office in high school for having "too long hair".
338* Music/ToadTheWetSprocket will not immediately make people think of Creator/MontyPython, unless they have heard their record AudioPlay/MontyPythonsContractualObligationAlbum. Apparently Creator/EricIdle thought the name up because he was sure nobody would ever use it as a band name. When he heard the band's name on his car radio a few years later he was so shocked that he nearly drove off the road.
339* How many people know that Music/TheVelvetUnderground was named after a book of the same name by Michael Leigh about secret sexual subculture?
340* Music/UriahHeep: Many fans of 1970s rock will probably think more of Uriah Heep as a band than the character from ''Literature/DavidCopperfield''.
341* Music/SteelyDan will remind people more of a 1970s rock band rather than the dildo in Literature/NakedLunch by Creator/WilliamSBurroughs.
342* Not many people who dig Music/BelleAndSebastian know that they were named after Cécile Aubry's TV series/children's novel ''Belle et Sébastien''. The show was very popular on BBC children's TV in the 1960s.
343* Probably more people may have heard of the indie band Music/EsbenAndTheWitch rather than the Danish fairy tale of the same name.
344* Unless you're a fan of the works of Creator/HermannHesse the word "Steppenwolf" will make you think of the band Music/{{Steppenwolf}} first rather than Hesse's famous novel.
345* The band Music/OryxAndCrake will sound original, unless you're familiar with Margaret Atwood's novel of the same name.
346* Music/TheRomanyRye may not bring up associations with George Borrow's novel of the same name.
347* Even if you are familiar with Creator/AlbertCamus, most people wouldn't immediately make the connection between his philosophical novel "The Fall" and the band Music/{{The Fall|Band}}.
348* Unless you've read ''Literature/ToKillAMockingbird,'' the name Boo Radley may not remind you of the character but the band Music/TheBooRadleys.
349* Those who paid attention may know that Music/Heaven17, Music/CampagVelocet and Music/{{Moloko}} were all named after words that pop up in ''Literature/AClockworkOrange.''
350* Those familiar with Creator/WilliamFaulkner may know that Music/AsILayDying took its name from the novel "As I Lay Dying". Others... probably not.
351* Any fan of avant-garde synthesizer pop will have heard of Music/ArtOfNoise. But how many are aware their band name is a nod to Luigi Russolo's manifesto "Art of Noises"?
352* Belgian indie rock band Creature With The Atom Brain has quite some fans, most of them unaware that the band was named after a song by Roky Erickson who, in his turn, was inspired by a 1955 B-movie called Film/CreatureWithTheAtomBrain.
353* In Belgium the band Nacht und Nebel will remind people of the band who scored a hit with the song "Beats of Love" in 1984. Not many are aware they were named after a Nazi order, "Nacht und Nebel", which made the secret arrest of political opponents possible.
354* Similar to Nacht und Nebel, Music/JoyDivision took its name from the prostitution wing in Nazi concentration camps, while Music/NewOrder were named after a political proposal by Hitler, but not many people nowadays will immediately make the connection.
355* Many websites claim that Redfoo's "Juicy Wiggle" was written specifically for ''[[Film/AlvinAndTheChipmunks Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip]]'', when the song actually came out ten months before that film's release.
356* A joke current in the 1930's illustrates how much OlderThanTheyThink this trope is: It defined a "highbrow" as "Someone who can hear the ''William Tell'' Overture by Rossini and ''not'' think of Series/TheLoneRanger."
357* When the trailer for ''Film/SonicTheHedgehog2020'' came out, some fans thought that the song it used, "Gangster's Paradise", was a knock-off of Music/WeirdAlYankovic's "Amish Paradise" written for the trailer.
358** Viewers of the Okinawa affiliate of Creator/AmericanForcesNetwork might remember it from [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpOb_qSggGE this]] NoBudget recycling PSA.
359** How many people would recognize both songs as deriving from "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TLFnokO1Oo Pastime Paradise]]", an album track from the double-length Music/StevieWonder album, ''Music/SongsInTheKeyOfLife''?!
360* Carl Orff's orchestra-and-choir reworking of medieval German folksong ''Carmina Burana'', with its first piece being an ode to the caprice of fortune... or the backing music for the Old Spice aftershave advert with a bloke on a surfboard.
361* The ''Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy'' in ''The Nutcracker''... or an absurdist advert for Cadbury's chocolate.
362* Dvořák's ''New World'' symphony? Or a [[OopNorth North of England]]- themed advert for bread?
363* Many people who have heard The Turtles' hit "Happy Together" will inevitably think back to the day [[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros64 something went wrong in the happy-go-lucky world of Nintendo.]]
364* "Are We Downhearted? No!" remains a well-known catchphrase in the UK. Hardly anyone knows the WWI-era song "Are We Downhearted?" which originated it - and wouldn't sing it now even if they did, since it's almost entirely made up of topical references of extremely limited {{Applicability}} today.
365* "Mmm...whatcha say" has become the Internet theme song for character deaths because of its infamously {{narm}}y use in ''Series/TheOC'' and ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'''s "Dear Sister" parody of the scene. It's a snippet of Music/ImogenHeap's "Hide and Seek" that has surpassed its original title, to the point that Music/JasonDerulo sampled it in a song called "Whatcha Say".
366* The song "The Hampsterdance" actually began life as a sped-up sample of the song "Whistle Stop" from ''[[WesternAnimation/RobinHood1973 Robin Hood]]'', but the remix of the song is more well-known than the original.
367* "Life is a Highway" is still a very popular song. But chances are more people are familiar with the Music/RascalFlatts [[CoveredUp cover]] than the original by Tom Cochrane. Especially those from Generation Z or later, thanks to its use in ''WesternAnimation/Cars1''.
368[[/folder]]
369
370[[folder:Myths & Religion]]
371* Literature/TheBible is the grand-daddy of this trope, with sayings like "there's nothing new under the sun" and references to Pillars of Salt and the like existing in almost every medium, though very few people have actually read the Book in question (people who go to Church will have heard excerpts). Saying religious things in Jacobean English, with lots of "thees" and "thous," comes from the King James Bible.
372* Happens to Myth/NorseMythology. No, Loki is not Thor's brother nor is he the ultimate evil (his wickedness [[DependingOnTheWriter depends on where and by whom the myth was recorded]]) nor is he WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds. Loki is not a "god of fire"; this is a confusion with Logi, a giant who is fire personified (and whose name means 'fire'). Thor is also not stated to be blond; the closest thing to any sort of indicator of appearance is the kenning (nickname) "Red-Thor" which supposedly points to Thor being a ginger.
373* Many gods from Myth/GreekMythology are far more famous under their Roman names today. It gets to the point that even in stories specifically set in Ancient Greece the characters will still be addressed under their Roman names, because people are more likely to recognize characters like Heracles, Eros and Poseidon, for instance, as Hercules, Cupid and Neptune. This isn't helped by the fact that some English translations of ''Literature/TheIliad'' and ''Literature/TheOdyssey'' will use Roman names instead of their original Greek ones.
374* Similarly, hearing the names Mars, Jupiter, Mercury, Saturn, Pluto, Uranus and Venus will make people wonder whether you are referring to the planets in our solar system.
375** The name Pluto may have people think you're referring to WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse's dog.
376** Hearing the names of the planets can also lead people to think that you're talking about the [[Franchise/SailorMoon Sailor Senshi]].
377* Ajax, the Trojan hero, will bring up associations with a Dutch association football club and/or a cleaning product. Referenced in ''Film/{{Deadpool|2016}}'' where the Merc with the Mouth ''mercilessly'' mocked the villain Ajax for "naming himself after the dish soap" until he discovered the man's real name was Francis.
378* Likewise, Nike, the goddess of victory, will bring up associations with a brand of sneakers.
379* When seeing a statue of Pan today many Western people may mistake it for depicting Satan. This is because the depiction of Satan as a goat-like creature was actually derived from it.
380* Use the word "atlas" and people will think you are talking about a geography book with maps, rather than the Greek half-god who carried the sky -- and various works of art have many mistakenly believing that Atlas carried the world (which is, granted, easier to portray in a statue).
381* SantaClaus is celebrated across the entire world, but few people are aware that the character is mostly a composite of other holiday characters, such as UsefulNotes/{{Sinterklaas}} and Father Christmas. And even those characters were derived from Norse mythological god Odin, who travelled the sky on his eight-legged horse Sleipnir (a name many may know only from the character in ''Girl Genius'').
382* The entire concept of the RiddlingSphinx tends to be a hodgepodge of the Greek and Egyptian sphinxes, which in myth were about as different as night and day with the only similarity being that they were [[BeastWithAHumanFace human-faced lions]] (and even ''then'', Egyptian sphinxes often had a head of a ram). In myth the Greek sphinx was one single monster sent by Hera that would ask a riddle of anyone attempting to enter Thebes, killing them if they failed, and was ultimately bested by Oedipus. The Egyptian sphinx was a myriad of creatures that were seen as deities and protectors, and were depicted as male and female. In the media, almost every sphinx will be Egyptian in appearance but behave like a Greek sphinx, and often appear as simply a massive winged lion with no human features whatsoever.
383* A majority of Myth/JapaneseMythology is used in the ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' series. For example, Izanagi, the Father of Japan, is traditionally depicted as a generic but powerful Japanese swordsman, or in ''VideoGame/Persona4'', a powerful, {{cyborg}}-like swordsman with CombatStilettos.
384* Tropical cyclones in the Northern Pacific, known as typhoons, are named differently from most other basins; where hurricanes use human names, Pacific typhoons use a variety of names submitted by various local countries in their own language, with Japan being in charge of the system. This can lead to concepts obscure outside of their own country being better known as a cyclone outside of it. In particular, Rammasun, the Thai GodOfThunder (Thai: รามสูร) is best known internationally as the most powerful cyclone in history to make landfall in China.
385[[/folder]]
386
387[[folder:Pro Wrestling]]
388* Or "The Final Countdown" without thinking of Wrestling/BryanDanielson--er, we mean [[Wrestling/{{WWE}} Daniel Bryan]]--or Wrestling/SaraDelRey.
389* "Music/FlightOfTheValkyries"? Oh, you mean Daniel Bryan's current theme music, right?
390* The tropes of Wrestling/HulkHogan are familiar to millions (perhaps even billions!) of people who have never watched a single wrestling match - particularly Hogan's ultra-macho manner of speaking and shirt-ripping.
391* Many people are not aware that the catchphrase "It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy" was popularized by Wrestling/BuddyRogers, the original "Nature Boy" before Wrestling/RicFlair [[BeamMeUpScotty (although Rogers never actually said it that way)]].
392* "Gold Dust" was a soap powder back in the 1930s. Now he's a glamrock-like Superstar who [[CombatPragmatist falls down and slaps people]], and also has a penchant for inhaling melodramatically. Which is ironic, because Goldust was indeed named after the soap powder (albeit indirectly).
393[[/folder]]
394
395[[folder:Radio]]
396* An example so classic, jokes about it pre-date the concept of this trope: a wit from the 1960s noted this definition of a "longhair" (a person of culture): "he can hear the William Tell Overture and not think of the Lone Ranger." The piece of music referred to is from the Rossini Opera ''William Tell''. The dramatic fanfare and thundering string section from the overture was used as the theme music for ''Series/TheLoneRanger'' radio drama and then in movies and on television.
397** On the subject of the Lone Ranger and William Tell, [[https://youtu.be/SE-NdrzfFOo this commercial]], which references not only The Lone Ranger but another TV ad of the day for Lark Cigarettes.
398** To those who were too young for ''The Lone Ranger'' but old enough to watch a [[UnratedEdition certain incarnation]] of ''The Creator/TexAvery Show'', and are sadly unfamiliar with the origin of the piece, the tune could bring to mind a montage of zany animation.
399** And are too old for ''The Creator/TexAvery Show'' but too young for ''Series/TheLoneRanger'' will be thinking of [[Series/YouCantDoThatOnTelevision a different montage of zany animation entirely.]]
400* "Radio/TheShadow knows". Yeah, great, what does ''that'' mean, exactly? The full line goes "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!". The Shadow is a psychic and fights crime by implanting the suggestion in a person's head that he's invisible, so he can eavesdrop a lot.
401* Many US radio shows from the 1930s and 1940s have catch phrases that are nowadays more closely associated with the cartoons of WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes and Creator/TexAvery. Examples are:
402** "It's a possibility!" and "Nobody home, I hope, I hope, I hope", which originated from Al Pearce's radio comedy shows.
403** "Train leaving on Track 5 for Anaheim, Azusa and Cuuuu-ca-mon-gaaa!" referred to Creator/MelBlanc's train conductor in "The Jack Benny Show".
404** "That ain't the way I heard it!", "T'ain't funny, [=McGee=]!", "I love that man!", ""Operator, give me number 320.. ooh, is that you, Myrt? How's every little thing, Myrt? What say, Myrt?" all originated from Radio/FibberMcGeeAndMolly.
405** "Ain't I a stinker?" and "I'm only three and a half years old!" came from Creator/AbbottAndCostello's radio show.
406** "Ah, yes! (Insert statement here), isn't it?", "Yehudi?", "Don't work, do they?" and "Greetings, Gate! Lets osculate!" were references to comedian Jerry Colonna, sidekick of Creator/BobHope on his radio show.
407** "Don't you believe it!" was a reference to a 1947 radio show of the same name in which popular urban legends were debunked. Tom saying this in WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry has confused quite some viewers in the decades beyond.
408** "I dood it!", "He don't know me very well, do he?" and "You bwoke my widdle arm!" s were lifted from the radio character Junior, aka "Mean Widdle Kid", played by Red Skelton.
409** "Well now, I wouldn't say THAT!" was a catch phrase in Radio/TheGreatGildersleeve.
410** The line "Henry! Hééééééén-RY!" and the answer "Coming, mother!" referenced Radio/TheAldrichFamily.
411** "I have a problem, Mr. Anthony!" was lifted from John J. Anthony's daily radio advice program "The Goodwill Hour".
412** The speech..."I say", the speech mannerisms of Senator Claghorn on the radio show "The Fred Allen Show" live on today as the voice of Looney Tunes character WesternAnimation/FoghornLeghorn..."'Leghorn', [[VerbalTic that is]]".
413[[/folder]]
414
415[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
416* Do you think "[[{{Battlecry}} Blood for the Blood God! Skulls for the Skull Throne!]]" (or any other reference to Khorne, Nurgle, Slaanesh, or Tzeetnch, the Warp, the Immaterium, Chaos Undivided, etc.) is a ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' reference? Well, now might be the time to let you know that Warhammer 40k is actually a MorePopularSpinOff of the older ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' (aka, ''Warhammer Fantasy''). Scrolling through Website/ThisVeryWiki enough will reveal to you how many times a trope is said to have been found in 40k are actually from both 40k and Fantasy. Sometimes you might even hear people refer to "Warhammer" when they really mean "Warhammer 40k". This may be {{Averted}} if you are from the U.K. (where Fantasy is more popular than 40k) and/or are a fan of ''VideoGame/TotalWar'' (thanks to ''VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammer'').
417* Video game players may be surprised to discover many of the concepts and mechanics behind the games were pioneered by tabletop role-playing games, which had a robust community [[OlderThanTheyThink since the Seventies]]. It was tabletop role-players who lifted their pastimes into the digital medium, rather than the other way 'round.
418[[/folder]]
419
420[[folder:Theatre]]
421* Various bits from the works of Creator/WilliamShakespeare have been quoted, parodied, imitated and plagiarized too many times to count. Particularly notable are cases in which Hamlet's "[[DrivenToSuicide To be or not to be]]" soliloquy is confused with the "Alas, poor Yorick" one, leading to an actor reciting the former while holding the prop skull that belongs in the latter. There's a fair amount of BeamMeUpScotty at work, too: "Alas poor Yorick, I knew him" often has a "well" added to the end in pop culture.
422** Orsino's opening line of "If music be the food of love, play on," from ''Theatre/TwelfthNight'' is often assumed to be quite romantic and/or demonstrative of a love of art. Very few include the rest of the quote: "Give me excess of it; that surfeiting,/The appetite may sicken, and so die."
423** A particularly egregious example is the way in which Juliet's speech "Oh Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?" usually has a spurious comma added after the "thou", completely changing the meaning. "Wherefore" actually stands in the same relationship to "therefore" as "where" does to "there"; it doesn't mean "where", it means "why". Juliet is not wondering where Romeo is as commonly supposed, but is speaking to him and asking the reason for his name. (Sounds weird the first time you hear it, but it becomes clear what she means: "Why did the man I fell in love with have to be Romeo Montague, probably my father's last choice on earth of son-in-law?")
424** ''Romeo And Juliet'' itself is not a Shakespeare original, but based on an even older Italian novella. Few of Shakespeare's plays (possibly none) had original plots.
425*** This makes it even funnier to watch the bits in ''Film/ShakespeareInLove'' where Will is trying to work out how the story will end.
426** 'Now is the winter of our discontent' is often said as a negative rather than the happy occasion it is 'made glorious summer by this sun of York"
427*** As Richard is the one who says the line, it is rather bitter/sarcastic. The full couplet translates as "things are looking up, I'm going to murder my brother."
428* Gilbert And Sullivan's "I am the very model of a modern major general" has been spoofed in so many cartoons, movies, and what have you, that everyone recognizes it, several people don't realize this until it's referenced in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2''.
429* How many people quote lines from Creator/JohannWolfgangVonGoethe's play ''Theatre/{{Faust}}'' and especially the following ''Theatre/FaustII'' (''Faust, der Tragödie Zweiter Teil'') without knowing where it's originally from?
430* Similarly, many people have heard this line from Creator/ChristopherMarlowe's ''Theatre/TheTragicalHistoryOfDoctorFaustus'': "Was this the face that launch'd a thousand ships." However, many people today only know it from the ''Series/{{Star Trek|The Original Series}}'' episode "The Squire of Gothos", some snarky comments about metaphors in ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novels, and/or ''Film/ShakespeareInLove''.
431* Actor Gustaf Gründgens' famous performances as Mephisto, with sinister stark white make-up, black eye shadow and sharply upturned eyebrows, have definitely influenced later despictions of the devil in visual media.
432* ''Theatre/SpringAwakening'' is only thought by many people to be a musical set in 1890s Germany, unless they actually look into it at all and find the original Frank Wedekind play on which it is based.
433* Look up any Website/YouTube video for "Seasons of Love", and you will see an overwhelming number of comments about how people sang it for choir/graduation/etc. and didn't know it was from ''Theatre/{{Rent}}''.
434* Some people believe that the Harry Nilsson song "One" originally came from ''Series/SesameStreet'', when the song actually came out '''three years before said show'''. However, it was referenced on an episode of ''Late Night With Jimmy Fallon'' when Franchise/TheMuppets were guest stars.
435* ''Theatre/TheBoysInTheBand'' is a notable gay play from 1968. The play was revived in the UK in 2016, with Creator/MarkGatiss as Harold. While promoting the production on TV, he said that gay men often quote lines from the play without realising it.
436* American Founding Father Patrick Henry was actually quoting a play named ''Cato'' when he ended his famous speech with "Give me liberty or give me death." The play was tremendously popular at the time and everyone present was familiar with it, basically making this the equivalent of someone in the present ending a big speech with "May the Force be with you."
437* Alexander Hamilton was a famous figure in American history, but nowadays, people are more familiar with him via [[Theatre/{{Hamilton}} the musical that tells the story of his life]].
438* The phrase "bụi đời" means vagrants, street children, or simply homeless people/homelessness. Act 2 of ''Theatre/MissSaigon'' has the song "Bui Doi", in which it's used as a specific term for the Amerasian children of Vietnamese mothers and American GI fathers. Thanks to this trope, the term Bui-Doi is now in common use to refer to these children but only in the West. It never had any racial connotations in Vietnamese - the equivalents for what the lyricists meant are con lai ("mixed-race child(ren)"), người lai ("mixed-race adult(s)"), or, specifically, "Mỹ lai" ("American mixed-race").
439[[/folder]]
440
441[[folder:Theme Parks]]
442* [[Ride/UniversalStudios Universal's]] Theatre/HalloweenHorrorNights:
443** The many promo images and ads of [[MirrorMonster Bloody Mary]] in her depiction at the event in 2008 are nowadays typically used as stock images for things discussing the famous urban legend, or for creepy internet stuff in general, without people realizing where all these images actually originated from.
444** [[https://67.media.tumblr.com/682f3a4d0f49eb7d67ae18e3fd685e73/tumblr_nin69wetK31rhh3j5o1_500.jpg This particularly nightmarish picture]] of a girl being eaten by a giant monster is frequently associated with creepypastas and other scary internet material, even being ranked #1 on [=TheRichest=]'s list of [[http://www.therichest.com/rich-list/most-shocking/15-disturbing-images-you-shouldnt-see-in-the-dark/ "15 Disturbing Images You Shouldn't See In The Dark"]]. What many people don't know is that the image is actually of a scene in a haunted house that was featured at Hollywood's HHN in 2011. The house was called ''La Llorona: Villa De Almas Perdidas'', and the scene in question is of an over-sized La Llorona eating a girl that's desperately trying to cling on to her bed.
445[[/folder]]
446
447
448[[folder:Video Games]]
449* This has become a huge problem for {{Roguelike}}s as a whole. Up until the mid-2000s, "roguelike" had a very specific meaning among those that knew it, referring to a niche group turn-based, tile-based dungeon crawling affairs that traced their origins to mainframes in universities and in many cases still preserved the original text-mode graphics. But then games such as ''VideoGame/FTLFasterThanLight'', ''VideoGame/{{Spelunky}}'', and ''VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac'' were compared to them, which snowballed into many, many games that incorporate permanent death and randomly generated levels to be referred to or even ''refer to themselves'' as "roguelikes", regardless of their actual gameplay. This has since become the most popular definition, leaving an entire genre without an unambiguous name.
450** Though the term 'Roguelite' muddies it up further: It's definition (more-or-less "A roguelike where ''some'' manner of progress is retained between runs") encompasses many of the "new roguelikes", but not ''all'' of them...
451* The famous [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LhKlCp5Sh9I Freddy's music box theme]] from ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys1'' is actually [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4DNGMoMNLRY Les Toreadors]], composed by Georges Bizet.
452* You've heard the ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}}'' theme song, right? Well, turns out it's actually a Russian folk song called "Korobeiniki", and is only really associated with ''Tetris'' outside of Russia. The association is so strong, the otherwise public domain song has become a trademark of ''Tetris'' within the video game industry.
453* Chances are, if you hear the names "Dante and Vergil", you'll be thinking of the two iconic brothers from the ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' series as opposed to the historical poets Dante Alighieri and Virgil from ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'' whom the characters [[TwinThemeNaming are named after]].
454* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' is absolutely the king of this, being both {{Troperrific}} and jam-packed with {{shout out}}s to damn near everything under the sun. From music/bands, novels, films and TV shows, and other video games, from the popular to the extremely obscure, if you name a piece of media, chances are pretty good that ''[=WoW=]'' has referenced it. This naturally leads to a great deal of OlderThanTheyThink, particularly for the younger and more... [[FanDumb culturally]] [[FanBoy unaware]] in the fandom. This even applies to the ''[[Franchise/WarcraftExpandedUniverse Warcraft franchise]] itself'', since the MMO contains many {{mythology gag}}s which are {{shout out}}s to the older RTS games, and other Blizzard games. Just look at [[http://www.wowwiki.com/In-jokes_and_references this list]] for examples. Beyond the references, gameplay elements themselves are victims to this, since [=WoW=] is the 800 lb gorilla of the MMO genre. {{Fandumb}} often accuses other games of "ripping off" ''[=WoW=]'' features, when those other games had them first.
455** Similarly with ''VideoGame/{{Starcraft}}'' when ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar'' came out there were plenty of ''Starcraft'' fans accusing it of ripping off ''Starcraft''.
456*** Interesting example in that Dawn of War's [[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} source material]] is older than Starcraft, but its gameplay mechanic is not, making this FanDumb half of the time.
457* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'': Many people didn't know what an ocarina was before this game was released. They were fairly popular in Japan before the game was released, but in 1998, [[TheRedStapler ocarina makers were suddenly inundated with orders for sweet potato (aka transverse) ocarinas]]. No, the little four-hole wooden ones wouldn't do. They had to be the 10-hole ceramic kind. And they had to be blue. Many music stores were sold out and couldn't figure out why.
458** Humorously, it's not the first ''Zelda'' game that uses an ocarina either. Both ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'' and ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening'' featured the instrument (and even ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI the first game]]'' had a recorder which served [[WarpWhistle a similar gameplay purpose]]), though it was not as central to the plot.
459** And it's not even the first Nintendo game to use one. That would be ''VideoGame/{{Mother}}'', but [[NoExportForYou that one has an excuse.]]
460* Many Western gamers assume that ''Guitar Freaks'' (or any long-running Japanese rhythm game) ripped off ''VideoGame/GuitarHero''. ''Guitar Freaks'' has been around since 1999; ''VideoGame/GuitarHero'' wasn't released until 2005.
461* People unfamiliar with the ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' series will automatically assume that "U.N. Owen was her?" is called "[=McRolled=]" all thanks to a viral video much to the annoyance of fans who hate that name.
462** Speaking of [=McRolled=]: the video itself is also subject to osmosis, as it was originally a Website/NicoNicoDouga remix that was imported to Website/YouTube via the title "Ronald [=McDonald=] Insanity". The "[=McRolled=]" title was used in an edit of the video to associate it more with hyperlink pranks like Rickrolling. And thanks to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_Wmju4mZEA the original commercials]] used in the video [[NoExportForYou never leaving Japan]], most just associate them with the remix (and therefore ''Touhou'') anyway.
463** Even worse, someone posted a remix of "U.N. Owen Was Her?" as John Stump's "Death Waltz", causing much confusion between both songs[[note]]The remix is merely really complex, while the actual Death Waltz is impossible to play and entirely unrelated to "U. N. Owen"[[/note]].
464** Hell, even if you know the original title, there's a good chance that you'll associate "U.N. Owen" with Flandre Scarlet more than you will Creator/AgathaChristie [[Literature/AndThenThereWereNone and the original source of the name.]]
465** Similarly, the song "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbpQPHzyypU Bloomin' feeling]]" from ''VideoGame/{{Beatmania}}'' could more or less be referred to as the "Jack Black Octagon remix" due to a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoCtVg5IaKY similar video]] remixing the song with Creator/JackBlack's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7jpz_55EdM appearance]] on ''Series/SesameStreet'' that went viral.
466* The main character in ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'' is named Red. But he's often called Ash (Satoshi in Japan[[note]]after the de facto creator Satoshi Tajiri[[/note]]) by people more familiar with the anime. Similarily, his rival Blue is referred to as Gary (Shigeru in Japan[[note]]likely after the [[Creator/ShigeruMiyamoto other Shigeru]][[/note]]).
467** It's less incorrect if the person in question is referring to the main character of ''Yellow'', which [[RecursiveAdaptation incorporates many elements from the first season of the anime]].
468** Also to note, there are several alternative stock names for Red and Blue in the games, that happen to include both Ash and Gary respectively as each game's second option.
469* This is pretty common in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' ROM hacks and Mario fan games in general since some of the more well known ones use resources from obscure Japanese [=RPGs=] people likely haven't heard of (''VideoGame/RomancingSaGa'', ''VideoGame/LiveALive'' and ''VideoGame/TrialsOfMana'' being some examples; these had only been translated officially in recent years) and as a result some people tend to associate said resources with the fan game/hack rather than the original SNES one. Such as how many people don't know that things like the Mirage Palace and Dark Castle are from ''Trials of Mana'' and not ''VideoGame/BrutalMario'', or that the 7 Koopalings boss is a parody of the final boss in Romancing [=SaGa=] 2. This can lead to awkwardness if people assume any resources from these games are plagarised.
470* Due to the importance, prevalence and market dominance of {{Creator/Nintendo}} and the ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' series of video games during the late 1980s and 1990s, in Latin America, clearing and finishing games was sometimes popularly referred to as "rescuing" in the games, regardless of what was being played. This was because the point and climax of most of the ''Mario'' games was, of course, to rescue the Princess. This tendency eventually subsided with time with the advent of other consoles that competed with Nintendo on the mid-late 1990s.
471* Not everyone realises that virtually every significant character, all the enemy designs and much of the character backstories of ''VideoGame/{{Okami}}'' are taken straight from Japanese mythology.
472** And a lot of the characters and events from ''VideoGame/SamuraiWarriors'' and its crossover spinoff ''VideoGame/PokemonConquest''[[note]]Which themselves are derived from the VideoGame/NobunagasAmbition games.[[/note]] are if not actually accurate then very representative of events in real-life Sengoku-period Japan.
473* Likewise, many people think the opening theme (and all the game's other music for that matter) of ''VideoGame/{{Frogger}}'' is original and attribute it to the game. Like this [[http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR00078 remix by OCRemix site founder DJ Pretzel]]. The opening is actually taken from an old Japanese children's song called ''Inu no Omawarisan''. The acknowledgement on Music/OCRemix was only added in much later.
474** This also applies to the copyrighted anime themes that appear in the game as well. They come from ''Rascal the Raccoon'', ''Anime/HeidiGirlOfTheAlps'', ''Anime/HanaNoKoLunlun'' (split into two parts), and ''Moero Arthur: Hakuba no Ouji''[[note]]A sequel series of sorts to ''Entaku no Kishi: Moero Arthur'', Toei's rendition of Myth/ArthurianLegend[[/note]].
475* Many people consider the Cheetahmen theme to have come from ''VideoGame/SyobonAction'' due to the fact that ''VideoGame/{{Action 52}}'' was a rather obscure NES game and ''Syobon Action'' featured that song prominently (and [[MemeticMutation thanks to the Internet]], it's far more well-known).
476* The [[MemeticMutation famous]] line from the beginning of ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight'', Dracula's "What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets!", is actually a quotation from French writer André Malraux. Of course, part of what makes it the NarmCharm everyone loves is how it fits with the rest of the dialogue and how it's done by the SoBadItsGood dub, regardless of how good the quote actually is.
477* The characters in ''VideoGame/EternalFighterZero'' are actually lifted from ''VisualNovel/{{Air}}'', ''VisualNovel/{{Kanon}}'', ''VisualNovel/OneKagayakuKisetsuE'', and ''MOON''. (The last of these doesn't even have an anime or TV Tropes page.)
478* The definition of insanity as "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting [something different]" is a quote commonly attributed to [[BeamMeUpScotty (but not verified to be said by)]] Albert Einstein. But these days, the quote is also highly associated with ''VideoGame/FarCry3'''s Vaas. Even if some people are aware the quote didn't come from him (and Vaas himself said he learned that quote from another guy), he's very likely to pop up in people's minds when it's brought up.
479* The enchanting tables in ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' use the Standard Galactic Alphabet from ''VideoGame/CommanderKeen''. Due to the former being much more well known, it's more commonly associated with ''Minecraft''.
480* ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'': One of the primary antagonist group is The Fatui Harbingers, with members named after the stock archetypes from CommediaDellArte. Nowadays, googling their individual names will likely link you to their Genshin version before the Commedia version.
481* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'': ''VideoGame/FZero'' had not received a new game in the almost-20 years between ''Climax'' for the GBA and ''F-Zero 99''. As a result, many younger gamers who didn't grow up with the franchise associate the series' rep Captain Falcon with ''Smash Bros.'' more than ''F-Zero''. Some even believe he's is an [[OriginalGeneration original character made specifically for]] ''[[OriginalGeneration Smash Bros.]]'', not realizing he appeared in his own series first.
482[[/folder]]
483
484[[folder:Web Videos]]
485* ''WebVideo/EndTimes'', Constantly. Trace, Harry, and Charlie are all seeped in pop-culture knowledge and talk in references, sometimes for humor and other times very much not so.
486** "I like [[WebVideo/DrHorriblesSingAlongBlog the Doc]] as much as anyone, but the second movie still hasn't come out." "And it won't."
487** "We're going to have to be ComicBook/TheAvengers."
488* ''WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic'': The line "Why 11? Because I like to go one step beyond." is a MemeticMutation of a now obscure catch phrase from the TV show "One Step Beyond".
489* ''WebVideo/BrowsHeldHigh'': Fans of this show will recognize Rimsky-Korsakov's composition "Procession of the Nobles" better as the theme music of every episode.
490* ''WebVideo/TheCinemaSnob'': For a long while Brad used "Believe It Or Not" by Joey Scarbury as his intro music for every episode. Many people would probably be surprised that this is actually a nod to the 1980s TV series ''Series/TheGreatestAmericanHero'' who used it as their theme music first.
491* ''WebVideo/HardlyWorking'': Amir finds a box of his grandfather's Nazi stuff and believes him to be a fan of ''VideoGame/{{Wolfenstein}}'', as he believes Nazis are fictional characters because he cut history class to play the game in school. HilarityEnsues [[RefugeInAudacity when he invites a "fan club" to the office.]]
492* One ''WebVideo/BestOfTheWorst'' episode has the group surprise Rich Evans on his birthday with an old childhood photo of him at Showbiz Pizza Place [[note]] a restaurant similar to Chuck E Cheese that got bought out by them in the 90's[[/note]], [[https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/mobile/000/027/785/Screen_Shot_2018-12-03_at_11.30.17_AM.jpg standing next to Billy Bob, the chain's mascot, while wearing a shirt that says "Dick The Birthday Boy"]], as well as a recreation of said shirt. The photo itself has since become [[MemeticMutation a meme]] well beyond the fanbase of the show, to the point that few people are aware that it's Rich Evans in the photo.
493* In a similar vein to "Sally the Camel", many people believe that the nursery rhymes "Johnny Johnny Yes Papa" and "Finger Family" were invented by [=YouTubers=]. They were originally traditional Indian and British nursery rhymes, with the latter originally starting as "Tommy Thumb" and appearing on several children's shows like ''Series/{{Tweenies}}''.
494* ''WebVideo/{{Stampylongnose}}'''s iconic "Stampy Cat" ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' skin is actually a skin of Fidget from ''VideoGame/DustAnElysianTail'', who is additionally supposed to be a FunnyAnimal hybrid of a bat and a fox. Most players of ''Minecraft'' tend to associate the skin more with Stampy rather than Fidget.
495[[/folder]]
496
497[[folder:Western Animation]]
498* Many famous pieces of classical music have been hijacked by Creator/WaltDisney, ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' and other (usually older) animated sequences, and are many people's only exposure to such works. Many people still have the urge to sing "Kill the Wa-bbit" along to Music/RichardWagner's "Music/RideOfTheValkyries", thanks to Elmer Fudd's memorable version in the classic WesternAnimation/BugsBunny short ''WesternAnimation/WhatsOperaDoc?'' And the use of a romanticized version of the ''Pilgrims' Chorus'' when Bugs enters on horseback, dressed as Brunnhilde, and fools Elmer/Thor (he used the same entrance, music and disguise with equal success against [[ThoseWackyNazis Hermann Goerring]] in a wartime cartoon).
499** ''Series/ThirtyRock'' had an episode where it's revealed Liz's cell phone ringtone is "Ride of the Valkyries", resulting in this exchange:
500--->'''Phoebe:''' Oh, you like Wagner.\
501'''Liz:''' No, I like Elmer Fudd.
502** ''Series/Warehouse13'', while tracking down an artifact via psychic link, the character describes hearing "Kill the Wa-bbit", to the consternation of the classical music fan on the other end.
503** ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' also stole heavily from "The William Tell Overture" by Rossini, to the point where almost every major theme in the piece has been used in some cartoon. For a lot of those, it's via another reference—see below.
504*** And Rossini suffers again in ''WesternAnimation/RabbitOfSeville'', this time with the overture for the Barber of Seville.
505** How many people can listen to Franz Liszt's ''Hungarian Rhapsody no.2'' and ''not'' be thinking of a cartoon at the same time?
506*** ''Dance of the Reed Flutes'': Are you thinking of Cadbury's Fruit and Nut or ''VideoGame/{{Lemmings}}''?
507*** Similar to the above with ''Dance of The Sugar-Plum Fairy'' for ''Tetris'' - although "Korobeiniki" (see further down this page) is even more strongly associated with it.
508*** Before ''WesternAnimation/Fantasia2000'', most people would (and still do) associate "Rhapsody in Blue" as the theme song of United Airlines or the opening scene in ''Film/{{Manhattan}}''.
509*** The ''Theme from Peter Gunn'' was composed for the TV series ''Series/PeterGunn'', in 1958.
510*** Music/FelixMendelssohn's "Spring Song" has probably been heard and remembered more from old cartoons than from the concert hall or recordings.
511** Likewise, if you've heard of the turn-of-the-century song "Hello, Ma Baby", it was probably from ''WesternAnimation/OneFroggyEvening'', or the parody of that scene in ''Film/{{Spaceballs}}''.
512** Raymond Scott's [[https://youtu.be/YfDqR4fqIWE "Powerhouse"]] is inextricably linked to assembly-line montages thanks to ''Looney Tunes''.
513*** Or the Creator/CartoonNetwork bumpers from the '90s.
514*** It's also widely known as the middle section of ''[[Music/RushBand La Villa Strangiato]]'' and the accordion solo of "[[Music/TheyMightBeGiants Rhythm Section Want Ad]]."
515** Can anyone today even hear the English '''title''' of Verdi's ''Coro di zingari'' -- a.k.a. the "Anvil Chorus" -- and ''not'' think of ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'' characters dropping anvils on one another? The actual ''song'' is about gypsies arising at dawn for their day's work, and looking forward to wine and women later on.
516** You know the theme song to the old Road Runner cartoons? That's actually the Dance of the Comedians from Bedrich Smetana's "Bartered Bride". [[https://youtu.be/Y7uEV7FAua8 See for yourself.]]
517** How about ''The Merry Go Round Broke Down'' for the WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes theme song?
518** The character WesternAnimation/FoghornLeghorn was based on the character Beauregard Claghorn, from Fred Allen's ''Allen's Alley'' radio program. Today all of his catchphrases will rather make people think of Foghorn rather than this forgotten radio show.
519** "Poet and Peasant Overture" is another piece of background music used a lot in ''Looney Tunes''. It was also used in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' cartoon "PottyEmergency".
520* "Sing, Sing, Sing", originally by Louis Prima, played most famously by Benny Goodman, is known to a whole generation of eighteen-to-twenty-somethings as "the Chips Ahoy song".
521** "Sing, Sing, Sing" seems to be ''the'' stock music used to evoke '30s swing jazz.
522*** [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic With damn good reason.]]
523* WesternAnimation/WoodyWoodpecker's laugh is so universally recognized, that some people even forget where the AnnoyingLaugh to rule them all came from in the first place.
524* Some young adults are reminded of ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' when they hear music from ''Theatre/{{Carmen}}'', ''Theatre/{{Pagliacci}}'', or "Ride of the Valkyries" thanks to the episode "What's Opera Arnold"?
525** The name of episode itself is a shout out to the well known Bugs Bunny episode ''WesternAnimation/WhatsOperaDoc'', and it also contains a parody of Elmer's infamous "spear and magic helmet" line.
526* Most people across the world will rather recognize John Philip Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever" as ''WesternAnimation/{{Popeye}}''[='s=] victory music than a classical piece.
527** They're even more likely to make that association with the other piece used for that purpose, "Columbia, Gem of the Ocean".
528* The animated Saturday morning show ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs1981'' used nothing but clips of classical music for mood and theme setting.
529* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' has an example in the boy from the pair of Victorian dressed StreetUrchin children who are recurring characters. They are clearly meant to evoke Creator/CharlesDickens, as his crutch is identical to that famously used by ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'''s Tiny Tim, although what the writers seem to have missed was that Tiny Tim was ''not'' one of Dickens' urchin characters. Then again, it's ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}''; it was probably on purpose.
530** Lampshaded again in ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', as the Fungineers who designed the Moon Landing 'historical' recreation with singing whale hunters as astronauts have certainly gotten their historical facts through popcultural osmosis.
531*** Fungineering as a whole seems to be based on a massive foundation of MemeticMutation.
532** Not many [[PeripheryDemographic fans outside America (or at least some outside Nixon's generation)]] remember that Spiro Agnew ''was an actual person'', let alone one of [[UsefulNotes/RichardNixon Nixon's]] Vice Presidents.
533** Another one from ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' is simply the ''theme song''. Most people associate it with the series, but it's actually just a slightly tweaked version of part of the Maurice Béjart ballet ''Mass for our time''. The original was written back in 1967 by experimental composer Pierre Henry and [[https://youtu.be/X7bnNkofnd0 is entitled "Psyché Rock"]].
534* The "Me Love You Long Time" from the hooker in ''Film/FullMetalJacket'' have been incorrectly credited to both ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' and ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''.
535** People of a certain age will probably first think of the [[Music/TwoLiveCrew 2 Live Crew]] song "Me So Horny".
536*** Or Music/SirMixALot's "Baby Got Back", which similarly references the line.
537* ''WesternAnimation/RenAndStimpy's'' music for that show was made up almost entirely of classical and jazz music.
538** Ren & Stimpy closely associate Raymond Scott's "The Toy Trumpet" with the army. The tune has been heard just everywhere, but no one can even place it: [[https://youtu.be/XOAkl1Id_EE]]
539*** Other people may associate The Toy Trumpet with Creator/ShirleyTemple, as she sang it in one of her movies.
540* Many kids today will hear old Hawaiian standards only to think they first came from ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' or ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch''.
541** Some people think the theme tune to ''[=SpongeBob=]'' is an original song. That's not the case, as it's originally a sea shanty called "Blow The Man Down", but given new lyrics.
542* In the Henry and June segments on ''WesternAnimation/KaBlam'', kids might think that the ska background music originated from the show, but they're really just instrumental versions of songs by The Toasters.
543** Also, the H&J shorts as well as ''WesternAnimation/ActionLeagueNow'' used various stock/classical pieces often used in ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'', ''WesternAnimation/TheMightyB'', ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'', ''Series/BillNyeTheScienceGuy'', and ''VideoGame/GarrysMod'' {{Machinima}}.
544* As the page image shows, ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' will make sure every teacher talking about the Renaissance will have a joke regarding Creator/LeonardoDaVinci, Creator/MichelangeloBuonarroti, [[http://a1.s6img.com/cdn/0014/p/4577675_13944572_lz.jpg Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi,]] [[http://blogs.artinfo.com/artintheair/files/2013/07/teenage-mutant-ninja-painters.jpg and Raphael Sanzio]].;
545** ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' tackles this head-on during [[https://youtu.be/hKJRywDsthU a segment about Michelangelo]].
546--> '''Narrator''' (after [[CaptainErsatz four masked turtles]] hop out of a sewer pipe): I'm afraid popular culture has successfully eradicated the actual identities of the true poets of art. In my opinion, it stinks! And now for a brief reality check. Creator/MichelangeloBuonarroti was a brilliant artist. Not a turtle.
547** ''WebVideo/EpicRapBattlesOfHistory'' later confronted them in [[https://youtu.be/6HZ5V9rT96M "Artists vs. TMNT"]].
548** Speaking of ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'', ''Humoresque'' was a romantic piano piece composed in 1839, but most 90s kids call it the "Slappy Squirrel Theme".
549** You would have a shorter list of characters who WEREN'T some example of this trope on ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' then the ones who were. To name a few: [[Music/RingoStarr Wakko]], [[Film/RainMan Runt]], the [[Film/GoodFellas Goodfeathers]] and [[Film/TheGodfather The Godpigeon]], [[Creator/OrsonWelles The Brain]], [[Creator/JerryLewis Mr. Director]], ...
550* The slow motion walk in ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'' is often misattributed to ''Film/Armageddon1998'', instead of ''Film/TheRightStuff''.
551* Due to the penchant most voice actors had for impersonations, many young viewers were able to recognize the voices of famous actors and celebrities long before they had any idea of who they were.
552** ''WesternAnimation/RenAndStimpy'' were modeled after Creator/PeterLorre and [[Film/TheThreeStooges Larry Fine]], respectively.
553** ''WesternAnimation/{{Jabberjaw}}'' speaks like Curly (another of the Three Stooges), but like Creator/RodneyDangerfield, often complains about not getting any respect.
554* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'':
555** In one episode, Mr. Garrison is brought before a disciplinary committee for his actions from a previous episode. When they review just what he's done for the 3rd grade education, one of them notes he hasn't even taught the kids about Samuel Adams, leading a confused Garrison to ask "Well who cares about a guy who makes beer?!", [[LampshadeHanging referencing the fact]] that most people are probably more familiar with the alcohol brand over one of the founding fathers of the country.
556** Comedian Creator/RobSchneider is slowly fading into obscurity for younger audiences and nowadays better remembered as "Rob Sssschneider" (spoken in a dopey voice) in the spoof trailers used in the episode "The Biggest Douche In The Universe".
557** The "Gay Fish" song sang by Music/KanyeWest is a spoof of his song "Heartless" and is also starting to eclipse the original in the popular consciousness.
558* [[UsefulNotes/WilliamPittTheElder Pitt the Elder]] and [[UsefulNotes/TheViscountPalmerston Lord Palmerston]]? Americans will probably only recognize these two names from a one-off gag in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode ''[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS3E17HomerAtTheBat Homer at the Bat]]'' than as British prime ministers.
559** Speaking of '' The Simpsons'', most fans of the show believe that Homer's line when he puts on a pair of lost glasses in the episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS5E10Springfield $pringfield]]", "Sum of the square roots of any two sides of an isosceles triangle is equal to the square root of the remaining side", was originally written for the show, when it actually comes from ''Film/TheWizardOfOz''. It's gotten to the point where 3 of the top 5 results that comes up when the quote is typed in on Google are related to The Simpsons, with the top related searches also being related to the line's quotation in the show.
560** Here's a more obscure one. Kent Brockman's "insect overlords" line actually comes from a horror movie called "Empire of the Ants", which involves giant ants invading the Earth.
561** Some people believe that the "Amendment To Be" segment in "The Day The Violence Died" was a ShowWithinAShow and not a spoof of ''WesternAnimation/SchoolhouseRock''. This happens the most with people who either live outside of the United States (as ''Schoolhouse Rock'' was [[NoExportForYou never exported to places outside of that country]]) or those who were kids during ''Schoolhouse Rock'''s decade-long hiatus.
562* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': Most younger fans of this show are completely unaware how many scenes in this program are directly lifted from other films, TV shows, animated cartoons, comics, TV commercials. The most noteworthy of these is the theme song, which begins with Peter and Lois singing in front of a piano and was lifted from the intro of ''Series/AllInTheFamily''.
563* Many cartoon characters will imitate [[Film/TheThreeStooges Curly Howard]]'s mannerisms ("WOOP! WOOP! WOOP! WOOP!"), notably [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Homer Simpson]] and [[WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} Dr. Zoidberg]], but the reference is lost on younger viewers.
564* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' has reached such Internet popularity over the years that only those who were young in the 1980s may remember the original "G1" incarnation on which it was based, almost three decades earlier.
565* [[https://youtu.be/nKH_SxODIjg The song "Here Comes Peter Cottontail"]] which is commonly played during the spring and [[EasterSpecial Easter seasons]] actually came from the lesser known Creator/RankinBass holiday special ''WesternAnimation/HereComesPeterCottontail'' which shares the name of the song that came before it. However, a number of people would think and even believe that the song is actually about Peter Rabbit from ''Literature/TheTaleOfPeterRabbit'' which doesn't help that Peter Rabbit also has a sister named Cottontail. As a result some Americans would think that "Peter Cottontail" was [[IAmNotShazam Peter Rabbit's full name]] and the title of the book.
566* This also can happen when a stock music track winds up being used in a show, since most of them do not generally get released to the public, causing people to think the song was written for the show. Two examples of this are "Sweet Victory" from ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' and "The Night Begins To Shine" from ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo''.
567* Many fans of ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'' think that Aloysius Pig was an original character made for the TV show, when he was a spoof of comedian Kevin Meaney, who provides his voice, a fact which some didn't know about until he died 22 years after his episodes aired.
568* A lot of people believe that [[https://youtu.be/WmvH0c2sCxo Baby Kate's cry]] in ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' was made specifically for that show before it appeared in other TV shows, movies and games. [[https://soundeffects.fandom.com/wiki/Sound_Ideas,_HUMAN,_BABY_-_CRYING It actually is a stock sound effect]] that first appeared in the TV movie ''Stolen Babies'', which premiered three years before that show.
569[[/folder]]
570
571[[folder:Real Life -- Historical People]]
572* Many historical or literary characters live on in many people's minds because of their association with the name of a fictional character, which usually has nothing to do with the real life counterpart. For examples, see NamedAfterSomebodyFamous.
573* Certain historical characters have received a HistoricalHeroUpgrade and/or HistoricalVillainDowngrade, merely based upon how we, centuries later, look back at their legacy.
574* Many founders of religions have been raised to the status of being some kind of inhumanly wise, kind and perfect demigods.
575* UsefulNotes/CleopatraVII[[note]]The "Cleopatra" most people are familiar with.[[/note]]: Many people imagine her as Creator/ElizabethTaylor in ''Film/{{Cleopatra}}'' (1963) which while unusually accurate to the historical record, was far more glamorous, fitting to 20th century beauty standards. At the very least she was certainly not the WorldsMostBeautifulWoman as the film most definitely implies.
576** In modern times, the subject of Cleopatra's race is subject of significant debate because it's not quite known how she should be represented in media, mainly due to her being the Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, hence, Macedonian Greek in origin. This would make her not nearly as exotic, as 'native' Egyptian or even as an 'African queen' as Hollywood modern tendencies would state.
577* Cardinal Richelieu: Thanks to ''Literature/TheThreeMusketeers'' we nowadays see him as a scheming villain in the French royal court, which is a very demonized version of the actual man, though again, not by much.
578* Giacomo Casanova: All the book, TV series and novel adaptations have depicted Casanova as some kind of handsome, charming, attractive young sex god. In reality he wasn't actually that good looking and it's never been said that he was a great ''lover'', just a good seducer. It also ignores many of his other endeavours, as Casanova indeed did more than just skirt chasing during his lifetime.
579* UsefulNotes/BillyTheKid: Many stories will depict him as a vicious BigBad who murdered countless people in cold blood. The actual Billy the Kid only has four confirmed murders attached to his name, which was still high by Wild West standards since TheWildWest was not as bloodthirsty as you would believe.
580* UsefulNotes/JesseJames is remembered because of the folk song which said "He stole from the rich and he gave to the poor" and for various movie adaptations. The real Jesse James was a Confederate guerilla and slaveowner who massacred Union soldiers and once robbed medicine supplies for the poor. He was also a {{Crossdresser}} and perhaps a male prostitute.
581** Some people who hear the name Jesse James may think that you're referring to [[Anime/PokemonTheSeries Team Rocket]].
582* Guy Fawkes, the man who wanted to blow up the English Parliament in 1605, has changed into a popular bonfire puppet on ''Bonfire Night'' in the UK and into a world wide symbol of anarchism and rebellion since his depiction in ''ComicBook/VForVendetta'', despite the fact that this comic strip and the film adaptation have nothing whatsoever to do with the real-life Fawkes' ambitions.[[note]]Fawkes was an English Catholic and a Papist who wanted to kill the King of England by blowing up the parliament in order to place a Catholic-based government in place in subservience to the Pope.[[/note]]
583* UsefulNotes/GeraldFord: President Ford occasionally fell over during televised broadcasts, yet not as much as popular culture would like you to believe. In fact, during his youth he was arguably the most athletic President of all time- the Captain for the University of Michigan who had been scouted by NFL teams. One of his football injuries caused his knee to go out unexpectedly. There's a famous film of him descending from Air Force One, stumbling on the steps and muttering ''"Damn!!"'' as he knew the cameras were on him. The image of Ford as a clumsy oaf who just bumps into stuff, trips over objects and makes almost his entire environment collapse is more a result of Creator/ChevyChase's depiction of him in ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' at the time.
584* Music/MichaelJackson: Nine times out of ten, popular culture will depict Jackson as some kind of helium-voiced ManChild with a chimpanzee on his arm, shouting "Shamone!" or "You're ignoràààànt". First of all, his voice was certainly soft, but not as squeaky as many imitators have turned it into (and he was quite capable of affecting a deep and manly voice, as on the title track to ''Dangerous''). His depiction as an infantile and naïve person is also exaggerated. After all, Jackson was an adult and described by many as a clever businessman. The idea that Michael says "shamone" a lot is derived from the ''Music/{{Bad}}'' era, where he shouted "come on" during "Bad" and "Man in the Mirror" in such a way that many people misheard it as "shamone" and comedians ever since have pronounced it that way. The idea that Jackson says "You're ignorant" is lifted from ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' parodies of the man.
585* UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte: Thanks to being depicted as a pathetic dwarf in many early 19th century British newspaper cartoons, Napoleon is often depicted as such in popular culture, despite the fact that he was actually of slightly above average height, and almost certainly had no complex or envy to conquer because of it. Needless to say this comes from British propaganda hence you won't hear the tiny inconvenient fact that the British declared war on Napoleon ''first'' and broke the Peace of Amiens.
586* UsefulNotes/MaximilienRobespierre is TheDandy who guillotined people and was a total psychopath during the ReignOfTerror, thanks to two centuries of consistent demonization. The real guy while seriously flawed was a deeply complex and ambiguous figure and most definitely not a dictator as the common portrayals imply. At the very least, he was definitely TheDandy and a real clotheshorse. While he was personally a man of probity and lived frugally, clothes was his one luxury.
587* Music/ElvisPresley: His greasy quiff has been exaggarated as being enormously huge and long in popular culture, mostly thanks to depictions in cartoons, by Elvis imitators and groups like Music/LeningradCowboys. When you look at actual photos or archive footage you'll notice that it's actually not ''that'' grotesque.
588* UsefulNotes/RasputinTheMadMonk: Popular culture tends to depict him as an insane villain who plots to overthrow the Czar and/or is some kind of immortal demon. In reality Rasputin was nothing but a debauched man who had gained the trust of the Czarina, thanks to being able to heal her son, while other doctors couldn't. [[note]]Historians speculate that Rasputin's miraculous healing of Alexei was simply down to him forcing the doctors to back off--of course the hemophiliac prince felt better when he wasn't on aspirin, a blood thinner--but it's hard to say for sure.[[/note]] He never did anything to overthrow the Czar and why would he? He had tremendous power as her advisor. The idea that he could not be murdered has been based on the anecdote that his assassins had repeatedly tried to kill him, but failed. It's more safe to assume that their failed methods of trying to assassinate him were just the result of incompetence, rather than Rasputin being invincible or something. Or that they largely made up the story for fame and/or to explain why it took them so long.
589* Antonio Salieri was a 18th and 19th century composer who was very famous during his lifetime, but faded into obscurity in the decades beyond. In 1984 he suddenly became more famous again, thanks to ''Film/{{Amadeus}}'' (1984), in which he is incorrectly portrayed as the ArchNemesis of Music/WolfgangAmadeusMozart. Nevertheless, the film did help renew interest in his work, which -- in many cases -- was even recorded on albums for the first time!
590* Music/RingoStarr: Many cartoons, like ''WesternAnimation/TheBeatles'', have incorrectly portrayed him as a TooDumbToLive buffoon. The portrayal lives on to this day.
591* UsefulNotes/TELawrence owes his universal fame mostly to the film ''Film/LawrenceOfArabia''.
592* William Wallace and UsefulNotes/RobertTheBruce have become more internationally famous since ''Film/{{Braveheart}}'' (1996), but more as the way they are depicted in this film, which is a '''very''' far cry from actual historical events. Many people nowadays imagine Wallace as Creator/MelGibson's depiction in that film. There was actual outcry of Americanization when a statue of Wallace resembling Mel Gibson was placed in his native town. It was eventually removed. Similarly the Scottish government wanted to sue the film makers for depicting their national hero as an unconfident doublecrosser of Wallace.
593* UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington and UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln have both been romanticized by American historians in the centuries beyond as some sort of demigods who were always honest and never told a lie. More serious historical research since the late 20th century has finally put a stop to this idea, but the image still lives on in popular culture.
594* Francesco Zappa is an obscure and nowadays almost completely forgotten 18th century composer from Italy. Yet, fans of Music/FrankZappa will have heard from him as Frank Zappa recorded an album in 1984 called ''Music/FrancescoZappa''. Unfortunately many people, even Zappa fans, incorrectly think that 'Francesco Zappa' is just a pseudonym for Zappa pretending to be a baroque composer, while in reality the music on that album is all ''real'' scores written by this 18th century composer, who wasn't related to Frank Zappa at all. All Frank Zappa did was score the music on his Synclavier computer, making ''Francesco Zappa'' effectively a CoverAlbum.
595* UsefulNotes/{{Tutankhamun}} (AKA King Tut): Most people remember him more for the so-called "curse" rather than his actual reign. Blame all the countless "Mummy" movies for that. Of course, there wasn't really much to remember about his reign except that it ended his father's experiment with monotheism. His fame stems pretty much entirely from the fact that he was the only pharaoh whose tomb was not emptied by grave-robbers before it was discovered by archaeologists...
596* Spartacus is imagined by many people to look like Creator/KirkDouglas did in the [[Film/{{Spartacus}} eponymous 1960 movie.]] Of course, since no images or first-hand accounts of Spartacus's appearance exists, one cannot say for certain that Spartacus ''didn't'' look like Kirk Douglas.
597* King Canute once ordered the sea to pull back, but then got splashed by the tide still coming in. This is about all present day people remember about him. They forget that Canute was actually demonstrating to his vainglorious courtiers that no man was more powerful than God (or nature) and that the famous anecdote wasn't just proof of how moronic this king supposedly was for trying to command the tide.
598* UsefulNotes/KingJohnOfEngland and UsefulNotes/RichardTheLionheart live on today more as characters in the legend of Myth/RobinHood, rather than real-life English kings. More recently, Richard the Lionheart is often portrayed as a homosexual thanks to the speculative portrayal of him in ''Theatre/TheLionInWinter'' although most scholars are skeptical about this portrayal. In fact, it is more likely that Richard and John's middle brother Geoffrey engaged in homosexual behavior, including the affair the Richard has in "Lion in Winter" with Philip II of France.
599* UsefulNotes/RichardIII is considered the patron saint of the HistoricalVillainUpgrade, thanks to a century of over-the-top Tudor propaganda and Shakespeare's deliciously villainous portrayal. For centuries the one crime most historians thought Richard did commit was [[TheFateOfThePrincesInTheTower murdering his nephews]], but his defenders, known as Ricardians, have recently produced documents that they believe exonerate him. Ricardians have been [[ByronicHero stanning]] for him since at least the early 1600s and point out that he was a brave and competent military commander who went down fighting, as king made some wise legal reforms and [[StockUnsolvedMysteries his nephews' bodies were never found]]. The fact that he was an inspiration for both Tyrion Lannister and Stannis Baratheon and the extraordinary story of the discovery of his remains hasn't hurt his popularity, but the truth of the man remains elusive.
600* Speaking of Richard III, his older brother UsefulNotes/EdwardIV is far more remembered for his decision to marry a commoner and alienating his key allies than the fact that he was a brilliant WarriorKing and occasionally astute politician.
601* UsefulNotes/{{Henry VIII}} is more remembered today for being a BigEater and the business with his six wives than for his political deeds.
602* Ah, "Bloody Mary". You are referring to the drink right? The nickname of UsefulNotes/MaryTudor? Oh...
603* UsefulNotes/QueenVictoria is closely associated with the phrase "We are not amused", something she never wrote down in real life. There are many historic documents where she used the term "We were very amused", though. The "We are not amused" phrase probably originated from all the photographs in which she looks deadly serious while wearing a dark dress.
604* Mongol warlord Kublai Khan is more famous nowadays as the subject of a famous poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
605* UsefulNotes/ChristopherColumbus is closely associated with the story how he supposedly made an egg stand upright on table by cracking its bottom half. Despite this tale still popping up in many child-oriented media there is no historical evidence Columbus ever did this, nor that he invented this trick. It's more likely that his name was just used to give the story more weight by adding one of the most well-known historical characters to it.
606* Walter Raleigh is closely associated with a popular anecdote: he once [[PuddleCoveringChivalry used his coat to help the English Queen cross a filthy pool.]] Yet it has been proven that it was completely made up. Still, the association endures.
607* If you mention Galileo Galilei, many people may think you're quoting from Music/{{Queen}}'s song "Bohemian Rhapsody" rather than talking about the 17th-century scientist.
608* The Red Baron will bring up associations with [[ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}} Snoopy]]'s imaginary foe rather than the nickname of real-life World War I pilot Manfred von Richthofen.
609* UsefulNotes/MataHari has evolved into the archetypical FemmeFataleSpy who was the best in her profession. Of course, that's what all those novels, comics, films and TV adaptations would want you to believe. In reality, she was a very mediocre spy. German secret intelligence only gave her more importance and notoriety to distract the French military forces who had arrested her.
610* Humanitarian activist Oskar Schindler and Nazi commander Amon Goeth owe much of their posthumous fame thanks to Creator/StevenSpielberg's [[AdaptationDisplacement film adaptation]] ''Film/SchindlersList'' of Thomas Keneally's novelization "Schindler's Ark". In actual fact, the incidents surrounding their actions were minor footnotes in a vast tragedy, and the actions taken by Schindler, while not without merit, were more typical than the film would have you believe.
611* Most people know 1920s and 1930s Treasury agent Eliot Ness better thanks to the TV series ''Series/TheUntouchables'' and film ''Film/TheUntouchables1987''. Or Music/TupacShakur's "California Love".
612* The international infamy of Bonnie and Clyde owes a lot to the 1967 film ''Film/BonnieAndClyde''.
613* An old lady who is the head of a notorious criminal gang has become a stock character in many comedies, comics and cartoons, including ''Film/TheGoonies'', ''ComicBook/LuckyLuke'' and ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'' and Boney M.'s hit song "Ma Baker". But she was derived from a real-life mother of an actual criminal, Fred Barker, who in reality had little to do with Barker's gang.
614* Creator/MarilynMonroe lives on in the imaginations of many as a gentle DumbBlonde. That this was a result of typecasting and not who she was in real life doesn't dawn on them, nor that she was actually a very good actress who was admired and respected in France and Germany, and cited as a great comedienne.
615* Most people in Europe have based much of their notion about the ancient Gauls on what they've read in ComicBook/{{Asterix}}. For instance, mention the word "druid" and everybody will envision Panoramix (Getafix in the English version). The same goes for the idea that all the Gauls had moustaches, wore winged helmets and had names that ended in "-ix".
616* The word "vandal" is used to describe people who deliberately want to destroy things. How many know it originally referred to a Germanic tribe, the Vandals, who founded an empire in North Africa during the "Dark Ages" and were not really more notorious for pillaging than other tribes? The pejorative use of "vandal" and "vandalism" in fact only arose during the French Revolution when a word to castigate the destruction of cultural monuments by revolutionary mobs.
617* Similarly, the word {{Goth}} now brings to mind the stereotype of a modern subculture of people who wear a lot of black and listen to depressing music, rather than the various Gothic tribes who invaded Europe in the second quarter of the first millenium AD and were the eventual destroyers of the Roman Empire.
618** For what it's worth, the word "Gothic" will likely be associated first [[GothicFiction with horror fiction]], rather than actual Medieval buildings that served as a loose visual inspiration for the genre.
619* Thanks to numerous pirate stories set in UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfPiracy, most people see pirates as noble and adventurous rebels who have a lot of fun sailing the oceans, attacking ships, and [[BuriedTreasure burying treasures]] on {{Deserted Island}}s. In reality, they were poor sailors who turned to crime, hardly ever attacked ships violently, rarely mounted a great haul and spent all their loot as quickly as possible.
620** Blackbeard, conversely, is widely assumed to have been a blood-crazed butcher who slaughtered people by the shipload, due to a combination of this trope and his own deliberate self-promotion. In actual ''history'', the only people he was ever documented to have killed were aboard the colonial sloops that finally hunted him down.
621* To some people, Lady Murasaki is best known as Franchise/HannibalLecter's widowed aunt rather than [[Creator/MurasakiShikibu the world's first novelist]].
622* Almost everything people think they know about the Three Kingdoms (or Sanguo) era of Ancient China is instead a piece of popular fiction, largely from the ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'' (or Sanguo Yanyi). Owing to a complicated history of post-Three Kingdoms dynasties, false "historical" records and the sheer depth to which the fictionalisation of the era is ingrained in Chinese culture, very little of what is "known" matches up with reality. Zhuge Liang and Guan Yu were terrible generals, Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun were unremarkable warriors, Xiahou Dun was a poor commander but an important administrator, Cao Pi wasn't a tyrant, Cao Rui was a fair and progressive emperor, Sun Shangxiang wasn't named Shangxiang, etc. Important figures such as Lu Fan and Zhong Yao don't even get mentioned, let alone given due credit.
623* The name "Elizabeth Bathory" probably brings to mind images of a beautiful vampire-esque woman bathing in the blood of virgins to restore her youth. In real life, no such charge was ever leveled by her contemporaries--some of the allegations were equally lurid, describing marathon torture sessions that flooded the floor with blood and putting the number of her victims at 650, but there's nothing about virgin blood making her younger. Bathory ''did'' abuse and murder her servants, and would likely have continued to get away with it had she not made the leap to the daughters of minor gentry, but it was run-of-the-mill sadism enabled by her wealth and power, not attempted blood magic.
624* UsefulNotes/{{Caligula}} was certainly a bad ruler--particularly after his near-fatal illness and the death of his favorite sister--but likely did not actually hew as close to the trope [[TheCaligula named for him]] as pop cultural perception would suggest. There is evidence that a lot of his crazier stunts ''were'' just that. Naming his horse consul, for example, was probably an insult to the Senate, not an actual expectation that his horse would govern (especially as by this point in Roman history, the title of consul was almost purely ceremonial--being suffect consul, which was what the horse got, meant the year would be named after you, and that's about it). Also, there's no actual proof he was sleeping with his sisters. He very obviously, and against etiquette, favored his youngest sister Drusilla[[note]]If an unmarried man was entertaining, his sister would sit in the wife's place at the table; if he had multiple sisters they were meant to take turns, but Drusilla was always given the spot. When she died he went into extremely deep mourning and had her declared a national goddess.[[/note]], which probably contributed to the incest accusations, but such talk was also bog-standard Roman political mud-slinging, so it's not exactly reliable. Basically, ancient Roman historians should never be taken 100% at face value about ''anyone'', but especially when they get as dramatic as they get about Caligula.
625* UsefulNotes/AndrewJackson is forever known by the public for his duels and to an infamous extent for the Trail Of Tears, but his other economic and government policies are ignored for not being as shocking.
626* Series/HorribleHistories is becoming this for British history to the British youth:
627** It's common for younger viewers to associate the actors in Series 1 to 5 with many British historical figures with people thinking of Ben Willbond as Henry VIII, Jim Howick as George IV, Lawry Lewin as Oliver Cromwell, etc.
628** Charles II is forever seen as "The Merry Monarch" and "The King Who Brought Back Partying"
629** Dick Turpin is forever imagined by young people as Mat Bayton and the song "Dick Turpin"
630** Whenever the rhyme "Divorce, Beheaded, Died, Divorce, Beheaded, Survived" is said it is hard to not imagine the entire Horrible Histories song with Ben Willbond as Henry VIII.
631** Young people associate Horrible Histories's "Monarch Song" much more than the traditional mnemonic verses of monarchs in England, though "Willie Willie Harry Stee" is much harder to remember than "William William Henry Stephen".
632[[/folder]]
633
634[[folder:Real Life -- Locations]]
635* Certain regions, cities and towns are only famous to the general public because of their association with a certain novel, film, song or other work of art or historical event, being the location of a famous landmark, or their association with a famous person. Some people, usually not the inhabitants of the place themselves, may even be amazed that the examples made famous by fiction actually exist.
636** Abbey Road, London: Made famous by Music/TheBeatles album ''Music/AbbeyRoad''.
637** Aberdeen, Washingon: The hometown of Music/{{Nirvana}}'s Music/KurtCobain and of wrestler [[Wrestling/BryanDanielson Bryan Danielson, a.k.a. Daniel Bryan]].
638** Agra, India: The Taj Mahal.
639** Alabama, USA: The Stephen Foster song "Oh! Susanna" (I've come from Alabama / with a banjo on my knee) or Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama". Country music fans may instead think of [[Music/{{Alabama}} the band]], and [[UsefulNotes/CollegiateAmericanFootball college football]] fans will think only of the [[UsefulNotes/PowerFiveConferences Crimson Tide]].
640** UsefulNotes/{{Albuquerque}}, UsefulNotes/NewMexico: The city where WesternAnimation/BugsBunny after a long period of digging tunnels "should have made a left turn." Also the city where, according to Music/WeirdAlYankovic, "the air smells like warm root beer, and the towels are oh-so-FLUFFY!" More recently it's been the setting of ''Series/BreakingBad'' and ''Series/BetterCallSaul''.
641** Alcatraz, San Francisco, USA: ''Film/EscapeFromAlcatraz'', ''Series/{{Alcatraz}}'', ''Literature/AlcatrazSeries'', ''VideoGame/PlanetAlcatraz'',...
642** Alexanderplatz, Berlin: The novel and film Literature/BerlinAlexanderplatz.
643** Amityville, New York, USA: The horror film ''Film/TheAmityvilleHorror1979''.
644** Antwerp, Belgium: The Japanese know it for ''Literature/ADogOfFlanders'', in which Nello and his dog Patrasche visit the Antwerp cathedral.
645** Appomattox, Virginia: The Appomattox Court House, where the [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar American Civil War]] ended.
646** Avignon, France: The song ''"Sur le pont d'Avignon"''.
647** Astoria, Oregon: ''Film/TheGoonies''
648** Baker Street, London, Great Britain: Supposedly the address of Literature/SherlockHolmes, or the eponymous song by Music/GerryRafferty.
649** Beersel, Belgium: Has become famous in Flanders and the Netherlands for the ComicBook/SuskeEnWiske album ''De schat van Beersel'' (''The treasure of Beersel'').
650** Beverly Hills, California: The TV series ''Series/TheBeverlyHillbillies'' and ''Series/BeverlyHills90210''.
651** Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands: Bikini Bottom from ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants''.
652** Blairstown, New Jersey: ''Film/FridayThe13th1980''
653** Bradford, Doncaster, Holmes Chapel, and Wolverhampton, England; and Mullingar, Ireland: The respective home towns of Music/OneDirection members Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles, Liam Payne, and Niall Horan.
654** Braunau am Inn, Austria: The birthplace of UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler.
655** Bremen, Germany: The fairytale ''Literature/TheBremenTownMusicians''.
656** Brittany, France (French: ''Bretagne''): This region has a strong association with the comic strips ComicBook/{{Asterix}} and ComicStrip/{{Becassine}}.
657** Bruges/Brugge, Belgium: The film ''Film/InBruges'' and the Music/JacquesBrel song ''Marieke'' where the girl Marieke is loved ''between the towers of Bruges (Brugge) and Gand (Gent)''.
658** Burkittsville, Maryland: ''Film/TheBlairWitchProject''.
659** Calgary, Alberta: Home of the Hart wrestling family.
660** Canton, Ohio: The [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague Pro Football]] Hall of Fame.
661** Cape Fear, North Carolina: ''Film/CapeFear''.
662** Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom: Pops up occasionally in ''Series/DoctorWho'' as well as being the main setting for its spinoff series, ''Series/{{Torchwood}}''.
663** Casablanca, Morocco: ''Film/{{Casablanca}}''.
664** Chelsea Hotel, New York City, USA: "Chelsea Hotel" by Music/LeonardCohen from ''Music/NewSkinForTheOldCeremony'', "Chelsea Girl" by Music/{{Nico}}, "Chelsea Girls" by Creator/AndyWarhol.
665** Chernobyl (or Chornobyl), Ukraine: The UsefulNotes/{{Chernobyl}} nuclear disaster.[[note]]"Chernobyl" and "Chornobyl" are respectively transliterations of the Russian and Ukrainian names for the place.[[/note]]
666** UsefulNotes/{{Cleveland}}, Ohio: "Cleveland Rocks", ''Film/MajorLeague'', ''Series/TheDrewCareyShow''. Or the stomping ground of UsefulNotes/LeBronJames for most of his [[UsefulNotes/NationalBasketballAssociation NBA]] career.
667** Coconut Grove, Miami, Florida, USA: The song "Coconut Grove" by John Sebastian, later recorded by Music/TheLovinSpoonful.
668** Cocoa Beach, Florida, USA: The town where Jeannie in ''Series/IDreamOfJeannie'' lives.
669** Columbine, Colorado: The UsefulNotes/{{Columbine}} massacre of April 20, 1999.
670** Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State University; ''Series/FamilyTies''; the former home of the Main Character in Film/{{Zombieland}}.
671** Compton, California: The Music/{{NWA}} album ''Music/StraightOuttaCompton'' and their [[Film/StraightOuttaCompton 2015 biopic of the same name]].
672** Cooperstown, New York: The [[UsefulNotes/MajorLeagueBaseball National Baseball]] Hall of Fame.
673** Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: The song ''Copacabana'' by Barry Manilow... which was actually about the New York City nightclub that took its name from the neighborhood in Rio.
674** Corleone, Sicily, Italy: The main family name in ''Film/TheGodfather''.
675** Cucamonga, California (now known as Rancho Cucamonga): Made famous by Creator/MelBlanc's train conductor in Creator/JackBenny's radio shows. Also, InherentlyFunnyWord. More recently, ''Series/{{Workaholics}}''.
676** Dallas, Texas, USA: ''Series/{{Dallas}}''.
677** Damme, Belgium: The birth place of Till Eulenspiegel according to Charles De Coster's novel ''Literature/TillEulenspiegel'', or as part of Creator/JeanClaudeVanDamme's name.
678** Dayton, Ohio: UsefulNotes/{{The Wright brothers}}.
679** Deadwood, South Dakota, USA: ''Series/{{Deadwood}}''.
680** Death Valley, California: Wrestling/TheUndertaker
681** Den Haag, Nederland: ''ComicBook/HaagseHarry''.
682** Dust Bowl (mostly identified with Oklahoma): Music/WoodyGuthrie's album ''Music/DustBowlBallads''.
683** El Paso, Texas, USA: The song ''El Paso'' by Music/MartyRobbins.
684** Elm Street, Dallas: The street was made famous by the fact that UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy was murdered here, which inspired Creator/WesCraven's ''Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet''.
685** Eugene, Oregon: The University of Oregon; where most of ''Film/AnimalHouse'' was filmed.
686** Exmoor, Great Britain: The legendary Beast of Exmoor supposedly lives there.
687** Fargo, North Dakota: The film ''Film/{{Fargo}}'' (and its subsequent [[Series/{{Fargo}} TV spinoff]]), which, by the way, doesn't even take place in Fargo!
688** Ferguson, Missouri: The fatal shooting of African-American teenager Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson, and the subsequent nationwide unrest it sparked.
689** Frankenstein Castle (''Burg Frankenstein''), Darmstadt, Germany: ''Literature/{{Frankenstein}}''
690** Folsom, California, USA: The Music/JohnnyCash album ''Music/AtFolsomPrison''.
691** Forks, Washington: ''Literature/{{Twilight}}''
692** Fucking, Austria: Sharing its name with an English-language curse word. It has become somewhat of an Internet meme, though it actually exists. Or, at least it did until the town changed the spelling of its name to Fugging in 2021.
693** Gainesville, Georgia: The hometown of Wrestling/AJStyles
694** Gand/Gent, Belgium: The Music/JacquesBrel song ''Marieke'' where the girl Marieke is loved ''between the towers of Bruges (Brugge) and Gand (Gent)''.
695** Gangnam District, Seoul: The song "Music/GangnamStyle" by Music/{{PSY}}.
696** Gary, Indiana: The hometown of Music/MichaelJackson and his family.
697** Gori, Georgia: The birthplace of UsefulNotes/JosephStalin.
698** Gotham, Nottinghamshire, England: [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Gotham City]].
699** Grand Coulee Dam, Washington, USA: "Grand Coulee Dam" by Music/WoodyGuthrie.
700** Green Gables, Cavendish, Prince Edward Island, Canada: ''Literature/AnneOfGreenGables''.
701** Greenwich, Connecticut: The {{kayfabe}} hometown of Wrestling/TripleH.[[note]]His ''real'' hometown is Nashua, New Hampshire.[[/note]]
702** Grenoble, France: The kayfabe hometown of Wrestling/AndreTheGiant.[[note]]André was from France, but was born and raised in what was then a rural part of the Île-de-France region, now essentially metropolitan Paris.[[/note]]
703** Grosse Pointe, Michigan, USA: ''Film/GrossePointeBlank''.
704** Hameln, Germany: ''Literature/ThePiedPiperOfHamelin''
705** Highclere Castle, Hampshire, England: ''Series/DowntonAbbey''.
706** Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan: The UsefulNotes/{{atomic bombings|OfHiroshimaAndNagasaki}}.
707** Hodgenville, Kentucky: The town closest to the birthplace of UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln.
708** Hope, Arkansas: The birthplace of UsefulNotes/BillClinton.
709** Hot Springs, Arkansas: The national park in the center of town. Also where Bill Clinton grew up.
710** Houston, Texas, USA: Since ''Film/ApolloThirteen'', in itself based on a real life incident, it's associated with the phrase: "Houston, we have a problem."
711** Hyde Park, New York: The hometown of UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt.
712** Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: The song "The Girl From Ipanema".
713** Kansas: ''Film/TheWizardOfOz''. Or [[Music/{{Kansas}} the band]]... or [[UsefulNotes/{{Basketball}} the Jayhawks]].
714** Kenosha, Wisconsin: Birthplace of Creator/OrsonWelles and the famous "Did you ever hear of the Kenosha Kid?" refrain from ''Literature/GravitysRainbow''.
715** Key Largo, Florida: The film noir classic ''Film/KeyLargo'' and the 1982 Bertie Higgins OneHitWonder.
716** Kitty Hawk, North Carolina: The Wright Brothers' first flight.
717** Klondike, Yukon, Canada: The town where Scrooge [=McDuck=] amassed his first fortune, according to Creator/CarlBarks and Creator/DonRosa's ''WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck'' comics.
718** Kobbegem, Belgium: Where Adhemar in ''ComicStrip/{{Nero}}'''s laboratory is located.
719** Köpenick, Germany: ''"The Captain von Köpenick"''.
720** Kwai River, Cambodia: Made famous by Pierre Boulle's book and the Oscar-winning film adaptation ''Film/TheBridgeOnTheRiverKwai''.
721** Leicester, U.K. They found a [[UsefulNotes/RichardIII skeleton under a carpark]] once.
722** Leonardo, New Jersey: ''Film/TheViewAskewniverse''.
723** Lima, Ohio: ''Series/{{Glee}}''.
724** Litchfield, New York: ''Series/OrangeIsTheNewBlack''.
725** UsefulNotes/{{Liverpool}}, England: Music/TheBeatles.
726** Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, Wales: Yes, it is frequently used as a OverlyLongName in comedies, but this location is 100 percent real.
727** Loch Ness: According to legend the Monster of Loch Ness has been sighted there for a long time.
728** Lowell, Massachusetts: ''Film/TheFighter''.
729** Lynwood, California: The Music/WeirdAlYankovic album ''Music/StraightOuttaLynwood''.
730** Madagascar: [[Franchise/{{Madagascar}} The animated film series]].
731** Marion, Indiana: The birthplace of Creator/JamesDean.
732** Miles City, Montana: ''Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory''.
733** Milwaukee, Wisconsin: ''Series/HappyDays''.
734** Nashville, Tennessee: The country music industry.
735** Newport Beach, California: ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment''; ''Series/TheOC''
736** Newtown, Connecticut: The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting of December 14, 2012.
737** Nottingham, England: ''Myth/RobinHood''.
738** Nürnberg, Germany: ''Opera/DieMeistersingerVonNurnberg''. Or the Nuremberg trials of high-ranking Nazis after WWII, dramatized in ''Film/JudgmentAtNuremberg''.
739** Odessa, Texas: Setting for the nonfiction book ''Friday Night Lights'' and [[Film/FridayNightLights its film adaptation]].
740** [[UsefulNotes/OklahomaUSA Oklahoma, USA]]: The play and musical ''Theatre/{{Oklahoma}}''.
741** Olympus, Greece: Mount Olympus where, according to Myth/GreekMythology, the gods live.
742** Oxford, England: Oxford University.
743** Penny Lane, Liverpool, Great Britain: The Beatles song ''Penny Lane''
744** Philadelphia Museum of Art: ''Film/{{Rocky}}''.
745** Piqua, Ohio: ''Literature/CaptainUnderpants''.
746** Pismo Beach, California, USA: The location WesternAnimation/BugsBunny always looks when digging tunnels.
747** Point Pleasant, New Jersey, USA: ''Series/PointPleasant''.
748** Porbandar, India: The birthplace of UsefulNotes/MahatmaGandhi.
749** Prague, Czech Republic: ''Film/TheGolem''.
750** Pulaski, Tennessee: The birthplace of the original UsefulNotes/KuKluxKlan (KKK).
751** Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania: Home of Groundhog Day mascot Punxsutawney Phil; and the [[Film/GroundhogDay film]] based on the holiday. Also hometown of AEW's Wrestling/BrittBaker.
752** Reet, Belgium: Dutch comedian Dolf Brouwers had a FunnyForeigner Belgian character [[note]] who just talked Dutch without a Flemish accent [[/note]] called Sjef Van Oekel, who was supposedly from Reet.
753** Rhode Island: Location of Quahog, the setting of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''.
754** Route 66, traveling through several western US states: The song "Route 66" as well as the ''Franchise/{{Cars}}'' films.
755** Saint Tropez, France: ''Film/LeGendarmeDeSaintTropez''.
756** Salzburg, Austria: The birthplace of [[Music/WolfgangAmadeusMozart Mozart]]; ''Film/TheSoundOfMusic''.
757** San José, California, USA: The song ''Do You Know The Way To San José?''
758** Santa Barbara, California: ''Series/{{Psych}}'', or the soap opera ''Santa Barbara''.
759** Santa Monica, California: ''Series/ThreesCompany''; Music/{{Everclear}}'s 1995 hit.
760** Scranton, Pennsylvania: ''Series/TheOfficeUS'', and for older folks the song [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/30,000_Pounds_of_Bananas Thirty Thousand Pounds of Bananas]] by Music/HarryChapin, which was in turn based on a real event.
761** Seaside Heights, New Jersey: ''Series/JerseyShore'' (although the show is a reality series ''and'' it's a popular resort town for New Jerseyans).
762** Selma, Alabama: The Selma to Montgomery marches.
763** Seneca Falls, New York: The women's rights movement; ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife''.
764** Seville, Spain: ''Theatre/TheBarberOfSeville''.
765** Shanksville, Pennsylvania: United Airlines Flight 93.
766** Shaolin Temple, China: Known from countless martial arts movies.
767** Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire, Great Britain: The hiding place of Myth/RobinHood.
768** Sing Sing prison, Ossining, New York, USA: Is referenced a lot in comedies and cartoons, usually with a PunnyName variation.
769** Silsbee, Texas: Home of Wrestling/MarkHenry.
770** Sleepy Hollow, New York, USA: ''Literature/TheLegendOfSleepyHollow''
771** South Park, Colorado, USA: ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' [[note]]There’s no actual town in the state called South Park, but it is a real place (a flat grassland surrounded by mountains), and South Park City is an alternative name for the town of Fairplay in South Park, and the geographical references made in the series all work out. See [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Park_(Park_County,_Colorado) the Wikipedia entry on South Park]] for more details.[[/note]]
772** Any U.S. town named Springfield: ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''
773** Springfield, Illinois: The longtime hometown of UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln.
774** UsefulNotes/StLouis, USA: The jazz standard ''St. Louis Blues''.
775** Stevens Point, Wisconsin: ''Series/LivAndMaddie''.
776** Stone Mountain, Georgia, USA: The birthplace of the second Ku Klux Klan. Ironically, it now has a majority African-American population.
777** Stratford-upon-Avon, England: The birthplace of Creator/WilliamShakespeare.
778** Stratford, Canada: The hometown of Music/JustinBieber... which hosts a major Shakespeare festival that predates Bieber by decades.
779** Tampico, Illinois: The birthplace of UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan.
780** Tipperary, Ireland: The song ''It's a long way to Tipperary''.
781** Tollembeek, Belgium: Known in Flanders and the Netherlands from the comic strip ''ComicBook/{{Urbanus}}''.
782** Topeka, Kansas: ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka''; home of the Westboro Baptist Church.
783** Tombstone, Arizona, USA: ''Film/{{Tombstone}}''.
784** Torquay, England: Known as the location of ''Series/FawltyTowers''.
785** Trannsylvania, Romania: The home province of ''Literature/{{Dracula}}''.
786** Trenchtown, Jamaica: Immortalized in Bob Marley's song ''Trenchtown Rock'' from ''[[Music/LiveBobMarleyAlbum Live!]]''.
787** Tupelo, Mississippi: The birthplace of Music/ElvisPresley.
788** Tunisia: Hot, dry North African country where four of the ''Franchise/StarWars'' movies were filmed.
789** Twin Peaks, San Francisco, California: Two hills in San Francisco, made famous by the series ''Series/TwinPeaks'' (which takes place in Washington State).
790** Van Cortlandt Park, North Bronx, NYC: This was where the infamous "CAAAAN YOU DIG IT?!" scene in ''Film/TheWarriors'' was shot.
791** [[KirksRock Vasquez Rocks]] in California deserve a mention. Most people have never heard of the place, but will recognize it instantly from numerous westerns and, more notoriously, [[Recap/StarTrekS1E18Arena Captain Kirk's fight with the Gorn]].
792** Venice Beach, California: Kayfabe hometown of Wrestling/HulkHogan.
793** Vermont, USA: The jazz standard ''Moonlight in Vermont'' and Music/CaptainBeefheart's "Moonlight '''on''' Vermont" from ''Music/TroutMaskReplica''.
794** Verona, Italy: The hometown of ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet''.
795** Vesoul, France: From the Music/JacquesBrel song "Vesoul".
796** Victoria, Texas: The hometown of Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin.
797** Vienna (Wien), Austria: ''Geschichte aus der Wienerwald'' ("Tales from the Vienna Woods") by Johann Strauss.
798** West Newbury, Massachusetts: The real hometown of Wrestling/JohnCena.
799** Winslow, Arizona, USA: The song "Take It Easy" by the Music/{{Eagles}}.
800** Woodbury, Georgia: ''Series/TheWalkingDead''.
801** Wyomissing, Pennsylvania: The hometown of Music/TaylorSwift.
802** Yuma, Arizona, USA: ''Film/ThreeTenToYuma1957'' and its [[Film/ThreeTenToYuma2007 2007 remake]].
803* An example outside our solar system: There's a star named [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellatrix Bellatrix]] (which briefly gets mentioned in ''Film/PlanetOfTheApes1968''). Nowadays, when most people hear that name, they think of [[Literature/HarryPotter one specific person]] named after that star.
804[[/folder]]
805
806[[folder:Real Life -- Other]]
807* Most people who live outside of the United States or Canada tend to believe that ''Creator/ChuckECheese'' is a fictional stand-in restaurant in media, due to how frequently it's been mentioned by works produced in the United States. Some of these people will be surprised when told that the restaurant in question actually exists.
808* In non-English-speaking countries, the word "spam" is almost exclusively known as its modern definition of undesired telecommunication or repetitiveness rather than the luncheon meat product and the ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' sketch the meaning derives from.
809[[/folder]]

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