History Main / InUniverseFactoidFailure

* The ''WebVideo/ThirdRateGamer'' gives us many examples, parodying ''WebVideo/TheIrateGamer'''s research failures, such as claiming that the ''Film/SuperMarioBros1993'' film is the original and [[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1 the game]] is just a cheap licensed cash-in.

** One arc involved Charlie and Sally helping younger children in Sunday School. Sally was continuously frustrated by a young boy who inexplicably believed [[Literature/TheGreatGatsby Jay Gatsby]] was in Literature/TheBible.

* On ''Series/{{Scream Queens|2015}}'', Chad gives a speech against cancelling Halloween because of a serial killer, referring to John F. Kennedy. He somehow knows Kennedy wrote a book called ''Profiles in Courage''[[note]]and even then, there's been controversy as to whether or not Kennedy had a ghostwriter[[/note]], but everything else...

* At the end of Music/{{Eminem}}'s [[Music/TheMarshallMathersLP "Stan"]], the title character rattles off the urban legend about Music/PhilCollins's [[Music/FaceValue "In the Air Tonight"]] being written about a man who didn't save another man from drowning, who later turned up at a concert. What's more, he misnames the song, calling it "In the Air of the Night". It's intended to show that Stan doesn't have a great ability to interpret art, hence his conviction that Eminem's Slim Shady character is [[ActorRoleConfusion a real person]].

** In Catwoman's testimony, she claims that she, her pet jaguar and her spoils were adrift in a river atop the jaguar's Brazilian peppertree wood cage, with Catwoman being forced to push Batman (who was hanging onto the side) into the river rather than let him weigh them down. Two-Face has the cage brought in, along with a tank of water. He reveals that the wood the cage is made of has a density one-and-a-half times that of water, meaning that the cage couldn't have even stayed afloat by itself, let alone support anyone; a fact which is proven when he drops the cage in the tank and it sinks immediately.

* ''Film/FearAndLoathingInLasVegas'': Raoul Duke goes to a police lecture about drug culture, and even gives the camera an AsideGlance while listening to the government experts comically off mark lecture.

* ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'': After the Scarecrow gets a diploma, he suddenly states that "The sum of the square roots of any two sides of an isosceles triangle is equal to the square root of the remaining side", showing off how intelligent he is. Shame that only applies to a ''right'' triangle. Possibly justified, since the whole point of him getting a diploma instead of a brain is that you don't have to actually be smart as long as you can make people believe you are.

** One segment has Rosie becoming a Goth, which is made out to be a cult, complete with not washing and worshipping a "Goth god." However, it's indicated that instead of the author, it's Rosie herself who has no idea what a Goth really is.

* It's common in ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' fics for [[ConsummateLiar Lila]] to make this mistake. Often it's because of these blunders that her victims start SpottingTheThread:

*** Lila claims to be in contact with the lead actress from the film ''Solitude''. Nino and Marinette both know that Lila can't possibly have spoken to her recently, because the lead actress is Emilie Graham de Vanily, now known as Emilie ''Agreste'' - Adrien's mother, who the entire class knows [[MissingMom disappeared long before Lila even arrived in Paris]]. Upon hearing about this, both Adrien and his father [[RelativeButton are absolutely enraged]].
*** She also tells Nathaniel that she can put him in contact with Creator/StanLee, who at the time of the fic's writing and setting had been dead for more than a year, something that Nathaniel points out.

** In ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/22277602/chapters/53992366 You Know About Them?]]'', Lila claims to know the lead singer of Kitty Section, having met him when he let her backstage in a concert in Italy. Unfortunately for her, this causes the others to confirm Lila's a liar... because Kitty Section is formed by her classmates (and the brother of one of them) and ''Rose'' is the lead singer. Some of them just barely manage to crack up laughing.

-->'''Ron:''' Discovered by the Germans in 1904, they named it San Diego, which of course in German means a whale’s vagina.
-->'''Veronica:''' No, there’s no way that’s correct.
-->'''Ron:''' I’m sorry, I was trying to impress you. I don’t know what it means. I’ll be honest, I don’t think anyone knows what it means anymore. Scholars maintain that the translation was lost hundreds of years ago.
-->'''Veronica:''' Doesn’t it mean Saint Diego?

--->'''Hans''': This time Creator/JohnWayne does not walk off into the sunset with Creator/GraceKelly.
--->'''John''': That was ''Creator/GaryCooper'', asshole.
--->'''Hans''': ''Enough jokes.''

-->'''Coleman''': Let me see, you would be from Austria. Am I right?
-->'''Ophelia''': No, I am Inga from Sweden.
-->'''Coleman''': Sweden? ...But you're wearing ...Lederhosen.
-->'''Ophelia''': Ja, from Sweden.
* ''Film/{{Transformers}}'':
-->'''Simmons''': Nokias are real nasty! You've gotta give respect to the Japanese - they know the way of the samurai!
-->'''Maggie''': Nokia’s from Finland.
-->'''Keller''': Yes, but he's, you know, a little strange. He's a little strange.

-->'''Dr. Upton:''' This is the first snow you've ever seen? [...] Aren't you from Canada?
-->'''Rumisiel:''' Yeah... but I'm from, like, the tropical part of Canada. The vast Canadian Empire ranges all far and wide, you know, eh?
-->'''Dr. Upton:''' ...there's something desperately wrong with that sentence, but I'm too tired to care. Remind me in the future never to talk to you until after I've had my coffee.
-->'''Rumisiel:''' The Emperor of Canada told me the same thing once.

** Homer confuses an isosceles triangle with a right triangle. Perhaps he's remembering the Scarecrow's infamous quote from ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'', who says the same thing (but isn't corrected in-universe).

--->'''Calvin''': The planet Mercury was named after a Roman god with winged feet. Mercury was the god of flowers and bouquets, which is why today he is a registered trademark of FTD florists. Why they named a planet after this guy, I can't imagine. ...Um, back to you, Susie.

* Ricky, a minor character introduced in the ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' add-on Honest Hearts is full of these. His BlatantLies include claiming he’s from Vault 22, which if the player has been there you can call him out by saying the Vault is long since abandoned and overrun with hostile plant life, and that he’s killed a Brotherhood of Steel Paladin by shooting him through the visor with an 11mm SMG, which you can call him on either with the guns skill or power armor training perk by stating 11mm doesn’t exist and that power armor visors are bullet resistant, respectively.

** In ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/22277602/chapters/53992366 You Know About Them?]]'', Lila claims to know the lead singer of Kitty Section, having met him when he let her backstage in a concert in Italy. Unfortunately for her, this causes the others to confirm Lila's a liar... because Kitty Section is formed by her classmates (and the brother of one of them) and ''Rose'' is the lead singer.

** In the video example below, Homer confuses the isosceles triangle with the right triangle. Perhaps he's remembering the Scarecrow's infamous quote from ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'', who says the same thing (but isn't corrected in-universe).

** He complains that Jane Austen is "too old-fashioned and should write something more modern."
** He thinks Evelyn Waugh was a woman, doesn't grasp why Pandora has a nickname of "the box" and is constantly mixing up various artistic names and their achievements.

** He thinks the Art/SistineChapel was painted by Creator/{{Rembrandt|VanRijn}} in UsefulNotes/{{Venice}}. In truth, the Sistine Chapel's ceilings and sculptures were painted by various artists, such as Creator/MichelangeloBuonarroti and Creator/SandroBotticelli.

** He thinks the Art/SistineChapel was painted by Creator/{{Rembrandt|VanRijn}} in UsefulNotes/{{Venice}}. In truth, the Sistine Chapel's ceilings and sculptures were painted by various artists, such as Creator/LeonardoDaVinci, Creator/MichelangeloBuonarroti, and Creator/SandroBotticelli.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' references ''Film/TheMatrix'' having robots use humans as batteries, with Bender saying "Doesn't that violate the Second Law of Thermodynamics? Wouldn't just about anything make a better battery than a human? Like a potato? Or a ''battery''?" Leela explains that while everyone at the time it was made thought ''The Matrix'' was the worst movie ever because of this "mistake", [[WhatWeNowKnowToBeTrue it turns out the film actually got it right]]. Of course, this is a universe in which it's possible to travel between stars in hours or at most days because "scientists increased the speed of light in 2208", besides which, in the real world, the original movie is still roundly considered very good by most people who have seen it in spite of this scientific whopper.

** Calvin's dad isn't much better, telling him things like how the whole world was black and white until 1930 or that the sun sets near Flagstaff, Arizona. Of course, in his case, we can usually be sure that he's just [[{{Troll}} trolling]] his son.

* In the ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' WebVideo/LeeroyJenkinsVideo, the team's "plan" for tackling the Upper Blackrock Spire involved shielding their mages with Divine Intervention while they cast crowd-clearing AOE spells on the Rookery's whelps, completely missing that 1.) Divine Intervention kills the paladin that casts it (removing a character who can tank and heal from the fight) and renders the one it's cast on unable to use any of their abilities or even move, and 2.) fear rotation on the warriors' part is ineffective in the Rookery due to the respawning eggs, only keeping the whelps off them for a few seconds before dumping even more of them onto the party. In addition, the whelps only spawn if you're stupid enough to actually step on the eggs. In other words, the team's plan was doomed even before [[LeeroyJenkins Leeroy ran in]].

* In the ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' WebVideo/LeeroyJenkinsVideo, the team's "plan" for tackling the Upper Blackrock Spire involved shielding their mages with Divine Intervention while they cast crowd-clearing AOE spells on the Rookery's whelps, completely missing that 1.) Divine Intervention kills the paladin that casts it (removing a character who can tank and heal from the fight) and renders the one it's cast on unable to use any of their abilities or even move, and 2.) fear rotation on the warriors' part is ineffective in the Rookery due to the respawning eggs, only keeping the whelps off them for a few seconds before dumping even more of them onto the party. In addition, the whelps only spawn if you're stupid enough to actually step on the eggs. As a result, the team's plan was doomed even before [[LeeroyJenkins Leeroy ran in]].