History Main / SmallReferencePools

* Thanks partly to the influence of Gary Larson's ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'', many DadaComics avert this trope, sometimes bordering on ViewersAreGeniuses. One instance in which this trope caught up was a panel in which one cowboy offered another a latte. In the days before Starbucks, many audience members were convinced that "latte" meant gay sex; others knew that it was a type of coffee but [[ItIsPronouncedTropay didn't know the word was Italian, assumed it was French, and pronounced it "lat."]]

A SisterTrope to WeirdAlEffect, PublicMediumIgnorance, CulturalCrossReference, PopculturalOsmosis, EiffelTowerEffect and JustForFun/EverybodyKnowsThat. Depending on how small the reference pool is, this can sometimes lead to certain works being a ShallowParody of the genre or medium they're referencing.

** Probably the farthest they ever pushed this was the line "Look out Mike, she's got your computer!", which was a reference to the time head writer Mike Nelson's ex-girlfriend stole his computer. [[UpToEleven This joke was made when Mike wasn't even a cast member on the show yet]].

** Any references to the Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon will be limited to films made during Walt Disney's lifetime, the Renaissance Era films, and ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}''. Also, the company did nothing between ''WesternAnimation/{{Bambi}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}}'' and took a 22-year nap from ''WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook'' to ''WesternAnimation/{{The Little Mermaid|1989}}''.

* Most people know that not all roses are red, and are aware of white, pink, orange, and other varieties. But few realize that the archetypal rose form, with a whorl of petals that completely surround the interior part, is found among just a couple varieties, most notably the Hybrid Tea. Of the hundreds of rose species and cultivars that exist, nearly all look like "standard" flowers with open petals, and not like a "real rose."

* Cryptids in fiction will usually be Bigfoot, Yeti, the Loch Ness monster, and Chupacabra.

* ''{{Webcomic/xkcd}}'' often has strips with jokes on the subjects of advanced mathematics and physics, computer coding, and various other obscure references.

* Harold Ross, founder of ''Magazine/TheNewYorker'' magazine, would write "Who he?" on the copy whenever one of his writers used a name without explaining who the person was. He said that there were only two names you can assume everybody knows: SherlockHolmes and Harry Houdini.

** Though when people think of specific animation clichés they're usually envisioning ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'', ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' and work by Creator/TexAvery.

* Podcast/RiffTrax follows the example of ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' in Live-Action TV above, and even directly references the "The right people will get it" philosophy at one point. (following a fairly obvious joke about Creator/DanielRadcliffe's performance in ''Theatre/{{Equus}}'')

One notable case where all these qualms about obscurity get thrown out the window is the CelebrityStar. It's much easier to get a guest who's "famous" than one who's ''actually'' well known. If a band makes an appearance, most of the characters will suddenly become fans, no matter how obscure or washed up the band really is -- which can also lead to such hilarious situations as the CityMouse suddenly liking country music or the wholesome, mostly white, DomCom family all loving a rapper who is not normally known for being family friendly. Likewise, B- and C-list actors are all suddenly big stars when they walk onto a TV show and everyone will know them by their real names.

A SuperTrope to NothingButHits, SmallTaxonomyPools, GeekReferencePool.

A SisterTrope to WeirdAlEffect, PublicMediumIgnorance, CulturalCrossReference, PopculturalOsmosis, EiffelTowerEffect, JustForFun/EverybodyKnowsThat. Depending on how small the reference pool is, this can sometimes lead to certain works being a ShallowParody of the genre or medium they're referencing.

* When it comes to science-fiction writers, you can count on just about everyone having heard of one man: Creator/RayBradbury, author of ''Literature/Fahrenheit451'' and ''Literature/TheMartianChronicles'', a collection of short stories that has been adapted into several other media. Arthur C. Clarke tends to be less well-known, even though he helped to write the screenplay for ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'' -- a film that most people know through at least PopCulturalOsmosis. Hardcore ''Franchise/StarWars'' fans usually are familiar with Timothy Zahn, Kevin J. Anderson, Steve Perry, and perhaps Alan Dean Foster.
* You can expect people to have heard of Creator/HGWells, although most would be hard-pressed to name any of his works that aren't ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'' or ''Literature/TheTimeMachine''. (Many aren't aware he wrote ''Literature/TheInvisibleMan'' or ''Literature/TheIslandOfDoctorMoreau'', even though [[AdaptationDisplacement those two have become much more popular as movies]].) There's also a chance they've heard of Creator/IsaacAsimov, but they probably won't know anything he wrote.

* {{Anime}}? Anything by Creator/HayaoMiyazaki, usually ''Anime/SpiritedAway'', and ''Manga/{{Akira}}''.

* Only ''Star Wars'' planets: Tatooine, Alderaan (which was only briefly seen and then got blown up, so it barely counts), Yavin 4, Hoth, Dagobah, Jakku, Bespin, Crait, Endor (only hardcore fans will ever properly call it "Sanctuary Moon"), Naboo, Coruscant, Kamino, Geonosis, Utapau, Mustafar. What about Kessel, Ord Mantell, Taanab, etc.? Won't get mentioned, even though [[AllThereInTheScript they're outright spoken in the movies' dialogue]] (go back and check). True ''Star Wars'' buffs can name several dozen planets, or even more. Curiously, only rarely will anyone remember Kashyyyk or Nal Hutta, even though Wookiees and Hutts are two of the most well-known ''Star Wars'' aliens.

* Martial arts? You'll be hard-pressed to find people who know that it isn't just East Asian stuff or that the West has more than, say, boxing, wrestling, maybe krav maga... and even for the "famous" East Asian styles, most will just say "karate" or "kung fu", neglecting that these are broad categories with sub-styles that can vary quite drastically from one to another, such as the acrobatic-and-kick-centric changquan vs the close-in wing chun. UsefulNotes/MixedMartialArts has only slightly broadened the pool, partly because so few of the more obscure styles' practitioners make it big.

It's worth noting that a major work of pop culture can completely turn one subject around and make it a free-for-all. For instance, before ''Franchise/JurassicPark'', many people had only heard of maybe [[StockDinosaurs three or four types of dinosaur]]. Afterwards everyone could suddenly discuss velociraptors and dilophosaurs as though they'd known about them since childhood. [[note]] Ironically, ''Velociraptor'' had indeed been around since their childhoods, and then some, [[OlderThanTheyThink its skeleton having first been discovered in Mongolia in the 1920s]]; but [[WeAllLiveInAmerica since it was an]] ''[[WeAllLiveInAmerica Asian]]'' [[WeAllLiveInAmerica dinosaur]], it went unnoticed in the West for decades except among paleontologists and hardcore dinosaur fans. [[/note]] A new NBA franchise even named their team "Raptors", signaling that the species was there to stay on the pop-culture radar. The works of Creator/LeonardoDaVinci got a similar treatment thanks to Creator/DanBrown's ''Literature/TheDaVinciCode.''

** Any references to the Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon will be limited to films made during Walt Disney's lifetime, the Renaissance Era films, and ''Disney/{{Frozen}}''. Also, the company did nothing between ''Disney/{{Bambi}}'' and ''Disney/{{Cinderella}}'' and took a 22-year nap from ''Disney/TheJungleBook'' to ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid''.
** Disney villains? You've got the Evil Queen, Lady Tremaine, the Queen of Hearts, Captain Hook, Maleficent, Cruella de Vil, Ursula, Gaston, Jafar, Scar, Hades, Dr. Facilier, Mother Gothel, and Hans. If you can name anyone else then you're definitely in geek territory. Even the ''Film/{{Descendants}}'' movies only feature children of villains everyone knows.

* Creator/DreamWorksAnimation only did CGI, forgetting they did plenty of 2D animated films. And good luck people citing works outside of Franchise/{{Shrek}}, causing a slippery slope on mislabeling the company for only doing pop-culture reference-heavy works with DreamWorksFace.

[[folder:mythology]]

* Creator/TheWaltDisneyCompany:[[WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse The Mickey Mouse Universe]], WesternAnimation/WinnieThePooh, the Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon, and Creator/{{Pixar}}.

* Creator/WaltDisney: WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse, WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck and/or ''Disney/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs'' are the only point of reference.

* Ask a person for a stock list of constellations. It will usually come in two flavors: it's either the zodiacs, or the usual common ones like Orion, Ursa Major/Minor[[note]]and/or the Big and Little Dippers[[/note]] and the [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment zodiacs]].

* Yoga in its entirety consists of holding three poses (only a real show-off would ever call them asanas): Lotus, Bow and Downward Facing Dog.

* Thanks partly to the influence of Gary Larson's ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'', many DadaComics avert this trope, sometimes bordering on ViewersAreGeniuses. One instance in which this trope caught up was a panel in which one cowboy offered another a latte. In the days before Starbucks, many audience members were convinced that "latte" meant gay sex; others knew that it was a type of coffee but [[ItsPronouncedTropay didn't know the word was Italian, assumed it was French, and pronounced it "lat."]]

* Pirates come in three flavors: Blackbeard, Black Bart, and [[Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean Captain Jack Sparrow]]. They [[ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything don't do anything remotely related to piracy]] for the most part. Hardly surprising on Black Bart's part since he was a [[http://www.blackbart.com/ Stagecoach Robber]].

* Only ''Star Wars'' planets: Tatooine, Alderaan (which was only briefly seen and then got blown up, so it barely counts), Yavin 4, Hoth, Dagobah, Bespin, Endor (only hardcore fans will ever properly call it "Sanctuary Moon"), Naboo, Coruscant, Kamino, Geonosis, Utapau, Mustafar. What about Kessel, Ord Mantell, Taanab, etc.? Won't get mentioned, even though [[AllThereInTheScript they're outright spoken in the movies' dialogue]] (go back and check). True ''Star Wars'' buffs can name several dozen planets, or even more. Curiously, only rarely will anyone remember Kashyyyk or Nal Hutta, even though Wookiees and Hutts are the two most well-known ''Star Wars'' aliens.
* The only ''Franchise/StarTrek'' characters are Kirk, Spock, Scotty, Khan, Picard, Worf, and Data. Geordie and Wesley might get mentioned if they're lucky. And Kahn is only remembered for [[MemeticMutation that time Kirk]] [[LargeHam shouted his name]].

* The only ''Star Trek'' aliens are Vulcans, Klingons, and Tribbles - plus maybe "those helmet-headed guys with big noses."[[note]] Ferengi [[/note]]. Orion Slave Girls never get mentioned, even though they're the {{Trope Namer|s}} for GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe.

* As far as stars go, most people know the North Star and that's about it. Most people don't even know its actual name is Polaris. Alpha Centauri is reasonably well-known, mostly because it's the closest to us. Don't expect anyone to know that Alpha Centauri is actually three stars (or two if you're only counting the binary pair).