Real Life section maintenance (New Crowner 19 Feb 2024)

• The Chinese warlord Cao Cao (3rd century AD) was so well known for his rapid marches, the Chinese term for this trope since the time was "Speak of Cao Cao, and Cao Cao will appear."
• A once-popular internet meme says this of Candle Jack, who kidnaps whomever speaks of him. It's a Discredited Meme nowadays - don't use i
• In Spanish, the equivalent idiom for this translates as "Speak of the king of Rome, and through the window he appears."
• In the past, some cultures put a taboo on saying their language's word for "bear", fearing that it would summon one. This was so prevalent that in many languages, including English, the word used nowadays is actually descended from an euphemism, and the original word was avoided so thoroughly that it has been lost to time. As such, we may never find out what bears were actually called in Olde English.
• The old Swedish had a fear of wolves. It became so prevalent and went on for so long that the most popular nickname stopped being a nickname and became the proper name, though thankfully the fear fell into obscurity before it happened again.
• Mob kingpin Vincent "The Chin" Gigante was so feared in the Italian mob that people would point to or touch their chins, or by shaping a C with a thumb and forefinger rather than say his name out loud if they want to refer to him. Other times, they would usually call him "that guy," "my aunt," or "Aunt Julia" when referring to Gigante. This was done to avoid FBI bugs and whatnot. In one instance, a capo in the Lucchese family was given a phony beating to avoid Gigante's wrath when the mobster brought up his name during a conversation.
  • This was later copied by Joe Massino of the Bonanno family, as he ordered his men to touch their ears when referring to him. This is how he got the nickname "The Ear."
• Demonologists usually advise people to not speak about the demon while in a demonically infested house. Some activities, like listening to recordings of exorcisms for instructional purposes, are also considered "opening doorways" that could attract the wrong kind of attention.
• In certain Native American tribes (primarily Algonquin and Anishinaabe), wendigos are considered the embodiment of pure evil and people are forbidden from speaking their name. Some articles on this subject even censor the name to "w*ndigo."
• Tagging somebody's name in a Facebook post alerts that person to the post. It's not uncommon for people to post the name on its own to get their attention.
• Tumblr allows users to invoke this; putting an @ symbol before their URL allows you to "mention" them, which puts a notification on their dashboard. Just typing someone's URL alone doesn't alert them, but since users have long been hashtagging each other in conversations and the new full-text search appears in the exact same spot as the old tag search it replaced, many of them are now in the habit of searching their own URL and will end up finding you anyway.
• The card of Death (but not, surprisingly, The Devil) in Tarots is also known as "The Nameless Arcane" since many feared that saying its name would summon it.
  • Even though it actually has nothing to do with death.
• You know, there's also at least one religious movement known to be really touchy about its public image that has a tendency to sic lawyers and protesters on anyone who says even remotely unflattering things about it.
• Hashtags on Twitter allow one to do this not with a name, but with a topic. For example, if one criticizes a particular group of radicals that rallies under a given hashtag, expect to get flamed by 4-5 defenders of said group telling you that you are evil and that you work for the enemy, etc.
• DeviantArt's mention system can summon certain users if you bring them up in a comment or deviation.
• An old ASVS (alt.startrek.vs.starwars) troll known as Tim was also commonly known as "TOWNMNBS" (The One Whose Name Must Not Be Spoken), due to his tendency to appear whenever anyone mentioned him. He also was known for inventing the "Timsult" a type of pseudo-insult that was harsh enough to upset the recipient but not harsh enough to justify disciplinary action by the board moderators. The purpose of which would be to provoke people into using actual insults against him, and then reporting them so they would be banned.
• Critics of Vladimir Putin often refer to him as "Mr. P" (often times in English or another language).
• New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced that she would not use the name of the Christchurch shooter to avoid giving him any publicity.
• Numerous tribes in South America, Australia, and other places take this Up To Eleven. It's considered bad luck for them to speak a dead person's name; so if a man dies, and his name was, for example, "Fire", then the tribe immediately changes their language by adopting another word for fire. One missionary reported that he spent seven years with the natives of Paraguay, and in that time, they adopted three different successive words for "jaguar".

• Driving around British country roads, every now and then you'll see signs directing you to a "SECRET NUCLEAR BUNKER^note (other bunkers exist)" or similar. Generally it's because they're decommissioned and living a new life as tourist attractions, but it's still entertainingly surreal.
• Did you know the Bat Cave is real, and it's in North Carolina? Obviously this is a subversion as Bat Cave is just a small town and you won't find any Dark Knights there (that we know of), but the road signs leading there never the less hilariously evoke this trope and it's fun to think Alfred went off his nut and put◊ up◊ signs◊.

Asian and Middle Eastern Cities

• The Kowloon Walled City had fame as a Wretched Hive, but actually was more like this. Specially from the mid-Seventies on, when there was a tacit agreement between the mainland authorities (to whom the area ostensibly belonged) and the British, that allowed British police to operate within the Walled City. This radically brought down the crime activity and increased the quality of life, as the utilities could come there as well. (Besides, The Triads and the Tongs considered the place a sort-of base and not a feeding ground, so it wasn't exactly in their interests to cause mayhem.)
• The squatters/informal settlers' slums found in Manila, Philippines are particularly infamous among Filipinos. They're partly the result of haphazard reconstruction efforts following World War II, poverty, and the mass influx of arrivals from the provinces in the intervening decades (which in turn contributed to the large population growth of the metropolis).
• Jerusalem has some neighborhoods like this. Nachlaot is a poor neighborhood that's a mix of Yerushalmi, Mizrahi, and Sephardi Jewish enclaves with a liberal sprinkling of students and misfit expats. Violent crime is rare, but petty crime is rampant. Mind, locals aren't usually targeted, what with the proximity to the Machane Yehuda shuk and its influx of tourists being richer and easier pickings. Mea Shearim on the other hand...they aren't fond of tour groups. Women who enter wearing trousers, skirts above the knee, tops cut too low or with sleeves above the elbow will be yelled at and possibly spit on. And if there are noises about drafting Haredi men into the army, they will hold demonstrations where they burn trash cans. Mea Shearim is also home to the virulently anti-Zionist Neturei Karta and Sikrikim. Neturei Karta has been known to attend Holocaust denial events, and the Sikrikim have clashed with nearby Gerrer Hasidim in what police have called a "gang war," taking credit for numerous acts of vandalism and assault.
• Osaka in Japan has Nishinari-ku, a short distance to the south from the much more upmarket Namba district and almost literally on the other side of a railway line. It is considered the slum of Osaka and the most dangerous place in Japan. It is infamous for multiple rioting incidents, strong Yakuza presence, and the largest Red Light District in Japan. In recent years, it has seen some minor regeneration, in part due to the growth of inexpensive hotels which draw in tourists looking for somewhere to stay while visiting the city.
• Sanya in Tokyo, Japan officially has not existed since 1966. Historically, it was a dumping ground for craftsmen and undesirables. Today, it is an area of homelessness, itinerant elderly day labourers exploited by the Yakuza and bottom-tier cheap hostels.
• Jalan Kukoh in Singapore, also called Chin Swee Road, is one of the poorest and most homelessness-prone areas. For added adherence to the trope, it's within walking distance of the swanky Clarke Quay and River Valley Road areas. Granted, what's crappy by Singaporean standards is still better than quite a few other entries on this list.

European Cities

• Banlieues in France.
• Parts of London's East End are considered to be on the wrong side, such as Hackney.
• In the 20th century, Russia was hit with urbanization like a 2x4, jumping from 90% rural to 80% urban in just 50 years or so. During the rapid industrialization of the '30s, a lot of communities arose around the enormous factories, often built in the middle of nowhere or on the outskirts of the existing cities, essentially becoming company towns. Populated mainly by the former peasants torn out of their traditional way of life, these quickly became almost classical Industrial Slums, full of rowdy working youths, Gangbangers (often the very same youths), drunks, etc. When the Soviet Union caved in, some of these "monotowns" and working districts, those whose plant of factory didn't fare all that well, became Modern Ghettos, with poverty and unemployment galore, while those that fared better got even slummier, especially with the influx of cheap immigrant labor.

North American Cities

• There is an actual neighborhood literally called "Skid Row", the "Meatpacking District", and/or "Tenderloin" in various cities in the U.S. Such older downtown business areas are prone to general poverty, neglect and homelessness more than out-and-out crime and violence. Ironically, Times Square, which borders on Hells Kitchen, and "The Bowery" in downtown Manhattan used to be the Ur-Example of such shuttered small-business districts.
• Shanty Towns in the Caribbean islands.
• Caserios in Puerto Rico.
• In the early twentieth century, the Canadian city of Winnipeg in Manitoba had a district full of poor immigrants that was actually separated from the rest of the city by the train tracks.
• This is sadly still literally true in many old-fashioned Southern towns, e.g. Memphis, albeit with quaint results (e.g. a fancy golf course guarded by rottweilers directly across the railroad tracks from an Afrocentric bookstore!).
• East Cleveland, a suburb of Cleveland that has possibly the worst crime in Ohio. Granted, it's hard to find the right side of the tracks in Cleveland nowadays, but East Cleveland has long been notorious for being the worst hellhole in the area.
• Atlanta's crime rate is above the US national average but has gone down since peaking in 1990. Most of the crime is concentrated in certain neighborhoods in the western and southern parts of the city.
• Austin, Texas traditionally had Interstate 35 taking the place of the metaphorical tracks, with the east side being seen as the "wrong" side of the tracks (partially due to racism and legalized segregation at the time; the issue is very complicated) with some overlap to the west side for a few blocks; as recently as the 1990s, the famous 6th Street and Red River area on the west side of I-35 was known less for being a haven for live music and bars every eighteen feet and more for being a place you would be reluctant to walk around in after sundown. Today, however, Austin is seen as a very safe city with few violent crimes, and the biggest annoyance most citizens have with the city is its increasing rent costs and frequent traffic throughout the day.
• Albuquerque's War Zone, an area around Central Avenue between San Mateo and Wyoming Boulevards, is known for its high level of drug-related activity.
• El Paso Texas has "Angel's Triangle" know by locals as the Devil's Triangle until 1993- a place bordered by US Highway 54 and two streets. The crime rate was so high that the residents voted to rename the area in The '90s in an attempt to shake this trope.
• Baltimore, Maryland has a very distinctive difference between the beautiful Inner Harbor (tourist district) and the areas surrounding it.
• In the greater Boston area, you've got Roxbury, Mattapan (known as "Murderpan" to some) and the neighborhood of Mission Hill, so much so that one of the most infamous murder cases in Boston's history not only took place there but was deliberately committed there because of the area's reputation. Somerville ("Slummervile") used to be this before it got gentrified. Head up north to the Merrimack Valley and you have Lawrence and Haverhill; Lowell, while also home to some very rough areas, has been gentrified to some degree and is now far less dangerous than the other two as a whole.
• Most of Camden County, New Jersey is a safe and affluent place, but the namesake city, Camden, is one of the worst Wretched Hives on the East Coast, with a reputation for miles around as a place one never visits unless one has no choice, because of the crime rate. U.S. Highway 130 is the dividing line between the well-off suburbanites and the crime-ridden city. Even the parts of Pennsauken west of Route 130 are relatively run down compared to the rest of the non-Camden area.
• The South Side of Chicago is infamous for its high crime rate, particularly where gang activity is concerned. The West Side isn't much better.
• Detroit is what happens when an entire city becomes this:
  • In the area, anything south of 8 Mile Road(where Detroit begins) is considered this.
    • In fact, the difference is so distinct that one could drive north from a road in Detroit and go from a post-apocalyptic slum to a forested Arcadia with palatial houses in thirty minutes.
    • Specifically, driving north (especially on Telegraph Road) would get you from slums before 8 Mile Road, then going to inner(though old and slightly ill-maintained) suburbs after 8 Mile, better maintained inner suburbs after 12 Mile, larger, much newer suburban houses after Hall Road(20 Mile), and McMansions, country estates, or just farmland after 24 Mile.
• Houston's murder rate ranks high among the nation's largest cities. It's also one of the nation's largest hubs for human trafficking and is a major drug trafficking center due to its size and proximity to major drug exporting nations.
• Jacksonville is known for being one of if not the most dangerous cities in Florida. It has long been known as the state's murder capital, and its overall crime rate is higher than the US national average, largely due to crimes concentrated in Northwest Jacksonville.
• Much of Kansas City's violent crime occurs on the East Side where most of the poorer neighborhoods are. Once you cross Troost Avenue, you'll see why Kansas City has a relatively high FBI ranking in terms of large cities with high crime rates.
• The Los Angeles River and Interstate 10 divide the relatively upscale neighborhoods from the poorer, dangerous areas to the east and south, respectively.
  • Special attention goes to the Inland Empire, and particularly the I-15 corridor between Temecula and Las Vegas. Gang and drug activity is rampant, and the local economy has never completely recovered from the 2008 housing bubble.
• Milwaukee's North Side is its highest-crime area, which really says something considering the city ranks above the national average in every type of crime except aggravated assault.
  • The city of Milwaukee in general (minus a few select neighborhoods — the highest-income neighborhoods, naturally) has this reputation to people outside the city, particularly among the affluent suburbs that make up the rest of the county. Locals, however, are quick to remind people that there's more to Milwaukee than its worst attributes.
• Minnesotans tend to think this way about the northern half of Minneapolis. Technically, there are no tracks involved - the light rail doesn't go past Target Field for a reason. As for the Twin Cities in general, St. Paul is considered to be much rougher than Minneapolis.
• Monroe, Louisiana has anywhere south of Interstate 20 as a rough boundary between the relatively touristy parts of the city and the parts where one has to walk with more caution than usual.
• New Orleans has any part of the city outside the more touristy neighborhoods like the French Quarter or Marigny-Bywater.
• Several New York City neighborhoods in eastern Brooklyn, particularly​ Brownsville and East New York.
  • Five Points in New York used to be this, The City Narrows, and a Wretched Hive.
  • Hell's Kitchen, where West Side Story (1961) was set and filmed, used to be considered dangerous until the 1990s.
• The island of Oahu in Hawaii has Kalihi, Waipahu, and the entire Waianae Coast (anywhere past Ko Olina). To name a few.
• North Omaha is the roughest part of the city. Once you cross 72nd Street north of Blondo you’ll see why property values drop.
• North Philadelphia is the most dangerous part of the city due to poverty, crime, and drug use. This is a literal example as the bad area starts above Girard Avenue, which has one of the trolley lines. West Philly gets increasingly dangerous the further you get from University City (where The University of Pennsylvania is) and doesn't get better until you get to the neighborhoods close to City Line. Southwest Philly also has its share of bad neighborhoods, especially Kingsessing.
• The Hill District of Pittsburgh, separated from Downtown by Bigelow Boulevard and Interstate 579. Almost half of the Hill District's residents live in poverty, most of the homes and buildings are dilapidated, and drug-related crime is rampant. That said, the areas closest to Downtown in both are slowly gentrifying, though most areas remain best avoided.
• Southeast San Diego is the worst part of the city, being consistently responsible for half the city's homicides.
• Oakland and Richmond, California are considered this to San Francisco. However, most of what fits the bill is the southeast end called "East Oakland". Only the airport and Coliseum aren't considered dangerous. Oakland's downtown has been gentrifying as hipsters flee the astronomical rents across the bay. Similarly, the affluent neighborhood of Point Richmond has a small-town neighboorhood feel despite being located near a high-crime area.
  • San Francisco itself has a seedy, former military neighborhood called Hunters Point, which has one of the highest murder rates in the state and maybe even nation.
• St. Louis has anywhere north of Delmar Boulevard.
• Most of the eastern half of Washington, D.C., primarily the area east of the Anacostia River, especially in the Southeast Quadrant (which is defined as south of East Capitol Street and east of South Capitol Street).

South American Cities

• Barrios and the legendary Favelas of Brazil.
• Chile has the Poblaciones Callampas (Mushroom Towns, so called like that for appearing overnight, just like mushrooms on a garden). Most of those shanty towns are located just outside the big cities like the country's capital Santiago, usually in empty lots, and lack most modern amenities like drinking water and electricity.

• Wally Floody, one of the men responsible for planning the Great Escape from Stalag Luft 3 during World War 2. (Zero-Context Example)
• The Vietcong dug huge networks of tunnels during The Vietnam War to conduct guerrilla warfare in rural areas. The most impressive lies in Cu Chi, just northeast of the South Vietnamese Capital of Saigon.
• The Mole Man of East Hackney. (Zero-Context Example)
• Megatherium, a prehistoric giant ground sloth roughly the size of a rhinoceros, may have been a burrower, digging tunnels big enough for a human to stand upright in with its huge claws.
• Moles. What else do you call an animal that has perfectly adapted to spending its entire life underground? Other animals noted as highly proficient burrowers include aardvarks, naked mole-rats, gophers, rabbits, badgers, and far too many invertebrates to list.

• Canadian Infantry armour features some nice shoulder pads, which indeed increases the level of badass nicely.
  • Russian 6B43 body armor◊ was explicitly nicknamed "Imperial Guard's t-shirt" by the Internet military buffs as soon as its photos appeared.
• American football players, though they're not considered evil. (Although the ones that do a lot of tackling—mostly defense positions—have a reputation for psychopathy, e.g. "Oh, we call them linebackers. Or serial killers, depends on if they're professional or amateur.") Ice hockey players, too, as evidenced by their protruding pads in their uniforms, and that the sport is also full-contact like American football.
• Many European armours from the first half of the 16th century feature "Haute Pieces," vertical guards added to the pauldron (shoulder armour) to protect the neck and head. They can get pretty ridiculous.
• The '40s and The '80s. Exaggerated shoulder-padding on womens' suits was even called power-dressing.
• The Roman ''lorica segmentata'' features small but incredibly iconic shoulder guards.
  • These were beefed up and made far larger and heavier in the second century AD, after Emperor Domititian's first failed campaign in what is now modern-day Romania. The super-heavy Dacian sword was just too effective at lopping off whole sword-arms at the shoulder. Heavier armour was introduced, at least on the sword-side shoulder and upper arm, to defend against this.
  • Which actually inspired the shoulder pieces of Inquisitorial Power Armor in 40K.
• "Epaulettes" were specifically made to invoke this.
• Japanese Samurai armor included some often rectangular and excessive looking shoulderguards, called Sode, at their most distinctive around 1100 AD.◊ They were meant for extra protection against arrows on horseback while keeping a hand free for firing a longbow, which was the primary combat method of samurai for early Japanese warfare.
• Some stegosaurs, like Kentrosaurus and Tuojiangosaurus had long horns growing out of their shoulders. This made it harder for predators to take a bite out of them.
• Earlier, a Triassic archosaur distantly related to dinosaurs called Desmatosuchus had also evolved horns growing just above the shoulders.