# Creative works with factual errors that so easily could have been checked and corrected **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 26, 2010, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creative-works-with-factual-errors-that-so-easily-could-have-been-checked-and-corrected/548051 "2010-07-26T15:01:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![cactus\_waltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2010, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creative-works-with-factual-errors-that-so-easily-could-have-been-checked-and-corrected/548051/141 "2010-08-14T08:54:49Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > > [@cactus\_waltz](#): > > > > Does it matter if it’s animated? Wouldn’t you be annoyed if Bugs Bunny paid a visit to “Dublin, capital of Scotland”? > > I’d probably assume it was a joke of some sort. Warner Brothers Cartoons are full of factual errors, and most of them are deliberate and foe comical purpose. Ok, it was a bad example, but you know what I meant. A glaring factual error that is supposed to come across as fact and nothing else. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2010, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creative-works-with-factual-errors-that-so-easily-could-have-been-checked-and-corrected/548051/142 "2010-08-14T09:44:15Z")
I don’t know if this is a “factual” error or not, but the premise to the beginning of _Superman 2_ has General Zod and his business associates being released from their prison because a hydrogen bomb explodes in space. Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t stars fueled by this very process, meaning that their prison should’ve broken immediately upon it’s creation? “Uh, Jor-El? We have a slight design flaw…” ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2010, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creative-works-with-factual-errors-that-so-easily-could-have-been-checked-and-corrected/548051/143 "2010-08-14T10:15:57Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > In the MAD magazine parody of Trapper John MD, they stated that Donald Sutherland played Trapper in the M_A_S\*H movie. Sutherland played Hawkeye; Elliot Gould played Trapper. That would have been so easy to check. Well, heck, in one of Mad’s Star Wars parodies (a musical version called “The Force and I”), Luke is flying a TIE fighter. At least they had the class to print a few letters in the next issue from readers pointint this out. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2010, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creative-works-with-factual-errors-that-so-easily-could-have-been-checked-and-corrected/548051/144 "2010-08-14T12:10:26Z")
Someone in this very thread attributed Lead Belly’s “Cotton Fields” to Creedence Clearwater Revival. That’s as wrong as wrong can be. ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2010, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creative-works-with-factual-errors-that-so-easily-could-have-been-checked-and-corrected/548051/145 "2010-08-14T13:32:13Z")
The Ice Harvest ([The Ice Harvest (2005) - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0400525/)), which purported to take place in Wichita, KS and was shot somewhere in Illinois, possibly in Chicago. A lot of it was just little things, like the fact that KS doesn’t require front and back license plates but every car filmed had plates on the front, but I really didn’t see any landmarks or anything that evoked the Wichita I know. Then again, movies that take place in my home state are rarely accurate. Leap of Faith ([Leap of Faith (1992) - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104695/)) was particularly offensive. ---
**Author:** ![RachelChristine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7ab992/32.png) [@RachelChristine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RachelChristine)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2010, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creative-works-with-factual-errors-that-so-easily-could-have-been-checked-and-corrected/548051/146 "2010-08-14T14:38:53Z")
In the Nero Wolfe television show, Timothy Hutton’s character mentions about being from Chilicothe, OH. He says the last syllable like cothe, with a long o, one syllable. The actual town is “chill-a-COTH-ee” short o, and the e is pronounced. Tiny, but annoying. Something that has totally bugged the crap out of me was when I was in Mansfield, MO, going to a local town play about Laura Ingalls Wilder. Now the Wilder family moved to Mansfield in the 1890s, while still relatively young, and lived the rest of their lives there. This is where the Little House books were written. Blah blah blah. We go see the play, which is written in the form of an elderly Laura being interviewed about her books. She mentions each book, and then a vignette or two of scenes from each book is shown. Cute idea, and mostly well done for a local play of that sort. EXCEPT they mixed up the titles of Little House on the Prairie and Little Town on the Prairie. We actually asked the actress about it at the meet and greet afterwards, and she said that the books were in the stack in that order, so she had to say them that way. My friend, who knows a few people in that town, went and asked and got the books switched in the stack. We just hope it didn’t mess up the skit for the whole next performance! May seems mall, but since Little House is about them living alone on the prairie when she’s little and Little Town is about her being a teen and living in a town, it was a glaring error! ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2010, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creative-works-with-factual-errors-that-so-easily-could-have-been-checked-and-corrected/548051/147 "2010-08-14T15:07:10Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > Someone in this very thread attributed Lead Belly’s “Cotton Fields” to Creedence Clearwater Revival. That’s as wrong as wrong can be. Well it is one of CCR’s more popular covers. It’s not that off base. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2010, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creative-works-with-factual-errors-that-so-easily-could-have-been-checked-and-corrected/548051/148 "2010-08-14T15:17:47Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > I don’t know if this is a “factual” error or not, but the premise to the beginning of _Superman 2_ has General Zod and his business associates being released from their prison because a hydrogen bomb explodes in space. > > Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t stars fueled by this very process, meaning that their prison should’ve broken immediately upon it’s creation? “Uh, Jor-El? We have a slight design flaw…” What set them free from the Phantom Zone was the shock wave of the explosion (which is animated as ripples spreading out through space and even knocks Superman for a loop before he gets clear of it), not that it was a hydrogen bomb per se. Arguments with the generation of a shock wave and its possible effects I leave as an exercise for the reader. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2010, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creative-works-with-factual-errors-that-so-easily-could-have-been-checked-and-corrected/548051/149 "2010-08-14T15:42:18Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > > [@JohnT](#): > > > > I don’t know if this is a “factual” error or not, but the premise to the beginning of _Superman 2_ has General Zod and his business associates being released from their prison because a hydrogen bomb explodes in space. > > > > Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t stars fueled by this very process, meaning that their prison should’ve broken immediately upon it’s creation? “Uh, Jor-El? We have a slight design flaw…” > > What set them free from the Phantom Zone was the shock wave of the explosion (which is animated as ripples spreading out through space and even knocks Superman for a loop before he gets clear of it), not that it was a hydrogen bomb per se. Arguments with the generation of a shock wave and its possible effects I leave as an exercise for the reader. Kryptonians have a get-out-of-physics card, as everyone knows. I think that’s true of their tech as well. The laws of physics in Superman’s world are simply different. The characters don’t comment on the difference because, after all, they’re USED to those laws. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2010, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creative-works-with-factual-errors-that-so-easily-could-have-been-checked-and-corrected/548051/150 "2010-08-14T15:43:48Z")
Every medical and CSI-type show has a herd of X-rays in the background. I love that they do this for three reasons: 1 - They are usually a haphazard mix of chest x-rays, single sheets from a CAT scan, and, for some reason plain films of the skull. Clearly just thrown up from the ‘stack of X-rays’ in the prop department. 2 - They are frequently put up backwards and upside down. The incidence of right-sided hearts in CSI land is very high. 3 - Occasionally they will interpret the images, pointing at random spots and saying unrelated stuff that you can’t see. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2010, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creative-works-with-factual-errors-that-so-easily-could-have-been-checked-and-corrected/548051/151 "2010-08-14T16:13:42Z")
“Shakespeare in a play brought in a number of men saying they had suffered shipwrack in Bohemia, where there is no sea near by some hundred miles.” That was written by William Drummond. In 1619. ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2010, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creative-works-with-factual-errors-that-so-easily-could-have-been-checked-and-corrected/548051/152 "2010-08-14T16:35:25Z")
> [@cactus\_waltz](#): > > Wouldn’t you be annoyed if Bugs Bunny paid a visit to “Dublin, capital of Scotland”? He musta taken a wrong turn in Albuquerque. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2010, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creative-works-with-factual-errors-that-so-easily-could-have-been-checked-and-corrected/548051/153 "2010-08-14T16:36:51Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > “Shakespeare in a play brought in a number of men saying they had suffered shipwrack in Bohemia, where there is no sea near by some hundred miles.” > > That was written by William Drummond. In 1619. Cafe Society nitpickers! We have a long and sacred heritage! Rejoice! ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creative-works-with-factual-errors-that-so-easily-could-have-been-checked-and-corrected/548051/154 "2010-09-16T15:23:07Z")
Caught a rerun of Friends last night where Monica goes to an open audition for CATS and sings “Memories.” Wait a minute! She lives in New York City, the show had been running over ten years, the song has been recorded over 100 times, she undoubtedly has heard it about a million times, and she doesn’t kow the title is “Memory”? P.S. Broadway shows rarely run open aufitions. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creative-works-with-factual-errors-that-so-easily-could-have-been-checked-and-corrected/548051/155 "2010-09-16T15:54:42Z")
I recently found one in the book I’m reading, _The Girl Who Played with Fire_, by Stieg Larsson. It mentions – only one time in passing – a murdered Thai prostitute in Sweden named Myang So Chin, aka Jo-Jo. What the …? Myang So Chin does not even _remotely_ sound Thai. If I had to guess, I’d say Korean. But certainly not Thai. And while all Thais go by a nickname, I have never heard Jo-Jo used. Sounds like a Filipina. Larsson could easily have come up with a plausible Thai name. He really dropped the ball on that, but otherwise it’s a good book. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creative-works-with-factual-errors-that-so-easily-could-have-been-checked-and-corrected/548051.md?page=7)