# Fictional inventors of real things **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 29, 2015, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-inventors-of-real-things/736049 "2015-10-29T03:04:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-inventors-of-real-things/736049/1 "2015-10-29T03:04:58Z")
I just learned that [Back Stabbers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_Stabbers)is a real song, not something a character on [Cold Case](http://coldcase.wikia.com/wiki/Soul#Notes) wrote. It made me think of Sam, from Quantum Leap, being behind the name _Misfits_. Any other characters who are taking credit/blame for the work or actions of real people? ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-inventors-of-real-things/736049/2 "2015-10-29T03:15:21Z")
The Enterprise episode “Carbon Creek” not withstanding, Vulcans did not invent Velcro. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-inventors-of-real-things/736049/3 "2015-10-29T04:20:46Z")
Not an invention but Marty McFly did not write “Johnny B Goode”. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-inventors-of-real-things/736049/4 "2015-10-29T04:28:31Z")
Not an inventor but an example that I saw yesterday. On the new series _Wicked City_, one of the characters is described as the detective who solved the [Hillside Strangler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillside_Strangler) case. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-inventors-of-real-things/736049/5 "2015-10-29T11:44:30Z")
Does the Op allow for things like **Otto Titzling** , the supposed inventor of the Brassiere? His name, AFAIK, first appears in the book **Bust Up! The Uplifting Tale of Otto Titzling** in 1971, credited to Wallace Reyburn. With a title like that, it’s hard to believe anyone took it seriously, but apparently they did. The name appeared in an Trivial Pursuit clue, in Playboy (IIRC), and in a song performed by Bette Midler in **Beaches**. I’m sure Bette didn’t believe it, but couldn’t resist. The Wikipedia entry lists other references I hadn’t heard of. > **[Otto Titzling](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Titzling)** > > Otto Titzling is a fictional character who is apocryphally described as the inventor of the brassière in the 1971 book Bust-Up: The Uplifting Tale of Otto Titzling, published by Macdonald in London and by Prentice-Hall in the USA. > The name, a pun on "a two-tit sling", was invented by New Zealand humorist Wallace Reyburn in the 1970s. Since then, the name has appeared in the game Trivial Pursuit (believing the hoax, the game's makers listed "Otto Titzling" as the "correct answer" to the question ... [http://www.alibris.com/Bust-Up-Story-of-Otto-Titzling-Wallace-Reyburn/book/13180172](http://www.alibris.com/Bust-Up-Story-of-Otto-Titzling-Wallace-Reyburn/book/13180172) Reyburn is also credited with the 1969 book **Flushed with Pride** , about how Thomas Crapper supposedly invented the flush toilet. Crapper was a real plumbing manufacturer (I’ve seen one of his toilets), but the use of “Crap” long predates him. > **[Wallace Reyburn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallace_Reyburn)** > > Wallace Macdonald Reyburn OBE (3 July 1913 – 20 June 2001) was a New Zealand-born humourist author and rugby writer who was responsible for a number of well-known urban legends, including the widespread belief that the flush toilet was invented by Thomas Crapper and that the brassière was invented by Otto Titzling. Reyburn wrote several books, some humorous and some not, including on rugby and on the Canadian armed forces, as well as humorous yarns of pseudo-historical nonsense. Reyburn was a ---
**Author:** ![batsto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b2d939/32.png) [@batsto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/batsto)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-inventors-of-real-things/736049/6 "2015-10-29T12:33:30Z")
There’s Tim Robbins character in the Hudsucker Proxy who invents the hula hoop. “You know, for kids.” ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-inventors-of-real-things/736049/7 "2015-10-29T12:43:47Z")
Romy and Michele did not invent Post-Its. ---
**Author:** ![Randolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Randolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randolph)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-inventors-of-real-things/736049/8 "2015-10-29T12:49:46Z")
Don Draper and the Coke commercial. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-inventors-of-real-things/736049/9 "2015-10-29T12:55:04Z")
A Romulan did not write “Hamlet”. Kilgore Trout did not write any of the works he is credited with (in spite of what Phillip Jose Farmer (and to a lesser extent Kurt Vonnegut) would have you believe). Aliens had nothing to do with the construction of tombs in Egypt and South America (although there is a parking garage in Detroit that I think they may have been involved with. Philo T. Farnsworth did not have anything to do with the invention of the television (the name is just too bogus). ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-inventors-of-real-things/736049/10 "2015-10-29T13:22:21Z")
> [@Omega\_Glory](#): > > It made me think of Sam, from Quantum Leap, being behind the name _Misfits_. Sam also invented the Heimlich maneuver (he performed it to save someone’s life in front of Dr. Heimlich), inspired a young Woody Allen to write _Play it Again Sam_, invented Trivial Pursuit, wrote the lyrics for Buddy Holly’s “Peggy Sue,” taught Chubby Checker to dance the twist and Michael Jackson to moonwalk, and gave Sylvester Stallone the idea for **Rocky**. In **Sneakers** , one of the crew was the inventor of Napster, but had the code stolen from him while he was taking a nap. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-inventors-of-real-things/736049/11 "2015-10-29T13:24:15Z")
Robert Wagner’s character in _Stars and Stripes Forever_ did not invent the Sousaphone. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-inventors-of-real-things/736049/12 "2015-10-29T13:41:58Z")
Forrest Gump did not invent the “have a nice day” t-shirt, nor the “shit happens” bumper sticker. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-inventors-of-real-things/736049/13 "2015-10-29T13:42:58Z")
> [@Randolph](#): > > Don Draper and the Coke commercial. Or, “It’s Toasted”. Or coining the term “Carousel” for the slide projector. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-inventors-of-real-things/736049/14 "2015-10-29T13:43:40Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > In **Sneakers** , one of the crew was the inventor of Napster, but had the code stolen from him while he was taking a nap. I think it was in the 2003 remake of The Italian Job, not Sneaker, that a character claimed to have invented Napster. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-inventors-of-real-things/736049/15 "2015-10-29T13:57:10Z")
In _Who Framed Roger Rabbit,_ Judge Doom invented the freeway. (“Traffic jams will be a thing of the past!”) Roxy the grim reaper in _Dead Like Me_ invented legwarmers; her best friend murdered her and stole the credit. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-inventors-of-real-things/736049/16 "2015-10-29T14:22:27Z")
Not quite the same thing, but Arthur Dent was the guy that urban legends actually happen to. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-inventors-of-real-things/736049/17 "2015-10-29T14:27:48Z")
> [@TV\_time](#): > > A Romulan did not write “Hamlet”. > > . Of course not. It was a Klingon. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-inventors-of-real-things/736049/18 "2015-10-29T14:30:35Z")
In a special case, Don Ameche invented the telephone. He was playing Alexander Graham Bell, but Ameche’s name became attached to the invention, so much so that it was common slang of the era to say, “I need to use the Ameche” and people would know what you meant. In **The Wild Wild West** (TV show), Dr. Miguelito Loveless invented television and the airplane. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-inventors-of-real-things/736049/19 "2015-10-29T14:34:34Z")
> [@TV\_time](#): > > Philo T. Farnsworth did not have anything to do with the invention of the television (the name is just too bogus). Just in case anyone gets confused, this isn’t a reference to Futurama, but to the actual inventor of TV (who was indeed Philo T. Farnsworth). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-inventors-of-real-things/736049/20 "2015-10-29T15:00:51Z")
The same Farnsworth also invented a tabletop fusion device. It’s not a practical power source, but it _does_ actually fuse hydrogen into helium, and is sometimes used for research purposes. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-inventors-of-real-things/736049.md?page=2)