# Instances of life intentionally imitating art **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 24, 2023, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-of-life-intentionally-imitating-art/983116 "2023-04-24T15:31:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2023, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-of-life-intentionally-imitating-art/983116/21 "2023-04-24T16:59:31Z")
Could the “Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy” be thought of as wikipedia on a smartphone? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2023, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-of-life-intentionally-imitating-art/983116/22 "2023-04-24T17:02:28Z")
Yes, it could. > [@HHGTtG coming to Hulu](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hhgttg-coming-to-hulu/837579): > > [Source](https://io9.gizmodo.com/a-hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-tv-show-is-heading-hu-1836671266). As a reminder, the Guide was described as having a 3 inch by 4 inch screen and lots and lots of buttons. Of course they’ll update it so that it is more than essentially a first generation Kindle with Wikipedia access… ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2023, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-of-life-intentionally-imitating-art/983116/23 "2023-04-24T17:04:13Z")
yay! I noticed a thing! ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2023, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-of-life-intentionally-imitating-art/983116/24 "2023-04-24T17:46:59Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > The “Klingon” language some ~~nutcases~~ trekkers speak at Cons comes immediately to mind. They wrote dictionaries, invented grammars, created fonts, built on-line communities of like-minded souls, etc. Far, far beyond the teeny bits of throwaway yak-yak used in the shows & movies. Klingon is a bit more serious than that. Not merely “throwaway yak-yak,” the Klingon language that appeared in starting in ST2-WOK was created by [Marc Okrand](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Okrand), a Ph.d. linguist who also created the Vulcan, Romulan, and Kelpien languages for the franchise. I don’t know about the other three, but Okrand developed Klingon over several more ST features (and some of the TV series, too?) into what I believe is considered a well-structured artificial language. > Okrand is the author of three books about Klingon – The Klingon Dictionary (first published 1985, revised enlarged edition 1992), The Klingon Way (1996), and Klingon for the Galactic Traveler (1997) – as well as two audio courses: Conversational Klingon (1992) and Power Klingon (1993). He has also co-authored the libretto of an opera in the Klingon language: ’u’[a], debuting at The Hague in September 2010. He speaks Klingon, but notes that others have attained greater fluency.[6] True, Klingon was taken up and expanded by fans, so it no doubt belongs in this thread. And I believe that at a certain point Paramount decided it no longer needed to pay Okrand. It’s just that it started out as a nearly full-blown language, created by an expert linguist, not as gibberish from a random script writer. And as with any language, natural or not, it was expanded and modified by its users. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2023, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-of-life-intentionally-imitating-art/983116/25 "2023-04-24T17:51:17Z")
This may be not exactly what the OP had in mind, but for some time now, birds (i.e. life) have been [imitating cell phone rings](https://www.google.com/search?q=birds+imitating+cell+phone+rings&oq=birds+imitating+cell+&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0i22i30l2j0i390i650l4.10464j0j7&client=tablet-android-samsung-nf-rev1&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8) (art). Oh, and I seem to recall that flip phone designs were somewhat intentionally based on the Star Trek communicator. [![](https://i.etsystatic.com/23111802/c/1999/1999/0/1/il/7e36b6/3728090343/il_300x300.3728090343_gfhj.jpg) ](https://i.etsystatic.com/23111802/c/1999/1999/0/1/il/7e36b6/3728090343/il_300x300.3728090343_gfhj.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2023, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-of-life-intentionally-imitating-art/983116/26 "2023-04-24T17:53:49Z")
The name “Vanessa” was invented by Jonathan Swift in a 1726 poem. More recently, “Madison” became a popular girl’s name after Daryl Hannah’s character adopted it in the movie **Splash** …where the joke was that she saw it on a street sign in Manhattan. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2023, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-of-life-intentionally-imitating-art/983116/27 "2023-04-24T17:53:56Z")
@commasense 3 posts up ref the Klingon language. Fascinating. [Another Trekism that has long since entered the lexicon as an idiom in addition to its long-standing dictionary definitions.] I had known that Klingon started out with some bit of real thought behind it, not just nonsense syllables of noise. But I had thought almost all of the elaboration into a usable albeit esoteric language had been done by fans in a process akin to fanfic, not by professionals working for the studio(s). Thank you for the enlightenment. Ref flip phones … I had that exact model you pictured, or one all-but identical to it. After my Motorola StarTAC became too raggedy to use. > **[Motorola StarTAC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_StarTAC)** > > The Motorola StarTAC, first released on January 3, 1996, is often assumed to be the first ever clamshell (flip) mobile phone. Technically, however, NEC had been releasing flip phones on NTT Docomo's PDC Mova network long before 1996, namely the TZ-804 and TZ-1501, both respectively launched in 1991 and late 1994. Another early precursor of this form factor was the Grillo, which was designed in Italy by Richard Sapper and Marco Zanuso in 1965. The StarTAC is the successor of the Mic The StarTAC ... ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2023, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-of-life-intentionally-imitating-art/983116/28 "2023-04-24T17:58:10Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > More recently, “Madison” became a popular girl’s name after Daryl Hannah’s character adopted it in the movie **Splash** …where the joke was that she saw it on a street sign in Manhattan. This is a very good example-- at the time the movie came out, the main thrust of the joke was that ‘Madison’ was ridiculous for a girl’s name-- on par with saying her name was ‘Avenue’. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2023, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-of-life-intentionally-imitating-art/983116/29 "2023-04-24T18:07:35Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > This may be not exactly what the OP had in mind, but for some time now, birds (i.e. life) have been [imitating cell phone rings](https://www.google.com/search?q=birds+imitating+cell+phone+rings&oq=birds+imitating+cell+&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0i22i30l2j0i390i650l4.10464j0j7&client=tablet-android-samsung-nf-rev1&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8) (art). A bird started imitating the electronic ring from my first non-Bell supplied telephone in 1981. Another indirect case of life imitating art from [George of the Jungle.](https://youtu.be/UGUgtebFVQE) > [@Ursula](#): > > Answer the bird George. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2023, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-of-life-intentionally-imitating-art/983116/30 "2023-04-24T18:16:58Z")
The modern American mainstream attitude to cops as the “thin blue line” protecting society count? That was deliberately invented by early police procedurals like dragnet Prior to that cops were portrayed in mass media as bumbling idiots ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2023, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-of-life-intentionally-imitating-art/983116/31 "2023-04-24T18:21:47Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Ref flip phones … I had that exact model you pictured, or one all-but identical to it. After my Motorola StarTAC became too raggedy to use. I still have my StarTac phone, the closest thing to a Star Trek communicator back then. I doubt the battery’s any good, not even sure I can connect to any cell network anymore. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2023, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-of-life-intentionally-imitating-art/983116/32 "2023-04-24T18:28:47Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > …not even sure I can connect to any cell network anymore. The very last of the last StarTACs can still use some of the oldest and rattiest networks left someplace on Earth. But that’s about it. If you had a mainstream US model, those compatible networks have been gone for 1 or two _decades_ now. ---
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2023, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-of-life-intentionally-imitating-art/983116/33 "2023-04-24T18:38:49Z")
What you call a Jedi Mind Trick on Frank I would call “pulling a Tom Sawyer.” ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2023, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-of-life-intentionally-imitating-art/983116/34 "2023-04-24T18:46:30Z")
How about those criminals who hold their pistol sideways while committing an armed robbery. Didn’t that come from a movie? ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2023, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-of-life-intentionally-imitating-art/983116/35 "2023-04-24T18:48:32Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > The name “Vanessa” was invented by Jonathan Swift in a 1726 poem. > > More recently, “Madison” became a popular girl’s name after Daryl Hannah’s character adopted it in the movie **Splash** …where the joke was that she saw it on a street sign in Manhattan. And similarly Wendy from **Peter Pan** > **[Wendy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendy)** > > Wendy is a given name now generally given to girls in English-speaking countries. > In Britain, Wendy appeared as a masculine name in a parish record in 1615. It was also used as a surname in Britain from at least the 17th century. Its popularity in Britain as a feminine name is owed to the character Wendy Darling from the 1904 play Peter Pan and its 1911 novelisation Peter and Wendy, both by J. M. Barrie. Its popularity reached a peak in the 1960s, and subsequently declined. The name was inspired... ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2023, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-of-life-intentionally-imitating-art/983116/36 "2023-04-24T19:06:17Z")
It came from Hong Kong action movies. But, they got it from IIRC the Chinese army- soldiers were taught to hold automatic guns sideways. If a gun is held normally and kicks, it shoots in the air. If it is held sideways and kicks, it shoots more folks in the crowd. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2023, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-of-life-intentionally-imitating-art/983116/37 "2023-04-24T19:27:34Z")
Meth producers (cooks?) have apparently been producing blue meth in an obvious imitation of Breaking Bad. Apparently unlike Walter White’s fictional meth, the real life blue meth isn’t higher quality, and in fact the chemicals that they are using to turn it blue are quite harmful to the human body. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2023, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-of-life-intentionally-imitating-art/983116/38 "2023-04-24T19:32:45Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > _The Simpsons_ created the word “embiggen” in the 1996 episode _Lisa the Iconoclast_. The whole joke was that it wasn’t a real word. But people actually started using it, and in 2018 Merriam-Webster added it to their dictionary. Embiggen has been a word for a long time. I think what actually happened is that it was an archaic term, and the Simpson’s resurrected it: [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/embiggen](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/embiggen) > [@](#): > > The verb’s first recorded use is in an 1884 edition of the British journal _[Notes and Queries](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notes_and_Queries): A Medium of Intercommunication for Literary Men, General Readers, Etc._ by C. A. Ward (see quotation below).[[2]](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/embiggen#cite_note-2) > > The word’s current popularity follows its deployment as an intentionally [ungainly](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ungainly) form by television writer [David X. Cohen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_X._Cohen) for _[The Simpsons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Simpsons)_ episode “[Lisa the Iconoclast](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_the_Iconoclast)” in 1996. On the other hand, it appears the Simpsons did invent ‘Cromulant’, but I thought it was invented by Will Farrell on SNL for his ‘Actor’s Studio’ character. The word ‘grok’ (Heinlein, “Stranger in a Strange Land”) has entered common usage. In AI, ‘grok’ is being used as a description for emergence of new capability ("the LLM was operating through memoorization, but after a few billion training runs, it ‘grokked’ the concept and was able to universally solve similar problems it had never seen). That’s quite close to what the literary meaning was. Caddyshack still affects golfers. If you shank one into a sand trap around any friends or spectators, someone’s bound to call out ‘right on the beach!’. Or ‘be the ball…’ or any of a hundred other quotes from that movie. And you can’t have a proper crucifixion any more without some joker whistling “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life”. ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2023, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-of-life-intentionally-imitating-art/983116/39 "2023-04-24T19:39:22Z")
[R.U.R. - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/R.U.R). ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2023, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-of-life-intentionally-imitating-art/983116/40 "2023-04-24T19:43:30Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > On the other hand, it appears the Simpsons did invent ‘Cromulant’, but I thought it was invented by Will Farrell on SNL for his ‘Actor’s Studio’ character. You’re probably thinking of [“scrumtrulescent.”](https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/scrumtrulescent) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-of-life-intentionally-imitating-art/983116.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-of-life-intentionally-imitating-art/983116.md?page=3)