# Is Walter Mitty a well-known character in US culture? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 30, 2013, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-walter-mitty-a-well-known-character-in-us-culture/677504 "2013-12-30T19:42:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-walter-mitty-a-well-known-character-in-us-culture/677504/1 "2013-12-30T19:42:14Z")
Every so often, I need a cultural reality check. Most of the SDMB threads I’ve seen here seem to indicate that “Walter Mitty” is a fairly well-known character in American culture. Apparently, it even appears in some dictionaries to refer to a quixotic type of character. (Yes, the “quixotic” cultural reference I know.) I’ve never heard of this character before this movie, and I didn’t find out until I Wikipedia’d it early this morning. Is this just one of the big, gaping black hole of cultural knowledge I have, or is it more of a regional term, or possibly age-related (I’m 38). Just curious. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-walter-mitty-a-well-known-character-in-us-culture/677504/2 "2013-12-30T19:43:58Z")
It’s all about whether you had to read the short story in school or not, I think. I did. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-walter-mitty-a-well-known-character-in-us-culture/677504/3 "2013-12-30T19:49:27Z")
I’m going with age related. Everyone fifty and older seems to know the character, no one forty or younger is familiar with him. Even us old farts seem more likely to be fuzzy about the specifics of his story and just think of him as a basic milquetoast who has grandiose daydreams. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-walter-mitty-a-well-known-character-in-us-culture/677504/4 "2013-12-30T19:51:02Z")
I first encountered the term in an article on _ **Peanuts** _; it was used to describe Snoopy. How many people born after ca. 1970 actually remember James Thurber, or (radically enough) have read his works? When I was in junior high, he was part of the English curriculum. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-walter-mitty-a-well-known-character-in-us-culture/677504/5 "2013-12-30T19:51:23Z")
I had a similar question. I think I have a pretty good grasp on US culture (excluding current pop culture, as I’m getting old). Walter Mitty was news to me. ETA: I’m 52 and took AP English in High School and lots of college level literature classes. Never heard of the author either. ---
**Author:** ![crucible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@crucible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crucible)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-walter-mitty-a-well-known-character-in-us-culture/677504/6 "2013-12-30T19:53:26Z")
yes, age related. Back in the day, people read far more short stories in many different venues than today. Thurber was one of the best authors for the generation immediately before mine, and I’m now 71. So, 38? 50 years too late to really enjoy him. I think the previous version of this story set to film was excellent, with Danny Kaye. Reviews on this version are a bit puzzling. to go a bit more extreme, Don Marquis was a fine, original and innovative comedic author whose best work was like 15 years before Thurber. To come ahead for a comparison, if you like Dave Barry, you’d love Thurber and Marquis. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-walter-mitty-a-well-known-character-in-us-culture/677504/7 "2013-12-30T19:53:34Z")
I’m 48. I never read the Thurber story, nor saw the Danny Kaye movie, but I’d heard of the character, and had a fuzzy knowledge of the gist of the story (i.e., an average guy who daydreams about doing something much bigger). ---
**Author:** ![iftheresaway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecae2f/32.png) [@iftheresaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iftheresaway)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-walter-mitty-a-well-known-character-in-us-culture/677504/8 "2013-12-30T19:56:02Z")
I’m 28 and a huge Thurber fan (I have his collected works), although I stumbled across him by accident. I found a copy of “The White Deer” in a thrift store when I was a kid, loved it, and read everything I could of his. Still, he’s never seemed completely unheard of, just lesser known. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-walter-mitty-a-well-known-character-in-us-culture/677504/9 "2013-12-30T20:05:42Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I first encountered the term in an article on _ **Peanuts** _; it was used to describe Snoopy. > > How many people born after ca. 1970 actually remember James Thurber, or (radically enough) have read his works? When I was in junior high, he was part of the English curriculum. I’m 33 and “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” was one of those things that was always in school anthologies when I was a wee lass. I know I had to read it more than once. Thurber in general was a popular choice, both in anthologies and among students, when I was in, say, middle school. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-walter-mitty-a-well-known-character-in-us-culture/677504/10 "2013-12-30T20:09:44Z")
I’m 34 and had to read the story in 9th grade English. I had checked out of the AP track for 9th grade…if I had been in the class I should’ve been in, I never would have read it. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-walter-mitty-a-well-known-character-in-us-culture/677504/11 "2013-12-30T20:13:53Z")
I’m 62, and _The Secret Life of Walter Mitty_ was among my reading assignments in high school. I’m sure I had heard of the character before that, however. The Danny Kaye film was pretty well known too. _pocketa-pocketa-pocketa-pocketa_ ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-walter-mitty-a-well-known-character-in-us-culture/677504/12 "2013-12-30T20:16:47Z")
I’m 32 and came across “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” and a few other Thurber stories like “The Unicorn in the Garden” in various anthologies when I was a kid. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-walter-mitty-a-well-known-character-in-us-culture/677504/13 "2013-12-30T20:18:54Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > a basic milquetoast I think most people today understand what a milquetoast is, although few have actually read a [Caspar Milquetoast](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caspar_Milquetoast) comic strip. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-walter-mitty-a-well-known-character-in-us-culture/677504/14 "2013-12-30T20:19:38Z")
I only know the character through the Danny Kaye film, which pops up on British TV from time to time, usually holiday weekends. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-walter-mitty-a-well-known-character-in-us-culture/677504/15 "2013-12-30T20:23:39Z")
How many people remember this NBC series based on Thurber’s works? [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1P9-BtHj60) ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-walter-mitty-a-well-known-character-in-us-culture/677504/16 "2013-12-30T20:43:42Z")
My kids have had to read the story in middle school over the past couple of years…I helped my 8th grade daughter with her homework on it a couple of months ago. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-walter-mitty-a-well-known-character-in-us-culture/677504/17 "2013-12-30T21:05:30Z")
Here’s the story on the New Yorker magazine’s website (where it was originally published) [“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” by James Thurber | The New Yorker](http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1939/03/18/390318fi_fiction_thurber?currentPage=all), by the way. ---
**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:** [December 30, 2013, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-walter-mitty-a-well-known-character-in-us-culture/677504/18 "2013-12-30T21:10:35Z")
I’ve heard of him, but I’m old, and I’ve quite a collection of books and essays by American humorists, Twain, Benchley, Thurber, H. Allan Smith, O Henry, Parker, et al. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-walter-mitty-a-well-known-character-in-us-culture/677504/19 "2013-12-30T21:10:56Z")
I read a lot of Thurber eons ago, so I was familiar with the character. I used to wonder if it was the inspiration for a song on one of The Cowsills’ albums: [The Fantasy World of Harry Faversham](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxETZj9u7a8). How’s that for something weird and obscure?? 😃 ---
**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:** [December 30, 2013, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-walter-mitty-a-well-known-character-in-us-culture/677504/20 "2013-12-30T21:14:32Z")
The concept of “Walter Mitty” has been in the collective imagination since Thurber wrote the story. Anyone who daydreams of glory is called a Walter Mitty or is described as having Walter Mitty daydreams. The story is not as well known as the concept (and, indeed, there’s not much to the story other than the concept). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-walter-mitty-a-well-known-character-in-us-culture/677504.md?page=2)