# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![QueenOfClubs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/53a042/32.png) [@QueenOfClubs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QueenOfClubs)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2013, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-walter-mitty-a-well-known-character-in-us-culture/677504/61 "2013-12-31T09:07:48Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > 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. It would be a familiar fictional character if you were American and now in your fifties. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2013, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-walter-mitty-a-well-known-character-in-us-culture/677504/62 "2013-12-31T09:09:34Z")
Familiar since we read about him in high school. I don’t recall which grade, so somewhere in the 1976 - 1980 era. ---
**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:** [December 31, 2013, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-walter-mitty-a-well-known-character-in-us-culture/677504/63 "2013-12-31T09:17:13Z")
Mid-50s and I’ve known the character since childhood, from the James Thurber short story. Then there is the [classic 1947 Danny Kaye movie](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039808/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_2), which I’ve never seen but by all accounts runs rings around the latest version. (Has anyone mentioned the Danny Kaye movie yet?) > [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > Thurber’s place in the Cultural Literacy pantheon is definitely shrinking. I think it helps that I’m old enough to remember a one-season sitcom called [My World and Welcome To It](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063934/?ref_=nv_sr_1). Also, “A Thurber Carnival” was a staple of high school one-act competitions when I was a teenager. I loved that show! ---
**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:** [December 31, 2013, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-walter-mitty-a-well-known-character-in-us-culture/677504/64 "2013-12-31T09:31:45Z")
And if it’s any consolation to the OP, I don’t think an unfamiliarity with Walter Mitty is anywhere near as odd as not knowing what an Amazon is, which is the topic of another thread. ---
**Author:** ![Galwegian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galwegian/32/3426_2.png) [@Galwegian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galwegian)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2013, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-walter-mitty-a-well-known-character-in-us-culture/677504/65 "2013-12-31T09:32:49Z")
I’m 43. I’ve known about the story and the Danny Kaye movie since childhood. I think that I was familiar with [Billy Liar](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Liar#TV_series) first, though, from the 1970s UK TV show. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2013, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-walter-mitty-a-well-known-character-in-us-culture/677504/66 "2013-12-31T11:37:04Z")
I’m British, aged 65. Came across the story _The Secret Life of Walter Mitty_ in childhood – my parents, who were quite fans of the USA, had the book _The Thurber Carnival_. I understand that “Walter Mitty” is quite a widely-employed expression in the British armed forces: used to refer to those who make a big production of telling stories, of doubtful veracity, of their own supposed military derring-do. ---
**Author:** ![Kiyoshi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e19adc/32.png) [@Kiyoshi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiyoshi)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2013, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-walter-mitty-a-well-known-character-in-us-culture/677504/67 "2013-12-31T11:37:57Z")
I’m not American, and for some reason I was under the impression that Walter Mitty was a gangster like Al Capone. I have no idea where that came from. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2013, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-walter-mitty-a-well-known-character-in-us-culture/677504/68 "2013-12-31T11:42:39Z")
Fortymumble and American. Despite being a Thurber fan I’ve never read the story but love the Danny Kaye movie (indeed, I’m also a Danny Kaye fan). The new version looks suspiciously like a “we’ll remake it with a bigger effects budget because that will make it better!” deal, which virtually always sucks so I’ll probably avoid it. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2013, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-walter-mitty-a-well-known-character-in-us-culture/677504/69 "2013-12-31T13:37:26Z")
American, Fourtysomething. I’m pretty sure I’ve read Thurber in school, but not Walter Mitty. I knew the name, and it was a story possibly about a dreamer, but not anything specific. Brian ---
**Author:** ![toast\_pakora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ec8ea/32.png) [@toast\_pakora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toast_pakora)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2013, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-walter-mitty-a-well-known-character-in-us-culture/677504/70 "2013-12-31T13:51:39Z")
> [@](#): > > He is in the select group of writers that I actually laugh out loud reading. I discovered Thurber in high school, we must have read one of his stories, The Night the Bed Fell probably, but I went on to read and enjoy several of his books. I think it was a memoir he wrote about his childhood in Columbus Ohio in which he talks about his dog, a bull dog? who would drag home various items. How often does one \*really \*laugh out loud when reading? I did reading that story. \*That’s my first wife up there and this is the \*present _Mrs Harris._ ---
**Author:** ![montag01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/51bf81/32.png) [@montag01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/montag01)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2013, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-walter-mitty-a-well-known-character-in-us-culture/677504/71 "2013-12-31T14:05:20Z")
I’m 40, and was assigned the story in 8th grade. I thought Walter Mitty was well-known–sort of a comic twist on T. S. Eliot’s J. Alfred Prufrock–but my best friend was unfamiliar with the story and assumed it was a novel. We both have Masters degrees in English lit. Maybe it’s become one of those “if you weren’t assigned it in school, you probably missed it” sort of works. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2013, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-walter-mitty-a-well-known-character-in-us-culture/677504/72 "2013-12-31T14:16:42Z")
Come to think of it, I wonder if maybe we here in South Carolina keep Thurber around more because of his famous slightly risque Springmaid advertisements? Just a thought. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2013, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-walter-mitty-a-well-known-character-in-us-culture/677504/73 "2013-12-31T14:19:05Z")
Here’s that cartoon: [http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/ruthdudleyedwards/100182830/i-think-you-need-a-dose-of-james-thurber/](http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/ruthdudleyedwards/100182830/i-think-you-need-a-dose-of-james-thurber/) ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2013, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-walter-mitty-a-well-known-character-in-us-culture/677504/74 "2013-12-31T14:33:36Z")
I certainly remember reading the Walter Mitty story in high school and seeing the movie on TV (and I even remember watching the TV show, “My World and Welcome To It”); but I’ll admit that until the recent movie, I hadn’t thought about Walter Mitty or James Thurber in years. ---
**Author:** ![Osiris\_the\_1st](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9de0a6/32.png) [@Osiris\_the\_1st](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osiris_the_1st)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2013, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-walter-mitty-a-well-known-character-in-us-culture/677504/75 "2013-12-31T15:04:32Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > I’m going with age related. Everyone fifty and older seems to know the character, no one forty or younger is familiar with him. I’m 36 and familiar enough with “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” to know the basic plot of the short story, but no real specifics. I didn’t realise that it was a Thurber work. I’ve read quite a few of his essays, mainly dealing the dogs that have been a part of his life, and I have to say that many are laugh out loud funny. One in particular, featuring an airdale that was a biter more or less on general principle, actually had me in tears. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2013, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-walter-mitty-a-well-known-character-in-us-culture/677504/76 "2013-12-31T15:16:03Z")
> [@Osiris\_the\_1st](#): > > I’ve read quite a few of his essays, mainly dealing the dogs that have been a part of his life, and I have to say that many are laugh out loud funny. One in particular, featuring an airdale that was a biter more or less on general principle, actually had me in tears. “The Dog Who Bit People.” And I agree, that one is hilarious. ---
**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:** [December 31, 2013, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-walter-mitty-a-well-known-character-in-us-culture/677504/77 "2013-12-31T15:57:32Z")
> [@Kiyoshi](#): > > I’m not American, and for some reason I was under the impression that Walter Mitty was a gangster like Al Capone. I have no idea where that came from. Possibly one of his daydreams? It’s been so long that I don’t recall any specifics of his daydreaming. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2013, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-walter-mitty-a-well-known-character-in-us-culture/677504/78 "2013-12-31T17:49:30Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Is this just one of the big, gaping black hole of cultural knowledge I have Yes. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2013, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-walter-mitty-a-well-known-character-in-us-culture/677504/79 "2013-12-31T18:05:36Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Possibly one of his daydreams? It’s been so long that I don’t recall any specifics of his daydreaming. Navy pilot, surgeon, marksman, revolutionary facing a firing squad… No gangsters. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2013, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-walter-mitty-a-well-known-character-in-us-culture/677504/80 "2013-12-31T20:05:39Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > Just remembered a Saturday morning TV series called **The Secret Life of Waldo Kitty** , about a daydreaming cat. (He was Captain Kirk, once.) I only got the joke after reading Thurber’s story. Lol, I **loved** that show! I remember the (live action) cat would be in some scenario and would project himself into animated adventures–versions of Tarzan, the Lone Ranger, Star Trek, etc., all populated by felines (good guys) and canines (bad guys)–that would render a solution for him. I rarely ever see it referenced these days and don’t think it lasted more than one season, but I enjoyed it a lot as a kid on Saturday mornings. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-walter-mitty-a-well-known-character-in-us-culture/677504.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-walter-mitty-a-well-known-character-in-us-culture/677504.md?page=5)