There have been numerous things discussed here that have become legend on this site, but has there ever been anything that originated on this site, that has become a broader cultural phenomena, meme, etc.?
This thread apparently got a lot of attention outside the Board:
** If LotR Had Been Written By Someone Else!? **
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=138905
The sdmb Celebrity Death Pool was mentioned on some TV show
The SDMB celebrity death pool was specifically mentioned, or just a celebrity death pool? Because I don’t think that’s unique to the SDMB and I don’t think it was invented here.
I highly doubt that since death pools predate the internet by many years.
Nothing of note has germinated here. The LoTR thread mentioned above was the thing that got the most notice since it was mentioned on slashdot but it’s not like it had any kind if cultural significance to the point that people outside of here are familiar with it.
The so called BobDucca Breaking Bad theory got some attention too but he has always said that he first read it elsewhere.
Some claim that Guadere’s Law is used elsewhere but it’s not commonly known by any definition and is predated by quite some time by Muprhy’s Law.
If you’re looking for a catchphrase or meme that started here that is commonly used elsewhere, you will come up empty handed.
Yeah, Gaudere’s Law was the only one I thought of that might be known/used outside the SDMB, but apparently it’s better known by other names.
[pet peeve] By the way, “phenomena” is plural; it’d be “a broader cultural phenomenon.” [/pet peeve]
You’re correct that we didn’t invent the idea. But it was this specific death pool that got mentioned. The guy even read posts from the thread on the air.
Well, I wouldn’t call that a “broader cultural phenomena”, it’s just being mentioned on a local news report before clips of a squirrel riding waterskis.
Despite the implication at the Mythbuster’s exhibit at the museum, the airplane on a treadmill did not start with them - it started here.
The Horror of Blimps was written by our very own Scylla and posted here. It got picked up all over the place and is still being linked to and copied to other sites over 10 years later.
Did you do this on purpose or is this simply another manifestation of the law? 
According to the earliest Cecil column I could find on the airplane treadmill question, it had been “popping up all over the net.”
The misspelled version is what is defined similarly to Guadere’s.
Very true but still doesn’t meet the criterion in the OP. It was a great piece that did get copied elsewhere but it’s not all that well known.
Who’s Guadere, and what does that person have to do with the Straight Dope?
Guadere is a moderator on the Strait Dope.
But it is supposed to be Muphry’s Law. 
Edit: and, assuming that wasn’t yet another whoosh, it’s Gaudere.
Haha. I wish I was that clever. It was Whatever’s Law for real.
Ooh I love those!
It’s kind of surprising that it hasn’t happened considering how much Google loves this site.