# The Lone Ranger **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [February 6, 2026, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lone-ranger/1027456 "2026-02-06T23:35:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2026, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lone-ranger/1027456/61 "2026-02-16T23:51:14Z")
It’s been years since I’ve heard the origins radio story, but that’s what I remember. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2026, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lone-ranger/1027456/62 "2026-02-16T23:56:56Z")
Just found it on YouTube. My friend was very slightly misquoting for comic effect, but close enough. I never knew that Tonto tells him _explicitly_ that “Kemo Sabe” means “Trusted Scout”! ---
**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:** [February 17, 2026, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lone-ranger/1027456/63 "2026-02-17T12:27:19Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > I’m surprised no one had redone the story to have him using silver bullets because he’s either a werewolf hunter or a vampire hunter. **Famous Monsters of Filmland** published a Lone Ranger vs. Werewolf story in the 1960s ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2026, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lone-ranger/1027456/64 "2026-02-17T14:48:32Z")
[![](https://static0.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/far-side-may-6-1988-the-retired-lone-ranger-discovers-what-kemosabe-really-means.jpg?q=70&fit=crop&w=750&dpr=1) ](https://static0.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/far-side-may-6-1988-the-retired-lone-ranger-discovers-what-kemosabe-really-means.jpg?q=70&fit=crop&w=750&dpr=1) ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2026, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lone-ranger/1027456/65 "2026-02-17T14:56:47Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > (the Lone Ranger’s nephew) What was his horse’s name? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2026, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lone-ranger/1027456/66 "2026-02-17T15:02:48Z")
Victor, who was sired by Silver. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2026, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lone-ranger/1027456/67 "2026-02-17T15:03:30Z")
Interesting to note that “Tonto” is Mexican slang for “dummy”. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2026, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lone-ranger/1027456/68 "2026-02-17T15:07:58Z")
Johnny Carson beat him by at least a decade. > **[Kemosabe: Tonto (Jay Silverheels) - Tonight Show 1969](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwwUuxV9It4%2F)** > > Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2026, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lone-ranger/1027456/69 "2026-02-17T15:15:40Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > I get why people hate on the 2013 Lone Ranger (one critic summed it up as “bloated, ungainly and much too long”), but I really liked it. I liked it, too; probably helped that the movie came out when I had been playing _Red Dead Redemption_. At least one scene, the one with the train-mounted gatling gun, would not have been out of place in that game. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2026, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lone-ranger/1027456/70 "2026-02-17T15:35:52Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > I’m surprised no one had redone the story to have him using silver bullets because he’s either a werewolf hunter or a vampire hunter. I remember a Hunt Emerson comic in Fortean Times that did this. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2026, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lone-ranger/1027456/71 "2026-02-17T15:40:55Z")
Early drafts of the 2013 film apparently had a werewolf subplot. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2026, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lone-ranger/1027456/72 "2026-02-17T21:39:27Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Interesting to note that “Tonto” is Mexican slang for “dummy”. Cecil answered that- > **[In the old Lone Ranger series, what did “kemosabe” mean?](https://www.straightdope.com/21342134/in-the-old-lone-ranger-series-what-did-kemosabe-mean)** ---
**Author:** ![Cumberdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@Cumberdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumberdale)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2026, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lone-ranger/1027456/73 "2026-02-17T23:37:18Z")
That was funny. Never saw it before. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2026, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lone-ranger/1027456/74 "2026-02-18T00:13:30Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Early drafts of the 2013 film apparently had a werewolf subplot. Tonto thought Cavendish was a [Wendigo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendigo), which is kinda-sorta werewolf adjacent. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2026, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lone-ranger/1027456/75 "2026-02-18T02:22:40Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Interesting to note that “Tonto” is Mexican slang for “dummy”. True. Also it’s the name of a National Forest near Phoenix, and the name of a particular tribe of Apaches. IIRC, Tonto (TLR’s Pal) was supposed to be an Apache, although I doubt that Apaches wore fringed buckskin shirts and pants. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2026, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lone-ranger/1027456/76 "2026-02-18T10:39:29Z")
In the original radio shows, made in Chicago, he was a Potawatomi. That name was familiar to audiences in the Great Lakes area, but it tends to mystify people elsewhere. Since the Ranger’s backstory is set firmly in Texas, other writers have made him an Apache or a Comanche. Traditional Potawatomi and Apache clothing looks rather different from the Great Plains-style buckskins he wears in the movies and comic books. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2026, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lone-ranger/1027456/77 "2026-02-18T14:53:32Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > although I doubt that Apaches wore fringed buckskin shirts and pants. It’s comfortable, practical, and above all, stylish. And it could be cultural appropriation. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2026, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lone-ranger/1027456/78 "2026-02-18T21:43:17Z")
In the movies, TV, and comic books, he wears plain buckskins, with no bead-work or quill-work, or any decoration which might indicate a tribal identity. A Native American would probably say that he dresses like a white man. 😁 ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2026, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lone-ranger/1027456/79 "2026-02-18T22:15:24Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > although I doubt that Apaches wore fringed buckskin shirts and pants. > **[Apache Tribe Clothing - The History Junkie](https://thehistoryjunkie.com/apache-tribe-clothing/)** > > Apache Tribe Clothing originally consisted of animal hides and by the 19th century changed to include cotton tunics and dresses. > **[Apache Native Americans | Edward Curtis Photos](https://edwardcurtisphotos.com/store/apache-native-american-photos/)** > > Apache Indian Photos by Edward S. Curtis Tribal Summary Dress The primitive dress of the men was deerskin shirt, leggings and moccasins. They were never without the loin-cloth, the one absolutely necessary feature of Indian dress. A deerskin cap,... _The primitive dress of the men was deerskin shirt, leggings and moccasins._ ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2026, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lone-ranger/1027456/80 "2026-02-18T22:26:16Z")
What was Tonto’s headband for? His hair wasn’t long enough to need one and it had no decorative value; not even a feather. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lone-ranger/1027456.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lone-ranger/1027456.md?page=5)