# Things called It **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 27, 2018, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-called-it/813198 "2018-04-27T00:24:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-called-it/813198/1 "2018-04-27T00:24:48Z")
How many things in fiction have been referred to simply as “It”? (I’ll allow slight modifiers such as Cousin It from the Addams Family). ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-called-it/813198/2 "2018-04-27T00:50:20Z")
_[It! The Terror from Beyond Space](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZHrCkEmgFo)_ (1958) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-called-it/813198/3 "2018-04-27T00:58:52Z")
The city-controlling brain in _A Wrinkle in Time_. ---
**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:** [April 27, 2018, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-called-it/813198/4 "2018-04-27T01:20:13Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > How many things in fiction have been referred to simply as “It”? (I’ll allow slight modifiers such as Cousin It from the Addams Family). Nitpick: His name was “Itt.” > **[Cousin Itt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cousin_Itt)** > > Cousin Itt is a fictional character in the Addams Family television and film series. He was developed specifically for the 1964 television series and is a regular supporting character in subsequent motion-picture, television and stage adaptations. > Cousin Itt is a diminutive, hirsute being, his visible form composed entirely of floor-length hair. He is often attired in bowler hat and round sunglasses, and speaks in a high-pitched gibberish that is understood only by his family. As he was created ... ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-called-it/813198/5 "2018-04-27T01:25:36Z")
Stephen King’s book of the same name. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-called-it/813198/6 "2018-04-27T01:41:04Z")
[It!, the Living Colossus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It!_The_Living_Colossus) ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-called-it/813198/7 "2018-04-27T01:51:57Z")
_It!_ (1967) > **[It! (1967) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061826/)** > > It!: Directed by Herbert J. Leder. With Roddy McDowall, Jill Haworth, Paul Maxwell, Aubrey Richards. After one of their store houses burnt down, museum director Grove and his assistant Pimm find everything destroyed - only one statue withstood the... [https://dailydead.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/It.jpg](https://dailydead.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/It.jpg) Although not shown, there is a scientific mishap near the beginning of _From Beyond_ (1986) whose results are cogently summarized by a witness (Jeffrey Combs): “It…ate him.” Under “slight modifiers”, we might also include “the Great Whatsit” from _Kiss Me Deadly_ (1955). ---
**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:** [April 27, 2018, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-called-it/813198/8 "2018-04-27T01:59:47Z")
A bit of a stretch perhaps: _It Came From Outer Space_. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-called-it/813198/9 "2018-04-27T02:53:11Z")
_It_ is the name of the last song on Genesis’ double album _The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway_. I think the lyrics and title of a song count as fiction, yes? ---
**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 27, 2018, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-called-it/813198/10 "2018-04-27T03:16:41Z")
Shhhh…it’s around the corner. (Well, it was funny when I was in 2nd grade) ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-called-it/813198/11 "2018-04-27T03:21:42Z")
‘A Child called It’ by David Pelzer. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-called-it/813198/12 "2018-04-27T03:49:54Z")
Information technology. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-called-it/813198/13 "2018-04-27T04:21:35Z")
Clara Bow was the “It Girl”. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-called-it/813198/14 "2018-04-27T04:54:56Z")
My Wife. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-called-it/813198/15 "2018-04-27T12:23:55Z")
In addition to King’s novel, there’s also a short story by Theodore Sturgeon called “It!” First published in _Unknown_ in 1940. The “It” of the title is a plant monster that’s formed around a human skeleton. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-called-it/813198/16 "2018-04-27T12:31:41Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > A bit of a stretch perhaps: _It Came From Outer Space_. In the same vein, [It Conquered The World](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049370/). [That’s “It”](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/aliens/images/2/2c/ItConqueredTheWorld.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130530180943). ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-called-it/813198/17 "2018-04-27T13:05:48Z")
Theodore Sturgeon’s [short story from 1940](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It!_(short_story)). Creeped me out when I read it in an Alfred Hitchcock collection as a kid. ---
**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:** [April 27, 2018, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-called-it/813198/18 "2018-04-27T13:07:09Z")
Tag! Now _you’re_ It! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ecks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bcef8e/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ecks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ecks)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-called-it/813198/19 "2018-04-27T13:47:46Z")
Ok, now how many Things are there? The Thing from the Fantastic Four, Thing from The Addams Family, The Thing from another World… ---
**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:** [April 27, 2018, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-called-it/813198/20 "2018-04-27T13:53:25Z")
1970s’ joke: Q. What do monsters eat? A. Things. Q. What do monsters drink? A. Coke. Because things go better with Coke. If we’re expanding this to “Things”, you gotta start with The Thing (the shapeshifting one in Antarctica) in its various incarnations. Also Man-Thing and Swamp-Thing for your basic shambling horrors. And then maybe we can move on to Them, including giant ants and the kids from “Good Omens”. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-called-it/813198.md?page=2)