# Wait, that's not real? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 4, 2012, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-not-real/608386 "2012-01-04T16:14:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-not-real/608386/21 "2012-01-04T22:01:15Z")
> [@](#): > > Spinal Tap tours and releases albums. Just because they are also a joke doesn’t make them not a real band. However, they did not tour until after the mockumentary. (whoops, that made more sense without the intervening post. Quote text added manually.) ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-not-real/608386/22 "2012-01-04T22:03:25Z")
**Spinal Tap** is kind of like **The Monkeys**. They started out fictional, and ended up real. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-not-real/608386/23 "2012-01-04T22:09:24Z")
Back in the 1970’s I ran across a charming book that contained letters from a man named Lazlo Toth to various public figures and companies, and their replies to him. I thought Toth was one of those ultrasincere immigrant types who loves Americaq so much they can’t stop talking about it. The book (and Toth) turned out to be the creation of [Don Novello](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Novello), aka Father Guido Sarducci. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-not-real/608386/24 "2012-01-04T22:11:23Z")
In the mid-90s, I worked at a Barnes & Noble bookstore for about a year. During that time, there was a movie called “the Myth of Fingerprints” out. I saw it, it was a pretentious wannabe-Ibsen from an indie writer-director. It’s been (IMO) very justly forgotten about now. Why I mention it though is that one of the plot-lines has Julianne Moore (who was not yet a superstar) finding a used book, a novel called “the Scream of the Rabbits” and reading it. Her copy of the book is missing the last chapter however, and she becomes obsessed with finding out the ending of the story. Anyway, during the time that it was out in theaters, we actually had more than a few people come into the B&N I worked at asking for a copy of “the Scream of the Rabbits.” One nutty woman in particular actually denied seeing the movie this book came from, and accused me of being an illiterate moron for not knowing about this apparently classic work of fiction. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-not-real/608386/25 "2012-01-04T22:12:54Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > **Spinal Tap** is kind of like **The Monkeys**. They started out fictional, and ended up real. Actually, it’s **The Monkees**. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-not-real/608386/26 "2012-01-04T22:15:10Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#): > > Actually, it’s **The Monkees**. Duly noted. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-not-real/608386/27 "2012-01-04T22:29:00Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > At a place I use to work this coworker mentioned Blair Witch and she thought it was real. I told her it wasn’t and she then said it must have been based on a real story. > > She was so determined to believe it was real, or partially real that I just didn’t argue with her any more. I was in college when this movie came out, and after it was shown on campus wound up in a (mild) dining hall argument with another girl who insisted it was based on a true story. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-not-real/608386/28 "2012-01-04T22:34:04Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > For decades I thought Catch-22 was a real psychological designation. I was amazed to discover that Joseph Heller made it up for his book. That’s because it was originally Catch-18. (Heller worked on the book for years and the whole time it was Catch-18, but right when his book was finally going to press, Leon Uris had a bestsetter entitled Milos 18, so his publisher told Heller he had to change his. I am pretty sure he just kinda through up his hands but his editor just made it Catch-22…). There are any number of rock n’ roll myths that are either not real (e.g., Rod Stewart getting his stomach pumped - that was an established fact at my school back in the 70’s!) to ones that were partially true (e.g., various stories about adventure with groupies, drug intake, etc…) ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-not-real/608386/29 "2012-01-04T22:36:43Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Back in the 1970’s I ran across a charming book that contained letters from a man named Lazlo Toth to various public figures and companies, and their replies to him. I thought Toth was one of those ultrasincere immigrant types who loves Americaq so much they can’t stop talking about it. The book (and Toth) turned out to be the creation of [Don Novello](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Novello), aka Father Guido Sarducci. [Laszlo Toth](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laszlo_Toth) was actually a real person, a Hungarian-Australian geologist with a mental imbalance. Novello borrowed his name. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-not-real/608386/30 "2012-01-04T22:37:17Z")
My friend had this book called, I think, “Moses was an Apache!” It was a fake Ripley’s Believe it or Not, with made up “facts.” When we were in high school, we convinced his girlfriend that the contents of the book were real facts. Then when we felt bad about tricking her, we tried to convince her that they were made up an that we had been pulling her leg, but she wouldn’t believe us that the book wasn’t true. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-not-real/608386/31 "2012-01-04T22:39:16Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > **Spinal Tap** is kind of like **The Monkeys**. They started out fictional, and ended up real. And 2ge+her. I was so sad when I found out that “Tiny House” was not a real show. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-not-real/608386/32 "2012-01-04T23:08:12Z")
Y’all know how **The Princess Bride** said it was an abridgement? Yeah, I thought that was true. And he got me again with the supposed sequel. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-not-real/608386/33 "2012-01-04T23:15:28Z")
> [@Silver\_Tyger](#): > > Y’all know how **The Princess Bride** said it was an abridgement? Yeah, I thought that was true. And he got me again with the supposed sequel. I was only briefly taken in by this, but it was many years before I learned that the things William Goldman says about himself in the book are also mostly fictional. For instance, Goldman never had a son. He has two daughters, and in fact _The Princess Bride_ originated as a bedtime story for them. IIRC he also says in _The Princess Bride_ that he’s divorced or is on the verge of a divorce, but while Goldman and his wife did eventually split up it wasn’t until nearly 20 years after _The Princess Bride_. ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-not-real/608386/34 "2012-01-04T23:24:13Z")
> [@Silver\_Tyger](#): > > Y’all know how **The Princess Bride** said it was an abridgement? Yeah, I thought that was true. And he got me again with the supposed sequel. +1 :smack: ---
**Author:** ![The\_Lovely\_Margo\_Lane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/34f0e0/32.png) [@The\_Lovely\_Margo\_Lane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Lovely_Margo_Lane)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-not-real/608386/35 "2012-01-04T23:29:09Z")
> [@Silver\_Tyger](#): > > Y’all know how **The Princess Bride** said it was an abridgement? Yeah, I thought that was true. And he got me again with the supposed sequel. In 5th grade I sought out a copy at the library, having loved the movie since I was a wee little one. I put it back in frustration after seeing that it was only the “good parts” - I wanted the whole thing dammit! I didn’t actually end up reading it until high school, when a teacher gave us a chapter to illustrate something or other and I figured out the joke. In a meager defense of my 5th grade self I had been burned a few times already that year with abridged titles from that library and was on my guard, clearly too much so. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-not-real/608386/36 "2012-01-04T23:34:24Z")
One of the most frequently “still cited as true” urban legends: Dozens of witnesses did nothing, not even call the cops, as Kitty Genovese was repeatedly beaten and raped in their earshot and eyeshot, even though the crime took almost an hour and she was screaming for help. There unfortunately was a rape/assault/robbery/murder victim named Kitty Genovese, but much of what made her famous in death- the apathetic neighbors- has been debunked as grossly exaggerated. A better case could be made for police negligence than bystander apathy; many of the people counted as ‘witnesses’ in fact probably couldn’t see or hear the crime, and of those who did several called the police, but weren’t really sure what they’d heard. Most of the crime took place in a hallway, not out in public, and the murder was in the middle of the night when few people were awake and in an area of town that had a lot of 24/7 background noise. The initial reporting of the murder, which had many inaccuracies, and the outrage that followed resulted in numerous editorials and word-of-mouth-til-it’s-true retellings. ([Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Kitty_Genovese) mentions the latter day investigation into the real details of the case, but the most in-depth is in articles not available online.) ---
**Author:** ![coffinjumper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8baadc/32.png) [@coffinjumper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coffinjumper)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-not-real/608386/37 "2012-01-04T23:36:17Z")
When I was in middle school I read Dean R Koontz novels. I was young okay, and I mostly wised up (I still have good feelings for Watchers). But toward the point of this thread, he usually introduced each section with quotes from things. The most common of these were poems from “The Book of Counted Sorrows.” I was really interested in this book. Wanted to find it for years. I, of course, found it to be fake. All of the poems he made up himself. There was actually a version that finally came out like 8 or so years ago. Maybe I should check it out, but I had kind of lost interest in the author by then. Still… might look for it out just to fulfill that years old desire. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-not-real/608386/38 "2012-01-04T23:45:47Z")
The story of the little Dutch boy who saved his town by sticking his finger in a leaking dike (the dam kind) was told as story in the American novel _Han Brinker and the Silver Skates_. It’s not only not true, but isn’t even a well-known story in the Netherlands, although apparently one town erected a statue of the boy in order to lure in American tourists. ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-not-real/608386/39 "2012-01-04T23:56:07Z")
> [@Silver\_Tyger](#): > > Y’all know how **The Princess Bride** said it was an abridgement? Yeah, I thought that was true. And he got me again with the supposed sequel. On a related note, I was in college, and had watched the film innumerable times over, before I realised that The Princess Bride film was a comedy/parody. I mean, I realised that it had humor in it, but I didn’t know that most of it was actually tongue-in-cheek lampshading of overdramatic fantasy and overblown historical romance. I thought it was sweet and funny and like Labyrinth or Legend, and instead it really is more in the vein of Robin Hood: Men In Tights. (Which I also like, but isn’t the same thing at all.) I somehow missed the memo that it was based on a book, and didn’t get to read that until college either. I like to think that would have clued me in, but I can’t be certain of that. 😃 Don’t judge me - I’m a fantasy-loving over-dramatic Tolkien-reading child of the eighties. That oversight is totally Not My Fault! I was just a tech embarrassed when I made that realization. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2012, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-not-real/608386/40 "2012-01-05T00:07:36Z")
_Memoires Of A Geisha_ marked the last time I read the “about the author” part after reading the book. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-not-real/608386.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-not-real/608386.md?page=3)