# Wait, that's real? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 2, 2012, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103 "2012-01-02T01:59:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/21 "2012-01-02T13:51:24Z")
I honestly believed that the snippet of “Dream Weaver” repeated through the movie _Wayne’s World_ was written just for the movie. It really and truly sounded to me like Myers and Spheeris had discussed it and agreed “Yes, we need horribly cheesy love song music with god-awful lyrics for these comedic ‘falling in love’ bumper shots!” They then, I assumed, got a jingle writer with a sense of humor (maybe Myers himself) and some studio musicians and put together “Music Cue #17: Cheesy Love Theme”. A few years after seeing the film, I heard the song on some Hits of the 70s station. My jaw _dropped_. I was shocked to find that this was a real song that had been recorded in earnest and taken seriously. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/22 "2012-01-02T14:11:21Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I was surprised to learn that there really _was_ a Sultan of Swat\* It wasn’t just made up as a title for Babe Ruth. Swat is a state in Pakistan. > > [Swat (princely state) - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_Swat) > > \*actually, it was originally given as Akhwand of Swat, but Sultan of Swat was more alliterative. Before Babe Ruth “Akhwand of Swat” appears to have been a title viewed by Americans as humorous, and used in humorous cir5cumstances. No doubt because of the sound. Seconded. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/23 "2012-01-02T14:23:39Z")
This is a little obscure, but it Kubrick’s Clockwork Orange the ‘ **Milk Bar** ’ they go to. I had no idea these were a real British thing. I was positive it was just another wacky gag thought up by one of the film’s ‘visual futurists’… ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/24 "2012-01-02T14:28:47Z")
Last month I read _The Lost City of Z_ by David Grann, an account of explorer Percy Fawcett’s adventures/disappearance in the Amazon basin. When I picked up the book, I thought it was an historical fiction. I thought “Percy Fawcett” was a completely made up character. I thought all the quotes and footnotes included in the book were there for effect. In fact … here’s where I really sound stupid … I thought it was going to be about zombies – City of Z? I didn’t figure out that I was reading a non-fiction book until I was several chapters in, after I read about Fawcett on Wikipedia. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/25 "2012-01-02T14:38:12Z")
There are a bunch from South Park. Two that stand out: NAMBLA, the North American Man Boy Love Association, from the episode where Eric attends a child molester convention thinking it’s a good way to meet grown-up friends. When I saw the episode years back I had no reason to believe that it wasn’t just something that producers made up for the show. Then about a week later I heard an interview with Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and was stunned to learn that the organization was indeed real. Then there’s the episode where Eric pretends to be retarded so he can take part in the Special Olympics. During a training montage, there’s a really cheesy, overwrought, '80s sounding song, “Push it to the Limit.” Surely, I thought, that had to be made up. But no, it’s [a real song,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarface_%28Push_It_to_the_Limit%29) and was even in Scarface, the quintessential, cheesy, overwrought, '80s action flick. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/26 "2012-01-02T15:02:59Z")
In the U.S., “spastic” is nothing more than an adjective one might use to be insulting or condescending to someone who is clumsy or awkward - there is an inkling that it might relate to something clinical, but it’s a lot more likely that someone would just toss off “jeez, you are SUCH a spazz.” As an exchange student in Scotland, I was at a friend’s house with his parents when there was a knock on the door. Everyone was cooking, so they asked me to answer. “Help the Spastics?” was the pleasant opening line from the woman at the door holding out a cup for a donation. I lost it (I was a stupid 19yo at the time), burst out laughing and ran back in the house. I had to leave it to my friend’s parents to wash their hands, attend to the folks at the door and give them a BIG donation. I have no clue if “spastic” is still legitimately used in Scotland or the greater UK… ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/27 "2012-01-02T15:04:08Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > This is a little obscure, but it Kubrick’s Clockwork Orange the ‘ **Milk Bar** ’ they go to. I had no idea these were a real British thing. I was positive it was just another wacky gag thought up by one of the film’s ‘visual futurists’… Here in Australia corner shops are generally referred to as Milk Bars. I’m pretty sure it’s a relic of the temperance movement. No idea why the term ended up applied to small general shops, though. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/28 "2012-01-02T15:10:41Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > I have no clue if “spastic” is still legitimately used in Scotland or the greater UK… It’s gone out of fashion, for entirely explicable reasons. I have a friend I’ve known for over 30 years now who has cerebral palsy. In the 70s, she went to Spastic School, which was what it was actually called back then. That’s in Australia, but “spastic” was probably the normal word to describe cerebral palsy in the US, too, until people turned it into a general purpose insult, in much the same way that “retarded” was simply a descriptive word once. ---
**Author:** ![justrob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9adbd/32.png) [@justrob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justrob)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/29 "2012-01-02T15:11:30Z")
> [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](#): > > Wilky Wonka Chocolate, though later did I realize that it was produced to capitalize on the movies. I’m pretty sure the movie got produced to promote the new candy bar. Not the other way around. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/30 "2012-01-02T15:13:41Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > It’s gone out of fashion, for entirely explicable reasons. I have a friend I’ve known for over 30 years now who has cerebral palsy. In the 70s, she went to Spastic School, which was what it was actually called back then. > > That’s in Australia, but “spastic” was probably the normal word to describe cerebral palsy in the US, too, until people turned it into a general purpose insult, in much the same way that “retarded” was simply a descriptive word once. Got it - and yep, “retarded” was actually the nicer word introduced to stop folks from using classification words like moron, imbecile and idiot…and look where it got us; now it’s “the R-Word”… ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/31 "2012-01-02T15:19:53Z")
Of course, there’s [a Wiki page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spastic) about the word spastic, which explains all. The Spastics Society is now called Scope. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/32 "2012-01-02T15:21:40Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > In the U.S., “spastic” is nothing more than an adjective one might use to be insulting or condescending to someone who is clumsy or awkward - there is an inkling that it might relate to something clinical, but it’s a lot more likely that someone would just toss off “jeez, you are SUCH a spazz.”… Spastic is not “nothing more than an adjective one might use to be insulting or condescending to someone who is clumsy or awkward”, in the U.S. or elsewhere. It is a current medical term (not just an inkling), e.g. “spastic diplegia” or “spastic colon”. > **[Spasticity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spasticity)** > > Spasticity (from Greek spasmos- 'drawing, pulling') is a feature of altered skeletal muscle performance with a combination of paralysis, increased tendon reflex activity, and hypertonia. It is also colloquially referred to as an unusual "tightness", stiffness, or "pull" of muscles. > Clinically, spasticity results from the loss of inhibition of motor neurons, causing excessive velocity-dependent muscle contraction. This ultimately leads to hyperreflexia, an exaggerated deep tendon reflex. Spasti... ---
**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:** [January 2, 2012, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/33 "2012-01-02T15:22:19Z")
> [@justrob](#): > > I’m pretty sure the movie got produced to promote the new candy bar. Not the other way around. The candy came out in conjuction with the movie. [From Wiki.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Willy_Wonka_Candy_Company) > [@](#): > > The Willy Wonka Candy Company is a brand of candy owned by the Nestlé company using licensed materials from Roald Dahl’s Charlie & the Chocolate Factory and its two film adaptations for their packaging and marketing. The brand started in 1971, coinciding with the release of the first film adaptation. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/34 "2012-01-02T15:39:33Z")
In the Futurama episode _Parasite’s Lost_, the Professor attempts to expel parasites from Fry by miniaturizing the ship and crew and stimulating Fry’s pelvic splanchnic ganglion. I just thought that was perfect, made-up, anatomical mumbo jumbo. But apparently, there really is a pelvic splanchnic ganglion. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/35 "2012-01-02T15:40:53Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > Spastic is not “nothing more than an adjective one might use to be insulting or condescending to someone who is clumsy or awkward”, in the U.S. or elsewhere. It is a current medical term (not just an inkling), e.g. “spastic diplegia” or “spastic colon”. > [Spasticity - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spasticity) Of course you’re right…which is why I posted this to a thread entitled **“Wait, that’s real?”** :rolleyes: **Shakester** , thanks for the link. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/36 "2012-01-02T15:45:08Z")
Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the word _gullible_ isn’t actually in the dictionary … ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/37 "2012-01-02T15:46:15Z")
The outcry about the title change of the first Harry Potter book/movie only made sense to me when I figured out years later that [Nicolas Flamel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolas_Flamel) was a real person, not someone made up for the story and therefore there actually was (thought to be) something called a philosopher’s stone. ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/38 "2012-01-02T15:51:26Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the word _gullible_ isn’t actually in the dictionary … It always amazes me at how many people think it’s a real word. Anyhoo, the movie **Nacho Libre** is a true\* [story](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fray_Tormenta)! \*Well, loosely based on real events. ---
**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:** [January 2, 2012, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/39 "2012-01-02T15:52:37Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > The outcry about the title change of the first Harry Potter book/movie only made sense to me when I figured out years later that [Nicolas Flamel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolas_Flamel) was a real person, not someone made up for the story and therefore there actually was (thought to be) something called a philosopher’s stone. I’d heard of the “Philosopher’s Stone” lonbg before Harry Potter, and the concept existed with or without Nicholas Flamel (although i was impressed that Rowling found an actual alchemist for her book). I thought it was incsulting that Scholastic felt they had to change the title to “Sorceror’s Stone”. If _Scholastic_ books aren’t about teaching kids things, their name is unfitting. > [@](#): > > This is a little obscure, but it Kubrick’s Clockwork Orange the ‘Milk Bar’ they go to. I had no idea these were a real British thing. I was positive it was just another wacky gag thought up by one of the film’s ‘visual futurists’… I don’t think any “milk bars” like the one in [ui]Clockwork Orange\* actually exist – the point of that bar (which is in Burgess’ original novel) is that the milk you drink is dosed with drugs – “synthemesc” and other such things. The name of the bar – _Korova_ Milk Bar – is Russian for “cow”, in keeping with Burgess’ Russian-influenced future slang. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/40 "2012-01-02T15:56:10Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Of course you’re right…which is why I posted this to a thread entitled **“Wait, that’s real?”** :rolleyes: > > **Shakester** , thanks for the link. You said that it was only an insult in the US. Your “wait that’s real” revelation was not that you were wrong about that. It was that you had discovered a different usage (from what you thought was the usual use) in the UK. I was pointing out that your belief about US usage was incorrect. Spastic is a pretty common medical term in the US. No need for the rolleyes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103.md?page=3)