# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/61 "2012-01-02T21:54:12Z")
Oh, a much funnier one: I read a lot of Daniel Pinkwater as a kid, and one of my favorite stories features a guy driving around in a Wartburg car. I assumed this was made up, of course. I did some traveling in Northern Europe in my junior year and was taken on a day trip to Czechoslovakia (it was about 1990–just about the time that East and West Germany were about to reunify but hadn’t quite done it yet). I nearly fell over when I saw a real live Wartburg car! I sure wish I’d taken a picture. Daniel Pinkwater books have quite a few things like that, though I’m not sure there is really a Genghis Khan high school anywhere in New Jersey. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/62 "2012-01-02T21:58:40Z")
> [@lost4life](#): > > It always amazes me at how many people think it’s a real word. I can’t believe people can be so… so… what’s the word I’m thinking of? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/63 "2012-01-02T22:07:07Z")
I was stunned to learn that _Jack and Jill_ (with Adam Sandler playing both the fraternal-twin title roles) was a real movie and not just something Parker and Stone had made up for an episode of _South Park_ about (among other things) the dumbing-down of the culture. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/64 "2012-01-02T22:09:40Z")
Jerry Sandusky really did title his autobiography: [Touched.](http://www.amazon.com/Touched-Jerry-Sandusky-Story/dp/1582613575) ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/65 "2012-01-02T22:19:00Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > That the song “Red Solo Cup” as seen in a recent episode of \*\*Glee \*\*is actually a real song by Toby Keith. Oh thank you. I’m the only one in my family who doesn’t listen to country, and I had multiple family members make comments about the fact that I was drinking from a red Solo cup while I was home for Christmas. I had no idea why until now. ---
**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, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/66 "2012-01-02T22:19:08Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Was “only later” less than a minute? Right after Kramer says it Jerry asks him why he’s mumbling about a cellist. I guess I must have missed that line, or for whatever reason it just didn’t register with me when I first saw the episode. ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/67 "2012-01-02T22:25:13Z")
> [@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. Apparently even Edward Lear found the name [The Akond of Swat](http://www.nonsenselit.org/Lear/ll/akond.html) funny. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/68 "2012-01-02T23:22:19Z")
Today’s younger fans of the movie \*300 \*are going to have some brain-splitting “woah!” moments when they enter college and learn some ancient Greek history. ---
**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:** [January 2, 2012, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/69 "2012-01-02T23:48:18Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > I knew it but a lot of people don’t know that the J. Peterman company isn’t just a Seinfeld invention. It is a real company that predates Seinfeld. The writers put it in the show because the company’s catalogs are written with really over the top narratives along with hand drawn interpretations of what they think the product look likes. In some weird twists, Seinfeld helped business for them but caused them to overexpand into retail locations where they almost completely failed and had to sell. John Peterman was eventually able to by back his name along with the help of John O’Hurley, the actor that played him on Seinfeld. They are still around today. I get their catalogs and they are as entertaining as always. People watching _Seinfeld_ on reruns or DVD’s might also get the mistaken idea that they made up the idea of Kenny Rodgers having a chain of chicken restaurants, not realizing it was a real chain when the show was made. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2012, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/70 "2012-01-03T00:03:33Z")
Novelist Tim Powers has written a number of fantasy/horror books with well-researched historic settings, but when I read his book _Last Call_ (set in modern times) I assumed most of the details about Las Vegas casinos and gangsters were totally fictional. Turns out a lot of it was based on fact. For instance, [The Flamingo](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flamingo_Hotel) plays a significant role in the story, but I didn’t realize at the time that it was a real place. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2012, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/71 "2012-01-03T02:01:29Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > In the James Bond movie “The Man with the Golden Gun”, James visits an MI-6 office based in a ship half-sunken in Hong Kong harbor. I assumed it was just made up for the movie, but apparently the Queen Elizabeth is a real sunken ship there. Well, was at the time. It was only there for a short time till cut up and taken away but they used it for shooting the movie. > [@Shakester](#): > > 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. Haven’t heard them called that in years… ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2012, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/72 "2012-01-03T02:41:31Z")
Well, I’m learning quite a few things here (as usual) but one that sticks out in my mind was something that happened to a couple of other people… My husband and I were watching the Jim Jarmusch movie [**Coffee and Cigarettes**](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_and_Cigarettes) and are of course sitting behind the most insufferable couple of biddies loudly jabbering through the whole thing. At [one point](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_and_Cigarettes#Jack_Shows_Meg_His_Tesla_Coil) in the film Jack and Meg White (of the band “The White Stripes”) discuss Jack’s Tesla coil. One of the women in front of us went “_snort_ Tesla Coil!” A few minutes into the on-screen conversation the woman turns to her friend and says: “Wait, that’s an actual thing?!” ---
**Author:** ![Tess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@Tess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tess)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2012, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/73 "2012-01-03T02:54:15Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > And the story is also semi-real. There have been non-handicapped people who cheated by competing in the Special Olympics. 😕 For the bragging rights? (I’m not doubting you, just trying to figure out their motivation.) ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2012, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/74 "2012-01-03T03:09:19Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > I was stunned to learn that _Jack and Jill_ (with Adam Sandler playing both the fraternal-twin title roles) was a real movie and not just something Parker and Stone had made up for an episode of _South Park_ about (among other things) the dumbing-down of the culture. I absolutely had the same shock when I learned it was real. I thought it was a funny or die parody or something. Joe ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2012, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/75 "2012-01-03T03:10:26Z")
> [@Tess](#): > > 😕 For the bragging rights? > > (I’m not doubting you, just trying to figure out their motivation.) > **[The 7 Ballsiest Sports Cheats Ever](https://www.cracked.com/article_16073_the-7-ballsiest-sports-cheats-ever.html)** > > You might think that sportsmanship is dead, what with the steroids and signal-stealing cameras in the headlines. And you'd be right. > But what you may not realize is that sportsmanship died long, long ago. In fact, these modern performance enhancers... ---
**Author:** ![Tess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@Tess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tess)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2012, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/76 "2012-01-03T03:15:57Z")
For years I thought “Poindexter” was a made up name to indicate someone was a nerd. I was mentioning the cast of some movie and mentioned Keith Carradine. A co-worker laughed and said “You mean _David_.” “Do I? I get them confu…Uhm, you do know there’s also a Keith, right?” “Seriously?” Apparently he’d always thought people were screwing up the name of the guy from _Kung Fu_. No one’s going to know every actor but this guy was a huge Dexter fan and never noticed who was being credited as Langley. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2012, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/77 "2012-01-03T03:37:01Z")
John Barth’s great novel **The Sot-Weed Factor** is about Ebeneezer Cooke, who wrote the poem that gives the book its title. Turns out there really was an Ebeneezer Cooke, who did write the poem. The big McGuffin of the novel is the “Mystery of the Sacred Eggplant,” a method of improving male sexual prowess. Though the method seems absurd, it turns out to have been suggested in at least one sex guide of the 17th century. ---
**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 3, 2012, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/78 "2012-01-03T04:16:54Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > Haven’t heard them called that in years… You’re in QLD. Looks like I should have said “[in some parts of Australia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_bar)”. Here in Victoria they’re commonly called Milk Bars, and some even have names like “(Location) Milk Bar” painted on their windows or on signs. [Cite](http://www.google.com.au/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1920&bih=930&q=Milk+Bar&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2&oq=Milk+Bar&aq=f&aqi=g7g-s1g2&aql=&gs_sm=s&gs_upl=2638l2638l0l3800l1l1l0l0l0l0l309l309l3-1l1l0#hl=en&safe=off&gbv=2&tbm=isch&q=milk+bar+sign&revid=1172833052&sa=X&ei=3H8CT6WJGqzJmQXRvtSZDQ&ved=0CDwQ1QIoAQ&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=c619769132a4debc&biw=1920&bih=930). Mixed business or corner shop are other common terms, but milk bar isn’t an unusual or archaic term here. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2012, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/79 "2012-01-03T04:27:24Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > You’re in QLD. Looks like I should have said “[in some parts of Australia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_bar)”. > > Here in Victoria they’re commonly called Milk Bars, and some even have names like “(Location) Milk Bar” painted on their windows or on signs. [Cite](http://www.google.com.au/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1920&bih=930&q=Milk+Bar&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2&oq=Milk+Bar&aq=f&aqi=g7g-s1g2&aql=&gs_sm=s&gs_upl=2638l2638l0l3800l1l1l0l0l0l0l309l309l3-1l1l0#hl=en&safe=off&gbv=2&tbm=isch&q=milk+bar+sign&revid=1172833052&sa=X&ei=3H8CT6WJGqzJmQXRvtSZDQ&ved=0CDwQ1QIoAQ&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=c619769132a4debc&biw=1920&bih=930). > > Mixed business or corner shop are other common terms, but milk bar isn’t an unusual or archaic term here. I concur. ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2012, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/80 "2012-01-03T04:28:32Z")
> [@Tess](#): > > For years I thought “Poindexter” was a made up name to indicate someone was a nerd. The one single only thing I regret about being childless by choice is the opportunity to name someone Poindexter. I was of course introduced to it via: [Barbie, Queen of the Prom](http://www.amazon.com/Barbie-Game-Queen-Prom/dp/B000IZYB7A), which for some reason my mom had been hoarding for 30 years. Though he was supposedly the “dud” (as opposed to the “dream”) both my 100% straight brother and I agreed that Poindexter was the hottest date. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103.md?page=5)