History Main / PopCulturalOsmosis

* Guy Fawkes, the man who wanted to blow up the English Parliament in 1605, has changed into a popular bonfire puppet on ''Bonfire Night'' in the UK and into a world wide symbol of anarchism and rebellion since his depiction in ''ComicBook/VForVendetta'', despite the fact that this comic strip and the film adaptation have nothing whatsoever to do with the real-life Fawkes' ambitions.

** Vésoul, France: From the Music/JacquesBrel song "Vésoul".

* UsefulNotes/RichardIII is considered the patron saint of the HistoricalVillainUpgrade, thanks to a century of over-the-top Tudor propaganda and Shakespeare's deliciously villainous portrayal. Most historians still think he probably [[TheFateOfThePrincesInTheTower murdered his nephews]], but his defenders, known as Ricardians, strongly disagree. They have been [[ByronicHero stanning]] for him since at least the early 1600s and point out that he was a brave and competent military commander who went down fighting, as king made some wise legal reforms and [[StockUnsolvedMysteries his nephews' bodies were never found]]. The fact that he was an inspiration for both Tyrion Lannister and Stannis Baratheon and the extraordinary story of the discovery of his remains hasn't hurt his popularity, but the truth of the man remains elusive.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: Thinking a work relies on clichés when those ''weren't'' clichés when the work was made.

** Alabama, USA: The Stephen Foster song "I've Come From Alabama With A Banjo On My Knee", the folk song "Oh, Susanna!" or Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama".
** Albuquerque, New Mexico: The city where WesternAnimation/BugsBunny after a long period of digging tunnels "should have made a left turn." Also the city where, according to Music/WeirdAlYankovic, "the air smells like warm root beer, and the towels are oh-so-FLUFFY!" More recently it's been the setting of ''Series/BreakingBad'' and ''Series/BetterCallSaul''.

** Bretagne, France: This region has a strong association with the comic strips ComicBook/{{Asterix}} and ComicStrip/{{Becassine}}.

** Chernobyl, Ukraine: The Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

** Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State University; ''Series/FamilyTies''; The former home of the Main Character in Film/{{Zombieland}}.

** Cucamonga, California: Made famous by Creator/MelBlanc's train conductor in Creator/JackBenny's radio shows. Also, InherentlyFunnyWord. More recently, ''Series/{{Workaholics}}''.

** Dayton, Ohio: The Wright brothers.

** Exmoor, Great Britain: The legendary Beast Of Exmoor supposedly lives there.

** Fucking, Austria: Sharing its name with an English-language curse word. It has become somewhat of an Internet meme, though it actually exists.

** Greenwich, Connecticut: The hometown of Wrestling/TripleH
** Grenoble, France: The hometown of Wrestling/AndreTheGiant

** Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan: The atomic bombings.

** Kansas: ''Film/TheWizardOfOz''
** Kenosha, Wisconsin: Birthplace of Creator/OrsonWelles and the famous "Did you ever hear of the Kenosha Kid?" refrain from Literature/GravitysRainbow.

** Liverpool, England: Music/TheBeatles.

** Oklahoma, USA: The play and musical ''Theatre/{{Oklahoma}}''.

** Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania: Home of Groundhog Day mascot Punxsutawney Phil; and the [[Film/GroundhogDay film]] based on the holiday.

** St. Louis, USA: The jazz standard ''St. Louis Blues''.

** Stratford, Canada: The hometown of Music/JustinBieber.

** Venice Beach, California: Hometown of Wrestling/HulkHogan.

** West Newbury, Massachusetts: The hometown of Wrestling/JohnCena.

* Even if you are familiar with Creator/AlbertCamus, most people wouldn't immediately make the connection between his philosophical novel "The Fall" and the band Music/TheFall.

* When characters in old Looney Tunes or MGM cartoons use the term "Come with me to ze casbah" they are actually referencing the 1937 film ''Film/{{Algiers}}'', where Creator/CharlesBoyer's "Pépé Le Moko" used this line. Note that people will probably not realize this, even if they HAVE seen this movie, because it was only used in the trailer.

** Cooperstown, New York: The National Baseball Hall of Fame.

* Pop culture even has a habit of obscuring itself. Adam Savage of ''Series/MythBusters'' is frequently credited for the quote, "I reject your reality and substitute my own!" Actually, the line originated from the 1985 SoBadItsGood film ''The Dungeonmaster'' (Ragewar outside of the US).

** It's common for younger viewers to associate the actors in Series 1 to 5 with the Horrible Histories cast members with people thinking of Ben Willbond as Henry VIII, Jim Howick as George IV, Lawry Lewin as Oliver Cromwell, etc.

* UsefulNotes/AndrewJackson is forever known in the public for his duels and to a lesser extent for the Trail Of Tears, but his economic and government policies are ignored for not being as shocking.

* The characters in ''VideoGame/EternalFighterZero'' are actually lifted from ''VisualNovel/{{Air}}'', ''VisualNovel/{{Kanon}}'', ''VisualNovel/OneKagayakuKisetsuE'', and ''MOON''. (The last of these doesn't even have a TV Tropes page.)

* A lot of people assume {{Eurobeat}} music to be made specifically for the ''Manga/InitialD'' anime adaptation, rather than existing music licensed for use in the anime. It wasn't until ''Initial D''[='=]s third season, ''Initial D Fourth Stage''[[note]]''Initial D Third Stage'' is a feature-length movie rather than a season of episodes, so ''Fourth Stage'' is [[NonIndicative actually season 3]].[[/note]], that Eurobeat musicians started to cash in on the series' popularity with songs about the series itself and more songs about cars.

* A lot of people assume {{Eurobeat}} music to be made specifically for the ''Manga/InitialD'' anime adaptation, rather than existing music licensed for use in the anime. It wasn't until ''Initial D''[='=]s third season, ''Initial D Fourth Stage''[[note]]''Initial D Third Stage'' is a feature-length movie rather than a season of episodes[[/note]], that Eurobeat musicians started to cash in on the series' popularity with songs about the series itself and more songs about cars.

** Or [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mueirlYAwlI this classic]] from ''Film/HighSchoolMusical3SeniorYear''

** "Manga" is the Japanese word for comics, and "anime", the word for animation. The ''whole'' spectrum for both forms of media.[[labelnote:(!)]]--The terms apply even to American media; in technical terms, for the Japanese, ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' comics are "manga" and [[Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon Disney's]] ''{{WesternAnimation/Cinderella}}'' is "anime"--[[/labelnote]] However, outside of Japan, "manga" and "anime" are the terms referring to Japanese-made works in particular. As such, if a non-Japanese states that they have a preference for said media to a Japanese individual, it's highly likely that the Japanese doesn't take this as meaning "Japanese media" because of the neutrality of the terms.

* This might be happening to Franchise/{{Batman}}, if Website/YouTube comments are to be believed.

* "Life is a Highway" is still a very popular song. But chances are more people are familiar with the Music/RascalFlatts [[CoveredUp cover]] than the original by Tom Cochrane. Especially those from Generation Z or later, thanks to its use in ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}''.

* ''WebVideo/{{Stampylongnose}}'''s iconic "Stampy Cat" ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' skin is actually a skin of Fidget from ''VideoGame/DustAnElysianTail'', who is supposed to a FunnyAnimal hybrid of a bat and a fox. Most players of ''Minecraft'' tend to associate the skin more with Stampy rather than Fidget.

* UsefulNotes/RichardIII is considered the patron saint of the HistoricalVillainUpgrade, thanks to a century of over-the-top Tudor propaganda and Shakespeare's deliciously villainous portrayal. Most historians still think he probably murdered his nephews, but his defenders, known as Ricardians, strongly disagree. They have been [[ByronicHero stanning]] for him since at least the early 1600s and point out that he was a brave and competent military commander who went down fighting, as king made some wise legal reforms and [[StockUnsolvedMysteries his nephews' bodies were never found]]. The fact that he was an inspiration for both Tyrion Lannister and Stannis Baratheon and the extraordinary story of the discovery of his remains hasn't hurt his popularity, but the truth of the man remains elusive.

* You know how the canonical sound of [[SlowLaser lasers firing]] is a sort of "pew pew pew" effect? You can thank Ben Burtt, the audio designer for ''[[Film/ANewHope Star Wars]]'', for that. The original sound effect was created by holding a microphone up to a taut wire while hitting the other end.