Fluffy the Terribles in real life.
- "Water Puppy" might sound cute but it is a nickname for Anasarca which is an often fatal birth defect where the puppy's skin is bloated with fluid.
- "Beppo" and "Uncle Mengele" were nicknames of Dr. Josef Mengele, also referred to less cutely as "the Angel of Death."
- An unidentified Brazilian Serial Killer was nicknamed the "Rainbow Maniac", because he targeted homosexual men.
- "Snorky" sounds like the kind of nickname an eccentric old man might have. It's a lot less cute when said old man is Al Capone. (Capone's other nickname, "Scarface", is a different trope entirely.)
- The Sakurakai ("Cherry Blossom Society") was an ultranationalist organisation that aimed to turn Japan into a military dictatorship.
- Nazi Amon Goeth's nickname was "Mony".
- While most are pretty cool, there are quite a few examples among the Horny Vikings.
- Ivar the Boneless: Theories about the reason for his name range from impotence, to having lost his legs, to osteogenesis imperfecta which left him with no real use of his legs (supported by the chronicled fact that he was carried into battle), to simply being extremely nasty even by Viking standards (the Latin reading of his name Exosus also sounds like "the Hated"). The point is, whatever was wrong with him, he was a chieftain and a warrior, and apparently well respected, in a culture where physically weak men were despised. How badass is that?.
- His father, Ragnar Lodbrok or "Ragnar Hairy Breeches", is a feared and ruthless viking warlord featuring in two Nordic sagas. It's no wonder that Vikings never translates his name.
- Magnus Olafsson, AKA Magnus Barefoot, King of Norway and aggressive conqueror. One theory for how he acquired the name "barefoot" is that he once fled from a sudden Swedish attack before he could put his boots on.
- Ivar the Boneless: Theories about the reason for his name range from impotence, to having lost his legs, to osteogenesis imperfecta which left him with no real use of his legs (supported by the chronicled fact that he was carried into battle), to simply being extremely nasty even by Viking standards (the Latin reading of his name Exosus also sounds like "the Hated"). The point is, whatever was wrong with him, he was a chieftain and a warrior, and apparently well respected, in a culture where physically weak men were despised. How badass is that?.
- In Rome, one of the emperors marched alongside the legions when he was a child. They made the child, a boy named Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus, a set of armor that included little leather boots. Gaius received the nickname "Bootsy", or "Little Boots". Guess what the Latin word for "Little Boots"/"Bootsy" is.
- Roman Gladiators would sometimes adopt stage names like "Pearl" or "Puppy", to use this trope.
- Nikkari Aoe ("Giggling", Aoe being the name of the school of the smith). The name of the sword is based on its slaying two giggling ghosts which turned out to be two stone lanterns.
- Kasen Kanesada ("Immortal Genius Poet" Kanesada). One legend on its name, being a reference to the Thirty-Six Poetry Immortals, is that it was so named for being used to kill 36 retainers of its notoriously ruthless owner.
- In fact, there is no shortage of swords that were used in battle bearing harmless-sounding or even poetic names. Gems include: Azuki Nagamitsu ("Red Bean", purportedly based on a legend that it's so sharp a red bean got split falling on the cutting edge), Uguisumaru ("Japanese bush warbler"), Himetsuru Ichimonji ("Princess/Lady Named Tsuru"), Sasanoyuki ("Snow Upon Sasa Bamboo", an Absurdly Sharp Blade with sharpness compared to snow falling from a bamboo leaf, hence the name), several tantō blades called Hōchō ("Kitchen Knife"), etc.
- Germans:
- During World War II the Germans planned to build a 188-ton superheavy tank called the Maus (Mouse). In this case, the name was chosen on purpose so that the Allies wouldn't guess anything about the vehicle if they discovered the name (the Germans had given away a couple of secrets earlier in the war by using code names that were too reflective of the actual devices or operations). They also designed a 1000-ton monster called the Ratte (Rat).
- They gave a self-propelled 150mm (6") gun the name Hummel - the Bumblebee. Its smaller 105mm cousin was called the Wespe - Wasp. To complete the family, the version mounting a deadly 88mm anti-tank gun was called the Hornisse - the Hornet. All were capable of delivering more than just a sting. The trope was subverted when Hitler declared he didn't want his armored vehicles named after insects, and so the Hornisse became the Nashorn - the Rhino. The other two were still called Wespe and Hummel, and they just made sure nobody mentioned that to Hitler.
- The planned Nazi invasion of Switzerland was called Operation Tannenbaum, which may sound like a harsh word to non-German speakers, but it actually translates to "Fir Tree" or "Christmas Tree" in German.
- Many German army vehicles today are named after the smallest and cutest predatory animals like foxnote , weaselnote , fennecnote , martennote , lynxnote , and dingonote . This tradition arose out of postwar Germany's policy of non-aggression, and the resulting belief that naming vehicles and weapons after big predators was seen as too "Nazi-like"note .
- The British in WW2 called what was at the time their main battle tank the Valentinenote . Incidentally, it is also an acronym of its manufacturer, Vickers-Armstrong Limited Elswick & Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Its American-built stablemate was allegedly initially called the Honey because compared to British tanks, it was spacious, roomy, mechanically reliable and a complete delight in every way.note Supposedly, a British general, worried that this was an insufficiently martial name, ordered that all imported American tanks be given the names of Civil War generals. The fast mobile Honey then officially became the Stuart after the great cavalry general. The Americans appreciated this so much that they officially adopted this naming convention - all American tanks since have been named for famous generals.note
- The Valentine's heavy stablemate was the Matilda, which ran to two production variants; it got the name beause, allegedly, the Matilda 1 looked in profile like a cartoon duck in a comic book. But both were heavily-armoured vehicles that got the respect of the Germans and even forced the only thing remotely like a British tank victory in France in 1940. note . It's also worth noting that that two mediaeval Queens of England, fated to be married to weak and indecisive Kings, planned campaigns and led battles on behalf of the King. And won. Both were called Matilda.
- Diseases:
- There’s a cute-and-cuddly-sounding disease called P.A.N.D.A.S. that is actually a debilitating autoimmune disorder causing brutal physical and mental illness in children, including brain inflammation and suicidal tendencies. The acronym stands for Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Diseases Associated with Streptococcal infections.
- Hurricanes:
- The argument can be made for many hurricane names here. Would you run away from Mitch
, Wilma, or even Gay (Yes, really) - Even better are the names of tropical cyclones (typhoons) in the Asian-Pacific region: if something is called Dolphin, Usagi or Yu-Tu (The Moon Rabbit), it's got to be pretty harmless, right?
- Typhoon Tip though silly in name is the most intense and largest typhoon on record. At its full size it would be able to (roughly) cover half of the US.◊
- Also in the above image is Cyclone Tracy, the smallest and most compact cyclone on record that completely leveled Darwin, Australia in the 1970s.
- Both Lewis Black and Robin Williams talk about unthreatening-sounding hurricanes in their standup acts. Robin talks about hurricane Terrence, which sounds like a "slightly gay" hurricane, and Lew wonders why the fuck anyone would name a hurricane Lenny (which hit Puerto Rico hard in 1999).
- Out of all of these, however, Hurricane Fifi has them all beat. It killed anywhere from 3,000 to 10,000 people in Honduras alone, and caused $1.8 billion in damage—in 1974 dollars, to boot.note It went down as the fourth-deadliest Atlantic hurricane on record. And we must emphasize—the hurricane's name was Fifi.
- The argument can be made for many hurricane names here. Would you run away from Mitch
- Similarly, there's the Haboob (which is actually Arabic for "strong wind"). Haboobs are monstrous desert duststorms usually caused by atmospheric disruptions. They're not so much destructive as they are disruptive, but they sure are threatening-looking. So the next time you're in Arizona and you see a six kilometer-tall wall of dust flying toward you at 100km/h, just remember: Haboob.
- See the real life Fluffy the Terrible here! Admittedly, pythons don't move around that much....
- General Butt Naked, leader of the appropriately named Butt Naked Battalion. Names sound hilarious? Right? Wrong. They committed some horrifying acts. All while naked.
- Once described as "the most evil man in the world", Joshua "General Butt Naked" Blahyi said in 2008 that he killed at least 20,000 people and carried out regular human sacrifice and cannibalism of children.
- Several animals have innocuous, even cute names, but are not to be approached lightly.
- You'd think an animal called a "honey badger" would be pretty docile, right? WRONG.
- "Cottonmouth" is a species of venomous snake.
- The dinosaur Saichania, which is a large ankylosauroid covered in spikes, horns, and thick, bony plates. Its name actually means "beautiful" in Mongolian.
- Less cute, more embarrassing, is the name "Dunkleosteus". Translated, it means "Dunkle's Bone". While it sounds like the sort of name a thirteen-year old with an impressive fluency in Greek might bestow on something, it belongs to a thirty-three foot fish which was equipped with what amounted to a giant, armored staple remover for a head◊.
- "Box jelly" doesn't appear too dangerous, either. Whilst "Sea Wasp" sounds much more alarming, the Cubomedusae are amongst the most venomous creatures in the whole animal kingdom.
- There is an animal whose taxonomic name is Eunice aphroditois, Eunice being usually a female given name, and aphroditois evokes Aphrodite, the Greek Love Goddess. So what kind of animal is it? It's actually a predatory undersea worm called Bobbit worm.
- You'd think an animal called a "honey badger" would be pretty docile, right? WRONG.
- As an added sardonic humor, several animals with harmless-sounding nicknames are just as badly feared:
- Gustave sounds like one of the least intimidating names ever, right? It's also the name of a 20 foot crocodile in Burundi, Africa that's a notorious man-eater.
- A saltwater crocodile in Australia named Sweetheart was notorious for attacking various boats between 1974 and 1979.
- According to The Other Wiki, a killer whale in an English zoo became so aggressive towards his trainers that they were forced to clean his tank from a shark cage. The aforementioned whale's name? Cuddles.
- Some fossil animal specimens are also given ordinary, innocuous nicknames, even when they were battle-hardened, multi-ton primeval behemoths.
- "Sue" is the nickname of one of the largest known T. rex specimens riddled with holes in its jaw, broken ribs, and fused tail vertebrae, to name a few injuries.
- There's an American mastodon specimen named "Fred". He was an adult male mastodon that had one of his tusks rammed up its socket during a fight and a puncture wound in his face (from another mastodon's tusk) that ended up killing him.
- There's the famous B-29 bomber Enola Gay (named after the pilot's mother) that dropped the big one on Hiroshima in World War II. The last remaining airworthy B-29 is named Fifi.
- In Cricket, Joel Garner, the much-feared 6'8" West Indies fast bowler of the 80s, was nicknamed "Big Bird".
- American documentary television series Shockwave once showed an obese man lift a crashed 1600 lbs helicopter in order to have rescuers pull the pilot away from the wreckage. The big guy's name: Tiny!
- The U.S. made a habit of giving nuclear devices very innocent names.
- The atomic bombs dropped during World War II? Fat Man and Little Boy. The general idea there was that they would get mistaken for code names for Churchill and Roosevelt. The theme had previously been set by one of the Manhattan Project's test designs being code-named Thin Man.
- The first thermonuclear test device was named Sausage◊. It weighed 62 tons and exploded with a force of 10.4 megatons. It created a crater 1 mile across and was the fourth most powerful test done by the U.S.
- The device responsible for the third most powerful nuclear test done by the U.S. was named Runt.
- The device responsible for the second most powerful nuclear test done by the U.S. was named Runt II.
- At 15 megatons, the most powerful bomb ever tested by the U.S. was named... Shrimp◊. It was also the greatest radiological disaster in U.S. history; the exclusion zone for later tests was increased 917,326 square km or about 1% of Earth's total land area.
- Colombian criminal world is full of harmless-looking nicknames. Browsing in the news archives you will see criminals and drug traffickers nicknamed "Chupeta" ("Lollipop", nickname of Juan Carlos Ramírez Abadía), "Jabón" ("Soap", Wílber Varela's nickname), "Florecita" ("Little flower", nickname of Andrés López López, former drug trafficker turned writer. Actually, he wrote "El cartel de los sapos"), "Angelito" ("Little angel", nickname of Alfonso León Puerta Muñoz, one of Escobar's cruelest sicarios), "Mueble fino" ("Fine furtniture", nickname of Jaír Sánchez Hernández), "El Iguano" ("Iguana man", nickname of the paramilitary commander Jorge Iván Laverde Zapata, currently in jail for killing 4.000 people and disposing of the bodies in crematorium ovens nazi-style), "Fritanga" (nickname of Camilo Torres, a drug trafficker who was captured while he was celebrating his wedding in a private island), "Popeye" (nickname of John Jairo Velásquez Vázquez, chief sicario of Pablo Escobar).
- Much like the video game examples above, this is a pattern holding true with the criminal element in most countries. A guy wanting to be called "Mad Dog" or "Diesel" might just be a posturing tryhard; but the results speak for themselves when someone's managed to climb the underworld ranks with a moniker like "Pookie" or "Doughboy."
- During the meltdown at Chernobyl one room was termed "the elephant's foot" for being filled with a grayish, wrinkly-looking lump of slag that resembled, well, an elephant's foot. The molten-hot material was so heavily irradiated it could kill within less than a minute of exposure.
- One of the most invasive plants in the eastern United States is the Ailanthus tree, commonly known as the Tree of Heaven. While it's pretty, it spreads so quickly that it rapidly chokes out all other plant life, and there is a very good reason that it's acquired the nickname "stink tree."
- The Israeli armored version of the Caterpillar D9 bulldozer, a nigh-invincible machine which tears through buildings as if they're made of paper, is nicknamed "doobi", which means "teddy bear".
- In general, the military is quite fond of giving elite units deliberately underwhelming and nondescript names as obfuscation, like the Military Assistance Command Vietnam–-Studies and Observations Group (MACV-SOG), which sounds more like the name you assign to a group of sociologists and logisticians. Which was the entire point. The Canadian spec ops unit (yes, they exist, and yes, they are very good at their work) is named Joint Taskforce-2, a name which tells you exactly nothing. And the Special Air Service was named because they wanted the Nazis to think that the SAS was just another parachute regiment.
- One of many military-themed examples: after the end of WWII an American translator tried to inform administrators in Japan that paratroopers from a regiment of the 101st Airborne would be arriving, but without knowing the correct word, made his best attempt to describe the soldiers. The positively Pythonesque result "falling-down umbrella-men" was something the Japanese found appropriately hilarious - the name stuck, and today the 187th Infantry "Rakkasans" are well known as one of the most fearsome units of the entire US Army.
- The Pakistan Army has a long standing tradition of giving "feminine" sounding nicknames to its Artillery guns. Popular names include "Rani" (Queen), "Shazadi"(Princess) and "Soni"(cute girl).
- "Katyusha" is a Russian diminutive of the name Yekaterina (="Katherine", so "Katyusha"="Katie"), and there's a popular song about it. It's also the name of rocket artillery that the Russians used in WWII. Imagine if the US Army had called the T34 Calliope the "Clementine" and you have a rough idea.
- The name Calliope for a multi-tube missile launcher is itself an example, since the name came from a musical instrument popular at fairs and carnivals in the United States, and originally from the Greek muse of epic poetry.
- One of Reds With Rockets' signature weapons was the PPSh-41 submachine gun, which gave Soviet infantry much More Dakka than their German counterparts. "PPSh" is pronounced "peh-peh-sheh" in Russian, and the gun was quickly named the papasha, or Daddy.
- There was a Royal Navy submarine which sent many Italian and Japanese ships to the bottom of the Ocean. She was feared and respected. Her name? HMS Shakespeare.
- "Love waves" sound pretty romantic, hem? They are actually the most destructive of seismic waves. The kind that tears down building foundations, brings down bridges and makes railroads wavy. (In case you're wondering, geologists aren't sadists, and they weren't named by a guy who had just gone through a bad breakup. The waves are named after the man who discovered them, Augustus Love).
- Russian soldiers have a habit of putting the endearment -ka at the end of their war machines. Which would be rather as if Americans called a tank "Li'l Abrams."
- A deadly multiple rocket-launcher capable of unleashing a salvo of sixteen 122mm rounds was called the Katiushka - "Little Katie". note
- Admiral Arleigh Burke, terror of the Solomon islands and bane of the Imperial Japanese Navy, whose name now graces the hull of one of the most powerful warships that sails the seven seas. His first name means "Hare-meadow".
- Admiral Andrew Baines Cunningham, one of Britains greatest admirals in World War II. His name means "village of the milk pail". No wonder he was so often called "ABC" instead.
- The meaning of the name Manfred is "Man of Peace". Yeah, right.
- During WWII, the RAF dropped 4000lb bombs on Germany. These were called "Cookies".note
- The BLU-82, a 7.5 ton bomb used in Afghanistan to destroy underground bunkers and cavern complexes, is popularly known as a "daisy cutter," probably because it was also used in Vietnam to turn heavily forested areas into helicopter landing zones fast.
- Towards the end of World War II, the US Navy introduced an air-to-ground rocket designed to take out bunkers and fortified emplacements. It carried a 500 pound armor-piercing warhead, and went by the name of "Tiny Tim".
- Josef Stalin was often nicknamed "Uncle Joe."
- During Prohibition, the criminal activity of Detroit was controlled by a ruthless bunch Kosher Nostra known as the Purple Gang.
- The Royal Navy had an entire class of warships named after flowers - the "Gladiolus" series. HMS Anemone, HMS Heartsease (another word for "Pansy"), HMS Gladiolus, HMS Carnation, HMS Jasmine, HMS Poppy....This is only a partial example, however, since the word "gladiolus" comes from the Latin word for sword, so it's not altogether inappropriate a name for a military machine. On the other hand, gladiolus is the diminutive; the rough English equivalent would be "swordy-wordy."
- The German military deployed the absolute ultimate in BFGs in their siege of Sevastopol in World War II. The Wehrmacht called it the 80cm Kanone (Eisenbahngeschütz). The manufacturer called it Schwerer Gustav (Heavy Gustav). The crews called it Dora. Similarly, a huge siege mortar from the previous war was officially the L/12 42cm M-Gerät 14 Kurze Marine-Kanone, but everybody called her Big Bertha.
- Dangerous drugs often have innocent-sounding nicknames. "Angel dust" means PCP (a Real Life Psycho Serum). "Molly" means MDMA (known to cause psychological disturbances, dangerously high body temperatures, and, in high enough doses, loss of motor control and even heart failure). Perhaps most infamously of all, "roofies" are Date Rape drugs, especially Rohypnol.
- The AC-47 was a fixed-wing gunship created by slapping a ton of miniguns to a WW2-era C-47 Skytrain. The U.S Air Force called it "Spooky". The troops who received its air support took to calling it "Puff, the Magic Dragon" after the famous children's song, because when it showed up at night, it filled the sky with great flaming muzzle-flash.
- Many dangerous plants have innocuous, even cute sounding names:
- Yellow Oleander is known as "Lucky Nut". It is extremely toxic, containing cardiac glycosides.
- Aconitum species are often referred to as monkshood. They are used as arrow poisons.
- Rosary Peas, despite their pious sounding name, contain abrin - one of the deadliest poisons known. Probably because the only thing to do after eating one is to grab your rosary and Say Your Prayers. Although the berries DO look remarkably like rosary beads.
- One of the most unpleasantly spiny plants in the menagerie of unpleasantly spiny plants that covers the southwestern United States and northern Mexico: The Teddy Bear Cholla, so named because when viewed from a distance, the thousands of needle-thin, transparent, barbed spines that cover every inch of the plant make it look like it's fuzzy or has a sort of halo. To give you an indication of how easy it is to get those spines stuck all over you, the other name for the stuff is "jumping cactus."
- At some period in history, women used the diluted juice of a certain plant to dilate their pupils, as dilated pupils were considered contemporary mark of beauty, leading to said plant being named Belladonna, a word that means "beautiful woman". Try telling that to people who know it better as deadly nightshade.
- Found in Australia, the cute-sounding gympie gympie - also called the suicide plant - is a nettle covered in hairs that, upon contact with skin, delivers a toxin that is excruciatingly painful and can cause pain that lasts anywhere from a few days to whole years. The pain - described as being burnt with hot acid and electrocuted at the same time - has also been known to drive those stung into madness.
- Foxglove sounds like a cute, harmless flower. It's not; the entire plant is toxic and even the water from a vase of foxglove flowers can contain a lethal dose of cardiac glycosides.
- Gelsemium sempervirens with its common names of Carolina jasmine or yellow jasmine sounds like a harmless variety of jasmine. It's not related to the true jasmines at all and it is very poisonous.
- Manchineel is often referred to as the beach apple by way of Spanish (manzanilla - "little apple"). It's one of the most poisonous trees in the world, with every part of the tree capable of causing blisters or blindness upon contact. In fact, it's so dangerous that on the islands where they grow, the trees have paint markings or even signs so people know to avoid them.
- Yellow Oleander
- The various incarnations of the Italian Navy have had ships bearing the harmless-sounding Caio Duilio (it sounds harmless and even stupid even to Italians, as long as they don't know who they're named after). They are all warships, including one that, when commissioned, was universally considered the most powerful of the world (she scared the Royal Navy, and the Caio Duilio and her sister Andrea Doria were believed superior to the entire French fleet of the Mediterranean in virtue of having enough firepower to One-Salvo Kill any French ship from outside their range).
- In order to maintain operational secrecy, military operations are often given innocuous or even ridiculous names. In some instances, such as in the Invasion of Panama, the United States went so far as to change the name to something cooler after the operation was concluded. Originally, the invasion was given the title "Operation Blue Spoon" while in the planning phase, before becoming "Operation Just Cause" during and after the invasion.
- The actual capture of Noriega was termed "Operation Nifty Package."
- Not even military camouflage is spared from humiliating nicknames. The Russian "Kamuflirovannyi Letnyi Maskirovochnyi Kombinezon" (Camoflagued Summer Deceptive Coveralls, abbreviated to "KLMK") has been given the nickname "sun bunnies". The Swiss "Leibermuster" pattern, meanwhile received the nickname "four-fruit pajamas" while it was in service. The Finnish camouflage suit m/62 is called pellepuku (clown suit) while m/91 is called kurkkusalaatti ("cucumber salad"). The newest, pixellated pattern m/05, is digipuku ("digi-suit").
- Adam Lanza, perpetrator of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, and killer of 20 children, frequented Internet chatrooms and forums as "Smiggles."
- Tonton Macoute (Uncle Gunnysack) is an evil bogeyman in Haitian mythology, and is also the name of the paramilitary force who helped oppress Haiti during the reign of terror of Papa Doc and his son Baby Doc Duvalier (yes, these two dictators count as well).
- During World War II, the US had a 36 inch mortar called Little David◊, which was designed to test aerial bombs (presumably by first launching them into the air). They floated plans to use the Little Davids as siege mortars during Operation Downfall, but Japan surrendered before the war came to that.
- What's the nickname for breaching rounds? (SWAT team shotgun shells designed to blow doorknobs off.) "Avon calling."
- Navy SEALs (themselves an example) once used suppressed pistols with extra-heavy rounds known as "hush puppies." The reason for the name was that the suppressed guns would take out sentries and guard dogs during a raid.
- The Finnish Army absolutely loves this trope. For example, the 95 mm heavy anti-tank recoilless rifle is called Musti (Blackie) after a popular dog's name. Likewise, 10 kg anti-tank mine is called Tellu (a girl's name), 20 kg demolition charge as kuntokuutio (fitness cube), the half platoon tent as smurffikylä ("Smurf village"), the 23 mm anti-aircraft gun as Sergei (Russian boy's name), the Sisu APC as Pasi (boy's name) etc.
- Mike Tyson is remembered as one of the most feared heavyweight boxing champions in the sport's history. His boxing style is called "peek-a-boo"; this is because he kept his fists up over his face most of the time, only exposing it to attack.
- Speaking of boxers, you wouldn't expect someone with a nickname as frankly adorable as "Butterbean" to have as impressive of a fight record.
- Pernell Whitaker was one of the greatest technical boxers who ever lived, with arguably the best defense the sports history. His nickname in the ring? Sweet Pea.
- Santos Saul Alvarez Barragan is, as of 2022, ranked as the world's top pound-for-pound boxer. His popular name is "Canelo" Alvarez, Spanish for "cinnamon" on account of his red hair.
- If you were approached by a Portuguese sailor who invited you to play "the game of the stick" you might have been forgiven thinking that it's an innocuous children's game, and not that he's challenging you to an honor duel and intends to batter you senseless with a very large club.
- Mercy Bay sounds lovely... until your ship gets trapped in ice and you have to abandon ship.
- The district of Rosengård, wich can be translated as "Rose Garden", sounds like it has a pretty fancy name. Too bad that it just happens to be one of, if not the most crime-ridden area in Sweden where the gang-activity has become so severe that there are plans of possibly having to intervene with the army.
- With a name like "Lovecraft", you'd think he wrote romance novels. But no, H. P. Lovecraft wrote cosmic horror stories.
- A "rabbit punch" sounds like some sort of ineffectual or even endearing maneuver. In reality, it's a punch to the back of the head, which is so dangerous that it's outlawed in all combat sports. The name comes from the practice of slaughtering rabbits by hitting them in the back of the head.
- "Rainbow Valley" is the nickname for the area near the summit of Mt. Everest, referring to the brightly colored clothing worn on the corpses of climbers who never made it home. Recovering a body from that high up the mountain is a dangerous venture, so bodies tend to stay there indefinitely.
- "Papá Doc" sounds like the name of some harmless, eccentric old man. Nope, he was one of the leaders of the feared Medellín Cartel and a highly prolific cocaine smuggler. As an added bonus, his surname is nearly homophonous (one letter off, and very close at that) with the Spanish word for "squirrel".
- Not to be confused, with the other Papa Doc, who was a brutal dictator.
- Not to be confused, with the other Papa Doc
- "Barbie" doesn't sound like a very scary name, at least not after the famous toy came out in 1959. But one Nazi war criminal, known as "The Butcher of Lyon", was named Klaus Barbie.
- It's common, almost to the point of cliche, for pet owners and animal facilities that keep tarantulas to have at least one named Fluffy. Somewhat less common is rose-haired tarantulas named Rosie, and constrictor-type snakes such as boas and pythons named Cuddles.
- "Rude boy" seems like a rather harmless term, like something you might call a mischievous child. In Jamaica, however, the term refers to the gangsters that dominate the Caribbean drug trade, and are every inch as ruthless as their South American counterparts. Similarly, in The United States, members of The Mafia were often known as "wiseguys".
- Apparently when Pol Pot was in power, there were some people who doubted he was really as bad as everyone said due to his name being admittedly rather silly sounding (assuming you don't already know he was a really scary/evil guy.)
- His real name, Saloth Sar, is not that intimidating either.
- "Mr Fluffy", an obsolete Australian insulating material, sounds harmless but is actually asbestos
- Albert Fish, despite having a silly surname that makes him sound like a cartoon character, was actually a Serial Killer who was most infamous for eating kids.
- Between 1776 and 1783, there was a race horse who hoarded between 28 and 34 victories, defeating some of the greatest racers of its time. His name? Potoooooooonote
- Despite their strong flavors and derision for being "girly drinks", real-life umbrella cocktails are often obnoxiously potent. They also happen to be the descendants of elaborate mixes from the Prohibition-era that used honey, fruit juices and various other flavors to mask the crappy taste of the low-quality bootleg liquor available during that time-period.
- Before "Fuzzy-Wuzzy" was a Tongue Twister about a bear, it was a nickname for the Hadendoa people, a nomadic subset of northeastern Africa's Beja ethnic group. Known both for their elaborate afro-like hairstyles (hence the nickname) and for their fierce resistance to The British Empire, the Hadendoa people were immortalised in Rudyard Kipling's poem "Fuzzy-Wuzzy" (which characterised them as worthy opponents to Victorian Britain) and also got namedropped in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
- "The boogaloo" is a Deadly Euphemism for a hypothetical race war predicted by an American Right-Wing Militia Fanatic movement that coalesced in late 2019 and rose to further prominence the following year in the protests surrounding the COVID-19 Pandemic and the Black Lives Matter Movement. The nickname arose on 4chan after people coined the phrase "Civil War 2: Electric Boogaloo" to refer to a potential Second American Civil War.
- The Troubles is a rather innocuous, nondescript name for a bloody and violent ethno-nationalist conflict that left more than 3500 people dead and injured thousands in North Ireland through almost four decades.
- A swirling current in a river strong enough to suck people inside and drown them to death is called an "Eddy".
- The briefcase containing the arming codes for the US nuclear arsenal and the card containing the launch confirmation codes, two items that when brought together can wipe out all life on earth and split the planet in three, are known in the intelligence community as "the Football" and "the Biscuit".
- One of the first air-to-air radar-guided missiles that saw widespread use by the US and its allies was the AIM-7 Sparrow, sharing the name with several families of cute little birds.
- A noteworthy aversion during World War II. When the American expeditionary force to liberate French North Africa from the Axis Powers was preparing to depart, Walt Disney - still flush with the success of Bambi (1942) - wrote to its commander, Rear Admiral Hewitt, and offered to design a logo for the force. Hewitt thanked him profusely, but declined the offer.
