Gene Wilder
The stage name of Jerome Silberman, who is best known for his collaboration with Mel Brooks in Blazing Saddles, The Producers, and other films. An image of him in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is used in the popular Condescending Wonka caption online.
The horse head in the Godfather
The severed upper part of an equine's body that is found in a bed during the Francis Ford Coppola film about gangsters. The body part came from a slaughterhouse where these animals were being killed for dog food, sparking controversy in the animal rights community.
An illusionist
A performer of magic acts that often include demonstrating "impossible" tricks to a credulous audience. The term was preferred by the character Gob Bluth in the television series Aressted Development, whose performances often went horribly wrong.
The Lindbergh Baby
The infant son of the first aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic. He was kidnapped in what was called the "Crime of the Century." The investigation lasted over two years, culminating in the execution by electric chair of Bruno Hauptmann, who maintained his innocence.
Catherine the Great
The "Empress an Autocrat of all the Russias," who led the country's Golden Age: an era of revitalization and recognition as a great power of Europe. She took many lovers during her reign, leading to legends about her sexual proclivities, including an erotic desire for horses.
A Highlander
An immortal, broadsword-wielding character from an 80s action film. The film's tagline, "There can only be one," refers to a contest to gain each other's power and knowledge through defeating and then beheading their rivals in a duel--a process referred to as Quickening.
A child soldier
A term for a young person involved in armed conflicts, either voluntarily or involuntarily. International conventions exist to limit this activity, yet it remains a widespread practice, with 200,000 to 300,000 young people currently serving in either rebel or government forces.
Brutus
"Et tu...?"
Khan!
A villain from the Star Trek franchise, who once controlled a portion of the earth during the Eugenics Wars of the 90s. Ricardo Montalban played the genetically engineered superhuman, delivering lines such as "Revenge is a dish that is best served cold."
Puxsutawney Phil
A clairvoyant Pennsylvania groundhog, who uses the appearance of his own shadow to predict whether spring will arrive early of whether there will be six more weeks of winter. His predictions have been correct 39% of the time, less than random guessing.
Cthulhu
A monstrous deity created by H. P. Lovecraft. It is hundreds of meters tall and has the arms and legs of a man, claws, the head of a giant octopus, and bat wings. Its mythos gained increased popularity from a series of allusions to it in the HBO series True Detective.
An eager beaver
An idiom for an extremely enthusiastic or hard-working person that supposedly originated among Canadian soldiers in World War II. The term derives from the aquatic, dam-building rodents, who terraformed much of North America with their wooden structures.
Crocodile Dundee
The title character in a trilogy of fish-out-of-water films about an Australian bushman struggling to find his way in big city America. Played by Paul Hogan, he famously threatens muggers, saying "That's not a knife. [draws his bowie knife] That's a knife."
The Dread Pirate Roberts
The founder of the Silk Road, the "amazon.com of illegal drugs." Until 2013, his identity was a mystery and was assumed to belong to multiple people, since it was lifted from a character in The Princess Bride, where a mythical brigand is actually a series of individuals.
Mr. Owl
A bespectacled, know-it-all bird who famously answered the question, "How many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?" by licking the lollipop 3 times before biting into it with his sharp beak, then declaring that it takes only 3 licks.
A pug
A short-snouted brachycephalic dog breed. Generations of inbreeding have led to compact breathing passages that leave them unable to regulate their body temperature by panting. Many airlines have restricted their transport due to in-air deaths.
Inigo Montoya
A Spanish fencer from the film The Princess Bride, who is obsessed with revenge. Played by Mandy Patinkin, he hunts a six-fingered man who killed his father and scarred his face. He introduces himself to anyone he suspects might be the killer, ending with the command, "Prepare to die."
Jackson Pollock
An abstract expressionist painter known for his drip paintings, which were created by laying the canvas on the floor and pouring paint from above. HIs painting, "No. 5, 1948," was sold for $140M in 2006 by David Geffen--the second most expensive painting ever sold.
Man Hands
The minor character on the show Seinfeld. She is a beautiful woman who Jerry cannot stay attracted to because of her large extremities. The episode's writer, David Mandel, created the character in response to his wife's own self-consciousness about this condition.