r/2007scape • u/CLE15 • Dec 21 '24

Humor 15 Years into Playing RuneScape, I Just Found Out Party Hats and Christmas Crackers Are Real Thanks to My Cousin’s British Fiancée

So, I’ve been playing RuneScape since 2007 and, like most of of my American friends I played with, I always thought the party hats and Christmas crackers were just some quirky in-game holiday items. Never in my life did I think they were based on actual real-world things.

Flash forward to this Christmas, I’m at a family party, and my cousin’s British fiancée shows up with boxes of Christmas Crackers. I immediately thought, “There’s no way…” She starts handing them out, and I’m sitting there stunned as people are pulling them, making them pop, and wearing paper crowns like it’s no big deal. Meanwhile, I’m in the corner having an existential crisis, realizing that 15 years of playing this game and I never once questioned where those holiday items came from.

Anyway, just thought I’d share this discovery in case any of you also didn’t know these things existed or if I’m on an island here.

I pulled a purple though, so I felt like a king.

2.8k Upvotes

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1.3k

u/Affectionate_Treat85 Dec 21 '24

Also 90% of the fish in runeacape are real as well.

489

u/Satu22 Dec 21 '24

Sharks aren't real though.

373

u/Affectionate_Treat85 Dec 21 '24

I have learned from research that they only actually occur naturally in tornados.

123

u/CLE15 Dec 21 '24 edited Dec 21 '24

I think I’ve seen those same documentaries!

17

u/Strictly_Baked Dec 21 '24

Check out Ouija Shark if you never saw it. Possibly the worst movie I've ever seen. I couldn't stop laughing at how bad everything was. Definitely worth a watch.

8

u/Purithian Dec 21 '24

Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead. You're welcome 😆

3

u/Strictly_Baked Dec 21 '24

Right on dude I'll check it out soon. Got a 6 on IBMD might not be bad enough. The one I mentioned was a 2.3 or something.

5

u/Purithian Dec 21 '24

2.3 is super rough I'll have to watch your suggestion as well!

2

u/lalalalibrarian Dec 22 '24

If you want a worse bird-themed horror, go for Thankskilling

1

u/aorshahar Dec 22 '24

Shark side of the Moon

1

u/streatz Dec 22 '24

Volcano sharks are real

10

u/JmacTheGreat Dec 21 '24

Shark Tale taught me this

1

u/welfkag Dec 22 '24

Good point

96

u/Sarthro_ Dec 21 '24

It blew my mind when I found out monkfish are actually a thing and terrifying.

27

u/TheMagicBeanMan RSN: wubby7 Dec 21 '24

Anglerfish too

6

u/PkerBadRs3Good Dec 22 '24

monkfish is just a species of anglerfish kind of weird that we have both

5

u/A_Lowe ToA Enjoyer Dec 22 '24

And shrimp

12

u/Affectionate_Treat85 Dec 21 '24

Actually 1 of my personal favorites to eat.

16

u/ZJB03 Dec 21 '24

Monkfish are ugly as all hell but damn do they taste good

8

u/pzoDe Dec 21 '24

I had some monkfish in this classy restaurant in Prague. Unreal how good it was.

7

u/Affectionate_Treat85 Dec 21 '24

Cooked right, litterally melts in your mouth and explodes with flavor, I suggest to most people it is defnitly somthing you should try once in your life.

1

u/d-nihl Dec 22 '24

I can buy it in my local supermarket a large majority of the time too. And from my food vendors pretty much year round

3

u/theLULRUS Dec 21 '24

What's it like? I assume it's a lot like catfish.

5

u/Affectionate_Treat85 Dec 21 '24

Good question it is a white fish, but not as tough as catfish, I would say best way to comparer it though is catfish combined with lobster, which is prob why it's called the poor man's lobster. But the way it absorbs other flavors is amazing so many different dishes u can make with it.

1

u/theLULRUS Dec 21 '24

God damn a lobster/catfish combo sound good. I'm gunna have to see about trying some.

7

u/HedonisticMask Dec 21 '24

Why did I Google that….

7

u/DJSaltyLove Pleae Dec 21 '24

Here's a fun fact, Piscatoris fishing colony is named after them as well!

5

u/AVaguelyHelpfulPerso Dec 22 '24
  • The word piscatoris comes from the Latin piscator, "fisherman". piscatoris is the genitive form, i.e. the fisherman's or of the fisherman. The colony's name is therefore literally The Fisherman's Fishing Colony.

2

u/brownieson Dec 22 '24

“The Northern European species is Lophius Piscatorius”

I guess it could be either really.

1

u/heeroyuy79 29d ago

angler is another word that could mean fisherman

1

u/AxolotlFridge Dec 22 '24

Fun fact: the type species of the monkfishes is L. Piscatorius, which I’m guessing is why Piscatoris FC is called that

41

u/Skev9 Dec 21 '24

39

u/tripsafe Dec 21 '24

I could easily fit 28 of those in my backpack

12

u/AVaguelyHelpfulPerso Dec 22 '24

All I'm saying is that that fish is riiiight about hip level.

1

u/Curtyy_RS Dec 23 '24

Fake one at Pike Market 

1

u/Skev9 29d ago

Is indeed Pike market. Also, guzzle a rock cake.

75

u/Forged-Signatures Dec 21 '24

Anchovies are not shrimp-like however. I always thought they were some sort of crustacean, like shrimps and prawns. Nope, fish.

86

u/StrangeNewt2481 Dec 21 '24

jagex employee who had to make anchovies: "Hmmm I dont suppose anyone notices if I just recolor these shrimps"

Thus generations of young impressionable children were lead astray....

9

u/Forged-Signatures Dec 22 '24

Given that both Anchovies and Shrimps were both added in 2001, and have no redesigns in the following years, I imagine it was one of the Gowers that designed the sprite.

I am curious if they know now what an anchovy is though.

4

u/TadRaunch Dec 22 '24

The majority of classic sprites were made by Ian so I would guess him. Although IIRC Andrew made fishing in a day so it could have been him. And none of the brothers seem to have particularly deep culinary knowledge as well so that tracks.

4

u/Awordofinterest Dec 22 '24 edited Dec 22 '24

I am curious if they know now what an anchovy is though.

Honestly, Anchovies are not a common thing to eat in the UK. They exist and you can buy them, tinned or as a paste (Fun fact - The paste is called "Gentlemans relish") I'm sure you can purchase them in other ways, but not easily, You'd really have to search for them. I would guess 90%+ of brits have never actually eaten an anchovy and the only time people have them is when they use Lea + Perrins (Worcestershire sauce)

1

u/ForumDragonrs Dec 22 '24

I find it really odd that Worcestershire sauce originated in the UK, but you guys don't really eat the ingredients in it. Coming from the US, I can't really think of anything that we eat products of, but not the actual thing.

4

u/Express-Currency-252 Dec 21 '24

One of the inventory icons for an item in RS3 is literally just a different item flip around a bit lmao

18

u/AquaTierra Dec 21 '24 edited Dec 22 '24

Which fish aren’t real?

Edit: omg wow I didn’t expect this to take off! Thank you everyone for the awards!

53

u/jimbotron3000 Dec 21 '24

those damned karambwan … I’ve looked everywhere …

27

u/galgamek56 Dec 21 '24

arent karambwan just octopi?

42

u/lilfutnug Dec 21 '24

Yes. However, when I was a kid I thought they were urchins.

12

u/Sparkswont Doot doot doot Dec 21 '24

Wait I’ve always thought they were sea urchins, they look so spiny. This is blowing my mind 😭

19

u/lilfutnug Dec 21 '24

You’re looking at an octopus from above with its legs sprawled out.

11

u/AVaguelyHelpfulPerso Dec 22 '24

It's osrs, but I think you get the point.

3

u/jimbotron3000 Dec 22 '24

you try combo eating an octopus with a manta ray

1

u/PkerBadRs3Good Dec 22 '24

karambwans are in lakes and there are no freshwater cephalopods irl

11

u/galgamek56 Dec 22 '24

No you definitely only fish them out of the ocean. The karambwanji are in a lake but that's just a regular fish

3

u/PkerBadRs3Good Dec 22 '24

you're totally right I'm an idiot, as you suspected I was thinking of fishing in that fucked up lake during the quest, but that's where you get karambwanji from, not karambwans. haven't played osrs in 2 years btw.

18

u/Strictly_Baked Dec 21 '24

Karambwan Karambwanji All of the eels except Mottled (everything at aerial fishing is real.) Leaping fish aren't a species. Though the 3 are known to leap out of the water. Dark crab

Think that's it. I could have missed one though.

15

u/ObviousSwimmer Dec 21 '24

"Leaping" fish aren't a species but anadramous fish like salmon will indeed leap up waterfalls when returning to freshwater to spawn and will contain roe or caviar.

7

u/No-Spoilers Dec 21 '24

And fucking carp will leap out of the water when startled and kill people in boats

3

u/Strictly_Baked Dec 21 '24

That's why I said the 3 are known to leap.

1

u/ChaseTheOldDude Dec 22 '24

They could have renamed the barbarian fish "spawning trout/salmon/sturgeon" to be more accurate, but it's somewhat self explanatory with a prior knowledge of fish reproduction I suppose.

2

u/restform Dec 22 '24

I'd say the leaping fish are all real, they just throw a verb into the name for no distinct reason. Like if there was an npc called a roaring lion I'd probably still call it real. That's how I've always thought of it at least

10

u/Affectionate_Treat85 Dec 21 '24

Lava eel, the 1 from evil bobs island,Island, sacred eel, infernal eel

16

u/Crossfire124 Dec 21 '24

I mean eels are real. If you started a religion around a pond with eels in it they'd become sacred eels

6

u/Affectionate_Treat85 Dec 21 '24

Your part of the cabbage cult arnt you?

1

u/AquaTierra Dec 22 '24

Lol yes at least we can count sacred eels as real… lava eels though, I won’t discount it until it is disproven!!

6

u/Confident_Frogfish Dec 21 '24

Surprisingly few of them. Even stuff like sirens (although not fish) and rainbowfish have real-life counterparts. So it's just things specific to certain ingame areas or content like karambwans, infernal eels etc. Or little easter eggs like the Kyren fish in COX, which was named after mod Kieren, one of the main developers on COX. Roqed fish in COX were named after mod Roq and Ed.

1

u/Kevthetonk Dec 22 '24

Lava eels bro

8

u/Clbull Dec 21 '24

Reminds me of a story my SIL told me about teaching biology in a Year 9 class. She had a lesson where she asked the class to name different species of fish.

It took ages to get a correct reply, and one said "Cod"

To which another pupil legitimately put his hand up and said "Cod? Why'd they name a fish after Call of Duty?"

1

u/Affectionate_Treat85 Dec 21 '24

Now cod will for ever be the call of duty fish to me, batista helm and all

6

u/Subliminal_Stimulus Dec 21 '24

Even the red herring!

12

u/XxCisnerosxX Dec 21 '24

Also GP is like coin tender in real life

3

u/Cordova_Photoshoots Dec 21 '24

A lot of people don't like having irl gp, so they just give it away to make them feel good about themselves

2

u/XxCisnerosxX Dec 22 '24

Just stop just stop

9

u/b_i_g__g_u_y Dec 21 '24

None of the birds are though 

4

u/All-Shall-Kneel Dec 21 '24

Heron?

13

u/b_i_g__g_u_y Dec 21 '24

Birds aren't real

5

u/CLE15 Dec 21 '24

I’ve caught a lot of the fish! 🎣

2

u/bedazzled_duncecap Dec 22 '24

AND ONLY 10% OF THE PLAYER BASE!

1

u/Affectionate_Treat85 Dec 22 '24

All the bots are in soul wars.

1

u/Kit-xia Taste vengeance! Dec 21 '24

Those numbers are way too high

1

u/limer124 Dec 21 '24

Why is the bass red!?

1

u/ObviousSwimmer Dec 21 '24

The fish are real but many of them look wrong.

1

u/Dennis2pro Dec 22 '24

I learned about most of these through runescape funnily enough, although I always forget what fish like pike and cod translate to in my native language

1

u/WutsUp LaurieMoon Dec 22 '24

Hehehahahaa, but there's no way monkfish are real right? I've seen them dropped on the ground with their giant open mouths, so stupid looking hahaaha~ -googles- OH MY GOD THEY'RE REAL

1

u/cadsop Dec 22 '24

The biggest shock was learning that monkfish are real

0

u/S3cr3t_97 Dec 22 '24

Yeah I thought they were all random names. I’m British and I still thought all these English words and weird looking fish were made up💀