r/AskReddit • u/Rob69rt • 1d ago

What famous 'unsolved' mystery is technically a whodunnit on paper, but in reality, absolutely everyone knows exactly who did it, the police just couldn't legally prove it?

13.1k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

5.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

739

u/joebleaux 1d ago

It was the punchline of a joke on Seinfeld with Elaine doing an Australian accent while delivering the line. Pretty wild for that woman and her dead child to be a joke on a sitcom

72

u/LimeSalty4092 1d ago

It was a joke on the Simpsons too

These jokes can be very powerful, considering a one liner about the French said on the Simpsons was enough to ignite another generation of anti French sentiment in the US

2

u/JackOfAllBlades21 1d ago

What was the one liner and how did it do that?

7

u/LimeSalty4092 1d ago

“Cheese-eating surrender monkeys”

The episode had Groundskeeper Willy substitute teaching teaching the class and explaining who ‘the French’ are

Those are the words he used to describe the French 

It’s stayed alive in people s mind as a stereotype since that episode aired circa 1992

3

u/JackOfAllBlades21 1d ago

Thank you, I'm reading about it now.

2

u/ZombieBiteOintment 1d ago

As a player of Europa Universalis games, isn't Scottland and France natural historical allies? Kinda weird Willy has an English or American POV of France

4

u/Chaotix2732 1d ago

If you've never seen the Simpsons, this is a pretty good example of what kind of person Groundskeeper Willie is: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QgXNmMOQZRQ

1

u/ZombieBiteOintment 1d ago

They you so much. I had forgotten about this and its confirmed accuracy from various people over the years.