DailyDirt: Seemingly Innocent Things...

Sometimes it's pretty easy to track down the origin of how a meme gets popular. If you've ever seen gifs with the caption "Do Not Want" -- you might not have realized where that phrase came from (or just assumed it was just the typical bad grammar of the internetz), but it actually comes from a bootleg version of Star Wars Episode III with comically bad "Engrish" subtitles -- specifically the scene where Anakin Skywalker is first revived as Darth Vader and screams "Nooooo" which was hilariously translated from English to Chinese and back to English as "Do Not Want." That aside, some products have become unusually popular in unexpected demographic groups without clear explanations. Here are just a few things that have crossed cultures.

• The Casio F-91W watch was introduced in 1991, and it's a remarkably reliable inexpensive digital watch -- that's also been used as a bomb timer by terrorists. There's nothing inherently sinister about the F-91W, but maybe you shouldn't wear one if you want to minimize your time at a TSA checkpoint. [url]
• ISIS appears to be brand loyal when it drives around -- almost exclusively in Toyota trucks. Toyota doesn't know how its vehicles get into the hands of the Taliban, Al Qaeda, Syrian rebels, or fighters in Chad/Libya's "Toyota War," but these trucks have a reputation of being indestructible which might be one of the reasons why Toyota's trucks are so popular. [url]
• The kaffiyeh was a brief fashion fad in the US that seemed to supplant Che Guevara T-shirts. It's just a scarf usually worn in Middle Eastern countries, but it also became popular among hipsters and some kids in Tokyo. [url]

After you've finished checking out those links, take a look at our Daily Deals for cool gadgets and other awesome stuff.

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