Holidays (or Hollidays or Halladays)
This American jazz singer, nicknamed ‘Lady Day’ won four posthumous Grammy Awards. She is also in the Grammy and R&B Hall of Fames
Billie Holiday
Before USB drives and cloud storage, people saved files on this thin, flexible magnetic square
Floppy Disk
“So, like, schools will sometimes use this word to talk about to the classes they offer, specifically colleges, but sometimes high schools too”
Curriculum
Spongebob’s closest companion, what astrologers study
Patrick star signs
The events of the show follow Walter Hartwell White, a teacher in this subject at J. P. Wynne High School
Chemistry
This NBA Point Guard has won titles with the Bucks and Celtics. He is most well known for his staunch defense, making an All-Defensive team six times in his career
Jrue Holiday
This black rectangular cassette was once the standard for home movies and rentals
VHS Tape
“Y’know, I have more examples of what I’m talking about, but I don’t really feel like saying all that. I’m just gonna use this often-abbreviated Latin term literally meaning “and the rest.”
et cetera
A beloved brand of sugar-packed desserts, someone who’s always looking on the downside
Little Debbie Downer
This prominent character of the show is famously questioned by Walter after falling into a porta-potty, asking, “what is wrong with you? Why are you blue??”
Jesse Pinkman
This former Blue Jay and Phillie won two Cy Young awards and threw a perfect game. Unfortunately, he passed away in a plane crash in 2017
Roy Halladay
This read-only optical disk device was used to install software and store data before digital downloads became the norm
CD-ROM
“Woah, you got arrested? Don’t worry man, this legal statue with a name in Latin guarantees your right to be brought in front of a court. Unless Lincoln came back and issued another writ of it.”
habeas corpus
A signature burger offering from McDonald’s, a heavily-influential singer-songwriter and rapper
Big Mac Miller
The events of this show take place in this New Mexico city, famous for its hot air balloons
Albuquerque
This wild-west dentist, gambler and gunfighter was a close friend of Wyatt Earp. While he had a reputation for killing over a dozen men, it was probably closer to three
Doc Holliday
This was the first commercial optical disk storage, developed by Phillips, Pioneer, and the former media company MCA
LaserDisc
“You a big Brad Pitt fan? Well, you must’ve seen this 2019 movie starring him, he’s playing this astronaut guy who’s looking for his father in space. Oh yeah, the name’s in Latin, means “to the stars.”
ad astra
A famous West Coast burger chain, the state of being on the town or not at home and doing things
In-N-Out and About
The poetry collection “Leaves of Grass,” written by this poet, serves as a crucial plot device later in the show when Walter’s copy is found with the inscription, “To my other favorite W.W. It’s an honor working with you. Fondly, G.B.”
Walt Whitman
This son of a former Rockies left fielder was drafted with the first overall pick by the Baltimore Orioles. He made his major league debut against the Red Sox in 2024
Jackson Holliday
Before digital archives, libraries and newspapers preserved documents by photographing them onto this tiny reel of film that could be viewed with a special reader.
microform
“This word for a person you view as uncivilized was made by the Greeks to talk about people who didn’t speak their language. Came from a term in Latin, so I guess that checks out.”
barbarian
The most subscribed-to YouTuber, a nickname of former NFL running back Marshawn Lynch
Mr. Beast Mode
Walter took his kingpin name from Werner Heisenberg, a WWII-era German theoretical physicist whose main breakthroughs were in this area of the field, focusing on the behavior of matter and of light.
Quantum Mechanics