People Your Mom Calls “That Nice Young Man”
He played Forrest Gump, Mr. Rogers and a castaway, giving mothers decades of evidence that he has good manners.
Tom Hanks
Despite its tropical name, this pineapple-and-ham pizza was invented in Canada.
Hawaiian pizza
This piece of jewelry required three enormous movies and an exhausting hike simply to throw it away.
the One Ring
This English king had six wives, launched a religious schism and would have dominated a reunion episode.
Henry VIII
Wedding guests are instructed to get “a little bit softer now” before suddenly becoming much, much louder during this song.
Shout
This Matrix and John Wick star has built an off-screen reputation so wholesome that the internet has nearly canonized him.
Keanu Reeves
Genetic differences may cause this leafy herb to taste fresh and citrusy to some people and like soap to others.
cilantro
This enormous blue necklace survives a shipwreck, spends decades hidden in a safe and is eventually thrown into the ocean by the one person everyone had been interviewing about it.
the Heart of the Ocean
This emperor crowned himself, invaded Russia, was exiled, returned for a comeback season and was exiled again.
Napoleon Bonaparte
The opening question “Do you remember?” activates every aunt within a 200-foot radius during this Earth, Wind & Fire song.
September
This apparently ageless actor played Ant-Man and has the energy of someone who would help your mother carry folding chairs.
Paul Rudd
Dorcas Reilly created this casserole for Campbell’s in 1955 using cream of mushroom soup and crispy fried onions.
green bean casserole
This slab contained the same decree in three scripts and finally allowed scholars to understand Egyptian hieroglyphs.
Rosetta Stone
This Roman leader crossed the Rubicon, had a very public relationship with Cleopatra and was ultimately stabbed by a group of coworkers during what may be history’s worst staff meeting.
Julius Caesar
This line dance instructs guests to walk by themselves before repeatedly moving to the right and the left.
Cupid Shuffle
This actor escorted Grogu across the galaxy and is loudly supports trans right IRL
Pedro Pascal
This dried fruit’s surprise appearance in potato salad, chicken salad or baked goods has destroyed trust across generations.
raisins
Winners have drunk from it, eaten cereal from it, placed babies inside it and engraved hundreds of names onto it.
Stanley Cup
This Russian mystic inspired a 1978 Boney M. disco song and later became internet-famous again through an aggressively athletic, squat-kicking Just Dance routine.
Rasputin
This Bob Carlisle song has launched thousands of father-daughter dances.
Butterfly Kisses
This New York City mayor has extremely polite overachiever energy that makes your mother say, “I don’t know all his policies, but he seems like such a nice young man.”
Zohran Mamdani
In 2015, the NYT briefly united Americans across party lines by suggesting an unusual addition to guacamole.
green peas
This Leonardo da Vinci painting has been stolen, attacked, protected by bulletproof glass and stared at by millions of people wondering why it is so small.
the Mona Lisa
This Scottish queen married three times, wed a man accused of murdering her previous husband, was forced to abdicate and then spent years imprisoned by her cousin Elizabeth I.
Mary, Queen of Scots
This Panjabi MC track featuring Jay-Z can summon every desi cousin to the dance floor before the opening beat finishes.
Beware of the Boys