The Tick

The name of the Batman spoof Die Fledermaus is frequently misheard by viewers (who watch the un-subtitled version and thus have not seen the name spelled out) as "Deflator Mouse" and is listed as such in some Internet discussions. Die Fledermaus is an Austrian opera by Johann Strauss, where one character briefly wears a bat costume. "Die" means "The" and "Fledermaus" means "Bat". Technically this German word for bat means "flying mouse" or "mouse of the sky", as do the names of this animal in several other European languages. E.g. Russian "letuchaya muish", and Spanish "murciélago" (from an archaic dialect, of which the modern form would be "ratón del cielo"). Some German-speaking cultures have changed the animal name of "Fledermaus" to "Fledertiere" ("flying animal") to be more accurate, as bats are not closely related to mice.

Featured in Independence Day (1996)