8. 'TARDIS' Has Made It Into The Oxford English Dictionary
Many people know of J.K. Rowling's term denoting a person of non-wizarding blood in Harry Potter, 'Muggle', famously earning an entry into the prominent Oxford English Dictionary. The lesser-known entry of the Doctors famous ship, along with Star Wars' 'Jedi' and Star Trek's 'Klingon', was finalised way back in 2002, before Doctor Who's revival and subsequent mainstream recognition. The TARDIS' entry in the dictionary reads as follows:
1. A time machine. 2. A building or container that is larger inside than it appears to be from outside.
While not quite a complete summary of the TARDIS' prowess (the good folks over at Oxford overlooked the 'and relative dimension in space' part, apparently!), it still remains a testament to the TARDIS' importance and recognisability to the English-speaking world. Continuing in the trend of Tolkien, whose works popularised common usage of 'dwarves' as a plural of 'dwarf', it goes to show how even our most fantastical fiction can have an impact on the way we use our language. It's hard, though, to imagine any other situation that needs a handy word for the iconic phrase 'it's bigger on the inside'!