Found a certain "Old Man" in Booty Bay...

In the fishing supplies shop "The Happy Bobber" in Booty Bay (the shop is in the center of the U shape that the city forms, on the bottom level, to the right when you're coming out of the water on the ramp) I stumbled across "Old Man Heming", the sole merchant in the store and a clear reference to the classic novel "The Old Man and the Sea" by Ernest Hemingway.

He resides by the Sea just as in the book, and taking a look in the store reveals a multitude of fishing-related items. My favorite part was that lying on the ground next to him is a large skeleton, and while it is not fish-shaped, I like to think this was a very clear nod to the Hemingway story, in which the main character (the Old Man) ends up bringing in a huge Marlin that he's battled with for days at Sea, but sharks have gnawed at the catch his whole journey back and by the time he gets home it's nothing but a skeleton. I really enjoy the extra effort put into this in-game reference. Some pictures below:

I suppose this would be the second in game NPC (that I know of) to reference Ernest Hemingway, as "Hemet Nesingwary" the ever-present explorer/hunter was the first. His name is an anagram for Hemingways, meaning it contains all the same letters in a different order. Ernest Hemingway was an avid big-game hunter and fisherman, just like Hemet is in-game. He seems to relocate just about every new expansion, and you can find his new camp in the southwest corner of Valley of the Four Winds on Pandaria.


Also "The green hills of stranglethorn" is a reference to his book "The green hills of africa" the achievement "Hills like white elekk" is a reference to "Hills like white elephants" etc.