My wife, being raised in French, sometimes needs cultural references explained to her, especially American pop-cultural references of the sort that Gen-X turned into a requirement of all screenplay dialog.

Sometimes, I have to turn to Google for explanations. Tonight, I found a funny example of why the web’s world-wideness can lead to some misunderstandings, especially between native- and non-native English speakers.

Q: Where does the expression "Strong like bull!" originate?

First guy to answer said it went back at least to the 1960s where it was used in reference to Sonny Listen. Not very helpful.

The second answer seems to nail it:

The earliest reference to "strong, like bull" I was able to find was in a 1950’s sitcom called "Make Room For Daddy," featuring the actor Hans Conried as Uncle Tonoose. Conried would later appear on the Rocky and Bullwinkle show as the voice of Snidley Whiplash. (This is important because the most common origin listed of strong like bull is from the character Boris, and Conried is the most likely reason for it’s appearance in the cartoon.)

Tonoose was known for saying "strong like bull, smart like streetcar" as a catchphrase. His first appearance on the show was in 1956.

A third reply, from someone who obviously doesn’t know English well enough to hear the foreigner stereotype behind "Strong like bull!" seems to think the second answer was claiming that no one had ever perceived bulls as strong before 1950:

This thing is around quite longer that:

I wish you (to a newlywed boy)

The duration of a dog
The frequency of a sparrow
The strength of a bull

That means bull is considered as strong long back!!