Popular Misconceptions

One way that popular misconceptions can spread is via ‘list of facts’ e-mails that travel virally from office to office (especially on Fridays, it seems). The e-mail below, which I was forwarded last week, is one such example (garish fonts and colours removed).

There’s a few truths on there, but they’re mostly fairly obvious misconceptions. A few minutes of Googling will soon give you falsifications. There’s a few that are more disputeable however, which seem like they’re probably false but which aren’t so easily disprovable.

I’ll be going through some of these in more detail in future posts, but for now I thought I’d post up the whole e-mail and leave you to guess for yourself which ones you suspect may be popular misconceptions.

Well, I never knew that !!!!

In the 1400’s a law was set forth that a man was not allowed to beat his wife with a stick thicker than his thumb. Hence we have “the rule of thumb”.

Many years ago in Scotland, a new game was invented. It was ruled
“Gentlemen Only…Ladies Forbidden”…and thus the word GOLF entered into the English language.

The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time TV was Fred and Wilma Flintstone

Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than the US Treasury.

Men can read smaller print than women can; women can hear better.

Coca-Cola was originally green.

It is impossible to lick your elbow.

The average number of people airborne over the US any given hour: 61,000

Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.
!
The first novel ever written on a typewriter: Tom Sawyer

Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king in history:
Spades - King David
Hearts - Charlemagne
Clubs -Alexander, the Great
Diamonds - Julius Caesar

111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321

If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one front leg in the air the person died as a result of wounds received in battle. If
the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural ! causes.

Q. If you were to spell out numbers, how far would you have to go until you would find the letter “A”?
A. One thousand

Q. What do bullet-proof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers, and laser printers all have in common?
A. All invented by women.

Q. What is the only food that doesn’t spoil?
A. Honey

In Shakespeare’s time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes.When you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer to sleep on. Hence th e phrase……… “goodnight, sleep tight.”

It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride’s father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month,
which we know today as the honeymoon.

In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts… So in ol d England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them
“Mind your pints and quarts, and settle down.” It’s where we get the phrase “mind your P’s and Q’s”

Many years ago in England, pub frequenters had a whistle baked into the rim, or handle, of their ceramic cups. When they needed a refill, they used the whistle to get some service. “Wet your whistle” is the phrase
inspired by this practice.

Don’t delete this just because it looks weird. Believe it or not, you can read it……….

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluo! d aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdgnieg.
The phaonmneal pweor of t he hmuan mnid aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a
wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

>~~~~~~~~~~~AND FINALLY~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>At least 75% of people who read this will try to lick their elbow!!!!!!

Incidentally, if you’ve received an e-mail like this, but which has different ‘facts’ on it, feel free to e-mail it to frankie@frankieroberto.com.