10. Napoleon was unusually short
Much of the reason for the rumours that Napoleon was a short man (and
thus had to compensate by invading countries and becoming ruler of
Europe) comes from the confusion between old French feet and Imperial
(British) feet. Measured shortly after his death in 1821, Napoleon was
recorded at 5ft 2in in French feet, which corresponds to 5ft 6.5in in
Imperial feet, or 1.69m. This makes him slightly taller than the average
Frenchman of the 19th century. Napoleon’s nickname of ‘le petit
caporal’ has also perpetuated the rumour, with non-francophones
interpreting ‘petit’ to refer to his height, when it was actually a term
of affection referring to his camaraderie with ordinary soldiers.
9. Danish Pastries come from Denmark
Arguably the world’s most misleadingly named food, Danish pastries
actually originated in Austria, inspired by Turkish baklava. Their name
comes from Danish chef L.C. Klitteng who popularized them in Western
Europe and the United States in the early 20th century, including baking
it for the wedding of US President Woodrow Wilson in 1915. In Denmark
and much of Scandinavia, Danish pastries are called ‘Viennese Bread.’
During the Islamic cartoon controversy of 2006, Danish pastries were
renamed ‘Roses of the Prophet Muhammad’ in Iran, due to its association
with the offending country.
8. Meteorites are hot when they hit Earth
We’ve all seen the cartoons where a meteor falls to Earth (at which
point it becomes a meteorite) with a red-hot tinge and smoke blowing off
it in all directions. In truth, small meteorites are cold when they hit
Earth – in fact many are found with frost on them. A meteorite has been
in the near–absolute zero temperature of space for billions of years,
so the interior of it is very cold. A meteor’s great speed is enough to
melt its outside layer, but any molten material will be quickly blown
off, and the interior of the meteor does not have time to heat up
because rocks are poor conductors of heat. Also, atmospheric drag can
slow small meteors to terminal velocity by the time they hit the ground,
giving them time to cool down.
7. Water spins in different directions
Another bane of cartoons. Toilet water does NOT spin in a given
direction due to being in a particular hemisphere of the Earth. That
phenomenon only occurs in weather patterns of hundreds of miles in size
like hurricanes, due to the rotation of the Earth. So there.
6. Bats are blind
A common misconception perpetuated by its use in metaphors and
similes (see also 5), bats actually have fairly normal eyesight,
although they are very photosensitive and often dazzled by excessive
light. However, bats do often use echolocation in situations where their
eyesight fails them, such as times of darkness.
5. Chameleons change colour to match their surroundings
An interesting and fun idea, sure, but simply not true. While
chameleons can be perceived to change their colour to match their
background, a chameleon’s colour change is actually the expression of
the physical and physiological condition of the lizard. Chameleon’s are
already naturally camouflaged to match their surroundings, and change
their colours depending on their mood, and sometimes a sign of
communication. A chameleon that is frightened, for example, will turn
black.
4. A duck’s quack doesn’t echo
Sounds ludicrous right? Well this rumour somehow worked up a cult
following on the Internet who protested its factuality with an almost
religious fervour. It got to the point that a respected scientist
actually decided to take valuable time out of his day, when he could be
curing cancer or something else unimportant, to test this theory. Trevor
Cox, of the University of Salford, England, confirmed what all us
logical people knew all along – a duck’s quack DOES echo.
He placed a duck in a reverberation chamber and tested its quack.
Sure enough he concluded that a duck’s quack does echo, though the sound
that comes back is very soft due to the fading nature of the actual
quack. Hooray for science.
3. Hitler was an atheist
“We were convinced that the people needs and requires this faith. We
have therefore undertaken the fight against the atheistic movement, and
that not merely with a few theoretical declarations: we have stamped it
out.”
– Adolf Hitler, Berlin, 1933
Christianity – a religion of peace and tolerance that preaches moral
values and love for one’s enemies. Well clearly, from a historical
perspective, this has certainly not always been the case, although it’s
not so much the religion’s fault as the people who attempt to follow it.
With over a billion worldwide adherents, is it really probable that
everyone who considers themselves a Christian is a pious, holy and moral
human being?
One of the most damning criticisms of Hitler and of atheism in
general is that Hitler, as an atheist had no morals and thus could kill
freely without care or feeling. Well Hitler was certainly not an
atheist; he was born a Roman Catholic, although how religious he
actually was is debatable. It is clear though that Hitler was an evil
man, and that his religion was irrelevant to his malevolent personality.
In Mein Kampf, Hitler wrote fondly of his experiences in Church
festivals, and as leader of the Nazi party made many references to the
glory of Christianity in his speeches. Including making references to
Jesus’ death at the hand of the Jews in an attempt to rile up
anti-Semitic sentiment in his mostly religious audiences. He adopted
many aspects of Catholic hierarchy, liturgy and symbolism, though he was
very critical of Catholicism in private. In fact, Hitler favoured
Protestantism, due to it being open to interpretation. He also ridiculed
occultism and neo-Paganism that was relatively popular in Germany at
the time.
Strangely enough, Hitler greatly admired the Muslim faith and
tradition saying, “the Mohammedan religion too would have been much more
compatible to us than Christianity. Why did it have to be Christianity
with its meekness and flabbiness?”
2. Humans evolved from monkeys
One of the most common misconceptions about Darwin’s theory of
evolution by natural selection is that Darwin claimed we evolved from
chimpanzees. Darwin never actually said this, nor will any respectable
biologist. This myth was actually spread by religious zealots during the
19th century in order to try and discredit Darwin and promote
anti-evolutionism among the religious. Humans and chimpanzees are
actually cousins (we share about 94% of our DNA with them) and both
evolved from a common ancestor, thought to be Sahelanthropus tchadensis,
around 7 million years ago.
1. “Just Desserts”
‘Just desserts’? Does that even make sense in context? The correct
phrase is actually ‘just deserts’, and don’t worry if you didn’t know
that because you’re not alone, and the chances are that someone much
more intelligent than you didn’t know it either. The reason for this
misunderstanding comes from the rarely used noun form of the verb ‘to
deserve’; something which is deserved is a ‘desert’ (pronounced
dessert). It’s hard to tell when the usurpation of the original word was
made, but it probably had something to do with witty restaurateurs
naming their businesses ‘Just Desserts’ as a pun, and the phrase
catching on as the original is forgotten.
SOURCE: Listverse
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