# Commonly believed trivia that is wrong **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 21, 2010, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commonly-believed-trivia-that-is-wrong/540214 "2010-05-21T03:48:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commonly-believed-trivia-that-is-wrong/540214/1 "2010-05-21T03:48:56Z")
Inspired by [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=563905) What is a “fact” that you see on the internet, email, hear from friends, in bars, etc. that is completely and absolutely wrong. Only rule is that you must provide a cite to show you are correct. The fewer people that know the correct answer = more points for you. I’ll start. Al Gore did not win an Academy Award. It was Davis Guggenheim, the producer of _[An Inconvienent Truth](http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/oscarlegacy/2000-present/79nominees.html)_, that won. Scroll down to “Documentary (feature)” ---
**Author:** ![Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commonly-believed-trivia-that-is-wrong/540214/2 "2010-05-21T04:21:49Z")
[“Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy”](http://www.quotedb.com/quotes/986) is often attributed to Benjamin Franklin. The first time I saw it, I called bullshit, and did some research. [This is what he really said.](http://urbanlegends.about.com/b/2008/09/15/misquote-ben-franklin-on-beer.htm) I’m impressed, though, that the original quotation isn’t too far off. But the first one I quoted is NOT what he said and it disgusts me that micro brewers and t-shirt printers are profiting from it…and that people swallow it like a pint. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commonly-believed-trivia-that-is-wrong/540214/3 "2010-05-21T04:35:48Z")
On the subject of Al Gore, let me kill two more birds with two stones. Myth: Al Gore said he invented the Internet. Fact: [What he did say:](http://www.snopes.com/quotes/internet.asp) > [@](#): > > During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet. I took the initiative in moving forward a whole range of initiatives that have proven to be important to our country’s economic growth and environmental protection, improvements in our educational system. Myth: Al Gore was not instrumental in creating the Internet. Fact: [What Internet pioneers Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn did say:](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Gore) > [@](#): > > “as far back as the 1970s, Congressman Gore promoted the idea of high speed telecommunications as an engine for both economic growth and the improvement of our educational system. He was the first elected official to grasp the potential of computer communications to have a broader impact than just improving the conduct of science and scholarship […] the Internet, as we know it today, was not deployed until 1983. When the Internet was still in the early stages of its deployment, Congressman Gore provided intellectual leadership by helping create the vision of the potential benefits of high speed computing and communication. As an example, he sponsored hearings on how advanced technologies might be put to use in areas like coordinating the response of government agencies to natural disasters and other crises.” Hmmm. Perhaps to keep the thread short, OP should exclude lies promulgated by Bush, Beck and their ilk… ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commonly-believed-trivia-that-is-wrong/540214/4 "2010-05-21T05:03:45Z")
Hmm, this thread could go on forever and ever if we only looked at sports record trivia. I have a trivia game from the 90’s where nearly half the sports questions are now false. But, here’s a favorite of mine: Who holds the record for career home runs? 1. [Sadaharu Oh, 868](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadaharu_Oh) 2. Barry Bonds, 762 3. Hank Aaron, 755 4. Babe Ruth, 715 There is one more player who supposedly hit over 800 hr’s in his career including time in the Negro leagues, but recordkeeping was notoriously bad. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commonly-believed-trivia-that-is-wrong/540214/5 "2010-05-21T05:14:00Z")
[Mayonaisse](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayonnaise) not only does not give you food poisoning as easily as people think, but it can actually preserve the food it’s in, preventing food poisoning. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commonly-believed-trivia-that-is-wrong/540214/6 "2010-05-21T05:25:00Z")
[Charles Richard Drew](http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventors/drew.htm), the founder of the blood banking system, _was_ killed in a car accident. He was not refused treatment in an all white hospital. He arrived DOA. [quote] Mankind suffered a great loss in 1950 when, at the age of 45, Dr. Drew was killed in an automobile accident while driving to a scientific conference. His pioneering medical work has endured. How many lives have been saved because of his genius at turning basic biological research into practical production methods is impossible to determine. But it is a certainty that mankind owes a debt of gratitude to Charles Richard Drew. ---
**Author:** ![kidneyfailure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@kidneyfailure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidneyfailure)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commonly-believed-trivia-that-is-wrong/540214/7 "2010-05-21T07:33:33Z")
> [@Alice\_The\_Goon](#): > > [Mayonaisse](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayonnaise) not only does not give you food poisoning as easily as people think, but it can actually preserve the food it’s in, preventing food poisoning. Wow, really? Just a couple weeks ago **mrs.kidneyfailure** and I went out to have a picnic with her mother and I told her not to put any mayo on her sandwich. Why? Because my third grade teacher told us not to put it on anything once before a field trip years and years ago and I never bothered to see if that was true or not, I just believed it. ---
**Author:** ![Anaglyph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Anaglyph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaglyph)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commonly-believed-trivia-that-is-wrong/540214/8 "2010-05-21T11:33:14Z")
> [@Alice\_The\_Goon](#): > > [Mayonaisse](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayonnaise) not only does not give you food poisoning as easily as people think, but it can actually preserve the food it’s in, preventing food poisoning. This was a problem with\*\* home-made\*\* Mayonnaise, which contains raw egg-yolk and may therefore be contaminated with salmonella. Industrially made Mayonnaise is a different story. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commonly-believed-trivia-that-is-wrong/540214/9 "2010-05-21T12:31:09Z")
I don’t know how commonly believed it is, but it’s frequently quoted on the internet: **Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle**. It’s attributed to Plato or to Philo of Alexandria. I got interested in it because Sarah Palin reduced it to “As Plato said, ‘be nice.’” in a speech, which set off my BS alarm. It turns out she was misquoting what she really thought the quote was (bolded above), as it’s reproduced in her book _Going Rogue_. neither version sounded like Plato. I haven’t read Philo, but I was suspicious about that, too. And nobody who cited this gave a reference – where was the actual _source_ of the quote? it turns out to be by a little-known clergyman named John Watson (1850-1907), writing under the pseudonym Ian McClaren. And the original quote is: **Be pitiful – everyone is fighting a hard battle.** Incorrect cites: > **[The Quotations Page: Quote from Plato](http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/31650.html)** > > "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." > **[Plato Quote - Liberty Quotes Blog](http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Plato.Quote.59D7)** > > Quotation by Plato: Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. [http://quotationsbook.com/quote/21985/](http://quotationsbook.com/quote/21985/) Correct cites that uncover the true author: [http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wikiquo...desk/Archive/2](http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wikiquo...desk/Archive/2) > **[Ian Maclaren](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Maclaren)** > > John Watson (3 November 1850 – 6 May 1907), was a minister of the Free Church of Scotland. He is remembered as an author of fiction, known by his pen name Ian Maclaren. > The son of John Watson, a civil servant, he was born in Manningtree, Essex, and educated at Stirling. His paternal uncle Rev Hiram Watson (1813-1891) was a minister of the Free Church of Scotland and John appears to have chosen to follow in his shoes. > He studied at Edinburgh University, then trained as a Free Church minister ... [http://www.literaturepage.com/forum/...ic.php?t=10957](http://www.literaturepage.com/forum/...ic.php?t=10957) [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=559832&highlight=Philo+Plato&page=2](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=559832&highlight=Philo+Plato&page=2) ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commonly-believed-trivia-that-is-wrong/540214/10 "2010-05-21T12:38:25Z")
The Russians did not use pencils in space, and the U.S. did not needlessly develop an expensive space pen: [CITE](http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/spacepen.asp) There are good operational reasons for not using pencils in spaceflight. If you want to point out waste in the American space program, go ahead. But find something genuine to criticize. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commonly-believed-trivia-that-is-wrong/540214/11 "2010-05-21T12:48:20Z")
A duck’s quack, does, in fact, echo. [http://www.acoustics.salford.ac.uk/acoustics\_info/duck/](http://www.acoustics.salford.ac.uk/acoustics_info/duck/) ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commonly-believed-trivia-that-is-wrong/540214/12 "2010-05-21T13:31:23Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > Hmm, this thread could go on forever and ever if we only looked at sports record trivia. I have a trivia game from the 90’s where nearly half the sports questions are now false. > > But, here’s a favorite of mine: Who holds the record for career home runs? > > 1. > > [Sadaharu Oh, 868](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadaharu_Oh) > > 2. Barry Bonds, 762 > 3. Hank Aaron, 755 > 4. Babe Ruth, 715 > > There is one more player who supposedly hit over 800 hr’s in his career including time in the Negro leagues, but recordkeeping was notoriously bad. If someone _actually_ intends to include foreign leagues, Negor Leagues, Minor Leagues, Little League, or any other leagues, then you would be correct. But who the hell in America is ever talking about leagues other than Major League Baseball? Careers in different leagues should not be compared with each other since they are _different_. High School and College stats don’t carry over to Pros either. This isn’t a “false statistic” in my opinion. I think you’re being a bit of a dick if you jump in with “Sadaharu Oh!!” when people are clearly talking about Major League Baseball. Why exactly is this a favorite of yours, anyway? ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commonly-believed-trivia-that-is-wrong/540214/13 "2010-05-21T13:38:16Z")
I still hear people say a 100-year flood happens once in a hundred years. For example if you experience such a flood, “oh it will be 100 years before that happens again!”. That is not true, however. The probability is that we expect that magnitude of flood to occur at least once within that 100-year period; more properly, that maginitude of flood has a 1% chance of occuring within any given year. In fact, it has a 26% chance of occuring within a 30-year period of time. [Cite](http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/100yearflood.html) ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commonly-believed-trivia-that-is-wrong/540214/14 "2010-05-21T13:47:37Z")
> [@NinetyWt](#): > > I still hear people say a 100-year flood happens once in a hundred years. For example if you experience such a flood, “oh it will be 100 years before that happens again!”. > > That is not true, however. The probability is that we expect that magnitude of flood to occur at least once within that 100-year period; more properly, that maginitude of flood has a 1% chance of occuring within any given year. In fact, it has a 26% chance of occuring within a 30-year period of time. This can really apply to anything dealing with basic probability. People are really, really stupid when it comes to even elementary probability. I doubt even a quarter of the population even truly understands that a fair coinflip is always 50/50. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commonly-believed-trivia-that-is-wrong/540214/15 "2010-05-21T13:52:14Z")
Author Ann Rule did not get her first bok contract because she knew Ted Bundy She actually got the contract to write a book about the disappearances and murders of young women in Seattle BEFORE Bundy was even a suspect. As she wrote in her book “The Killer Beside Me” “I could not believe that I’d signed a contract to write the book and had the killer turn out to be my friend. No writer could make that scenerio work.” ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commonly-believed-trivia-that-is-wrong/540214/16 "2010-05-21T13:56:55Z")
“Chiggers burrow into the skin.” By the time you get the itchy bumps, the chiggers are long gone. Possibly it arose from confusion/conflation with [chigoes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chigoe_flea), which do burrow. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commonly-believed-trivia-that-is-wrong/540214/17 "2010-05-21T14:02:35Z")
Turkeys are so stupid that they’ll look up at the rain until they drown. [Or not](http://www.snopes.com/critters/wild/turkey.asp). ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commonly-believed-trivia-that-is-wrong/540214/18 "2010-05-21T14:09:27Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > This can really apply to anything dealing with basic probability. Agreed. I think the confusion about flooding causes a lot of grief, because often when people flood once, they then think that it won’t happen again in their lifetime, so they don’t properly prepare for the next flood. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commonly-believed-trivia-that-is-wrong/540214/19 "2010-05-21T14:15:11Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > People are really, really stupid when it comes to even elementary probability. The probability your airplane has a bomb onboard is 1 in a million. The probability of _two_ bombs is therefore 1 in a trillion, which is almost impossible odds. That’s why I always carry a bomb with me: it’s then almost impossible there will be a _second_ bomb. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commonly-believed-trivia-that-is-wrong/540214/20 "2010-05-21T14:26:43Z")
> [@Bear\_Nenno](#): > > If someone _actually_ intends to include foreign leagues, Negor Leagues, Minor Leagues, Little League, or any other leagues, then you would be correct. But who the hell in America is ever talking about leagues other than Major League Baseball? Careers in different leagues should not be compared with each other since they are _different_. High School and College stats don’t carry over to Pros either. > This isn’t a “false statistic” in my opinion. I think you’re being a bit of a dick if you jump in with “Sadaharu Oh!!” when people are clearly talking about Major League Baseball. Why exactly is this a favorite of yours, anyway? Wow. Holding on a little tight there, buddy? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commonly-believed-trivia-that-is-wrong/540214.md?page=2)