# Good stories that aren't true **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 20, 2012, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-stories-that-arent-true/613418 "2012-02-20T14:18:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-stories-that-arent-true/613418/61 "2012-02-21T18:25:40Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Theodore Roosevelt did not lead the charge up San Juan Hill in Cuba. He in fact was part of the assault on Kettle Hill, a secondary objective. He did lead a small group to support the Buffalo Soldiers who had already taken the hill (and received almost no recognition for it), but was immediately called back to defend the Spanish counterattack on Kettle. He managed to get his photo taken at the top of San Juan Hill along with the Rough Riders outfit. To his credit, Roosevelt initially gave credit to the black soldiers, but the press and his campaign staff insisted that he was the hero of the battle, and eventually he accepted it as truth. He was awarded a posthumous MOH for this action by George Bush II, while the officer who led the charge and was killed during it received zip point shit. A minor nitpick, the medal was awarded by Clinton. ---
**Author:** ![mcgato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-stories-that-arent-true/613418/62 "2012-02-21T18:31:11Z")
> [@Mithras](#): > > Philipppides didn’t run the 25ish miles from Marathon to Athens and expire immediately after announcing the Greek victory. > > He’s actually supposed to have run 150 miles from Athens to Sparta in less than two days and then run back to Athens to inform the Athenians that the Spartans would not be providing troops in time to help them at the battle. Following the Athenian victory, their entire army had to travel from Marathon to Athens the same day to potentially battle part of the Persian force that was sailing from Marathon to Athens. I think the race would be a bit harder if the runners had to travel 6 times the distance or were weighed down with bronze armor and weapons. I think that both versions of that story are legends, not fact. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-stories-that-arent-true/613418/63 "2012-02-21T18:54:02Z")
(As described in Mario Puzo’s novel “The Godfather”). Puzo admitted that he made most of the stuff up (the rituals, the conception of “honor”. The interesting thing is that after the movie’s success, big-name mobsters started imitating what they say in the film. ---
**Author:** ![Mithras](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mithras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mithras)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-stories-that-arent-true/613418/64 "2012-02-21T19:11:55Z")
> [@mcgato](#): > > I think that both versions of that story are legends, not fact. What I described as fact was a summary of the account given by Herodotus. Unlike the authors of the legendary account that arose hundreds of years later, he was able to interview participants in the Greek and Persian wars. While some of his details (exact Persian troop numbers, most famously) should be taken with a grain of salt, it is my understanding that his history has held up pretty well to modern investigation. Archaeological finds have supported details that were questioned in the past, for example. So you could throw it out as legendary, but then why would you trust any history you read that you haven’t personally witnessed? And to prove that the run from Athens to Sparta is possible in that timeframe: > **[Spartathlon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spartathlon)** > > Spartathlon is a 246-kilometre (153 mi) ultramarathon race held annually in Greece since 1983, between Athens and Sparti, the modern town on the site of ancient Sparta. The Spartathlon is based on the run of Pheidippides, who ran from Athens to Sparta before the Battle of Marathon in a day and a half to seek aid against the Persians. Five Royal Air Force officers attempted the course in 1982 and the competition was started the next year. > As the race grew more popular, stringent entry criteria w... ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-stories-that-arent-true/613418/65 "2012-02-21T19:18:31Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > A minor nitpick, the medal was awarded by Clinton. Thanks. I thought it was in 2001. ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-stories-that-arent-true/613418/66 "2012-02-21T19:27:58Z")
Rhett Butler didn’t say “Frankly Scarlett, I don’t give a damn.” It was “My dear”, not Scarlett. Clinton DID inhale! (NOT a potshot!) 🙂 Nero didn’t “Fiddle” while Rome was burning. The violin hadn’t been invented yet. (He played a lute, if anything.) ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-stories-that-arent-true/613418/67 "2012-02-21T20:02:20Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Well, _almost_ any etymology, at least. Nabisco and OK both date before then. But yeah, the vast majority of such stories are false. For the purposes of the “WWII rule,” an acronym is really an initialism pronounced as a word, so OK and NaBisCo don’t count. Of course, the concept of one word representing a phrase is much older than the 20th century- early Christians used “ichthys”, the infamous Jesus fish, to stand for “Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior.” > [@Alan\_Smithee](#): > > [Jerry Seinfeld]If only he’d delivered the news to the town of Sprint, which was just 100 yards away, he might have lived.[/jerry seinfeld] Shoulda been “_from_ the town of Sprint”. > [@Jake](#): > > Rhett Butler didn’t say “Frankly Scarlett, I don’t give a damn.” It was “My dear”, not Scarlett. I’ve never, not once, heard it as anything other than “my dear.” Who quotes it as “frankly Scarlett”? Google shows less than 200,000 hits for your incorrect version. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-stories-that-arent-true/613418/68 "2012-02-21T23:26:44Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > For the purposes of the “WWII rule,” an acronym is really an initialism pronounced as a word, so OK and NaBisCo don’t count. I’ve never heard this definition for acronym, which is usually defined as a pronouncable word formed from the beginning letters or letters of a phrase. That means Nabisco is an acronym (though a proper noun), but OK is not. Other acronyms are radar, modem, and snafu, all of which were coined in WWII or later I believe. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-stories-that-arent-true/613418/69 "2012-02-22T00:21:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Of course, the concept of one word representing a phrase is much older than the 20th century- early Christians used “ichthys”, the infamous Jesus fish, to stand for “Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior.” The distinction there, of course, being that “ichthys”, meaning “fish”, was already a well-established word at the time of Jesus. The new meaning had its origin at least partly from an acronym, but not the word itself. By contrast, “radar” (for instance) didn’t mean anything, until someone decided that they needed a name for the new device. ---
**Author:** ![thelabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@thelabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelabdude)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-stories-that-arent-true/613418/70 "2012-02-22T03:44:10Z")
Add in NECCO, [Necco - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Necco) I forget how far my brother in law went in th e70’s when he discovered you couldn’t buy NECCO wafers in Alabama. ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-stories-that-arent-true/613418/71 "2012-02-22T11:21:07Z")
> [@Jasper\_Kent](#): > > Every teacher I ever pissed off told me: > > “This is going in your _ **permanent record!** _” > > If there is such a thing as a “permanent record,” I never heard about it again after high school. The permanent record is absolutely true. My oldest friend was going through jobs in real estate and tried to get a license to sell in Pennsylvania. He is from Jersey and has a license there. When he applied to PA, there was a “unresolved concealed weapons charge” on his record! This was from over 20 years ago when he, myself and another friend were arrested in Medford, NJ, for underage drinking. Our other friend had a 3-inch boot knife in his boot. Thus, we were all charged with “possession of a deadly weapon” initially. It was dropped from our friend’s record, but still on my best friend’s record AND MINE! I had to go to court in Medford with him to be a witness and to make sure it was dropped from my record. This arrest happened when I was 17, I was 38 when we resolved it. But there’s still a permanent record on it; once to be charged and once to be dropped in court 21 years later. Yes, my best friend got his PA license after that. So permanent records exist. What teachers were telling us was NOT about some silly school record. Ask anyone who’s been arrested for urinating in public and is listed as a sex offender. ---
**Author:** ![tellyworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tellyworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tellyworth)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-stories-that-arent-true/613418/72 "2012-02-22T11:44:59Z")
“Nero opened relief shelters and [reduced the price of corn](http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Annals_(Tacitus)/Book_15#39) while Rome burned” just doesn’t have the same ring to it. ---
**Author:** ![thelabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@thelabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelabdude)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-stories-that-arent-true/613418/73 "2012-02-22T15:38:14Z")
That would not have been the maize we think of, but corn often refers to other grains. So indeed he did blame the Christians. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-stories-that-arent-true/613418/74 "2012-02-22T23:04:29Z")
> [@Locrian](#): > > The permanent record is absolutely true. > > [snip] > > What teachers were telling us was NOT about some silly school record. So the ‘permanent record’ _as the concept is commonly understood_ is false. Everyone knows _criminal_ records exist. That isn’t up for discussion. What’s being talked about is the idea that, for example, having been tardy more often than you should have been in the tenth grade will prevent you from becoming an MD, which is simply false (unless it adversely affects your academic record (no, I’m not going to go into everything here you all know what I mean)). ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-stories-that-arent-true/613418/75 "2012-02-22T23:20:43Z")
> [@Jasper\_Kent](#): > > Every teacher I ever pissed off told me: > > “This is going in your _ **permanent record!** _” > > If there is such a thing as a “permanent record,” I never heard about it again after high school. Agreed. I don’t know what was worse, the permanent record, or “the blue card.” (Here in NYC, at least.) ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-stories-that-arent-true/613418/76 "2012-02-23T01:00:04Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Agreed. I don’t know what was worse, the permanent record, or “the blue card.” (Here in NYC, at least.) What’s a blue card? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-stories-that-arent-true/613418/77 "2012-02-23T01:38:15Z")
I work in a middle school. When we talk about a “permanent record”, we mean one that will follow them into the office of the high school. It also goes in their file over to another school if they transfer. I certainly never thought, including when I was in school, that it went beyond high school. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-stories-that-arent-true/613418/78 "2012-02-23T02:23:54Z")
> [@Jake](#): > > Nero didn’t “Fiddle” while Rome was burning. The violin hadn’t been invented yet. (He played a lute, if anything.) According to Tacitus and Suetonus, he recited a long passage from Homer about the burning of Troy. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-stories-that-arent-true/613418/79 "2012-02-23T02:35:19Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > Of course, the concept of one word representing a phrase is much older than the 20th century- early Christians used “ichthys”, the infamous Jesus fish, to stand for “Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior.” > . cite? As far as I know, that is an urban legend with no supporting evidence. And the reason a fish was used as a symbol for Christians? Because _“I will make you fishers of men”_ As far as I understand it. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-stories-that-arent-true/613418/80 "2012-02-23T03:19:33Z")
From wikipedia: [QUOTE=wikipedia] _ΙΧΘΥΣ_(Ichthys) is anacronym for “_Ἰ_ησοῦς_Χ_ριστός,_Θ_εοῦ_Υ_ἱός,_Σ_ωτήρ”, (_I_ēsous_Ch_ristos,_Th_eou_Y_ios,_S_ōtēr), which translates into English as “Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior”. - Iota (i) is the first letter of"Iēsous "(Ἰησοῦς), Greek for "Jesus ". - Chi (ch) is the first letter of"Christos "(Χριστός), Greek for “anointed”. - Theta (th) is the first letter of"Theou"(Θεοῦ), Greek for “God’s”, the genitive case ofΘεóς,“Theos”, Greek for “God”. - Ypsilon (y) is the first letter of"(h)yios"[3] (Υἱός), Greek for “Son”. - Sigma (s) is the first letter of"sōtēr"(Σωτήρ ), Greek for “Savior”. Historians say the 20th-century use of the"ichthys"motif is an adaptation based on an Early Christian symbol which included a small cross for the eye or the Greek letters “ΙΧΘΥΣ”. [/quote] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-stories-that-arent-true/613418.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-stories-that-arent-true/613418.md?page=5)