# Things you think you know, but you do not
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-think-you-know-but-you-do-not/1002166
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [May 28, 2024, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-think-you-know-but-you-do-not/1002166 "2024-05-28T01:35:33Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2024, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-think-you-know-but-you-do-not/1002166/1 "2024-05-28T01:35:33Z")
Many lies and half truths are spread around-
Gibbons wrote that the Library of Alexandria was destroyed by the Christians- Nope, it was the Romans, first under Julius Caesar.
> **[The contents of the library of Alexandria](https://kiwihellenist.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-contents-of-library-of-alexandria.html)**
>
> The library of Alexandria wasn't majorly different from other ancient libraries. And we have a good idea of what was in it.
Cleopatra was Egyptian, not Greek-
Well. Cleopatra was of Greek descent. But she was born in Egypt, her father was born in Egypt, and all the way to her 6 or 7 (the family tree is really weird) greats-grandfather (Ptolemy 3) was born there. Her family did marry into Egyptians and Persians. Now, if your 7x or 8x great grandfather was born in Ireland- but all the others “greats” were born in America- are you American or Irish? So this could go either way, depending on how you consider yourself- and Cleopatra considered herself Egyptian.
Any other examples- things that a lot of people think that are either wrong or just half-right?
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### Author:  [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2024, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-think-you-know-but-you-do-not/1002166/2 "2024-05-28T02:32:30Z")
> [@DrDeth](#):
>
> Gibbons wrote
Nitpick: that would be Gibbon.
> **[The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_History_of_the_Decline_and_Fall_of_the_Roman_Empire)**
>
> The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, sometimes shortened to Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, is a six-volume work by the English historian Edward Gibbon. The six volumes cover, from 98 to 1590, the peak of the Roman Empire, the history of early Christianity and its emergence as the Roman state religion, the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, the rise of Genghis Khan and Tamerlane and the fall of Byzantium, as well as discussions on the ruins of Ancient Rome.
> Volume I was ...
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### Author:  [@Sandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sandwich)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2024, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-think-you-know-but-you-do-not/1002166/3 "2024-05-28T07:54:44Z")
One example of things which some people think, but which are wrong, would be ‘in ancient times, ‘Greek’ was always a nationality rather than an ethnicity’.
Cleopatra was Egyptian. I’m not sure if she was Greek.
Compare, ‘J is American, so she can’t be hispanic / Jewish / Korean’.
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### Author:  [@FrenchDunadan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrenchDunadan)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2024, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-think-you-know-but-you-do-not/1002166/4 "2024-05-28T21:43:33Z")
> [@DrDeth](#):
>
> Gibbons wrote that the Library of Alexandria was destroyed by the Christians
I did not knew that Hylobatides could even write 😉
The whole “NASA used special pressurized ink cartridge in space whereas USSR used crayons” thing…that turned to be untrue.
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### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2024, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-think-you-know-but-you-do-not/1002166/5 "2024-05-28T23:34:40Z")
> [@FrenchDunadan](#):
>
> The whole “NASA used special pressurized ink cartridge in space whereas USSR used crayons” thing…that turned to be untrue.
Good point.
I heard it as pencils- which is worse-
[https://www.nasa.gov/technology/tech-transfer-spinoffs/space-pens-pencils-and-how-nasa-takes-notes-in-space/#:~:text=Why%20not%20just%20use%20a,using%20Space%20Pens%20since%201969](https://www.nasa.gov/technology/tech-transfer-spinoffs/space-pens-pencils-and-how-nasa-takes-notes-in-space/#:~:text=Why%20not%20just%20use%20a,using%20Space%20Pens%20since%201969).
#### **Why not just use a pencil?**
_NASA wanted an alternative to pencils because the lead could easily break off and float away, creating a hazard to astronauts and sensitive electronics on the spacecraft. Cosmonauts also have been using [Space Pens](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hq8w97Z9BP0) since 1969._
#### **Did it cost taxpayers millions?**
_No. Paul Fisher at the Fisher Pen Company had already been working on a pressurized pen._
Also “NOVA” as in the car does not mean doesnt go.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2024, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-think-you-know-but-you-do-not/1002166/6 "2024-05-29T21:07:44Z")
> [@DrDeth](#):
>
> Cleopatra was Egyptian, not Greek-
Cleopatra was a descendent of Ptolemy, and Egypt at that time was a Hellenic state. She absolutely would have considered herself Greek.
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### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2024, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-think-you-know-but-you-do-not/1002166/7 "2024-05-30T00:57:56Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#):
>
> Cleopatra was a descendent of Ptolemy, and Egypt at that time was a Hellenic state. She absolutely would have considered herself Greek.
Oh no, she went full pharaoh. Maybe as a child.
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### Author:  [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2024, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-think-you-know-but-you-do-not/1002166/8 "2024-05-30T14:29:42Z")
> [@DrDeth](#):
>
> Also “NOVA” as in the car does not mean doesnt go.
If you type ‘does not go’ into Google translate it literally translates into ‘no va’ in Spanish. And ‘no va’ as Spanish input comes out as ‘not going’ in English.
Yes, I know the argument that ‘nova’ without a space is different than ‘no va’, but I think it still qualifies as an amusing foreign-market faux pas on the part of Chevrolet.
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### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2024, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-think-you-know-but-you-do-not/1002166/9 "2024-05-30T18:29:22Z")
> [@solost](#):
>
> Yes, I know the argument that ‘nova’ without a space is different than ‘no va’, but I think it still qualifies as an amusing foreign-market faux pas on the part of Chevrolet.
> **[FACT CHECK: Did the Chevrolet Nova Fail to Sell in Spanish-Speaking Countries?](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/chevrolet-nova-name-spanish/)**
>
> Did the Chevrolet Nova sell poorly in Spanish-speaking countries?
Rating- FALSE.
_Shortly afterwards the great “Nova” legend arose, a legend which a little linguistic analysis shows it to be improbable:_
_First of all, the phrase “no va” (literally “doesn’t go”) and the word “nova” are distinct entities with different pronunciations in Spanish: the former is two words and is pronounced with the accent on the second word; the latter is one word with the accent on the first syllable. Assuming that Spanish speakers would naturally see the word “nova” as equivalent to the phrase “no va” and think “Hey, this car doesn’t go!” is akin to assuming that English speakers would spurn a dinette set sold under the name Notable because nobody wants a dinette set that doesn’t include a table._
\*\* Although “no va” can be literally translated as “no go,” it would be a curious locution for a speaker of Spanish to use in reference to a car. Just as an English speaker would describe a broken-down car by saying that it “doesn’t run” rather than it “doesn’t go,” so a Spanish speaker would refer to a malfunctioning automobile by saying “no marcha” or “no funciona” or “no camina” rather than “no va.”\*
\*\* Pemex (the Mexican government-owned oil monopoly) has sold gasoline in Mexico under the name “Nova.” If Mexicans were going to associate anything with the Chevrolet Nova based on its name, it would probably be this gasoline.\*
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### Author:  [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2024, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-think-you-know-but-you-do-not/1002166/10 "2024-05-30T18:58:31Z")
> [@DrDeth](#):
>
> Rating- FALSE.
The Snopes article is rating as ‘false’ the myth that the Chevy Nova failed to sell well in Spanish-speaking countries as a result of its name. I was disputing your assertion that…
> [@DrDeth](#):
>
> …“NOVA” as in the car does not mean doesnt go.
It does, _literally_, mean “does not go” in Spanish.
Further, ‘No va’ may not be a typical locution to describe an inoperative car for a Spanish speaker, but let’s take Snopes’ English comparative examples:
> Just as an English speaker would describe a broken-down car by saying that it “doesn’t run” rather than it “doesn’t go,”…
OK, but if a ‘Honda Nogo’ named model was introduced to the U.S., sure, sales might still be fine if it was a quality vehicle, but some would snicker at the name. Or this example:
> …akin to assuming that English speakers would spurn a dinette set sold under the name _Notable_ because nobody wants a dinette set that doesn’t include a table.
If Ikea came out with a table named the ‘Nötable’, it might sell just fine, but some would find it amusingly ironic. Including me.
Don’t get me wrong, I like Snopes as a resource and appreciate the fact that they fight ignorance as the SD does, but I still think there is _ **some** _ irony to the fact that GM sold a car called ‘Nova’ in Spanish-speaking countries.
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### Author:  [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2024, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-think-you-know-but-you-do-not/1002166/11 "2024-05-30T19:06:27Z")
The idea that no one did anything while hearing Kitty Genovese was being murdered:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder\_of\_Kitty\_Genovese#Inaccuracy\_of\_original\_reports](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Kitty_Genovese#Inaccuracy_of_original_reports)
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### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2024, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-think-you-know-but-you-do-not/1002166/12 "2024-05-31T01:43:02Z")
> [@solost](#):
>
> It does, _literally_, mean “does not go” in Spanish.
No, as my cite says.
No Va- two separate words do mean that. Butas the cite says- _First of all, the phrase “no va” (literally “doesn’t go”) and the word “nova” are distinct entities with different pronunciations in Spanish: the former is two words and is pronounced with the accent on the second word; the latter is one word with the accent on the first syllable. Assuming that Spanish speakers would naturally see the word “nova” as equivalent to the phrase “no va” and think “Hey, this car doesn’t go!” is akin to assuming that English speakers would spurn a dinette set sold under the name Notable because nobody wants a dinette set that doesn’t include a table._
Anyway- the UL says it was a marketing blunder- and it wasnt.
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### Author:  [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2024, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-think-you-know-but-you-do-not/1002166/13 "2024-05-31T12:34:19Z")
Another supposed “marketing blunder”: that Gerber baby food sold poorly in Africa because the locals assumed the picture of a smiling baby on the packaging meant the product contained ground-up babies.
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### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2024, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-think-you-know-but-you-do-not/1002166/14 "2024-05-31T19:55:55Z")
I never heard that and that’s hilarious. 🤪
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### Author:  [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2024, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-think-you-know-but-you-do-not/1002166/15 "2024-05-31T20:18:21Z")
More from Snopes:
> **[Did Baby Food Jars Horrify African Consumers?](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/label-fable/)**
>
> Understanding where this decades-old tale came from is to see cultural prejudice at work.
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### Author:  [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2024, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-think-you-know-but-you-do-not/1002166/16 "2024-05-31T23:06:11Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#):
>
> Another supposed “marketing blunder”: that Gerber baby food sold poorly in Africa because the locals assumed the picture of a smiling baby on the packaging meant the product contained ground-up babies.
This triggered a memory of a story I heard somewhere- seems like I remember a social studies teacher trying to illustrate language barriers or cultural differences, or something. I have no idea from exactly where I’m remembering it, or whether it has any basis in truth at all.
Anyway, the story goes that a young married couple who spoke little or no English (I seem to remember they were from Japan) and couldn’t read English at all, had emigrated to America. Their first trip to a grocery store was overwhelming with all the unfamiliar products, the labels of which were unreadable.
Then they see a shelf with cans of Crisco, featuring a mouthwatering picture of delicious fried chicken. They buy a can, take it home and are excited to have their first American fried chicken dinner…buuut not exactly the KFC experience they had hoped for.
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### Author:  [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2024, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-think-you-know-but-you-do-not/1002166/17 "2024-05-31T23:30:34Z")
It’s hard to participate in this thread because I don’t know what I don’t know.
So I can only post what I do know that people often don’t.
There was much ado about the lady who sued McDonald’s for spilling hot coffee on herself. If you look at the facts of the case it’s clear McDonald’s was responsible for gross negligence, their coffee was significantly hotter than any other competitor, had injured people before, they had been ordered to lower the temperature and didn’t, and the poor lady had third degree burns and required skin grafts on her _genitals._ Not so frivolous.
People think Nietzsche was a fascist and probably a Nazi, but quite the opposite. Nietzsche abhorred anti-Semitism so much he broke up with his anti-Semite best friend and even wrote a book about it, _Nietzsche Contra Wagner._ (Yes, that Wagner.) His conceptualization of the ubermensch was about personal morality, not some kind of superior race. Though he wrote on more than one occasion that he thought Jews _were_ a superior race. He admired their subversion of traditional morality in the formation of Christianity, though he despised what Christianity became. In 1898 Nietzsche succumbed to syphilis and became mostly non-responsive. It was at this point his Nazi sister in law Elizabeth Forrster Nietzsche took over his affairs, published _The Will to Power_ (and maybe doctored it) and put it in the hands of Nazi officers.
All rumors about him being a sexist asshat, however, are 100% true. Though he at least acknowledged women as an oppressed group, and saw their so-called inferior behavior as stemming from their oppression rather than innate differences. So good for him, I guess.
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### Author:  [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2024, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-think-you-know-but-you-do-not/1002166/18 "2024-06-01T03:31:35Z")
Pretty much everything.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2024, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-think-you-know-but-you-do-not/1002166/19 "2024-06-01T03:42:52Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#):
>
> Nitpick: that would be Gibbon
Maybe it was written by more than one gibbon? 😁
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### Author:  [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2024, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-think-you-know-but-you-do-not/1002166/20 "2024-06-01T12:56:31Z")
[That we use only 10% of our brains.](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/do-people-only-use-10-percent-of-their-brains/)
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