# 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:** 3
### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [July 2, 2024, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-think-you-know-but-you-do-not/1002166/41 "2024-07-02T00:02:49Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#):
>
> Is there any information on _how much_ of Cleopatra’s ancestry was Egyptian and Persian (vice Greek)?
It is hard to tell. The Ptolemies tried to keep the bloodline “pure” by marrying brother to sister, but they married some other women at times.
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### Author:  [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2024, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-think-you-know-but-you-do-not/1002166/42 "2024-07-06T08:19:42Z")
“Charles Dickens was paid by the word.” No, he was paid by the installment.
[https://dickens.ucsc.edu/resources/faq/by-the-word.html](https://dickens.ucsc.edu/resources/faq/by-the-word.html)
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### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2024, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-think-you-know-but-you-do-not/1002166/43 "2024-08-18T21:47:37Z")
Roman soldiers were NOT paid in salt. This fake factoid comes from a translation issue- _salarius_ vs _salarium_ . (there remains a possibility that they got a salt ration)
> **[Salt and salary: were Roman soldiers paid in salt?](https://kiwihellenist.blogspot.com/2017/01/salt-and-salary.html)**
>
> Roman soldiers weren't paid in salt, and they weren't given "salt money". Dictionaries of the 1700s and early 1800s are to blame for this myth.
_Here’s the simplest form of the myth._
_\> The word ‘salary’ comes from the Latin word for salt because the Roman Legions were sometimes paid in salt._
_\>_
_\>_
_\> – Wikipedia, [‘History of salt’](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=History_of_salt&oldid=752687729#Ancient_world)_
_Pure fantasy. There isn’t the tiniest scrap of evidence to suggest this. At all, to any extent, ever._
_The allure of this myth comes simply from the link between salarius and salarium . Naturally everyone wants to have the true explanation of what exactly the link is. Unfortunately no ancient source tells us one. And so we end up in the situation where people invent explanations for themselves._
_Folks who propagate this myth don’t usually try to cite sources, but when people do go looking for sources, they end up drawn to two pieces of ancient testimony. First is the 1st century CE writer Pliny the Elder:_
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2024, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-think-you-know-but-you-do-not/1002166/44 "2024-08-19T16:32:58Z")
Where the _actual_ magnetic north is. [Neil deGrasse Tyson explains](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3J8esf3aQQ). I’ve been misinformed for 77 years.
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### Author:  [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2024, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-think-you-know-but-you-do-not/1002166/45 "2024-08-19T17:55:12Z")
In one of Bill Bryson’s books, he postulated that it was an ironic comment on how little they were paid. ‘Salt money’; “Yeah, they pay us, it’s enough to buy salt”.
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### Author:  [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2024, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-think-you-know-but-you-do-not/1002166/46 "2024-08-19T19:02:20Z")
For decades I heard the Chevrolet Nova sold poorly in Spanish-speaking countries because its name translates as “no go” or “doesn’t go” in Spanish, and always assumed it was true. It’s [not true](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/chevrolet-nova-name-spanish/).
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### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2024, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-think-you-know-but-you-do-not/1002166/47 "2024-08-19T20:41:52Z")
Yep. That is still spread around.
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### Author:  [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2024, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-think-you-know-but-you-do-not/1002166/48 "2024-08-20T03:16:58Z")
I have wondered if it was done at times as a joke - like for a while people quipped that Ford stood for Fix or Repair Daily
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### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2024, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-think-you-know-but-you-do-not/1002166/49 "2024-08-20T04:32:20Z")
And FIAT was “fix It Again, Tony”. 😀
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### Author:  [@X.L.Lent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/X.L.Lent)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2024, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-think-you-know-but-you-do-not/1002166/50 "2024-08-20T05:45:21Z")
Here are some I have seen more than once:
Charles Lindbergh was the first to fly across the Atlantic in 1927. Um no, the first
crossing was in 1919 by British aviators Alcock and Brown.
George Stevenson invented the steam locomotive. The real inventor was
Richard Trevithick in 1804. Stevenson came along later and made
several improvements.
Robert Fulton invented the steam boat. Also not true - several people had
built steam boats before Fulton did.
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### Author:  [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2024, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-think-you-know-but-you-do-not/1002166/51 "2024-08-20T07:07:43Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#):
>
> I thought Stetson is a make of western hat, not a generic term for them. They are expensive, too. Cowboys I’ve known don’t call their hats ‘Stetsons’. They call them ‘hats’.
Correct on all counts. “Stetson” is a brand of hat. It has not achieved Kleenex or Xerox status as a generic term. There are other brands of cowboy hats.
I do own a genuine Stetson cowboy hat, and it was not cheap. Low three figures. But it fits perfectly, is made of wool felt, is water-repellent, crushable, and has a small pocket for business or credit cards. Worth every penny I paid for it. But in the end, it’s simply “my hat.”
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### Author:  [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2024, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-think-you-know-but-you-do-not/1002166/52 "2024-08-20T10:31:19Z")
> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> Where the _actual_ magnetic north is. [Neil deGrasse Tyson explains](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3J8esf3aQQ). I’ve been misinformed for 77 years.
Yeah, it’s called declination. If you look at a USGS topo map (say a 7.5 min). On the bottom of it will be an arrow pointing to true north and another arrow that will point a few degrees off. That’s where your compass points.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2024, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-think-you-know-but-you-do-not/1002166/53 "2024-08-20T12:02:08Z")
> [@enipla](#):
>
> Yeah, it’s called declination. If you look at a USGS topo map (say a 7.5 min). On the bottom of it will be an arrow pointing to true north and another arrow that will point a few degrees off. That’s where your compass points.
Yeah, I’m aware of that. As Tyson points out: If opposite magnetic poles attract, and your compass needle is magnetized, then wherever the needle is pointing is a _south_ pole, not a north pole. We call it the north magnetic pole because anything else would just be too confusing.
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### Author:  [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2024, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-think-you-know-but-you-do-not/1002166/54 "2024-08-20T12:19:48Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#):
>
> For decades I heard the Chevrolet Nova sold poorly in Spanish-speaking countries because its name translates as “no go” or “doesn’t go” in Spanish, and always assumed it was true. It’s [not true](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/chevrolet-nova-name-spanish/)
Although I’m here to tell you that if your teacher mentions that when discussing the challenges that different languages can present, she will definitely NOT be pleased if you raise your hand and point out her error in front of the class.
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### Author:  [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2024, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-think-you-know-but-you-do-not/1002166/55 "2024-08-20T12:38:36Z")
I thought I understood how home plumbing works, but this house keeps proving me wrong. It’s confounded several plumbers so far, too. The previous owners really did a crazy number on this place.
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### Author:  [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2024, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-think-you-know-but-you-do-not/1002166/56 "2024-08-20T12:50:20Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#):
>
> Although I’m here to tell you that if your teacher mentions that when discussing the challenges that different languages can present, she will definitely NOT be pleased if you raise your hand and point out her error in front of the class.
The point being made is valid even if the example is nonsense.
The world’s largest producer of baked goods is Bimbo, but they don’t sell hardly anything under that name in the US, except in Hispanic communities that were introduced to the brand name in Spanish speaking regions where that word doesn’t have negative connotations.
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### Author:  [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2024, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-think-you-know-but-you-do-not/1002166/57 "2024-08-20T12:56:01Z")
> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> Yeah, I’m aware of that. As Tyson points out: If opposite magnetic poles attract, and your compass needle is magnetized, then wherever the needle is pointing is a _south_ pole
Oh, ok. So the pointy part is not magnetized I guess it’s the ‘tail’.
> [@DCnDC](#):
>
> I thought I understood how home plumbing works, but this house keeps proving me wrong. It’s confounded several plumbers so far, too. The previous owners really did a crazy number on this place.
Heh. I’ve done a lot of plumbing. In our house the cold water line that fed the upstairs bathroom would run in both directions depending on if water was coming from the pressure tank, or the well (when it kicked on). When the well kicked on, it sent a blast of cold water into the system and was a bit of a surprise.
I fixed that when I built a new mechanical room. None of this the water can run in either direction in the supply line, depending.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2024, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-think-you-know-but-you-do-not/1002166/58 "2024-08-20T13:45:56Z")
> [@enipla](#):
>
> Oh, ok. So the pointy part is not magnetized I guess it’s the ‘tail’.
Well. . .that’s not how I understood what he was saying. I’m pretty sure he was saying that the point IS magnetized and that the north magnetic pole is actually in the southern hemisphere. It’s quite possible I need to watch the video again, as my brain has trouble grasping this.
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### Author:  [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2024, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-think-you-know-but-you-do-not/1002166/59 "2024-08-20T13:54:35Z")
> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> Well. . .that’s not how I understood what he was saying. I’m pretty sure he was saying that the point IS magnetized and that the north magnetic pole is actually in the southern hemisphere. It’s quite possible I need to watch the video again, as my brain has trouble grasping this.
Na uh. Then we would all be upside down. 😉
OK. I just watched it quickly, and made a poor assumption. I checked with ChatGPT, and it agrees with you. Magnetic north is actually near the South geographic pole.
Huh.
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### Author:  [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2024, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-think-you-know-but-you-do-not/1002166/60 "2024-08-20T14:30:29Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#):
>
> The world’s largest producer of baked goods is Bimbo, but they don’t sell hardly anything under that name in the US, except in Hispanic communities that were introduced to the brand name in Spanish speaking regions where that word doesn’t have negative connotations.
One of the largest convenience store chains in the world is Alimentation Couche-Tard, which has many outlets in the U.S. but for some unfathomable reason they don’t use the corporate name found in Quebec, but are called Circle Ks.
Floridians: “Hey, let’s go over to the Couch Turd and get some beer!”
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