# Totally wrong stuff you believed to an embarrassingly advanced age **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 18, 2007, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-wrong-stuff-you-believed-to-an-embarrassingly-advanced-age/408477 "2007-06-18T16:42:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 22
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-wrong-stuff-you-believed-to-an-embarrassingly-advanced-age/408477/421 "2007-06-25T07:21:23Z")
**Noone Special** , I’ve never had shwarma with yogurt, but in Israel I loved it with hummus, tehina, cucumber salad and hot sauce. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-wrong-stuff-you-believed-to-an-embarrassingly-advanced-age/408477/422 "2007-06-25T07:44:49Z")
[QUOTE=fetus] **Noone Special** , I’ve never had shwarma with yogurt, but in Israel I loved it with hummus, tehina, cucumber salad and hot sauce. [/QUOTE] With yogurt is the Greek way – you will rarely if at all find it in Israel – I discovered it in Paris in the _Quartier Latin_ 🙂 Yup, it’s good the Israeli way, too – I often grab a Shwarma wrap for lunch – but the Greek _gyros_ in Paris, with the yogurt as sauce… mmmmm. ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-wrong-stuff-you-believed-to-an-embarrassingly-advanced-age/408477/423 "2007-06-25T08:17:47Z")
> [@](#): > > … I only learned at 30 that when a pregnant woman’s water breaks, it isn’t just one big gush, like it is in movies. Learned that one first-hand, and was I ever surprised! So, what does happen? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-wrong-stuff-you-believed-to-an-embarrassingly-advanced-age/408477/424 "2007-06-25T08:21:18Z")
[QUOTE=Cub Mistress] Margaret/Daisy is not that odd a combination when you know the Marguerite (Margaret is a variation of this) is a common name for a daisy. Some of these nicknames have been around so long we rarely think of how they came to be so widely used. [Marguerite Daisy](http://www.desert-tropicals.com/Plants/Asteraceae/Chrysanthemum_frutescens.html) I seem to recall seing Marguerite daisies used on a coat of arms to signify the name Marguerite or one of it spelling variants. [/QUOTE] Marguerite is French for daisy. In Spanish they’re called Margaritas. And yes, Rita is the same name as Daisy 🙂 > [@Siam Sam](#): > > Slight hijack. Jack deriving from John makes me think of something that’s puzzled me for years. Why would anyone in his right mind call himself Dick? My grandfather, named Richard, commonly went by Dick. He was a Dick but not a dick, if you know what I mean. Same with Willy or Willie, but that’s not as bad as Dick. Are these people completely oblivious to the snickering around them? Maybe the other meaning wasn’t as all-pervading when and where they grew up. After all, if “Sam” became synonimous with, say, BJ… would you start asking people to call you Samuel? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-wrong-stuff-you-believed-to-an-embarrassingly-advanced-age/408477/425 "2007-06-25T13:50:53Z")
[QUOTE=Renee] So, what does happen? [/QUOTE] It \*can \*break out in a great gush, but usually the baby’s head acts as a bottle stopper and it will come out in spurts with each contraction over time. When enough of the sac rips and the baby is in just the right spot, the water does come gushing out - but by that point, most women are on the table and actively pushing and don’t even notice the water. The nursing staff or midwife just replaces the towels underneath her at the end of the contraction and she’s none the wiser (the towels also probably have feces and urine on them by that point, so amniotic fluid is the least of your concerns, hygienically speaking). If you’re standing in a crowded elevator when “your water breaks”, you’re more likely to feel like you just urinated on yourself - a small leak or stream of water. You also probably won’t clutch your belly and fall to the floor gasping - labor takes \*hours \*of “hmm, was that something? Maybe? Oh, I’m not sure…” contractions and then hours of “wow, this is pretty intense!” contractions before the gasping and falling to the floor ones start. I blame Hollywood for this little portion of national ignorance. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-wrong-stuff-you-believed-to-an-embarrassingly-advanced-age/408477/426 "2007-06-25T13:59:46Z")
A tale from my mom: When my aunt was a little girl, she thought that when a womans water broke, that it would gurgle loudly just like the washing machine did as the water drained out. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-wrong-stuff-you-believed-to-an-embarrassingly-advanced-age/408477/427 "2007-06-25T14:00:02Z")
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir] My sister believed until her late teens that the British Isles are physically connected to Europe (and this was pre-Chunnel, mind you). She spoke about “taking the bus from London to Paris.” [/QUOTE] I once took the bus from San Sebastián to London (and months later, its counterpart). The bus took the ferry from Le Havre to Dover 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-wrong-stuff-you-believed-to-an-embarrassingly-advanced-age/408477/428 "2007-06-25T14:58:06Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] If you’re standing in a crowded elevator when “your water breaks”, you’re more likely to feel like you just urinated on yourself - a small leak or stream of water. You also probably won’t clutch your belly and fall to the floor gasping - labor takes \*hours \*of “hmm, was that something? Maybe? Oh, I’m not sure…” contractions and then hours of “wow, this is pretty intense!” contractions before the gasping and falling to the floor ones start. I blame Hollywood for this little portion of national ignorance. [/QUOTE] Depends on the woman. My mom had my brother and me in about an hour each, start to finish. She can’t pull that whole “I was in labor for 36 hours with you!” business. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-wrong-stuff-you-believed-to-an-embarrassingly-advanced-age/408477/429 "2007-06-25T15:11:25Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] …I blame Hollywood for this little portion of national ignorance. [/QUOTE] Heh. In the movie _The Coneheads_, Primaat’s water breaks and she leaves the living room ankle-deep in amniotic fluid. That’s how it is with people from… France, y’know. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-wrong-stuff-you-believed-to-an-embarrassingly-advanced-age/408477/430 "2007-06-25T15:12:25Z")
Until a few years ago, I didn’t realize that in Superman 1, the actor who plays Clark in the Smallville and Fortress of Solitude sequences is not Christopher Reeve. It’s some younger guy, with Reeve’s voice dubbed over his. :smack: In my defense, they do look quite a lot alike. Similarly, Mr. Rilch didn’t realize that Fat Bastard was Mike Myers until I told him. But he didn’t spend _years_ thinking it was a different guy. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-wrong-stuff-you-believed-to-an-embarrassingly-advanced-age/408477/431 "2007-06-25T16:20:58Z")
Count me in on the “MY-zled” crowd. I was able to convince the person who called me out on it that it was a valid pronunciation, though. Related to the “John”, “Jon”, “Jonathan” discussion: my name is Nathan, and I can’t tell you how many people think that my “full” name is Nathaniel. Some have even argued with me about it. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-wrong-stuff-you-believed-to-an-embarrassingly-advanced-age/408477/432 "2007-06-25T16:41:52Z")
[QUOTE=jastu] I’ve always wondered about this one too so I asked a friend in Greece about Yiros/Gyros. He said Yiros was correct so I don’t know where Gyro spelling comes from. [/QUOTE] In modern Greek, gamma is pronounced similarly to a Y. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-wrong-stuff-you-believed-to-an-embarrassingly-advanced-age/408477/433 "2007-06-25T17:23:52Z")
[QUOTE=matt\_mcl] In modern Greek, gamma is pronounced similarly to a Y. [/QUOTE] In the Latin alphabet, Gyro begins with an I… ---
**Author:** ![The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_chao_goes_mu/32/3191_2.png) [@The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Chao_Goes_Mu)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-wrong-stuff-you-believed-to-an-embarrassingly-advanced-age/408477/434 "2007-06-25T17:26:30Z")
[QUOTE=Nava] Marguerite is French for daisy. In Spanish they’re called Margaritas. And yes, Rita is the same name as Daisy 🙂 Maybe the other meaning wasn’t as all-pervading when and where they grew up. After all, if “Sam” became synonimous with, say, BJ… would you start asking people to call you Samuel? [/QUOTE] That explains a lot. My Grandpa’s second wife was nicknamed “Rita” but her given name was Hazel Daisy. I never could figure out why she went by Rita. I love the Dope. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-wrong-stuff-you-believed-to-an-embarrassingly-advanced-age/408477/435 "2007-06-25T18:06:40Z")
[QUOTE=Idle Thoughts] I remember reading and learning in a topic on here that electrocuted means one has died from electrocution…and shouldn’t ever be used in a living sense (I.E. “I just got electrocuted!”, “Did you get electrocuted?”, “Ow, it electrocuted me!”, etc). [/QUOTE] :: raises hand :: Um… what about “strangled”? Does that work like electrocuted? That you have to be dead to have been strangled? I can see someone who lived saying “I was shocked. I’m lucky I wasn’t electrocuted!” Wouldn’t “strangled” be the same? “The bastard tried to choke me to death. I’m lucky to have gotten away before I was strangled.” Yes?.. No?.. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-wrong-stuff-you-believed-to-an-embarrassingly-advanced-age/408477/436 "2007-06-25T18:26:55Z")
[QUOTE=Rilchiam] Until a few years ago, I didn’t realize that in Superman 1, the actor who plays Clark in the Smallville and Fortress of Solitude sequences is not Christopher Reeve. It’s some younger guy, with Reeve’s voice dubbed over his. :smack: In my defense, they do look quite a lot alike. [/QUOTE] They don’t actually look that much alike if you saw Jeff East without the prosthetic nose. He also has curly blond hair and wore a wig in the movie. ETA: In other words you were fooled because the special effects folks were doing their best to fool ya. ---
**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:** [June 25, 2007, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-wrong-stuff-you-believed-to-an-embarrassingly-advanced-age/408477/437 "2007-06-25T18:39:03Z")
> [@](#): > > Quote: > Originally Posted by WhyNot > > …I blame Hollywood for this little portion of national ignorance. > > Heh. In the movie The Coneheads, Primaat’s water breaks and she leaves the living room ankle-deep in amniotic fluid. That’s how it is with people from… France, y’know. **Coneheads** was _supposed_ to be a case of Comic Exagerration. But in Kenneth Branaugh’s **Marry Shelley’s Frankenstein** they show a woman breaking her water HUGELY, and Franklenstein buying the result to nurture his creation. (Collecting enough amniotic fluid to fill that tank, even with such ludicrous outpourings as this, would’ve required a lotta women. He couldn’t just use saline?) ---
**Author:** ![freakstasy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c57346/32.png) [@freakstasy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freakstasy)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-wrong-stuff-you-believed-to-an-embarrassingly-advanced-age/408477/438 "2007-06-25T18:53:15Z")
Another Jonathan chiming in. No one has mentioned the variant spelling “Johnathan.” Although Jonathans outnumber Johnathans (or Jonathons) probably 10 to 1, it is amazing how often a stranger will go with “Jo_ **h** _nathan” when putting the name down (on a form, insurance card, what have you). I’m actually \*happy \*when that happens – one extra, phantom letter is preferable to the hack job that often emerges. Anyway, this might explain why many people think John is a shortened form of the general name Jonathan. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-wrong-stuff-you-believed-to-an-embarrassingly-advanced-age/408477/439 "2007-06-25T20:59:13Z")
[QUOTE=Swallowed My Cellphone] They don’t actually look that much alike if you saw Jeff East without the prosthetic nose. He also has curly blond hair and wore a wig in the movie. ETA: In other words you were fooled because the special effects folks were doing their best to fool ya. [/QUOTE] Heh…well, I was thinking along those lines – the FX team worked their magic to make Reeve look younger! So they did have a large hand in it, at any rate. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-wrong-stuff-you-believed-to-an-embarrassingly-advanced-age/408477/440 "2007-06-25T21:27:35Z")
Here’s a new one: A few years back a co-worker and I were chatting about old airplanes and he made some casual comment about how the WWI biplanes had huge amounts of torque because the engines were spinning around. He went on to describe how the whole engine rotated around the stationary shaft, spinning the propeller. I almost laughed at the silliness of such an arrangement. Of course, I immediately jumped in to correct him. I explained how a [Radial engine](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radial_engine) works and he seemed sort of subdued. A few weeks later I was browsing in a bookstore and glanced on a book on old airplanes out of curiosity, and was horrified and surprised to find that WWI aircraft really did have the totally bass-ackwards configuration where the drive-shaft was bolted to the airframe and the engine was bolted to the propeller. They were called [Rotary engines](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotary_engine). Apparently they were pretty good because they really dampened vibration well and they keep the engine cool even standing still, with no need for difficult-to-fabricate cooling fins. I sheepishly admitted my error to my co-worker a few days later. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-wrong-stuff-you-believed-to-an-embarrassingly-advanced-age/408477.md?page=21) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-wrong-stuff-you-believed-to-an-embarrassingly-advanced-age/408477.md?page=23)