# When initial reports made goofs that stuck ever after **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 18, 2017, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-initial-reports-made-goofs-that-stuck-ever-after/794008 "2017-08-18T21:36:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-initial-reports-made-goofs-that-stuck-ever-after/794008/41 "2017-08-22T00:55:38Z")
[Common mythconceptions](http://imgur.com/gallery/hJExT). Covers a wide variety of topics, including “glass is a liquid” , “oil and pasta”, etc. ---
**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:** [August 22, 2017, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-initial-reports-made-goofs-that-stuck-ever-after/794008/42 "2017-08-22T15:44:21Z")
In the Central Park jogger case, the youths who were first arrested for that crime and other crimes in the park were singing the song “Wild Thing” in their cells. Someone who overheard thought they were saying “Wilding” and that became the label the press gave to the incident. They said a bunch of youths out wilding had attacked the jogger. They were later exonerated. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-initial-reports-made-goofs-that-stuck-ever-after/794008/43 "2017-08-22T17:10:55Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > In the Central Park jogger case, the youths who were first arrested for that crime and other crimes in the park were singing the song “Wild Thing” in their cells. Someone who overheard thought they were saying “Wilding” and that became the label the press gave to the incident. They said a bunch of youths out wilding had attacked the jogger. They were later exonerated. This seems a bit misleading. Firstly, to my understanding, the revisionist claim was that the youths told police that they were “doing the wild thing” based on the song, not that they were overheard singing it in their cells. Regardless, this is not significant either way, since by all accounts they were in fact attacking people in the park that night which is what the “wilding” lingo referred to, and they were not “exonerated” of that charge. (To the contrary, their claim of innocence in the rape case was based in part on the defense claim that they were attacking other people elsewhere in the park at the time the jogger was being raped.) In addition, it’s not at all clear that they were “exonerated” even of the rape charge. Certainly the main perpetrator turned out to be someone else, but it’s not completely clear whether these defendants were also involved or not. ---
**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:** [August 22, 2017, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-initial-reports-made-goofs-that-stuck-ever-after/794008/44 "2017-08-22T18:28:53Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > This seems a bit misleading. > > Firstly, to my understanding, the revisionist claim was that the youths told police that they were “doing the wild thing” based on the song, not that they were overheard singing it in their cells. Regardless, this is not significant either way, since by all accounts they were in fact attacking people in the park that night which is what the “wilding” lingo referred to, and they were not “exonerated” of that charge. (To the contrary, their claim of innocence in the rape case was based in part on the defense claim that they were attacking other people elsewhere in the park at the time the jogger was being raped.) > > In addition, it’s not at all clear that they were “exonerated” even of the rape charge. Certainly the main perpetrator turned out to be someone else, but it’s not completely clear whether these defendants were also involved or not. Exonerated in the legal sense. I’m agnostic as to whether they actually assaulted her but they had their convictions vacated and NYC paid them 40 million dollars. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-initial-reports-made-goofs-that-stuck-ever-after/794008/45 "2017-08-22T18:37:50Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > urban legend says Mama Cass choked to death on a sandwich. She actually died of heart failure in her sleep. > > Trivia - 4 years later in 78 Keith Moon died in the same London apartment. Well, hell, there goes the joke, “If Mama Cass had just shared her sandwich with Karen Carpenter, they’d both be alive.” ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-initial-reports-made-goofs-that-stuck-ever-after/794008/46 "2017-08-22T21:49:27Z")
Japan has called itself Nihon/Nippon for over 1,000 years (possibly earlier than the 7th century CE) but much of the western world calls it “Japan”. In the 1500s, Portuguese traders encountered Malay-speaking people in Southeast Asia who called the nation _Japun_ or _Japung_ which was itself a variant on the name spoken in some southern Chinese dialects. Much of the confusion comes from the written language shared between China and Japan where characters represent ideas rather than sounds, so that what is written in Japanese would have the same meaning but different pronunciation in China. ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-initial-reports-made-goofs-that-stuck-ever-after/794008/47 "2017-08-23T18:30:40Z")
Mary was a virgin in the ‘modern’ sense of not previously having sex. Does that count? > **[Mary was probably not a virgin in the modern sense of the word, says Geza Vermes](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/dec/16/religion.commentisfree)** > > Mary was probably not a virgin in the modern sense of the word, says Geza Vermes. [https://www.bibleodyssey.org/en/people/related-articles/was-there-really-a-virgin-birth-in-the-bible](https://www.bibleodyssey.org/en/people/related-articles/was-there-really-a-virgin-birth-in-the-bible) ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-initial-reports-made-goofs-that-stuck-ever-after/794008/48 "2017-08-23T18:45:01Z")
That the 9/11 terrorists came into the US through Canada? I still hear that repeated from time to time. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-initial-reports-made-goofs-that-stuck-ever-after/794008/49 "2017-08-23T19:17:22Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > When Jayne Mansfield was killed in a car accident, the top of the car had been sheared off, responders found blonde hair tangled up in the wreckage, and thought she had been decapitated. In fact, the tangled hair was a wig, and Mansfield’s head was still firmly attached to her body. That hasn’t stopped people from still believing the original reports. National Lampoon’s collection of objectionable bumper stickers: “I brake for Jayne Mansfield’s head” ---
**Author:** ![Joanie\_Loves\_Trotsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d78d45/32.png) [@Joanie\_Loves\_Trotsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joanie_Loves_Trotsky)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-initial-reports-made-goofs-that-stuck-ever-after/794008/50 "2017-08-23T19:24:32Z")
That Robert Atkins, “inventor” of the Atkins Diet died from a massive heart attack due to his diet. He actually died from complications after slipping on ice and hitting his head on the sidewalk. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-initial-reports-made-goofs-that-stuck-ever-after/794008/51 "2017-08-23T19:25:07Z")
> [@JerrySTL](#): > > The initial report was that “Mama” Cass Elliot of The Mamas and the Papas choked to death on a ham sandwich. She was very obese so it was easy for people to believe in a negative way. In fact she didn’t choke on anything; it was her heart that gave out. However many people from the Baby Boomer generation believe that choking while eating did it. **Bijou Drains** beat you to it. Post #10. It has been erroneously believed that the name kangaroo means “I don’t understand you,” which supposedly was the response from one of the Australian Guugu Yimithirr people when Captain James Cook asked him what the animal was called. Actually, the response, “gangurru,” was their name for the animal, specifically the grey kangaroo. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-initial-reports-made-goofs-that-stuck-ever-after/794008/52 "2017-08-23T19:51:05Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > It has been erroneously believed that the name kangaroo means “I don’t understand you,” which supposedly was the response from one of the Australian Guugu Yimithirr people when Captain James Cook asked him what the animal was called. Actually, the response, “gangurru,” was their name for the animal, specifically the grey kangaroo. So is that then an erroneous report after a supposed erroneous naming that wasn’t erroneous at all? (I think the kangaroo thing is more an example of an apocryphal legend or misunderstood joke than what the OP was looking for.) ---
**Author:** ![D18](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@D18](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D18)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-initial-reports-made-goofs-that-stuck-ever-after/794008/53 "2017-08-23T20:15:37Z")
This fits the OP’s criteria well: [there was no AIDS patient 0](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/27/health/hiv-patient-zero-genetic-analysis.html?mcubz=1). From the link: > [@](#): > > The researchers also reported that originally, Mr. Dugas was not even called Patient Zero — in an early epidemiological study of cases, he was designated Patient O, for “outside Southern California,” where the study began. The ambiguous circular symbol on a chart was later read as a zero, stoking the notion that blame for the epidemic could be placed on one man. ---
**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:** [August 23, 2017, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-initial-reports-made-goofs-that-stuck-ever-after/794008/54 "2017-08-23T20:48:43Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > **Bijou Drains** beat you to it. Post #10. > > It has been erroneously believed that the name kangaroo means “I don’t understand you,” which supposedly was the response from one of the Australian Guugu Yimithirr people when Captain James Cook asked him what the animal was called. Actually, the response, “gangurru,” was their name for the animal, specifically the grey kangaroo. There are several other words like this. The french word Bistro is derived from the Russian word for quickly. Apparently Russian soldiers during the occupation of Paris would visit the cafe and call for their meals to be served quickly so they would not get in trouble for eating and the cafe owners thought it meant food. Cortes said Yucatan was named when a spaniard asked what a place was called and the indian replied “I don’t understand you” which was pronounced like Yucatan. Abidjan, Ivory Coast was supposedly named when an explorer asked a native the name of the village and the man misunderstood and replied I was cutting leaves, which became the name. ---
**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:** [August 23, 2017, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-initial-reports-made-goofs-that-stuck-ever-after/794008/55 "2017-08-23T21:03:06Z")
Mansfield wasn’t decapitated, but she was scalped and suffered a [cranial avulsion](http://www.snopes.com/movies/actors/mansfield.asp). Not a decapitation, but more than just a scalping. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-initial-reports-made-goofs-that-stuck-ever-after/794008/56 "2017-08-23T21:05:47Z")
Movie myth I see repeated everywhere (including this very forum) That John Wayne and the rest of the cast of the 1956 film “The Conqueror” died of cancer from all the nuclear tests done in the Utah desert nearby (including how apparently radioactive sand was trucked in during reshoots in California) The origin of this myth comes from a speculative article in the 1979 magazine “The Star” which had absolutely nothing to back-up their claims. The next year People magazine did a somewhat more in-depth article where they tracked down the remaining cast and crew and reported on their cancer rates claiming the crew suffered from vastly higher rates of cancer than the normal population. However actual research done since then has shown that the cancer rates of the main cast and crew of “The Conqueror” falls almost perfectly in-line with the average rate of cancer at the time, especially when you consider John Wayne himself was much more likely done-in by his multiple pack of cigarettes a day habit then any background radiation from four months of filming. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-initial-reports-made-goofs-that-stuck-ever-after/794008/57 "2017-08-23T23:07:29Z")
Nine months after the blackout of 1965 that affected much of the east coast, there were reports that there was an upward spike in births. Supposedly people having no tv decided to have sex. I believe it is still speculated every time something like that happens but if there is an upward spike, it is one of those random things > **[Blackout Baby Boom](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/from-here-to-maternity/)** > > Did the New York City blackout of 1965 result in a baby boom nine months later? ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-initial-reports-made-goofs-that-stuck-ever-after/794008/58 "2017-08-23T23:26:08Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > sopranos had a guy die on the toilet , I wonder if they did that based on the elvis story. Pretty sure that was based on the death of film producer Don Simpson. Paulie even says something like “died on the john, just like Don what’s-his-name, the producer of _The Simpsons_.” ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-initial-reports-made-goofs-that-stuck-ever-after/794008/59 "2018-09-07T08:18:11Z")
> [@Joanie\_Loves\_Trotsky](#): > > That Robert Atkins, “inventor” of the Atkins Diet died from a massive heart attack due to his diet. He actually died from complications after slipping on ice and hitting his head on the sidewalk. Odd how this parallels the death of another diet faddist, Dr. Arnold Ehret, some 80 years earlier. Ehret walked onto an oil slick on a wet street, slipped, and hit his head on the pavement. Basal skull fracture, said the coroner. Just like with Atkins, people spread rumors that Ehret’s fad diets were to blame. ---
**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:** [September 7, 2018, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-initial-reports-made-goofs-that-stuck-ever-after/794008/60 "2018-09-07T13:55:59Z")
That La-La Land won the Best Picture Oscar? Warren Beatty will never hear the end of that one. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-initial-reports-made-goofs-that-stuck-ever-after/794008.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-initial-reports-made-goofs-that-stuck-ever-after/794008.md?page=4)