Things everybody knows that are actually wrong

[Alexander Hamilton]

Al Gore invented the internet

He never actually said that.

I never said he said that.

[fezzyfestoon]

Mitt Romney is a flip-flopper.

[Alexander Hamilton]

Mitt Romney is a flip-flopper.

[Psychic Octopus]

Mitt Romney is a flip-flopper.

[dead0man]

I think we are getting away from the spirit of the thread again.

[ilikeverin]

Yes.  Here is something that is:

It's anachronistic to feature English accents in Shakespeare plays.  Shakespeare probably would find the dialect of modern-day Stratford, Iowa more comprehensible than the accent of Stratford-upon-Avon; this is because American English in general, especially Midwestern varieties, are more conservative than the various dialects found in the UK.  As a simple example, [most] Americans keep their r's in cases like "water" and "bird" while [most] Englishmen/Welshmen/Scotsmen/Northern Irishmen don't; the American situation is the one that's been in the English language longer.

[Psychic Octopus]

That Fascists descend on economics from the right wing.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

That Fascists descend on economics from the right wing.

This is something most [american] conservatives belief.... but is utterly, utterly wrong.

[Hash]

That Hitler was a socialist.

[minionofmidas]

That Hitler seriously claimed to be a Socialist.

[Хahar 🤔]

That anybody in the NSDAP cared about the "S".

[ilikeverin]

NO POLITICS

NO GODWIN'S LAW

[Psychic Octopus]

That Germany and Japan were the only enemies in WW2. (Italy was bad too folks)

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

That Germany and Japan were the only enemies in WW2. (Italy was bad too folks)

Is there anyone who's ignorant of that or unaware of who Mussolini was?

[Psychic Octopus]

That Germany and Japan were the only enemies in WW2. (Italy was bad too folks)

Is there anyone who's ignorant of that or unaware of who Mussolini was?

Mostly unaware. I know people who think he was just one of Hitler's generals.

[Associate Justice PiT]

That Germany and Japan were the only enemies in WW2. (Italy was bad too folks)

Is there anyone who's ignorant of that or unaware of who Mussolini was?

Mostly unaware. I know people who think he was just one of Hitler's generals.

     How does one know of him at all without even being aware that he was from an altogether different country than Hitler?

[Хahar 🤔]

That Germany and Japan were the only enemies in WW2. (Italy was bad too folks)

Is there anyone who's ignorant of that or unaware of who Mussolini was?

Mostly unaware. I know people who think he was just one of Hitler's generals.

     How does one know of him at all without even being aware that he was from an altogether different country than Hitler?

Dumbs are everywhere.

[Bunwahaha [still dunno why, but well, so be it]]

That Germany and Japan were the only enemies in WW2. (Italy was bad too folks)

Is there anyone who's ignorant of that or unaware of who Mussolini was?

Mostly unaware. I know people who think he was just one of Hitler's generals.

     How does one know of him at all without even being aware that he was from an altogether different country than Hitler?

Some in America seriously believe that knights killed some dragons during the Middle-Age...

I also remember of a French/German TV channel, "arte", interrogating people in the streets of Berlin, people of about 20/30 years old, asking them what was the Holocaust. It was scary to see the proportions that answered that they didn't know...

On that same channel, I also heard once that about 1/3 or 1/2 (I don't remind correctly but it was huge) of people in America don't remind on which year was 9/11.

[Scam of God]

That anybody in the NSDAP cared about the "S".

That Hitler didn't purge the actual national Socialists. (See also: the Strasser brothers).

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

That the Netherlands has a liberal drug policy. Even pot isn't really legal there, it's just that there are no penalties for posession of it below a certain amount. Having large quantities and trafficking is still very illegal. Some countries like Switzerland have a laxer policy toward it. And the Netherlands' policy on hard drugs is one of the toughest in Europe and is harsher than many US states, sale of cocaine can get a 15-year sentence for example. The country with the most liberal drug policy in Europe is actually generally thought of more conservative Portugal.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

The Battle of Bunker Hill was fought on Bunker Hill, Boston..........wrong.

The Battle of Bunder Hill was actually fought on Bread's Hill, Boston.

[Mechaman]

That the "Roaring 1920's" was a period of nonstop economic growth with no recessions whatsoever.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

That the electric chair is a painless and instant method of executions

[k-onmmunist]

That the "Roaring 1920's" was a period of nonstop economic growth with no recessions whatsoever.

I have been vindicated.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Thinking of Jmfsct here...

All original Christian thinkers (including it seems, Paul) denied the existence of demons and of the Roman gods. Actually no, they believed they existed but that they were inferior to the Christian God.

Romans were Polytheists and the Roman Aristocracy believed that their gods existed and that the stories of the Greek Myths and the Illad actually happened. Actually Roman Religion - in its more intellectual forms anyway - was more similiar to Hindu Monism than its popular image (or Christianity).

Also everything you read about the sex lives of the Romans (except the occasional mad emperor) and their eating habits is a myth. The vomitorium simply didn't exist.

Going back to politics slightly... Same-Sex unions are a recent phenomenon. Actually similiar types of unions were recognized in Roman and in Early Christian Times.

Most of "western morality" comes from Christianity.

People worked harder in the past.

Most people in Europe from about c5th Century AD till the Post-WWII era were Christians.

The Druids built Stonehenge.

Irish people are "celts".

There is a direct correlation between the rise of Protestantism and the Rise of Capitalism.

People throughout history and culture have had the same level of sexual drive and desire to procreate.

"Homosexuality" has been with human beings since the beginning. Actually the concept of there being homosexuals - that is, a form of identity based around the sex of the people you slept with is entirely a 19th Century invention. The term "homosexual" was first invented in iirc 1863 (or some time around then) by a German writer wanted to escape persecution by making that he was male or female but rather "a third sex". Thanks in part to Kraft-Ebing and Freud the idea caught on.

Nations are primordial entities stretching back throughout history.

Social engineering by Governments is an invention of modern society.