Things everybody knows that are actually wrong

[paul718]

Babe Ruth's "called shot". 

Ruth was trash-talking with the Chicago Cubs' dugout during his at-bat, and at one pont made a hand gesture while making a remark.  A local Chicago sportswriter believed he saw, from his angle, Ruth pointing toward the center field bleachers.  A few pitches later, Ruth hit a home run to center, and a legend was born. 

In the ensuing years, however, primitive footage recorded by fans that day have revealed that Ruth never really "called his shot".

[paul718]

That the Iraq War was worth 4,200 dead American soldiers.

[paul718]

That the Iraq War was worth 4,200 dead American soldiers.

Who thinks that? Are we deviating into politically...dangerous waters here? Lets get the thread back on track.

It was in response to this...

That Iraq never had WMDs

My apologies, officers. 

[paul718]

That baseball was invented by Abner Doubleday, famed U.S. General in the Civil War, in Cooperstown, New York.   

This was a marketing ploy thought up by sporting goods manufacturer Albert Spalding, with the intention of selling baseball as a uniquely "American" game.  In reality, baseball descended from stoolball, an English game dating back to the 15th century.  Also descended from this game are baseball's cousins: rounders, cricket, and bat-and-trap.

There is no evidence that Abner Doubleday ever played baseball, or that he was even in Cooperstown at the time of his alleged fouding of the game.  There is written evidence of "base ball" in English literature dating back to the 18th century.

[paul718]

Also Babe Ruth's "called shot". It's basically a media creation, an exageration of something to make a story, like the Dean Scream. Then also that the Baby Ruth candybar is named after him.

I addressed Ruth's "Called Shot" on page 2 of this thread. 

Babe Ruth's "called shot". 

Ruth was trash-talking with the Chicago Cubs' dugout during his at-bat, and at one pont made a hand gesture while making a remark.  A local Chicago sportswriter believed he saw, from his angle, Ruth pointing toward the center field bleachers.  A few pitches later, Ruth hit a home run to center, and a legend was born. 

In the ensuing years, however, primitive footage recorded by fans that day have revealed that Ruth never really "called his shot".

[paul718]

Ah.

Well here's another one: "You forgot Poland". Never said in the debate. It's another "Luke, I am your father" and "Beam me up Scotty"

Similarly, Roberto Duran and his cornermen have always held that he never said "No mas." when throwing in the towel in his rematch against Sugar Ray Leonard. 

[paul718]

Al Gore invented the internet

He never actually said that.

[paul718]

Nice post, Gully.  Allow me to dig a little deeper...

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.

From what I understand, the sexual behavior of Romans and Greeks are often conflated.  The Greeks were more promiscuous, while the Romans were more conservative.  However, homosexuality was far from taboo among among the Romans.

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What were they?  Pagans?

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Who did?

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If they aren't Celts, then what are they?  And who are Celts?

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Can you expound on this?

[paul718]

While this could be said of any language, even today most Italians do not speak the "Standard" in unofficial contexts.  In fact, a four year old child from Venice and a four year old from Sicily would have serious trouble speaking to one another, because most children are not taught the standard until they go to school.

I can vouch for this.  When I was in Italy with my family around ten years ago, we hit it off with a family from Queens.  The mother and father were Sicilian, but only the father was educated.  The mother spoke neither English nor Italian, only Sicilian.  She was able to communicate only through her husband. 

Also, the Neapolitan I've grown up around is quite distinct from standard Italian.

[paul718]

That Warren G. Harding invented the word "normalcy" when promising "a return to normalcy" after the Wilson Presidency.  "Normality" was the prevailing term, but "normalcy" had also been listed in dictionaries as far back as the mid-1800s.