Misconceptions Wiki

**Welcome to the Misconceptions Wiki!**
A place to compile misconceptions.

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## Articles

History of words

* Waiter used to be a person who served others while waiting for inheritance
* Origin of gendered words - both woman and female were originally not wo+man and fe+male
* Traceur is a person who practices parkour, except this word is not actually used
* Cracker (the racial epithet) doesn't have a big relation to "cracking the whip"
* Gay slur faggot doesn't originate from burning people alive

History

* Roman salute doesn't originate in Rome
* Color of ancient sculptures wasn't white
* Conquest of Russia
* The bombing of Dresden wasn't exceptional
* Let them eat cake was never said by Marie Autoinette
* Historical life expectancy is misleading; people didn't die at 30, even if life expectancy was 30
* The Military flail were used only rarely
* Late motherhood isn't unique to the present
* Attractiveness of fat bodies in history is a myth

Food

* Alcohol mixing is not harmful by itself
* Sterility of urine is a myth
* Fruit stickers aren't edible

Politics

* China's social credit score doesn't exist as it is presented
* Tax brackets; a misunderstanding of finance 101
* Things are getting worse is commonly believed but they mostly aren't
* 40% of cops are domestic abusers - a misleading statistic

Biology - plants

* Bedroom plants won't steal your oxygen

Biology - animals

* Swallowing spiders is a made up statistic
* Boiling frog wouldn't just die
* Mantis shrimp's color vision is way worse than presented
* Bee apocalypse

Biology - humans

* Leg length sex difference doesn't exist; ratio of height to legs isn't sexually dimorphic
* Biological desire for children doesn't exist, instead we have a desire to have sex
* Tongue map is straight up wrong
* Finger-penis correlation

Medicine

* Bandage removal as quickly as possible could be harmful
* Hydrogen peroxide as a disinfectant for wounds is not recommended for use
* Chickenpox parties aren't a good idea

Psychology

* Crime confession - it is possible for a suspect to confess to a crime, which they never did
* Venting anger only increases anger
* Decision fatigue, ego depletion and finite willpower are all concepts without scientific backing and we shouldn't use them.
* Gender difference in humor does exist, mean are on average a bit funnier

Physics

* Quantum physics is hijacked way to often for pseudo-science

Media

* Starcraft and Warhammer40K - it is unfair to say that the former was a rip-off of the later

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