MYTH-CONCEPTIONS

“Common knowledge” is frequently wrong. Here are some examples of things that many people believe…but according to our sources, they just aren’t true.

Myth: George Washington was offered the title of king but chose to be president instead.

Fact: In 1782, near the end of the Revolutionary War, Colonel Lewis Nicola floated this idea in a letter he wrote to General Washington, explaining, “Some people have so connected the ideas of tyranny & monarchy as to find it very difficult to separate them,” but “King George Washington,” he said, “would be most likely to conduct & direct us in the smoother paths of peace.” It’s likely that Nicola, 65, was worried that after the war ended, he wouldn’t receive his pension (a concern shared by many), and he didn’t trust the new Congress to pay up. But Nicola never had the power to “offer” Washington anything, and none of the other Founding Fathers had even considered making him king. What the general did do was resign his commission before running for president, ensuring that the military would never run the government. Washington’s response to Nicola: “You could not have found a person to whom your schemes are more disagreeable.”

Myth: William Shakespeare was first and foremost a writer.

Fact: The Bard’s first true passion was acting—and he made sure to give himself a part in most of his plays. In the mid to late 16th century, acting wasn’t a respected profession. In fact, it was outlawed in London because it went against Puritan values. The Globe Theatre was located just outside of the city next to the brothels and pubs. That’s why Shakespeare himself, as well as several biographers, played down this important part of his life.

Myth: Pineapples come from Hawaii, and they’re so popular there that they became a pizza topping.

Fact: Massachusetts-born James Dole opened a pineapple canning factory in Honolulu in 1903. His innovative canning techniques, coupled with savvy marketing skills, put cans of Dole pineapples on supermarket shelves all over the United States. Few mainlanders had any clue that this “Hawaiian fruit” is native to South America and didn’t even get to Hawaii until the late 17th century. For Hawaiians, pineapples are no more popular than any other fruit, and it’s not a popular pizza topping. Hawaiian-style pizza was invented in Canada. Yet even though less than 2 percent of the world’s pineapples are grown there today, Hawaii’s travel and hospitality industries keep the pineapple front and center because that’s what tourists expect.

What’s “tipcat”? An ancient Egyptian sport that’s similar to baseball.

Myth: The Stetson was the most popular cowboy hat in the Old West.

Fact: The wide-brimmed Stetson hat—first sold in 1865—might be what you picture when you think of a cowboy, but the hat most men wore back then was a bowler (also called a derby), invented in London in 1849. Smaller than a cowboy hat, bowlers are usually black with a rounded top and narrower brim. Most cowboys preferred them because they were less likely to blow off. They were also a lot cheaper than a $5 Stetson ($100 today). (That’s why Charlie Chaplain’s “Little Tramp” character wore a bowler and not a Stetson.)

Myth: The Declaration of Independence declared to England that the United States was forming its own country.

Fact: The Continental Congress knew that King George III would eventually see the declaration, but its main purpose was to inform the citizens of the 13 colonies what was going on, and to explain why, writing that Great Britain “has a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States.”

Myth: Presidents’ Day is a federal holiday.

Fact: Despite what mattress retailers breathlessly try to tell you, there’s no federal holiday called “Presidents’ Day.” According to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management’s list of federal days off, “This holiday is designated as ‘Washington’s Birthday’ in section 6103(a) of title 5 of the United States Code, which is the law that specifies holidays for Federal employees.” In the 1960s, some Illinois lawmakers proposed changing the name to “Presidents’ Day” to include Abraham Lincoln, whose birthday is also in February, but the measure failed. Some states and smaller municipalities have opted to call this holiday “Presidents’ Day,” and retailers tend to use it because it’s easier to say than “Washington’s Birthday Sale!”

Myth: Chicago is called the Windy City because of the “lake effect” winds that blow in from Lake Michigan.

Fact: The nickname goes back to 1858, when a scathing Chicago Daily Tribune article criticized Chicago’s elites—often referred to as “windbags”—for “airing their vanity… in this windy city.”

Myth: There’s such a thing as stomach flu.

Fact: There is no medical condition called “stomach flu.” Though the symptoms can feel flu-like—nausea, diarrhea, and general malaise—this condition is called acute gastroenteritis. It affects the GI tract, whereas the influenza virus is a viral infection that affects the respiratory system (your lungs). Neither of these conditions can be caused by the other, and only one can be accurately referred to as the flu.

Spider monkeys eat dirt. It apparently helps them digest their food.