Prevailing Myths

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Prevailing Myths

I read an article a few weeks ago about the myth that prevails on a remedy for a sting from a jellyfish and began to wonder about all those myths that unfortunately make it into books, movies, and television shows. I was an avid fan of “Friends” and remember the episode where Joey talked about stepping up to pee on Monica after seeing that remedy on the Discovery channel. A few days later I got stung by a wasp and that thing hurt for a full day, then itched for a full week. My wife made a baking soda paste to put on the sting and low and behold after I did research on wasp stings, under the don’ts was put baking soda on a sting! Alas, another myth proved false.

I am embarrassed to admit that one of the most prevalent and enduring myths of all time, made it into Locked Inside, and boy did I hear about it. I haven’t ever changed it, because I want that as a reminder of the fact that no matter how much research we do, and believe me, I did a fuckton on that book, we are going to get things wrong that will pull a reader out of the story and ruin the book for them. The fact that I was not alone in believing that myth, or that 50% of primary and secondary teachers still endorse this myth makes absolutely no difference to an enlightened reader. It’s also interesting to note this myth was the basis for a popular movie in 2014. I tried to learn the origins of the myth (to no avail). I wondered or hoped that perhaps this myth was based on historical beliefs by experts making it reasonably true at that time, since my book was set in 2008. Unfortunately, I could not find evidence of that.

That got me thinking about either language or beliefs that may have been true or more accurately portrayed years ago and how they fit into a reader’s experience when reading a novel that is older or one that is considered historical. For example, what about terminology that would be considered offensive today, but was not only common but acceptable at the time. A biggie that probably shows up in older books are the terms: sexual preference or gay lifestyle. It isn’t a preference or a lifestyle, yet those are the terms I used back in the day. Historical myths are the most fascinating to me, so I did research and found some pretty interesting ones.

Napolean was short. He was 5’7″ which was average for the time.Vikings wore horns on their helmets. Nope, no one has ever found a Viking helmet with a horn on it!Hitler snubbed Jesse Owens at the 1935 Olympics. Owens himself reported that Hitler waved at him and congratulated him. This is not to suggest that Hitler was a decent human being at all…nope he was still an evil, horrible man.Medieval people thought the world was flat. While some probably did and in fact, some idiots still do these days (The Flat Earth Society), scholars and sailors during Medieval times did not believe the world was flat.Castles used boiling oil against enemies. Nope…oil was too expensive to waste, it was boiling water.The War of the Worlds (Orson Welles broadcast that was an adaptation of the novel) caused mass panic. While there were a few isolated instances of calls, they were quickly squashed.George Washington had wooden teeth. They were actually ivory, gold, lead or even other human teeth (ick).Women accused of witchcraft in Salem were burned at the stake. Nope, most were hanged.Marie Antoinette never said, “let them eat cake” in response to the shortage of bread for the poor.Albert Einstein failed math in primary school. Nope, he was at the top of his class.The Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4th…nope, it was actually signed on August 2nd.

Now for the most prevalent myths that may find their way into our books:

Chewing gums and swallowing it stays in your stomach for 5-7 years.We only use 10% of our brain (yup that’s the one that made it into Locked Inside)Wait an hour to go swimming after you eat to avoid cramping.Sitting too close to the TV will cause you to go blind.Shaved hair grows back thicker and darker.Sugar makes children hyper.If you go outside with wet hair on a cold day, you’ll catch a cold. Although this is a myth in its purest form, I read an article that talked about how staying cold and wet could affect a person’s immune system…so perhaps there is some link, just not as direct as we thought.You lose most of your heat through your head. I’ll admit I still thought this was true until I read this because I just feel warmer when I wear a hat and gloves!Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Nope, they are all important!Cracking your knuckles causes arthritis.A penny dropped from the Empire State Building could kill a person. Nope too small to gather enough momentum to do any really damage.You have to wait 24 hours before you can file a missing person’s report. I actually got this one right in my recent book, Love Bonds!The forbidden fruit that Adam ate was an apple. The bible does not actually identify the fruit as an apple.Hair and fingernails continue to grow after death. It might seem like that because the skin around the hair and nails contracts.Don’t touch a baby bird and return it to it’s nest because the mother will reject it.Drinking alcohol raises your body temperature.Bats are blind. Not true, they see better than humans.Humans have only 5 senses. We actually have between 14 and 20. Don’t ask me what those other senses are…I need to do more research on that!It’s safe to eat food that has only been on the floor for 5 seconds or less. Bacteria is small and if the bad stuff is on the floor, it’s going to get on your food!All deserts are hot. Nope, a desert is defined by the lack of precipitation, there are some polar deserts.The sun is yellow. Nope, the sun is all colors mixed together. The reason we see the sun as yellow or orange most of the time is because those colored wavelengths are longer and the only ones that make it to our eyes. Brown eggs are healthier than white eggs. The color is based on the type of chicken laying them. One color is no better than the other.Peanuts are not nuts, they’re legumes.Twinkies have no expiration date…sorry, no. Their shelf life date is actually 25 days.A coin toss is fifty-fifty. Actually, after a ridiculous study, it is 51-49 to land on the face that it started on.All living things die. There is a species of jellyfish that reverts back to a juvenile state after adulthood.

It isn’t possible to know about every single myth, so I suspect writers will continue to include a few of these gems in their books. I would suggest that doesn’t necessarily mean the author hasn’t done their research. Much like those pesky errors that sneak in, I prefer to give authors a little grace, because it happens to the best of us! Want to read what I get right and wrong…feel free to click the links below!