Even Smart Asses Can Be Wrong

Those who have engaged me in even the most mundane of debates, know I value intelligence and truth. And wield them like a Big Ugly Cudgel. That being said, I love learning when I'm wrong...so without further embroidery, here are some new facts that I was wrong on. And the are fascinating.Napoleon was actually about 5'6" – taller than the average frenchman of the 1800s. The whole "little emperor" thing was actually just a term of endearment.Columbus, by the way, thought the Earth was pear-shaped, not round.JFK did not call himself a jelly doughnut in Berlin.George Washington didn't have wooden teeth.Chainmail is actually harder to move around in than plate armor.Iron Maidens were not medieval torture devices.Marco Polo didn't bring pasta to Italy from China. Arabs brought it from Libya in the seventh century.Irregardless is a word.420 is not a police code.No one actually said "ye" instead of "the" – it's just that the character for Th used to look like Y.Hair and fingernails do not keep growing after you die. Your skin shrinks and makes it look like it.If she said it, Marie Antoinette only said "let them eat cake" when she was 10 – long before peasants where rioting over starvation.
Very cool indeed. All these and more are available in this fascinating book. Happy reading!http://books.google.com/books?id=Q7CkHF7xTuYC&pg=PT116#v=onepage&q=napoleon&f=false.