Historical misconceptions

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Oh the depression, I've been applying for jobs and jobs and jobs and it seems that I'm not even worthy for a single interview. Self worth fading fast

*but*

A job I have found looks awfully nice

*but*

you must think up a common historical misconception (the job is for a book that challenges current historical orthodoxy). i can't think of any, can you? oh, please say you can. Sharing your knowledge will be a charitable deed that might just save me from a life on the streets in a couple of months time.

― nickie, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

why are you leaving the guardian? is it just not the same now n has gone? i can't think of any misconceptions offhand i'm afraid, but i did apply for about 70-80 jobs before i got this one. i got just 3 interviews

― gareth, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Francis Scott Key did not write the american national anthem. He penn- ed the words then set them to an old English drinking song. It did not become our national anthem until 1931.

bit poor but keep up the job search - its tough but worth it

― born clippy, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Henry VIII did not write "Greensleeves". we dunno who *did* though so that's a bit crap!

― katie, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Manfred Mann's Earth Band didn't write Blinded by the light

― davel, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

PENICILLIN! PENICILLIN! ALEXANDER FLEMING DID NOT DO THE HARD GRAFT WITH THE PENICILLIN DISCO VERY.

All that crap about him leaving the thing out and discovering it by mistake is true, but he thought it was a useless substance he'd found. So eh technically yes he discovered it but he did nothing with it and deserves no credit don't you agree?

― Ronan, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

i think the notion of over romantiscised history comes to mind here (with the exception of manfred mann - DAVE) we love to think of henry penning the ice cream tune but godamn - he was king - he would have simply ate, slept, laid as many 'wenches' as possible and shot things with arrows - or is that over romantic

― born clippy, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

ooh didnt they discover the other day that Alexander Graham bell didn't invent the telephone? and Edison didn't invent the lightbulb either - it was Joseph Swan (i think - remembering this from primary school!)

― katie, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

if only N. were here with his uncanny fakt-detecting abilities!

― katie, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

yes, gareth, the oppressive air of silent mourning in the library since N's leaving is too much to bear. it will never be the same. it's either burn the place down or move along.

i got this job on the condition that I would go to library school after a year, but i'm not going to so i have to find me another job. and it is soul destroying. am tiring fast of finding new and interesting ways to say that i remain calm under pressure, have excellent organisational skillz etc. it is boring and makes me hate myself.

but on a brighter note, thank you everyone for the stuff so far. every little bit of help is a little ray of light shining upon my grim world of application form-filling.

― nickie, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Sorry, further to my post above, it was two guys, Chein (sp?) and Florie who really put in the work and actually made a medicine from penicillin.

― Ronan, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Elisha Gray invented the telephone as well but got to the patent office one day later than Bell. Also, my friend Dimitri Kalmar's grandfather drew up all the specs for the first workable industrial elevator system but the plans were stolen and patented by a certain Mr. Otis.

― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

I think that Bruce Springsteen wrote Blinded by the light

― davel, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

bruce springsteen

― RJG, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Bob Holness did not play saxophone on 'Baker Street'.

The Gulf War did not take place.

― alext, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

When I was little my cat didn't "go on holiday" it got hit by a car, only found out the other day.

― davel, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

There is no evidence to suggest that Galileo dropped those two weights from the top of the Tower of Pisa.

― Alan in Charing Cross, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Certainly there is a general historical misconception (though poss not in the field of hiostory itself) that the atom bombs dropped in WWII had anything to do with winning that particular war. It was done to finish it off before the Russians helped out and to show the ruskies that the USA had these new fangled weapons (also why Hiroshima and Nagasaki were picked since they had not previously been heavily bombed so the before & after photos would be more graphic on how destructive the bomb was).

― Pete, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

dave im really sorry - my dog kahn actually went to a farm so i was told so i guess i was a lucky child and you got it heaped on you as you grew older - how did your bro take it - not very well i guess

― born clippy, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

I never really believed the holiday story. In the light of the Father Christmas thing being not true i didn't really trust my parents at that point in time.

― davel, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

I can't believe your parents told you to believe in Sandy Claws! (picture cat on beach drinking Marg-cat-ritas oh HO HO HO)

― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

tell me tracer - im intrigued by your name - do you ride bulls??? its just the only other tracer hand i know rides bulls

dave - if you wanna set up a new "parents just dont understand" thread then i'll support you dude

― born clippy, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Nickie, I will give you much respect if you use davel's cat story.

― Dan Perry, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

I am not the bull rider Tracer Hand. He's a nice guy though. His dad is in a jam-rock band. davel - what do dogs do on farms??

― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Dan, your respect is something that I have always valued over the basic needs of my existence. Thy will be done.

― nickie, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

You'd be amazed how many people imagine that Phil Spector produced the Shangri-Las.

A really GREAT example is The Children's Crusade, and this site deals with it superbly.

― Martin Skidmore, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Was there actually a football match between the English and German soldiers in the middle of the trenches during WWI ?

At school in England, everyone is taught this. But surely there was tons of barbed wire between the trenches and landmines that would have blown our boys'legs off?

I think there was a book recently published about this subject. Unfortunately I haven't read it.

― D., Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

D.- there was. The last surviving soldier from that match died last year aged something like 110.

― Dom Passantino, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

The Wright brothers weren't the first to fly a plane. The honour (at least if you're a NZer) goes to Richard Pearse (sp? may be Pearce)

― Bill E, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

You should just read the book Lies My Teacher Told Me and steal all their ideas. Well...not steal, but elaborate on them.

― Lindsey B, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Katie: Swan invented the arc lamp, not the lightbulb.

― Christine "Green Leafy" Indigo, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

edison didn't really invent anything, he had an army of researchers working for him, but i suppose he was the one with the innovative spirit.

― keith, Tuesday, 2 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Bill E just made me think of another one that may help nickie avoid a life of petty crime and furtive hustling;;; The Wright Bros made their historic flights in Kill Devil Hills, N.C., where their workshop and runway etc were. Kitty Hawk's where the Wright Bros were trying, in their wildest (and unrealized) dreams, to fly TO, i.e. "I'll make it all the way to Kitty Hawk" yells whichever one was aboard, as the plane drifts inexorably downward, a good 11 miles short. I swear I'm not pulling a Ptee. It's wrong in Trivial Pursuit as well, which gives you an opportunity to get your teeth smashed in.

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 3 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

bloody hell, if i can prove trivial pursuit to be infallible they'll surely offer me the job without an interview. many, many thanks to everyone who's sent some stuff. very, very much appreciated. i'm still mulling it over.

― nickie, Wednesday, 3 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Homosexuality in Ancient Greece! Massive misconceptions about the level of acceptance in eg classical Athens - it was widely accepted etc etc. in fact sodomy between adults was punishable by DEATH. The army-of-lovers Theban Horde thing was basically a slur put about in order to explain away the embarrassingly vast tactical gulf between Epaminondas and everyone else.

(I cannot remember my source for this though. And not all sodomy was.)

― Tom, Wednesday, 3 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Yuri Gagarin wasn't the first man in space. One Col. Ilyushin (sp?) (famous Sov. test pilot & son of THE Ilyushin) got up there first but things went pear-shaped & he ended up landing in China. Exclusively revealed on the Discovery Channel the other month.

― Tim Bateman, Wednesday, 3 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

sodomy between adults was punishable by DEATH

But between adults and youths wasn't? NAMBLA has finally found paradise.

We haven't always been at war with Eurasia.

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 3 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Trivial Pursuit has six incorrect answers in it to foil those who would nick their questions for, ohhh, say, the SOAS pub quiz...

I'm having the same heebie-jeebies as you about a job too, Nickie. I'm so qualified it hurts but am pessimistic abt. getting an interview. Anyone would think I was applying for (advertised but filled from 'inside') Graniaud job, but it isn't.

― suzy, Wednesday, 3 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

but but but suzy you are the queene of the media what has modern pop cultural mavericks champing at the bit to be associated with you, surely?

i am trying to convince myself that applying for jobs is an exercise in humility adn therefore a character-building experience but it's not really, is it? esp. when you just don't know why, with all the essential and desirable qualifications, not to mention that cheeky grin, they don't even give you a second glance.

must remain positive and enthusiastic. must remain positive and enthusiastic. i spent three and a half hours reading an application pack last night and today's the day where one gets filled out proper, kids. historical misconceptionz penned in for tomorrow or sat.

― nickie, Thursday, 4 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

seventeen years pass...

Francis Scott Key did not write the american national anthem. He penn- ed the words then set them to an old English drinking song. It did not become our national anthem until 1931.

bit poor but keep up the job search - its tough but worth it

― born clippy, Monday, July 1, 2002 8:00 PM bookmarkflaglink

jesus fuck i came looking for a thread to post this in, then came to post exactly this and CLIPPY HERE beats me to the bunch by 18.5 years, goddammit my life is fucked

― sorry for butt rockin (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 19 February 2020 23:37 (four years ago) link

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