List of Common Misconceptions

Wikipedia has an interesting List of common misconceptions. Here are a few

• While average life expectancy in the middle ages was low, the average was brought down by infant mortality. "A 21-year-old man in medieval England, for example, could by one estimate expect to live to the age of 64."
• "There is no evidence that Vikings wore horns on their helmets."
• " Durum wheat, and thus pasta as it is known today, was introduced by Arabs from Libya, during their conquest of Sicily in the late 7th century" not by Marco Polo bringing it from China.
• "George Washington did not have wooden teeth. His dentures were made of gold, hippopotamus ivory, lead, animal teeth (including horse and donkey teeth),[27] and probably human teeth from slaves."
• "Napoleon Bonaparte was not short; rather he was slightly taller than the average Frenchman of his time. After his death in 1821, the French emperor’s height was recorded as 5 feet 2 inches in French feet, which is 5 feet 7 inches (1.69 m)"
• "Albert Einstein did not fail mathematics in school."
• "It is rarely necessary to wait 24 hours before filing a missing person's report"
• "Waking sleepwalkers does not harm them."
• "People do not use only ten percent of their brains."