19 Of The Biggest Historical Lies People Still Believe
"Vikings didn't wear horned helmets."
"People believe that Napoleon was this abnormally short man. He was 5'6, which was pretty average back then. I'm pretty sure it was this smear campaign of sorts that painted him as this weirdly short, unpowerful guy."
"George Washington's dentures were not made of wood, but rather a combination of teeth from slaves, ivory (hippopotamus, walrus and/or elephant), animal teeth, and metals."
"While Paul Revere is often credited with being the sole rider to warn the colonies of the British, he was actually one of five riders who alerted colonists on the night of April 18. Revere's mission relied on secrecy, and he didn't shout 'The British are coming!' as the phrase would have been confusing to locals who still considered themselves British. Instead, Revere's network of riders, signal guns, and church bells effectively spread the alarm."
People believe that the Nazis were hated and opposed for their treatment of Jewish people from the beginning. There has been plenty of narrative building through the years around the idea that the Allies were seeking justice for the Jewish people from the start. It was only when we witnessed the extent of the Holocaust that the villainy of the Nazis became more widely recognized and acknowledged."
"The idea that people used to believe the world was flat. In elementary school, I was taught that no one wanted to fund Columbus's voyage because they thought he'd just sail off the end of the world. Utter nonsense."
"People believe that Thomas Edison invented the lightbulb. He did not. Several other men pioneered it before him."
"People believe that women stayed home and only men worked. For the poor, which was the vast majority of people throughout history, everybody who could work worked, even the kids. If you didn't, the whole family would starve and die."
"People believe that the US Civil War was over states' rights."
"People believe that MLK was socially acceptable to white people during the 1960s, and not in favor of radically changing the socioeconomic order of the US. He was a socialist who was widely reviled by the white culture of the time. He's been re-imagined by white people as someone willing to accept slow electoral solutions to racial problems."
"Many people still believe that Marie Antoinette said, 'Let them eat cake.'"
"The myth that there ever was a famine in Ireland. It was a genocide, and the English were exporting enough meat and grain from Ireland to feed three times the Irish population."
"People in ancient and medieval times lived past 30 or 40 on a regular basis. The 'life expectancy' was low due to child mortality."
"The idea that Galileo was imprisoned because of the heliocentric model. Nope, it was because he pissed off the pope, who was funding his research."
"There is a myth that the US has never experienced an authoritarian government. In actuality, a large portion of its history has been authoritarian. The Jim Crow South was an authoritarian government that existed until 1964."
"The myth that carrots give you good eyesight. That lie came from Britain during WWII to hide the fact that they had a new technology called radar."
"The idea that Catherine of Aragon failed Henry VIII because she didn't have a son and heir. She and Henry had — at least — three sons."
"That Samurai despised guns and saw them as 'dishonorable tools.'"
And finally: "That nothing much happened in the 'Dark Ages.'"
What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments. Better yet, tell me your own historical pet peeves that drive you up the wall!
If you have something to share but prefer to remain anonymous, feel free to check out this anonymous form. Who knows — your comment could be included in a future BuzzFeed article!
Please note: Some comments have been edited for length and/or clarity.
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Buzz Feed
7 hours ago
- Buzz Feed
29 Breaking Points That Made Workers Quit Toxic Jobs
Reddit user u/Prudent617 posed the question, "What was the reason you ended your last job?" The question clearly resonated with a lot of people, as the thread promptly filled with numerous stories, and BuzzFeed Community users even chimed in with their own accounts. Here's what people shared: "My boss called me at my mom's funeral to ask about a charge from a company credit card I never used. He knew where I was and didn't apologize; he just asked when I'd be back at work. I had been there almost five years at that point and realized that no matter how good of a worker I was, my boss did not respect me or my time. I did find a new job that I started earlier this year, and I am so happy with it. It was the six-month anniversary of my mom's passing, and my new boss saw how much it affected me, and she wanted to make sure I was okay. We talked it out. She gave me info about grief counseling that helped her out when she experienced a loss. It was the kindest thing a boss had done for me." "I had been working at my job for four years when I learned I had to have a D&C due to a miscarriage that wouldn't evacuate on its own. I found out about the miscarriage on Tuesday and had the procedure done on Sunday, my doctor's day off. When I told my boss I would not be in on Monday after the procedure, she said, 'I hear it's an easy surgery. You should be able to be here Monday.' I spent my recovery updating my resume. I changed my whole life because of that moment." "Both my officemates were crying at their desks due to stress when I received a message from my boss that I was working too slowly and was no longer allowed to wear headphones at my desk. That was the last straw. I took a break, ran it by my partner, and submitted my two weeks' notice. They told me I could just finish out the day. Now, I run my very own doggy daycare and couldn't be happier, or less stressed. Don't put up with it, people." "I nearly lost my nose to frostbite after working in -80°C (with wind chill). When the day was done, I got to go back to camp. They refused to evacuate the work camp in a -60°C cold snap when we lost power and heat. We had to sleep in -30°C with a thin blanket and whatever clothes we had in the closet. I fell asleep before the power outage, so I never had the opportunity to put on anything. It was -63°C outside the camp. The warmest it got was -49°C. No lights, just cold and darkness. It looked like something out of The Walking Dead. I told the camp manager that if it ever happened again, I would take apart furniture and burn it for warmth." "I worked at a fashion boutique in Boston, and they made me clean the floor with dry paper towels on my hands and knees instead of using a broom or mopping." "I was hired as a hostess at a new restaurant. I had years of experience, and it wasn't my first time opening a new restaurant. I did everything for them. I created their floor plan, sections, rotations, wait time system, everything that should have already been in place. I was the only hostess they hired at first, but when they hired more, they didn't have me train them for some reason, and it turned into a shit show. I repeatedly told them they needed a reservation system, which they ignored, so one hostess would take a reservation only for the people to show up and be told we don't take reservations. They were making it up as they went along. I was constantly undermined and then told it was my fault when it all went to shit." "The boss reduced employee salaries 30% for all except his wife and kid, who also worked for the company. That was after taking his extended family on a 12-day vacation." "The company didn't offer bereavement days. I called off to go to my father's funeral, and my manager told me it was inconvenient for them to have to cover my shift because they were short-staffed, so I needed to come to work. I told them I wasn't missing my father's funeral for their measly $11 an hour. They fired me the next day." "I had been having a long, hard struggle with endometriosis for a while, and it came to a point where I either had to get a hysterectomy or get another repeat procedure in hopes of controlling the endometriosis again. After much hesitation, I made the fearful decision to get a hysterectomy. I knew kids were not in my future. Everybody had been saying, 'If you aren't actively trying to have children, what are you waiting for?' The doctor got in there and saw just how out of control the endometriosis had gotten again, and they had to do extra procedures to remove the scar tissue. As such, it caused me to have a hyper-inflammatory response to the point where it not only shut down my bladder, but my colon, too." "My manager had a grudge against me because she didn't like one of my family members, whom she had known prior to me getting the job, and she didn't reveal that information to me until after I signed on. She spent three months making my life a daily hell as a way to get back at that person through me. So, I walked in and quit." "I worked at an animal welfare nonprofit in a medical setting, and the emotional burnout among staff was atrocious, not to mention the physical exhaustion after working 50+ hours a week doing hard manual labor. Staff continually requested decreased patient numbers so we could work fewer hours and not feel so drained, and were guilted because we were 'putting ourselves over the animals.' Everything that went wrong was excused by saying, 'Think of the animals.' Like, sorry, we can't help animals if we're all burnt out. People were quitting left and right, THEN management went ahead and fired several long-standing employees, so we lost a lot of really good trainers for any new staff they were able to hire." "Teaching has turned into behavior management daycare. It sucks the joy out of you all day, and then the parents call to suck out some more joy. A select handful of kids are incredible and fantastic. So many kids won't turn anything in, as in earning a literal 0 for the semester. While all of this is going on, you'll have admin and the network telling you the kids are failing because you didn't set them up for success, you didn't reinvent the wheel, you didn't take enough data, you didn't love them into behaving better, etc." "HVAC installer here. I quit my last job because our scheduler decided she didn't like me, so when I'd message her to get the address of my next job, she wouldn't respond. I had to call another office staffer to ask if she was in (she was) and ask to be transferred. 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I asked for Monday off. Tuesday, I returned and just couldn't collect myself, so my boss told me to take the week off. I said I didn't need that long, just the day. He insisted. The following Monday, I returned and was fired for being 'unreliable.' I'm at a company with people I love now. Getting fired from a horrible company is sometimes a blessing. Just keep moving forward." "I was there for just over a year…waiting to be trained. I sat in a room for 48 hours a week, unable to work because 'nobody wanted to train.'" "The other esthetician I worked with constantly left the room, products, brushes, etc., absolutely disgusting. All brushes and products should be sanitized and wiped down after every single client. She would also come in blasted off of whatever pills she decided to take that day. Police followed her once. The boss wouldn't fire her because she didn't want to get audited again by the IRS since she committed tax fraud during COVID. I'm not losing my license over a trashcan of a spa and incompetence." "I took early retirement to get away from the micromanagement/bullying that was endemic throughout the company from the top down. I now work part-time for a lot less money, but somewhere where I'm appreciated and looked after. My mental and physical health has improved beyond measure." "I started a job as security for a gate at a nuclear power plant. I enjoyed it, and was working 40 hours a week. I showed up every day and didn't complain. Then, they fired three people for no reason and made me start working 80 hours a week, mandatory. I was making tons of money, but was struggling to find time to buy groceries since I worked until late at night. The boss started micromanaging every little thing I did while I was working 16-hour days. Then, they wanted me to start training people, and said I'd get a $2 an hour raise for doing so. That never happened. Then, I had some car issues and couldn't come in one day. 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Should've taken the six weeks of holidays that I was owed that day, but I didn't. Within a year of me finally leaving, I was replaced by four people." "Complete chaos in the IT department. The company had a super tight budget, and everyone, from bottom to top, was stressed out because not enough personnel were hired to meet the goals of the C-Suite. Basically, you got paid below market to do the work of four employees. And, this wasn't a startup. It was a company that had been in business for decades. I ended up finding a role that paid double for less work. Bottom line: If you are overworked and underpaid, look for a new job ASAP. It can potentially take a long time, but it's always worth it." "My father was hired in the same company. While on working sites, he talked to me like his 'kid' and spoke to other people about me like I was still a child. It ruined every single relationship I had with other workers. I was looked at as a child when I was 20 years old. All respect from the boss was down the drain, and I just had no voice anymore. I had to go. Father of the year." And: "A toxic leader in a peer department. He used extortion, fear, and blackmail regularly. His team couldn't hold talent for longer than a few months because of him. Leadership refused to address the issue. There were rumors that he had dirt on the company, so he effectively got everything he wanted when it counted. I left when he went after my team, and leadership allowed him to. It turns out it was the best decision of my professional life because, at the same time this happened, I was offered my dream job, making more money and working fewer hours. Over a year in, I can report no workplace drama here!" Have you ever quit a nightmare job? What was the final straw that pushed you over the edge? Tell us in the comments or share anonymously using this form. Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
Newsweek
8 hours ago
- Newsweek
Fury at Airline's Two-Word Response After Plane Is Delayed Hours in Sweltering Heat
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Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Yahoo
Dad Refuses to Finance Daughter's Decision to Attend Grad School, Claiming She's Using It to 'Delay Entering Adulthood'
A dad proudly supports his daughter but won't fund her grad school because she's unsure of her goalsNEED TO KNOW A father faces a tough decision about funding his daughter's grad school He questions whether supporting her financially is the right move, as he feels like she's using higher education to "delay entering adulthood" The Reddit community weighs in on parental support and boundariesA father seeks support from the Reddit community for advice following a tough decision about his daughter's graduate school plans. The 46-year-old dad shares that he's 'incredibly proud of her and everything she's accomplished so far,' but he struggles with her choice to pursue grad school right now. He explains in his post that his daughter, 23, 'is not entirely sure what she wants to do with the degree she's pursuing,' and he worries that she's using graduate school 'as a way to delay entering adulthood.' While her mom covers most of her current expenses, the father is clear about his stance: when asked what he plans to contribute financially, he writes that he told her, "I wasn't planning to give anything.' When his daughter first brought up the idea, he didn't oppose it outright but made it clear he wasn't on board with funding her education 'unless there was a clear plan.' He points out that she works part-time, but it's 'not enough to cover tuition and living expenses.' At home, she splits her time between her parents and doesn't pay rent, yet the father feels that this arrangement can't continue forever. Trying to be practical, he suggested she consider starting grad school online so she could keep working and 'avoid extra costs.' However, this idea was dismissed, and the decision was made for her to 'move out, get an apartment, and attend school while working part-time,' with little input from him. He shared his concerns but was met with resistance, being told he was 'being negative.' Now, when asked again if he'll contribute financially, he stands firm: 'I said no.' He emphasizes that he supports her as a person, but 'I don't support this particular decision.' His hesitation seems rooted in the fact that both he and his ex-wife earned their graduate degrees later in life, after becoming young parents themselves, making the timing of his daughter's choice feel premature. The father wonders if he's in the wrong, asking the Reddit community, 'AITAH for refusing to help pay for her grad school when I don't agree with how she's approaching it?' His dilemma resonates with many, sparking thoughtful advice from commenters who remind him, 'Your money, your choice.' One suggests that while it's okay to say no, he should 'tread carefully' to avoid straining the relationship. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Some users' advice encourages the father to communicate love and support clearly: 'If this is what she wants then you're happy for her but that you aren't comfortable financing it," writes one. Maintaining connection is key, even if they disagree on this matter. Another commenter advises keeping things simple by saying, 'I've budgeted for other responsibilities,' and then focusing on staying involved in her life by checking in and inviting her out. In his own words, he remains hopeful about their relationship: he 'supports her as a person' even as he questions her path. Read the original article on People Solve the daily Crossword
