Each entry on this list of common misconceptions is worded as a correction; the misconceptions themselves are implied rather than stated. These entries are concise summaries; the main subject articles can be consulted for more detail.
Business Federal legal tender laws in the United States do not require that private businesses, persons, or organizations accept cash for payment, though it must be treated as valid payment for debts when tendered to a creditor.a. b. c. Adidas is not an acronym for "All day I dream about sports", "All day I dream about soccer", or "All day I dream about sex". The company was named after its founder Adolf "Adi" Dassler in 1949. The earliest publication found of the latter backronym was in 1978, as a joke. The letters "AR" in AR-15 stand for "ArmaLite Rifle", reflecting the company ArmaLite that originally manufactured the weapon. They do not stand for "assault rifle".
The Coca-Cola bottle's contour bottle was not designed by the industrial designer Raymond Loewy. The common image of Santa Claus (Father Christmas) as a large jolly man in red garments was not created by the Coca-Cola Company as an advertising tool. Santa Claus had already taken this form in American popular culture by the late 19th century, long before Coca-Cola used his image in the 1930s.a. b. c. The Chevrolet Nova sold well in Latin American markets; General Motors did not rename the car. While no va does mean "doesn't go" in Spanish, nova was easily understood to mean "new". Netflix was not founded after its co-founder Reed Hastings was charged a $40 late fee by Blockbuster. Hastings made the story up to summarize Netflix's value proposition; Netflix's founders were actually inspired by Amazon.a. b. c. d. PepsiCo in no real sense ever owned the "6th most powerful navy" in the world after a deal with the Soviet Union. In 1989, Pepsi acquired several decommissioned warships as part of a barter deal. The oil tankers were leased out or sold and the other ships sold for scrap. A follow-on deal involved another 10 ships.
Fine arts
Ancient Greek and Roman sculptures were originally painted in colors; they appear white today only because the original pigments have deteriorated. Some well-preserved statues still bear traces of their original coloration.a. b. c. Michelangelo was standing, not lying down, while painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
Food and cooking
Searing does not seal in moisture in meat; it causes it to lose some moisture. Meat is seared to brown it and to affect its color, flavor, and texture.a. b. Braising meat does not add moisture; it causes it to lose some moisture. Moisture appears to be added when the gentle cooking breaks down connective tissue and collagen, which lubricates and tenderizes fibers. Mussels and clams that do not open when cooked can still be fully cooked and safe to eat. Twinkies, an American snack cake generally considered to be "junk food", have a shelf life of around 25 days, despite the (usually facetious) common claim that they remain edible for decades. The official shelf life is 45 days and they normally remain on a store shelf for 7 to 10 days.a. b. Packaged foods, when properly stored, can safely be eaten past their "expiration" dates in the US. While some US states regulate expiration dates for some products, and federal law requires them for infant formula, generally "use-by" and "best-by" dates are manufacturer suggestions for best quality.a. b. Storing bread in the refrigerator makes it go stale faster than leaving it at room temperature. It does, however, slow mold growth.
Crystallized honey is not spoiled. The crystals are formed by low temperature crystallization, a high glucose level, and the presence of pollen. The crystallization can be reversed by gentle heating. Seeds are not the spiciest part of chili peppers. Seeds contain a low amount of capsaicin, one of the compounds which induce the hot sensation (pungency)—. The highest concentration of capsaicin is located in the placental tissue (the pith) to which the seeds are attached. Turkey meat is not particularly high in tryptophan, and does not cause more drowsiness than other foods. Drowsiness after large meals such as Christmas or Thanksgiving dinner generally comes from overeating. Darker roasts of coffee do not always contain more caffeine than lighter roasts. When coffee is roasted, it expands. When the roasted coffee is ground and measured volumetrically, the denser lighter roasts have more coffee, and thus caffeine, per cup. Bourbon whiskey does not have to be distilled in Kentucky. Bourbon is also distilled in states such as New York, California, Wyoming and Washington, as the legal requirement is only that it be made in the US. However, Kentucky does produce the majority of bourbon. Using mild soap on well-seasoned cast-iron cookware will not damage the seasoning.
Although most sushi contains some form of seafood, the term does not mean 'raw fish', as it refers to the vinegar-prepared rice the dish contains, nor is fish a defining ingredient of sushi. Some sushi, such as kappamaki, contain no fish. Allspice is not a mix of spices. It is a single spice—sourced from the Caribbean tree Pimenta dioica, also known as pimenta, pimento, and Jamaican pepper in various places around the world—so called because it seems to combine the flavours and scents of many spices, especially cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and black pepper. Monosodium glutamate (MSG) has not been found to cause headaches and other feelings of discomfort, known as "Chinese restaurant syndrome" in placebo-controlled trials.a. b. Although there are reports of MSG sensitivity among a subset of the population, this has not been demonstrated in trials.
Food and drink history Steak tartare was not invented by Mongol warriors who tenderized horse meat under their saddles. It is likely named after the French tartar sauce, evolving from an early 20th century French dish where the sauce was served with steaks. Marco Polo did not introduce pasta to Italy from China. The misconception originated as promotional material in the Macaroni Journal, a newsletter published by an association of American pasta makers. Spices were not used in the Middle Ages to mask the flavor of rotten meat before refrigeration. Spices were an expensive luxury item; those who could afford them could afford good meat, and no contemporaneous documents call for using spices to disguise the taste of bad meat.a. b. c. d. Catherine de' Medici's cooks did not introduce Italian foods and techniques to the French royal court, laying the foundations for the development of French haute cuisine.a. b. c. Summarizing Whipped cream (crème Chantilly) was not invented by François Vatel in 1661 and later named at the Château de Chantilly where it was served; similar recipes are attested a century earlier in Italy and France.a. b. Dom Pérignon did not invent champagne. Wine naturally starts to bubble after being pressed, and bubbles at the time were considered a flaw which Pérignon worked unsuccessfully to eliminate. Potato chips (also known as potato crisps) were not invented by a frustrated chef in response to a customer who complained that his French fries were too thick and not salty enough. Recipes for potato chips were published as early as 1817. The misconception was popularized by a 1973 advertising campaign by the St. Regis Paper Company. George Washington Carver was not the inventor of peanut butter. The first peanut butter related patent was filed by John Harvey Kellogg in 1895, and peanut butter was used by the Incas centuries prior to that. Carver did compile hundreds of uses for peanuts, in addition to uses for pecans and sweet potatoes. An opinion piece by William F. Buckley Jr. may have been the source of the misconception.
Fortune cookies are not authentically part of Chinese cuisine, despite their ubiquity in Chinese restaurants in the United States and other Western countries. They originated in Japan and were introduced to the US by the Japanese. In China, they are considered American, and are rare. Julius Caesar did not invent Caesar salad. Its creator was Caesar Cardini, an Italian-American restaurateur, in Tijuana, Mexico, in 1924. Hydrox is not a knock-off of Oreos. Hydrox, invented in 1908, predates Oreos by four years and was initially more popular than Oreos. The name "Hydrox" being said to sound like a laundry detergent contributed to its market decline. The difference between the taste of "banana-flavored" candy and a real banana is not due to the former being specifically designed to replicate the taste of Gros Michel bananas, the cultivar that dominated the American banana market before the rise of Cavendish bananas. All banana cultivars derive their flavor from a complex mix of many compounds, while a single compound, isoamyl acetate, gives banana candy its flavor. Isoamyl acetate naturally occurs in bananas as well as many other fruits and fermented beverages. It is more concentrated in Gros Michel bananas than in Cavendish bananas, but its use in candy production was due to its simple production, not any specific resemblance to a banana's flavor. Neither Mongolian beef nor Mongolian barbeque, which are Chinese dishes, have anything to do with Mongolian cuisine nor were they even inspired by it. They were conceived in Taiwan in the 1950s and were originally going to be named after Beijing, the hometown of its creator, but this choice was avoided due to the association of Beijing with Communism. The name Mongolia was chosen for its exoticism. There were never any laws, regulations, or contracts forbidding serving lobster to prisoners or servants in colonial New England more than twice a week, although it was cheap and abundant, serving as poor people's food. The belief that tomatoes were poisonous was not widespread in the United States in the early 19th century, and no one had to publicly eat a tomato to demonstrate that it was not poisonous. The apocryphal story of someone doing this dates from the 20th century.
Microwave ovens
Microwave ovens are not tuned to any specific resonant frequency for water molecules in the food. They cook food via dielectric heating of polar molecules, including water. Microwave ovens do not cook food from the inside out. 2.45 GHz microwaves can only penetrate approximately into most foods. The inside portions of thicker foods are mainly heated by heat conducted from the outer layers. The radiation produced by a microwave oven is non-ionizing, similar to visible light or radio waves. It therefore does not have the cancer risks associated with ionizing radiation such as X-rays and high-energy particles, nor does it render the food radioactive. All microwave radiation dissipates as heat. Long-term rodent studies to assess cancer risk have so far failed to identify any carcinogenicity from 2.45 GHz microwave radiation even with chronic exposure levels (i.e. large fraction of life span) far larger than humans are likely to encounter from any leaking ovens. The risk of injury from direct exposure to microwaves is not cumulative, but instead the result of a high-intensity exposure resulting in tissue burns, in much the same way that a high-intensity laser can burn. Microwaving food does not significantly reduce its nutritive value more than other ways of heating and may preserve it better than other cooking processes due to shorter cooking times.
Film and television
Ronald Reagan was never seriously considered for the role of Rick Blaine in the 1942 film Casablanca, eventually played by Humphrey Bogart. An early studio press release mentioned Reagan, but the studio already knew that Reagan was unavailable because of his upcoming military service. Indeed, the producer had always wanted Bogart for the part.a.
b.