10 Things You Didn t Know Were Completely Misnamed

S. GRANT AUGUST 3, 2014The names of some inventions and ideas suggest a totally
inaccurate meaning or interpretation. One of the most famous misnomers is the ko
ala bear, which is actually a marsupial and not a bear. Another is German chocolate
cake, a cake that didn t originate in Germany but was created in America by a man
with the last name German. Perhaps the biggest, history-changing misnomer was when
Christopher Columbus dubbed American natives Indians because he mistakenly though
t he was in India. Most are aware of the true meanings surrounding those everyda
y misnomers. Still, others that float around fool plenty of people even today. 1
0 The Battle Of Bunker Hill 01
If you visit Boston s historic sites, you may find yourself standing on Breed s Hill
reading a sign that says Site of the Battle of Bunker Hill. How did the location
of such an iconic battle one that supposedly elicited the famous quote, Don t fire til
l you see the whites of their eyes get bungled? Before the battle, the colonials di
d receive orders to fortify Bunker Hill. However, under the command of Colonel P
rescott, the men decided to bypass the 34-meter (110 ft) mount for Breed s Hill, w
hich was shorter and closer to the water. While it s not entirely clear why the re
bels made this maneuver, it s believed the troops wanted a closer vantage point fr
om which to fire their less-than-accurate canons. This may not have been the bes
t move, since it resulted in face-to-face combat. In just two hours of fighting,
it became the bloodiest battle of the Revolutionary War.Besides Prescott making
a last-minute change of location, an inaccurate British map that reversed the n
ames of the hills added further confusion about the Battle s location. As if that
wasn t enough misinformation, the whites of their eyes quote isn t exactly true either
. The line had been said, in various forms, years before the battle, yet no evid
ence suggests any general said it in the battle itself.
9 The Big Bang 02
Astronomer Fred Hoyle named the Big Bang, yet he ironically totally opposed the
theory. He simply used those words in a mocking sort of way. He referred to the
theory as a hot big bang during a radio program in which he argued against it. The
real inventor of the idea was Georges Lemaitre, who called it the Primeval Atom a m
uch more fitting description.The reason Big Bang is such a misnomer is it doesn t de
scribe the true theory at all. It gives the wrong impression of a giant, noisy e
xplosion creating the universe and everything in it. The theory really states th
at all matter once exited at a single point. After an initial burst of expansion
, it has gradually extended outward and continues to expand today. The initial b
urst wasn t as enormous as we might imagine. Matter went only went from subatomic
size to golf-ball size and while that s certainly impressive, it hardly matches the
images we often see of a giant blast rocking all of space. There was also no lou
d, ear-busting bang. If humans could somehow go back and witness the event, we w
ouldn t hear anything at all, as the frequencies emitted from the expansion were t
oo low to be audible to our ears. 8 Sago Palm 03
Photo credit: DanielCD/WIkimedia
The sago palm (Cycas revolute), a common houseplant, is actually not a palm at a
ll but a type of plant known as a cycad. This inaccuracy irks botanists and hort
iculturists everywhere, but the distinction is worth sharing among regular folk
because cycads are arguably far more interesting than run-of-the-mill palm trees
.Cycads, including the sago palm, have remained relatively unchanged on the plan
et for over 200 million years and were around even before dinosaurs. For this re
ason, many refer to them as living fossils, and gardeners often include them as a
kind of primeval specimen in their landscapes. Although they look superficially
similar, sago palms are only very distantly related to true palms (sort of in th
e same way monkeys and sheep are both animals). They diverged from each other mi
llions of years ago. In fact, cycad sagos are more closely related to pine trees
, as they both reproduce via seeded cones. Palms, on the other hand, have flower
s and fruit instead of cones.7 Pythagorean Theorem 04
Anyone who s taken geometry knows Pythagoras s famous theorem relating the sides of
a right triangle: A2 + B2 = C2. Most of us presume Pythagoras was the first to r
ecognize this truth, since the theorem bears his name. Actually, the Babylonians
used the so-called Pythagorean Theorem some 1,000 years before Pythagoras was b

orn. They even wrote it down, on a tablet now known as Plimpton 322. And this ma
thematical principle wasn t only known by the Babylonians. The ancient Egyptians,
Chinese, and Indians all used versions of it centuries before Pythagoras.Some sa
y Pythagoras gets the recognition because he was the first to prove the theory,
yet no real evidence says he provided a proof. The man didn t allow anyone to reco
rd his teachings; he was a bit of an eccentric. None of his contemporaries wrote
down his ideas. Although famous in his day, he didn t grow to the status of mathe
matical divinity until around 500 years after his death.6 Lunatic 05
The prefix of the word lunatic comes from the Latin luna, meaning moon. It was believe
d that the phases of the Moon, especially the full moon, could induce insanity o
r epilepsy in certain individuals. Both Aristotle and Roman historian Pliny the
Elder taught that the moistness of the brain made it susceptible to changes base
d on the position of the Moon much in the same way the Moon influences the tides.
This belief endured up through the Middle Ages and is likely the reason why were
wolves and other fictional creatures were thought to emerge during full moons.Al
though we now know the Moon has nothing to do with people s psychiatric or physica
l disorders, this inaccurate and therefore offensive term persists. Lunatic even a
ppeared in several official US federal laws until 2012, when Congress agreed to
replace it with more modern and scientifically accurate terminology.5The God Par
ticle 06
Photo credit: Julian Herzog
To the uninitiated, the term God Particle seems to describe a single subatomic ent
ity that explains the origins of the universe and answers all our existential qu
estions. Its real purpose isn t quite as exciting at least to the average person. Th
e God Particle, or its field, gives mass to other particles. For scientists, the
discovery of this particle was monumental because it validated the standard mod
el of physics, which meant we didn t have to chuck all existing formulas. The real
name of the particle is the Higgs boson, and it was only branded with the godly m
oniker as a marketing scheme. Physicist Leon Lederman published a book on the su
bject, and even though he wanted to title it the Goddamn Particle (because nobody
could find it), his editor convinced him that he would sell more copies if he re
ferred to it as the more mysterious God Particle. And much to the chagrin of sci
entists and clergymen everywhere, the name stuck.4 Panama Hat 07
When traveling to Panama, countless tourists make a point to buy a genuine Panam
a hat. They re probably purchasing a knockoff of the real thing because authentic
Panama hats are made in Ecuador.Back in the mid-1800s, when these hats first bec
ame popular, not too many people passed through Ecuador. It was hard to get to a
nd not on the way to anywhere people were frequenting. Panama, on the other hand
, was a hotspot, since it was the easiest place to cross from the Atlantic to th
e Pacific Ocean. So Ecuadorians who made montecristis hats (as they were first k
nown) sent their goods to Panama for international sale. Regrettably, the crafts
men didn t include any type of Made in Ecuador marking on their products, and people
subsequently starting calling them Panama hats because Panama was where they were
found.The misnomer became firmly ingrained once President Theodore Roosevelt wa
s famously photographed wearing such a hat while monitoring the progress on the
Panama Canal excavation. The photo spread throughout the world, and people every
where were talking about the President s Panama hat. After that, any chance that the
y might be called montecristis or even Ecuador hats was long gone.3 The Hundred Year
s War 08Asking someone, how long was the Hundred Years War seems like a trick questi
on kind of like saying what was the color of George Washington s white horse? But it s a
ctually a legitimate question, as the name of this war is somewhat misleading. T
he Hundred Years War spanned not 100 years but 116. And it was more of an on-andoff thing than a non-stop, century-long war.In actuality, it was a long conflict
between France and England that spanned from 1337 to 1453, during which time th
e two countries were arguing over the typical problems of land and dynastic clai
ms. Because there were a couple of decades-long truces, historians like to divid
e the war into three separate phases, known as the Edwardian, Caroline, and Lanc
astrian periods. Taking into account the times of peace between the war s phases,
the fighting really lasted about 81 years. There have been longer wars in histor
y, such as the Arauco War, which spanned around 290 years. The 335 Years War wou

ld seem to have both beat, but it only lasted so long because the opposing parti
es forgot to sign a peace treaty when they stopped fighting 10 years into the wa
r.2 Global Warming 09
The phrase global warming makes climate change sound not so bad. It almost sounds
pleasant, like it d be a great way to get more time at the beach or grow some priz
ed tomatoes, but global warming doesn t entirely describe what s going on. Although it s
not fully a misnomer the planet is indeed getting warmer the term tends to give peo
ple a wrong impression of what s happening. Global warming refers to the average sur
face temperature of the entire planet. It doesn t mean temperatures will go up eve
rywhere and all at the same time. In fact, some places may get colder. For examp
le, if melting sea ice shuts down large ocean currents in the Atlantic (a strong
possibility) then some places, such as North America and Western Europe, could
experience a massive deep freeze. Climate change will also create areas of espec
ially dry or wet conditions, mega hurricanes, Arctic blasts, and other extreme w
eather. Clearly it involves much more than the planet getting a couple degrees w
armer.1 Canary Islands100730135 (1)
The Canary Islands, an archipelago off the northwest coast of Africa, are known
for their warm, golden beaches and diverse wildlife. Among the fauna are yellowgreen canary birds, which are indigenous to the area and quite plentiful. These
songbirds are so widespread and noticeable that many assume they are the namesak
e of the island chain. However, as we now know, names aren t always what they seem
.To understand how the islands really got their name, we have to look way back t
o A.D. 23 79 when the Romans first visited the area. After arriving, they discover
ed that the islands were infested with packs of wild dogs, which made such an im
pression on the explorers that they dubbed the place canaria insula or the island
of wild dogs. Canaria comes from the Latin word, canis, for dog.After the Romans
left, the islands were largely forgotten by outsiders until about the 13th cent
ury, yet even after all that time, the name Canary Islands remained. The canines b
ecame such a symbol of the place that dogs now appear on the Canary Island s offic
ial coat of arms.As for canary birds, their name was inspired by the islands whe
re they live not the other way around.Content and copy writer by day and list writ
er by night, S. Grant enjoys exploring the bizarre, unusual, and topics that hid
e in plain sight. Contact S. Grant here.