Myths and misconceptions about science, history, language, people and current events: A Duck's Quack Doesn't Echo; NASA's Billion-Dollar Zero-Gravity Pen; Sneakers Dangling from Power Lines Mark Gang Territory; Origin of the 7th-Inning Stretch; Sucking on a Penny Will Fool a Breathalyzer Test.
You can find everything else under the sun in New York City -- so why not giant albino alligators under the streets?!
Legend has it that on the first day of spring (the vernal equinox) you can balance eggs on end because special gravitational forces apply. Try it!
In modern times, the phrase 'blue moon' is defined as the second full moon occurring within a single month. 'Twas not always so...
Forwarded email accompanied by a photo purportedly depicting the penis of a blue whale claims that the male of that species produces over 400 gallons of sperm in a single mating session.
Emailed slideshow, a new version of a rumor circulating since 2003, claims August 27 will bring the closest encounter between Mars and Earth in recorded history. Unfortunately, this "once in a lifetime event" already came and went in 2003.
Craig Shergold: The true story of the boy whose life was saved by a chain letter that wouldn't die
If you don't mind my falling back on gut feelings, I'd rather be French-kissed by a human being than a dog any day.
Is it true that a duck's quack doesn't echo and nobody knows why?
Did the word "golf" originate as an acronym for "gentlemen only, ladies forbidden"? That's a common old wives' tale. Or, in this case, more likely an old husband's tale.
It is claimed that the Great Wall of China is the only man-made object visible from space or from the moon with the naked eye. Urban legend, says Matt Rosenberg, About.com's Geography Guide.
Was John F. Kennedy's 1963 "Ich bin ein Berliner" comment at the Berlin Wall a linguistic flub?
Emailed news item claims a U.S. federal judge has ruled that black women no longer have the right to name their own children as they please
Forwarded email warns residents of Pacific and Indian Ocean islands to stay away from beaches during the solar eclipse on July 22, 2009 as a "really bad" earthquake and tsunami are predicted.
Emailed report citing predictions by security consultant Juval Aviv warns that multiple terrorist attacks will occur in U.S. cities "within the next few months" and offers emergency preparedness advice.
Did Marie Antoinette really say "Let them eat cake" upon hearing that the French peasantry was complaining about a shortage of food?
...while Russian astronauts just used a pencil.
In ancient England a person could not have sex unless they had the king's consent. When anyone wanted to have a baby, they got consent of the king, who gave them a placard to hang on their door...
In olden days -- or so we are told -- shippers stamped the acronym "S.H.I.T." (Ship High in Transit) on crates of cow manure to prevent them from from being stowed below deck and causing methane explosions.
Supposedly, both the expression "F--- you" and the obscene gesture commonly referred to in America as "the finger" originated with uppity British archers during the Hundred Years' War.
A British newspaper says Bostonians have outlawed shamrocks, the symbol of Irish pride, just in time for St. Patrick's Day! Truth or blarney?
Q&A from the Urban Legends Mailroom...
You see them in just about every American city, large and small, and I suspect everyone wonders the same thing: Who tosses all those old tied-together pairs of sneakers onto telephone and power lines, and why?
If you've had too much to drink and are pulled over by police, sucking on a copper penny will cause a chemical reaction that will fool the breathalyzer, causing it to register negative blood alcohol. Supposedly.
Email flier purports to describe the lifelong duties of the Honor Guard of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
From the mailbag: Cats get a bum rap, imploding toilets disembowel victims, Altoids prove 'curiously strong' in more ways than one...
According to the latest version of an email rumor circulating since 2003, August 27 will bring the closest "encounter" between Mars and Earth in recorded history.
