Dr. Dot. The daily five minute skilled emotion. For everyone who's simply dotting about Alexa.
Hey guys, Robin here. Today we're going to look at a nice little skill called Common, Misconceptions and it busts some myths. For example, did you know that toast most often falls but aside up? It's true.
And did you know that cats actually only have eight lives instead of nine? Yeah, that's true too. Except in Greece where they have zero lives. Oh no, olives, they have olives.
That's right. So let's give it a go. Alexa, open, common, and misconceptions. Here's your common misconception.
Although the expression the enemy of my enemy is my friend is often described as an Arabic proverb, there is no evidence of such an origin. It's exact origin is unknown. The Latin saying amicus naius, enemica zenimisai naius waijus in 18th century Europe. Let's try another.
Alexa, open, common, and misconceptions. Here's your common misconception. Ostrichas do not stick their heads in a Santa hide from enemies. This misconception was probably promulgated by Pliny the Elder, who wrote that Ostrichas imagine when they have thrust their head and neck into a bush, but the whole of their body is concealed.
I think I like about this, is that it doesn't just give you some sort of random fact. Like, did you know that actually it was this way? It gives you the actual source and it feels quite authoritative as a result. Let's try a couple more.
Alexa, open, common, misconceptions. Here's your common misconception. The common image of Santa Claus as a good old man in red robes was not created by the Coca-Cola Company as an advertising gimmick. Despite being historically represented with different characteristics and different colours of robes, Santa Claus had already taken his modern form in popular culture and seen extensive use in other companies of vertices and other mass media at the time Coca-Cola began using his image in the 1930s.
Oh. Certainly in Dickens in Christmas Carol, it was a woman, wasn't it? And she had green robes. Alexa, open, common misconceptions.
Here's your common misconception. Napoleon Bonaparte was not short. He was actually slightly taller than the average Frenchman of his time. After his death in 1821, the French Emperor's height was recorded as five feet two inches in French feet, which in English measurements is five feet seven inches.
Some believe that he was nicknamed La Petit Caparral as a term of affection. Napoleon was often accompanied by his imperial guard, who was selected for the height. This could have contributed to a perception that he was relatively short. That and the fact that I had no idea that French feet were different lengths to what I would call normal feet, 12 inches.
So maybe it was just a kind of translation error or misconception because five foot two sounds very short. OK, let's do one more. Sorry guys, I can't help myself. I like to open common misconceptions.
Here's your common misconception. It is true that life expectancy in the Middle Ages and earlier was low. However, one should not infer that people usually died around the age of 30. In fact, earlier low life expectancies were very strongly influenced by high infant mortality and the life expectancy of people who lived to adulthood was much higher.
A 21-year-old man in medieval England, for example, could by one estimate, expect a lift to the age of 64. It's true. I mean, if everyone, it's true. I mean, if everyone who survived infancy lived to the age of 64, for example, but half of the population died in childbirth or in infancy, then the average life expectancy would be 32 or, you know, around the mid-30s.
So maths, cool. Wow. Wow. This is, I love this.
I'm going to, after I've finished recording, I'm going to listen to some more. This is Robin signing off and we'll speak in tomorrow. Feedback comments, demos. The.dot.podcast at gmail.com.
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