Ridiculous myths about US (or other places') history

[Drunken Cat]

i was just reading a a bit about jack johnson v jim jeffries. it said that jim's corner 'doused him with champagne between rounds' to refresh him.

that sounds like a pretty decent myth.

Yeah, sounds it to me too.

[jabsRstiff]

The majority of US's history is a myth.

I imagine the history of all nations.... are myths.

[Drunken Cat]

I imagine the history of all nations.... are myths.

Perhaps. I don't have so much knowledge of other countries, having never lived in them for extended periods of time, but the taught Japanese history is extremely controversial.

They still refuse to recognize their war crimes, for one thing. Even the so-called 'Rape of Nanking'.

It's almost like if Germany were to still deny the destruction of Warsaw.

At the very least, to some Chinese it is as such.

[HOLLYW00]

canada's land is too cold to be habitable. lol it's usually americans who think that though.

lmao I don't know how many times I've heard that..

"Do you live in an igloo?"

LOL

[Cuauhtémoc1520]

We all know that there are many of them.

But here is one that always stuck out for me.

In primary and secondary schools, they would always say that in the old days of America, people would drink beer or whiskey, because the water was no good.

Ridiculous in too many ways to name.

Why would the water have been bad? Water is water. If it was industrial waste, making beer or whiskey wouldn't help. I'm not sure whether it would help with parasites either, although it might. But, humans have been drinking, you know, water, since the beginning of human time. The entire pretense is ridiculous. Are you telling me they didn't have wells, they just had liquor stores?

Any more ridiculous myths?

Actually that's not a myth. I read about that and it was because clean water was hard to come by. Now people didn't sit around drinking beer and whiskey all day but they would even give beer to children because clean water was hard to come by.

Once you use water in the distilling process, it cleans it, therefore the drinking of beer was better. Now understand that there was a specific type of beer that was drank that was very weak, it's not like the beer we are used to today. So you could drink large quan****** of it and be ok.

They also gave rum, sugar and lime to the sailors to drink to prevent scurvy.

[Drunken Cat]

Actually that's not a myth. I read about that and it was because clean water was hard to come by. Now people didn't sit around drinking beer and whiskey all day but they would even give beer to children because clean water was hard to come by.

Once you use water in the distilling process, it cleans it, therefore the drinking of beer was better. Now understand that there was a specific type of beer that was drank that was very weak, it's not like the beer we are used to today. So you could drink large quan****** of it and be ok.

They also gave rum, sugar and lime to the sailors to drink to prevent scurvy.

Why was clean water hard to come by?

Also, alcohol works as a diuretic basically. So, I don't buy that alcohol was a substitute for water, no way no how.

Why was the water dirty? Didn't they know to drink from the ripple of the stream? Didn't they have springs and ground water back in the bad old days?

[Danny Gunz]

Actually that's not a myth. I read about that and it was because clean water was hard to come by. Now people didn't sit around drinking beer and whiskey all day but they would even give beer to children because clean water was hard to come by.

Once you use water in the distilling process, it cleans it, therefore the drinking of beer was better. Now understand that there was a specific type of beer that was drank that was very weak, it's not like the beer we are used to today. So you could drink large quan****** of it and be ok.

They also gave rum, sugar and lime to the sailors to drink to prevent scurvy.

Thats how the term 'limey' came about

[kadyo's]

Thats how the term 'limey' came about

Yeah right I've read about that.

[squealpiggy]

We all know that there are many of them.

But here is one that always stuck out for me.

In primary and secondary schools, they would always say that in the old days of America, people would drink beer or whiskey, because the water was no good.

Ridiculous in too many ways to name.

Why would the water have been bad? Water is water. If it was industrial waste, making beer or whiskey wouldn't help. I'm not sure whether it would help with parasites either, although it might. But, humans have been drinking, you know, water, since the beginning of human time. The entire pretense is ridiculous. Are you telling me they didn't have wells, they just had liquor stores?

Any more ridiculous myths?

This is yet another argument from personal incredulity. Strong spirits were not drunk in lieu of water but beer and wine certainly were throughout most of human history. Especially when water was stored. It was hard to store water without the growth of mould causing it to develop a nasty taste. Beer and wine had alcohol that prevented the growth of mould and bacteria and would therefore be drunk instead of water.

[the_ilest]

This is yet another argument from personal incredulity. Strong spirits were not drunk in lieu of water but beer and wine certainly were throughout most of human history. Especially when water was stored. It was hard to store water without the growth of mould causing it to develop a nasty taste. Beer and wine had alcohol that prevented the growth of mould and bacteria and would therefore be drunk instead of water.

piggy is right about that. Through out time there has been problems storing water the romans had aqueducts which where good at bringing clean water from long distances. The romans had contaminated the tiber river. Ok so 90% of cities develop and are founded along rivers/ lakes. After a long time those water sources get contaminated and so they need to clean the toxic water no one knew about boiling water. However, to make alcoholic drinks. water is boiled. Therefore, alcohol was the only way to drink clean water.