There is no record of Patrick Henry ever saying, "Give me liberty or give me death."

When we think of Amazons, we often think of buxom women. However, "Amazon" actually means "breastless ones." Greeks believed Amazons removed their right breasts so they could more easily use their bows.

Socrates never wrote down a single word of his teachings.

Despite what many people think, not all Swiss cheese has holes in it.

The first baseball game telecast wasn’t in the U.S., but rather, in Tokyo.

Many mistakenly believe the Gutenberg Bible was the first printed book. However, the Chinese were printing with moveable type centuries earlier.

It’s untrue that the "rings" under our eyes darken. Experts say this effect is actually caused by the rest of the face getting lighter.

Lions are not the king of the jungle. They don’t inhabit jungles. They dwell in the plains.

Nipple piercing isn’t a new phenomenon, of course. It was also popular among ladies in the 1800s.

The idea of using Navajo Indians and their language during WWII to stump Japanese code breakers wasn’t a new one. During WWI, German code breakers were thwarted by Americans using Choctaw Indians to relay orders.

Not everyone in Rome wore togas. Only freeborn men were entitled to wear them.

Footballs are not, nor were they ever, made of pigskin.

Most people believe sperm swims to the egg and fertilizes it. However, new research shows the egg is actually the aggressor. As the sperm wiggle around, the egg is on the hunt—and when the right sperm swims by, the egg tosses out a kind of chemical net and snags it.

It is a fallacy that diamonds are indestructible. They crush easily and also burn.

Despite what you might suspect, Elvis Presley never gave an encore. Not even once.

Not surprisingly, Blackbeard wasn’t the real name of the infamous pirate—his real name was Edward Teach.

While many think exactly the opposite, the lightning we see actually goes from the ground to the sky in what is known as the "return stroke" (which travels 1/3 the speed of light). We can't see the initial "stepped leader" that passes from the sky to the ground.

Little John, in the Robin Hood stories, was actually named John Little.

Many people think the great lakes are in the United States. However, Lake Michigan is the only one of the Great Lakes that’s entirely in the U.S.

Xmas is considered by many to be a vulgar abbreviation. However, the Old English word for Christmas begins with X. The Greek word for "Christ," from which the English is derived, begins with the Greek letter chi, or X. So, X is an appropriate abbreviation for Christ.

The Thompson submachine gun (a.k.a. Tommy gun) didn't get that nickname from bootleggers during the 1920s—though that’s what many think. It got its nickname from British commandos who used the gun in World War II.

White isn’t the standard color for bridal gowns everywhere. A bride wears red in China.

Most people think Africa is mostly wilderness. In fact, Africa is only 28% wilderness. By contrast, North America that is 38% wilderness.

Author Louis L’Amour didn’t start out with that name—his real name was Louis LaMoore.

History books might say otherwise, but one of the primary reasons the Pilgrims on the Mayflower ended their trip at Plymouth Rock was because they ran out of beer.

Despite what we were told as children, handling frogs does not cause warts. Warts are caused by a virus.

You often hear the term "meteoric rise" used in reference to someone who’s up-and-coming. In actuality, meteors don’t rise, they fall.

When "Yankee Doodle stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni," it wasn’t a reference to food. It referred to the Macaroni Club, founded in the mid-18th century, made up of English "dandies" who took on foreign mannerisms and fashions. The song was originally intended to ridicule the American revolutionary troops, but was eventually taken over by them as a marching song.

Hawaii wasn’t a state when Pearl Harbor was attacked. It didn’t become a state until 1959, and the attack on Pearl Harbor took place in 1941.

"Thou shalt not kill" is not what was intended as the sixth Commandment in the Bible. That phrase was mistranslated from the Old Hebrew. The proper translation is, "Thou shall not do murder."

"Golden apples" in Greek mythology weren’t apples. They were apricots.

Despite what most people think, hornets and wasps don’t die after they sting. (Honeybees do, but hornets and wasps can sting numerous times without dying.)

The famous hotel and casino in Las Vegas isn’t Caesar’s Palace. The hotel does not use an apostrophe in its name—it’s Caesars Palace.

Little Miss Muffet, who sat on her tuffet, wasn’t fictional as most people believe. She was the daughter of Dr. Thomas Moffett of England—an expert on spiders.

Horseshoe crabs aren’t crabs. They’re closest existing relatives are the scorpion and spider.

People didn’t always put their hand over their heart during the Pledge of Allegiance. The pledge was first given with the arm outstretched in front, palm slightly up. Since that gesture resembled the Hitler salute, Congress changed it during World War II to the arm across the chest.

Contrary to popular belief, only one alligator has ever been found in the New York City sewer system. The 125-pound alligator was pulled out by four boys back in 1935.

Head cheese isn’t cheese. It’s chopped and boiled meat mixed with gelatin and pressed into the shape of a cheese.

Koala bears aren’t bears. They’re marsupials.

Cupid was originally the god of lust, not romantic love. Cupid was the name given by the Romans to the Greek god Eros. In India, Cupid was known by Hindus as Kama, the inspiration for the Kama Sutra sex manual.

Despite the legend, William Tell never shot an apple off his son’s head. In actuality, the story of William Tell is a complete fiction.

The prarie dog isn’t a dog. It’s a rodent.

Christianity hasn't always been opposed to prostitution. Church-controlled brothels were not uncommon in medieval Europe.

The comic strip "Peanuts" wasn’t always called that. Originally, it was originally called, "Li’l Folks."

French poodles were originally bred in Germany, not France.

The capitol of Portugal wasn’t always in Portugal. From 1807-1821, the capitol was moved to Rio de Janeiro (when Portugal was fighting France during the Napoleonic Wars).

Liver isn’t meat. Meat actually only refers to animal muscle, so liver doesn’t qualify.

Why do ostriches bury their heads in the sand? They don't. In a study of 200,000 ostriches over a period of 80 years, no one reported a single case where an ostrich buried its head in the sand (or even attempted to do so).

"Lead" pencils have no lead in them—only graphite.

The Pledge of Allegience didn’t always contain the phrase "under God." It was added 60 years after the pledge was originally written, for political reasons (during the rise of Communism).

Swallows don’t return to Capistrano on the same day every year. The birds can return anytime from from late February to the end of March, and contrary to what many think, they don’t all arrive in a single flock.

Dry cleaning is not dry cleaning. A liquid is used, it just isn’t water.

It might surprise you to know that you are far more likely to get a cold by shaking hands than from kissing.

The 1969 Woodstock Festival didn’t take place in Woodstock. It was held in Bethell, New York—40 miles from Woodstock.

Despite what most assume, a perfectly clean fire produces almost no smoke. Smoke means that a fire is not burning properly and that bits of unburned material are escaping.

Urine doesn’t smell—at least not when it leaves the body. The bad smell comes from bacteria that grows when urine sits stagnant.

People didn’t refer to Abraham Lincoln as "Abe" during his lifetime—he disliked that name.

Forget what you’ve heard. There’s no scientific proof that cedar chests deter insects.

There is no record of Paul Revere having ever owned a horse.

Contrary to intuition, statistics prove conclusively that the poor are burglarized far more often than the rich.

Model Ts weren’t originally black. They were green at first, but someone noticed that black paint dried faster, so the color was switched.

Electric eels aren’t eels—they’re a fish.

Leonardo di Vinci wasn’t a prolific painter. He painted only 17 paintings during his lifetime, and several of those were unfinished.

The word "Sunday" doesn’t appear in the Bible.

Howard Hughes’ plane the Spruce Goose—the largest plane ever built—was not made of spruce, but rather of birch.

The Capitol building of the U.S. wasn’t designed by an architect. Congress established a contest for someone to design the Capitol in 1793. The winner was Dr. William Thornton, who had no training as an architect.

Kleenex tissues weren’t always called that. When they were first marketed in 1924, they were called "Celluwipes."

During the time of King Henry VIII, knitting was the specialty of men, not women.

Air conditioning wasn’t invented to cool homes or offices. It was invented to control humidity in a printing plant.

Black cats aren’t universally seen as being bad luck. In Japan, if a black cat crosses your path, it’s good luck.

East Chicago isn’t where you might think. It’s a town in Indiana.

Sauerkraut didn’t originate in Germany as many people mistakenly believe. It got its start in China about 1,000 years before it became popular in Germany.

Lenin wasn’t Lenin’s real name. It was one of 151 pseudonyms Vladimir Illych Ulyanov used during his lifetime.

Venetian blinds were invented in Japan, not Venice.

It might surprise you to find out men are far more likely to be moved to tears by music than women.

Most precious gems are actually colorless. Their color comes from impurities in the stone that act as pigmenting agents.

Short Line, of Monopoly fame, wasn’t actually a railroad. It was a bus company.

The London Bridge has never fallen down.

Those who do public speaking don’t stand behind a podium. They stand behind a lectern. A podium is the platform or stage on which a speaker stands.

Smokey Bear didn’t always have that famous name. Originally, he was Hot Foot Teddy.

Although people think otherwise, a newborn baby can’t shed tears.

Buttermilk doesn’t contain butter.

It’s widely believed that Orville Wright became the first person to be killed in a plane crash. Actually, on September 17, 1908, U.S. Army Signal Corps lieutenant Thomas E. Selfridge became the first when he and Orville fell from the sky in Wright's airplane at Fort Meyer, Virginia.

Tennessee Williams wasn’t born in Tennessee. He was born in Columbus, Mississippi.

Shooting stars aren’t stars, of course. They're meteors.

Kilts aren’t a Scottish invention, no matter what you might think. They originally came from France.

Coney Island isn’t an island.

Michael J. Fox’s middle name is Andrew.

The Pennsylvania Dutch aren’t Dutch—they’re German.

The silkworm isn’t a worm—it’s a caterpillar.

Picasso wasn’t the artist’s real name. His real name was Pablo Diego José Francisco do Paula Juan Nepomuceno Cipriano de la Santissima Trinidad. Picasso was his mother’s name.

Sugarplums, often mentioned around the holidays, aren’t plums. They’re hard candy.

Noon isn’t supposed to be 12 o’clock. Noon comes from the Latin word nona, which means the ninth hour after sunrise (about 3 p.m.).

Most people incorrectly believe bees are solely responsible for fertilizing flowers, but actually flies (60,000 species of them) fertilize 80% of all flowers.

Elephants don’t actually eat peanuts in the wild. They have to be taught to like them.

The sound you hear when you hold a seashell to your ear isn’t coming from the shell. The sound is that of the blood coursing through your ear.

Boston College isn’t in Boston. It’s in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.

A horned toad isn’t a toad. It’s a lizard.

Two-by-fours don’t measure two inches by four inches. Rather, they’re 1¾ inches by 3½ inches.

Despite what you’ve heard, smokers don’t have "nicotine-stained" fingers. Actually, nicotine is colorless. Tar is the real culprit.

The pineapple has nothing to do with pines or apples. They’re actually a berry.

"We don’t need no stinking badges," was never uttered in the film, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, no matter how often you hear it misquoted that way. The line was, "Badges? We ain’t got no badges. We don’t need no badges. I don’t have to show you any stinking badges."

For the Dutch, Rice Krispies don’t "snap, crackle, pop." Instead, it’s "pif, paf, pof."

Karl Marx, the founder of Russian Communism, was never in Russia in his life.

The Emmy award isn’t named after a person. Emmy is a variation of Immy, a nickname for the image orthicon tube (and early TV camera tube).

Young people are robbed more often than older people. Who knew?

The Titanic wasn’t a British ship. The English operated it, but it was owned by the International Mercantile Marine Co., controlled by U.S. magnate J.P. Morgan.

Penicillin does not kill germs, it just stops their reproduction.

The Japanese didn’t fire the first shot at Pearl Harbor. Just before sunrise on December 7, 1941, the U.S. destroyer Ward located a two-man midget submarine making its way toward Pearl Harbor—the Ward sank it and thus fired the first shot at Pearl Harbor.

Though people think otherwise, there is no law requiring that a justice on the Supreme Court be a lawyer.

Abe Lincoln never slept in the Lincoln Bedroom.

You might be surprised to learn that not all penguins like cold weather. The Jackass Penguin lives in temperate areas of South Africa.

Mules (the result of breeding a male donkey with a female horse) can’t reproduce. Male mules are born sterile, as are female mules (except in rare cases).

The evening star isn’t a star. That "star" that appears over the western horizon shortly after sunset is actually either Venus or Mercury reflecting the sun’s light.

Film directors don’t yell, "Lights, camera, action!" That phrase hasn’t been used in some time. In the old days, lights were unpredictable and had to be turned off regularly to cool. Now, the phrase is, "Roll sound. Roll camera. Action." (The assistant director says the first two parts. By the way, only the director says, "Action.")

The United States was not founded as a democracy, but rather, as a republic.

It’s not illegal to remove the tag from a mattress. The tag, "Remove under penalty of law," only applies to retailers, not consumers.

Olympic gold medals aren’t gold. They’re gold-plated silver.

That song favored by piano students, Chopsticks, has nothing to do with the Chinese eating utensils. The name comes from the actions of the two fingers when the song is played—like chopping sticks with an axe.

The names we know for the Marx brothers weren’t their real names. Their real names were Leonard (Chico), Herbert (Zeppo), Julius (Groucho) and Arthur (Harpo).

The pupil of the eye isn’t black. It’s actually clear. The black we see is the darkness of the inside of the eye.

The laughing jackass isn’t a jackass. It’s a bird, the kookaburra.

Although it’s widely accepted as fact, slaves didn’t build the Egyptian pyramids. In truth, local farmers were drafted into service at certain times of the year when the Nile was flooded (and farming was impossible, anyway). Workers were paid.

The "red" in Moscow’s Red Square has nothing to do with Communism. The square takes its name from the word krasnaya, which translates as both "beautiful" and "red."