In class last week someone mentioned Marie Antoinette saying “Let them eat cake.” I have, of course, heard hundreds of times that she said this, and have never questioned it, but suddenly my bullshit detector, which grows keener with each passing day, went off, and I said to myself, “You know what, I have no knowledge about this topic whatsoever, but that just sounds like bullshit to me. I bet she never said that.” I just looked it up and I was right. The phrase was already a commonly used joke when she was 10 years old, though it was later attributed to her by her enemies. In the course of this research I also discovered that lots of other things I believed are also not true. Did you know that: Kennedy’s “Ich bin ein Berliner” is grammatically flawless. “Ring around the Rosie” has nothing to do with the black plague. The F-word is not an acronym for “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge.” Neil Armstrong did not say “Good luck, Mr. Gorsky.” Also, I already knew these last two, but I’m getting really sick of hearing them, so please never repeat them in my presence. The flush toilet was not invented by Sir Thomas Crapper, and NASA did not spend $12 billion to develop a zero-gravity pen while the Russians just used a pencil.
Geeks Guide to the Galaxy
Geek's Guide to the Galaxy is a podcast hosted by author David Barr Kirtley and produced by Lightspeed Magazine editor John Joseph Adams. The show features conversations about fantasy & science … Read more
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