ARE THERE OR AREN'T THERE ARTESIANS? It was a fine show on This American Life last week, including a segment on embarrassingly lingering misconceptions (including adults who thought that the "xing" in "deer xing" was a word pronounced "zing," believed that all Nielsen families were named "Nielsen," and were confused as to whether unicorns were extinct or just endangered).
It reminded me of a story I heard in college about a road trip some of my classmates took to Chicago. "Why do they call this the Windy City? There aren't any trees," said one. "What?" said another. The first one repeated himself. "I don't understand," said the second. "Look around," said the first one, exasperated. "Do you see any trees? But they call this the Windy City." "What are you talking about?" asked the second. "Look," snapped the first. "Everybody knows that trees make wind ..."
If you have any stories about embarrassing [edited to correct the embarrassing misspelling of "embarrassing," but at least I caught it before anybody else pointed it out] misconceptions, please share them. For the record, thinking in adulthood that Billy Crystal is funny counts.
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