Random Dumb Things Pop Culture Had Us Believing Until We Finally Figured Out The Truth 2021 (16 items)

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  (#4) Bullets Ripped Through People Underwater During World War II

  The Trope: A soldier attempting to storm a beach, probably somewhere near Normandy, has second thoughts when he's met with a barrage of bullets and dives back under the surf for protection - only to have bullets rip through the water and puncture his body anyway.

  Why Is It Inaccurate? Consider that, as recently as 2019, US Special Forces were still hard at working trying to invent a bullet that would travel effectively underwater. Water is, after all, 800 times denser than air, which is what most bullets are designed to pass through. In reality, and as The Smithsonian Channel and the Mythbusters have both conclusively proven, bullets can only pass through a few feet of water at the absolute most, continuously slowing down as they go. As it turns out, real soldiers on D-Day could, and did, earn a temporary reprieve from oncoming gunfire by ducking under the waves.

  Notable Offenders: No film is more guilty of this than Saving Private Ryan, where director Steven Spielberg described the difficulty he had replicating bullets passing through water on film without realizing the obvious reason why that was:

  Often the pellets wouldn’t go far enough but at least they gave us a really good reference so we were able to digitally augment the shot with a stronger visual of a projectile coursing through the water.
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  (#7) The Best Old West Gunslingers Always Shoot From The Hip During A Fight

  The Trope: In a quick-draw gunfight, gunslingers rapidly remove their pistol from their holster and accurately shoot from their hip.

  Why Is It Inaccurate? To hit a target, gunslingers - a word from the 1920s used to describe gunfighters - would need to aim their weapon accurately, something that would have been nearly impossible to do from the hip. As Old West Texas Ranger Captain James B. Gillett recalled:

  In all my experience with both officers and desperadoes... I never saw a man shoot from the hip. All of them pulled the pistol, pointed it from the shoulder level and fired.

  Hip shots were so ill-advised and risky that most gunslingers never used the skill during fights. Wild Bill Hickok was apparently one of the few who did. As one admirer remembered:

  Wild Bill saved himself in a good many fights by his peculiar way of shooting. He either shot direct from his hip, without waiting to raise his gun, or else - as was most common with him - on the up-go; that is, he shot as he was raising his pistols up. This fraction of a second advantage over the men who shot on the drop of down-go of their guns, saved his life at least a dozen times.

  But even this account is revealing: Wild Bill's skill was "peculiar," and thus not widely practiced. Instead, skills like his would have been features of exhibitions and Wild West shows.

  Indeed, gun tricks like shooting from the hip had little use in a real-world fight. When the stakes were life and death, not many gunslingers would have gambled with a hip shot to bring their opponent down.

  Notable Offenders: Shane; The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly; Red Dead Redemption 2
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  (#8) Pirates Made A Living By Raiding Coastal Towns

  The Trope: Pirates appear outside a town sitting on the coast. Soon they swarm over the sides of their ships, pouring into the streets to kidnap women and steal goods. Then they sail away to sea - until their next attack.  

  Why Is It Inaccurate? Pirates were frequent visitors to coastal towns, but often because they had wives in town. Turns out most coastal towns welcomed pirates who visited between sailings. On top of that, pirates specialized in raiding ships, not towns. Ships carried the spices, gold, and riches that pirates seized.

  Take, for example, Captain Thomas Tew, who seized several ships without a fight and captured a huge amount of wealth. Or Captain Henry Every, who seized a single ship in the Red Sea and captured the equivalent of tens of millions of dollars' worth of goods in two hours without losing a single man. Why raid coastal towns when poorly defended ships were much easier prey?

  Notable Offenders: In Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Jack Sparrow makes plans to "raid, pillage, and plunder" his guts out.
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  (#12) Eating Turkey Legs Was Common During The Renaissance

  The Trope: At Renaissance banquets, diners gnawed on enormous turkey legs. 

  Why Is It Inaccurate? There's a big problem with the turkey leg trope: Turkeys are native to the New World and didn't appear in Europe until the mid-16th century - nearly the end of the Renaissance. 

  Before turkeys showed up at banquets, Renaissance diners enjoyed beef, soups, and peacocks. In fact, peacock leg might be more accurate than turkey leg for most of the period.

  As for turkey legs, they didn't look the same in the 16th century. Back then, turkeys were wild game - much smaller than today's birds. The enormous turkey legs we picture today actually became popular at Renaissance Faires. 

  Notable Offenders: Blame this one on the Renaissance Faire and the 1933 film The Private Life of Henry VIII, although it's possible he's supposed to be eating chicken.
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  (#9) Renaissance Women Wore Their Hair Long And Down

  The Trope: Renaissance women let their hair flow free, growing it extremely long.

  Why Is It Inaccurate? Although women did have long hair in the Renaissance, they typically swept it up and hid it under hairnets or veils. Long, flowing hair often interfered with fashion, like the collars and neck ruffs that became popular in 16th century England. 

  Notable Offenders: The Borgias, The Tudors, The Other Boleyn Girl
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  (#2) Archery Bows Creak When They're Drawn

  Trope: Bows make a loud, creaky sound when they're drawn.

  Why Is It Inaccurate? Bows aren't the only weapons that get this treatment in Hollywood. You may have noticed that guns and swords also make some stock sounds when they show up on screen, either a "click" or "shing," respectively.

  Most archers will tell you: if your bow is creaking, there's something wrong with it. As author and archer J.W. Elliot writes:

  BOWS DON'T CREAK! Why would they? When wood is bent it makes no sound until, or unless, it is stressed to the breaking point. Strings don't creak either. They are almost always waxed to keep moisture out and wax simply doesn't creak.

  Notable Offenders: Robin Hood, Kingdom of Heaven, Lord of the Rings, Hawkeye

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