The 1930s
20 entries on file
Things people believed and taught during the 1930s.
The Depression years, which makes the medical and dietary advice particularly telling: people were told to drink milk for a strong character, smoke camel cigarettes for digestion, and consume radium-laced water for vigour. Radithor killed Eben Byers. Frontal lobotomies were introduced and won a Nobel Prize for their inventor. Lasseter went looking for his reef of gold. The decade's confidence-without-evidence pattern is hard to look at without wincing. We had x-ray machines in shoe shops to fit children's feet. We thought it was modern.
Mr. Monopoly Has a Monocle
The character has never worn a monocle; it exists only in collective memory
If You Eat Watermelon Seeds a Watermelon Grows in Your Stomach
Seeds are broken down and digested like any other food
Watermelon Seeds Sprout and Grow Inside Your Stomach
Seeds need soil, water, and sunlight; your stomach provides none
Looney Tunes Is Spelled 'Looney Toons'
The official branding has always been 'Looney Tunes,' a pun on 'Disney Tunes'
Bees Shouldn't Be Able to Fly Aerodynamically
Bees fly via complex wing mechanics, not defying aerodynamics
A Ghostly Hitchhiker Vanishes from Moving Cars
A folklore motif found across many cultures
The Magic Mirror Said 'Mirror, Mirror on the Wall'
Disney's Snow White version says 'Magic mirror on the wall'
Kit-Kat Is Spelled With a Hyphen
The official brand name is 'KitKat' without a hyphen
Elvis Presley Is Still Alive
Elvis died on August 16, 1977; 'alive sightings' are urban legend
Lobotomy is an effective cure for mental illness
Lobotomies caused severe permanent brain damage and were abandoned
Australia 'Lost a War' Against Emus
The 1932 'Emu War' was more complex than the meme suggests, not a clear loss
Cane Toads Were a Good Pest Control Idea
Introduced in 1935 to control beetles, cane toads became one of Australia's worst ecological disasters
'Posh' Comes from 'Port Out, Starboard Home'
A tidy shipboard acronym invented decades after the word appeared
Frankenstein Is the Monster
Frankenstein is the scientist; the creature has no name
Bill Cosby Was Falsely Accused of Sexual Assault
Cosby was convicted; conviction was later overturned on procedural grounds
Vaccines contain dangerous metals like mercury
Mercury levels are trace; removed from most vaccines decades ago
Monopoly Board Says 'Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect $200'
The actual text reads 'Go' and 'Collect $200,' with slightly different phrasing
Lasseter's Reef of Gold Was Real
Decades of expeditions, no reef, no gold, plenty of dead men
Joan Rivers Identified as Transgender
Joan Rivers was a cisgender woman; rumours originated from her comedy