Common Knowledge: Difference between revisions

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** Most anime fans also claim anime is more accepted in Japan than it is in the west. It is not. ''Seinen'' notwithstanding, Japan generally regards it as a juvenile, informal type of entertainment much the same way [[Animation Age Ghetto|cartoons are viewed in general elsewhere,]] and they have just as many [[Moral Guardian]] types as everyone else. Such types just don't get much awareness overseas.
** All anime are adaptations of manga. Well, maybe most are, but ''not'' all. ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' and ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'' became very popular with no manga at all. Plus, sometimes [[Anime First|it's the other way around;]] the ''[[Samurai Champloo]]'' manga and all ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' mangas except [[Yu-Gi-Oh! (manga)| the original]] are adaptations of the anime. And some anime are based on light novel series, including ''[[Haruhi Suzumiya]]'' and ''[[Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?]]''
* ''[[Space Runaway Ideon]]'s'{{'}}s famous ending where it "blows up the universe" never happened. Granted it killed all of humanity (both Terrans and Buff Clan), destroyed hundreds of planets, spawned thousand of meteors that blew up the Earth, destroyed Saturn's rings, and took out much the Milky Way Galaxy, but the rest of the universe is just fine. This was largely a piece of [[Memetic Mutation]] as "Ideon blows up the universe" [[Rule of Funny|sounds a lot funnier]].
** In the other movie, it ''is'' stated by one of the Buff Clan protagonists such. This can be dismissed as hyperbolic enthusiasm, however.
*** Not in [[Super Robot Wars]]; Ideon snuffs out all life save for Keisar Ephes.
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** Also, despite what some claim, it is ''not'' a historical fiction. It mostly concerns events that, at the time, were recent and could have been witnessed by its first readers.
* “The Road Less Traveled” by [[Robert Frost]] is quite possibly the most misunderstood poem in literary history. [[Discussed Trope| Most believe]] it is about not adhering to conformity and taking the choice ''you'' want to take, even if it is unpopular, because that will “make all the difference”. In truth, the narrator’s description of the two roads indicates he ''first'' thought the one he took "was grassy and wanted wear" but then he realized there was really little difference between them. He is now wondering if he made the right choice, wondering what might have occurred had he taken the other path (which he had wanted to explore later, but never got a chance to), and whether his life might have been better if he had. If anything, the narrator is saying that life had many opportunities, but there just isn’t time to experience them all.
* [[Fu Manchu]]'s diabolical-looking mustache is so well-known, the style is named after him. However, despite it being prominent in movies, comic books, and even the covers of some book jacket cover illustrations, he was clean-shaven in the original novels, seeing as facial hair would hinder his ability to be the [[Master of Disguise]] he was known to be.
 
== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
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* Common Knowledge from ''[[Star Trek]]'':
** The only thing everyone knows about Vulcans from ''[[Star Trek]]'' (apart from the pointy ears) is that they have no emotions. They in fact have very ''strong'' emotions -- often described as more powerful than those of humans, to the point that, when combined with their strength, it led to ''anarchy that nearly destroyed them.'' This is why their culture now encourages all Vulcans to suppress emotion and act on logic. Their stoic nature is cultural, not genetic.
** As mentioned above, [[Beam Me Up, Scotty]] is a subtrope of Common Knowledge -- with ''[[Star Trek]]'' providing the [[Trope Namer]], since that line was never uttered in the original ''Star Trek'' series - the phrase the preceded beam-ups was usually something like "three to beam up". (If you wanna nitpick, we did get one "Scotty, beam me up" from one of the movies, where it was just the main seven or so characters on a Klingon ship). The main thing, however, is that after the first season, ''chief engineer'' Montgomery Scott was ''not'' the guy who ''usually'' did the beaming-up of people. That was a guy named Mr. Kyle that no one remembers.
** Every Trekkie knows that ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' was the first spin-off, right? Ahem, wrong, on both counts. A lot of the more dedicated Trekkies remember the animated series, though technically this might have been intended as a continuation of the original series. Regardless, the fact that it tends to be forgotten is something of a shame, as compared to other cartoons at the time, it was a pretty good one. It was not only the first series in the franchise to win an Emmy, but some diehard fans claim that animation removed a lot of limits that held live action back and resulted in stories and plots ''even better'' than the series that preceded it. (''Some'' diehard fans, by the way, [[This Troper]] is ''not'' getting involved in the argument, but it exists.)
** Who was the first female Captain on ''Star Trek''? [[Star Trek: Voyager| Captain Janeway]], of course. Well... only if you count protagonists. Not counting female Captains who made cameos, the first female Federation captain to play an important role was the unnamed Captain of the U.S.S. ''Saratoga'' (''[[Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home]]'') and there was also Captain Rachel Garret from the ''Next Generation'' episode "Yesterday's Enterprise". In fact, if villains count, [[Evil Is Sexy|the Romulan Commander]] from "The Enterprise Incident" might be considered the first.
** All the odd-numbered films are terrible. Supposedly this started after a claim made by someone interviewing a member of the cast of ''[[Star Trek: Generations]]'', the interviewer saying how anxious he was to see it as only even-numbered movies in the franchise are any good, the cast member replying with an, "Uhm, no." Of course, nobody can name the interview or the cast member. First of all, yeah, the fifth movie is regarded by most fans as garbage, ''Generations'' is mostly disliked, and ''[[Star Trek: Insurrection|Insurrection]]'' seems more like one of the television episodes that was drawn out too long. However, while [[Star Trek: The Motion Picture|the first movie]] and ''[[Star Trek III: The Search For Spock|The Search for Spock]]'' may not have been as good as ''[[Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan| The Wrath of Khan]]'', both have interesting and complex plots with visual effects that were excellent at the time. On the other hand, ''[[Star Trek: Into Darkness]]'' was the twelfth movie, and most regard it as pretty bad.
** For that matter, the claim that Kirk was the first Captain of the ''Enterprise''. Actually, he wasn't even the second. While most Trekkies do know about kirkKirk's superior and mentor Captain Christopher Pike, very few know that the true first Captain of the Federation's flagship was Pike's own superior and mentor, Captain Robert April. He only appeared in the flesh in an episode of the animated series, but a reference in ''[[Star Trek: Discovery]]'' shows he was, in fact, the most decorated Captain in the Federation's history, truly a [[Hero of Another Story]]. <ref>For [[Bonus Points]], "Robert April" was the original name proposed for the character of the captain during development and preproductionpre-production.</ref>
** Arguably the biggest example, the claim that [[Gene Roddenberry]] was the genius behind ''Star Trek''. Now, before anyone reaches for pitchforks and torches, ''yes'', Roddenberry was a genius, plus a [[Badass]] in real life, a war hero, a visionary, a civil rights pioneer, a philanthropist, and did indeed contribute to establishing science fiction as a popular genre, but crediting him as the sole genius behind the franchise would be like giving sole credit to Kirk for all the heroic acts done by the entire crew. It is almost a travesty that few fans give [[Eugene L. Coon]] the credit he deserves; Coon was the one who thought up everything having to do with Klingons, Starfleet Command, the Prime Directive, and was even the one who designed the character of Khan Noonien Singh, likely the greatest villain in the franchise. [[William Shatner]] said of Coon that he was “the unsung hero of Star Trek”, a sentiment shared by [[Leonard Nimoy]] and most other cast members. Even many of ''[[Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series)| Battlestar Galactica]]'' cast members praised him as the man behind ''Star Trek''. Truth be told, if Roddenberry had any flaw, it was that he didn’t like to share the spotlight.
* ''[[Gilligan's Island]]''
** Not every episode involved the castaways trying to escape the island, only about a third of them. Many episodes dealt with them trying to avoid being killed by tropical storms or some other threat, while a surprisingly large number were about things like having a costume party or a beauty pageant.
** Also, everyone knows that all potential rescues/escapes failed because of Gilligan's screw-ups, and the castaways should've [[Just Eat Gilligan|just eaten Gilligan]], right? Actually, in the 37 episodes that involve some chance of getting off the island, Gilligan is only legitimately "at fault" for the failure 17 times. Screwing up 17 rescues probably ''would'' make you unpopular, granted, but there were also a large number of episodes where Gilligan ''saves'' the castaways from disaster, or headhunters, or some other deadly peril. There are also several instances where the escape plan was fatally flawed, but the flaw wasn't noticed ''until'' Gilligan had "screwed it up", inadvertently saving their lives.
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* In [[Classical Mythology]], Artemis was a goddess who vowed to remain eternally chaste, and the only man she ever loved was Orion. Except the second part was a modern invention. In the original myths, Artemis and Orion were more like [[Platonic Life Partners]].
* Pandora's Box; in most versions of the older stories, it was not a box at all, it was a large, sealed jar or urn.
* According to legend, the Greek philosopher [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diogenes Diogones] wanders the Earth endlessly with a lantern, searching for an Honest Man. This story is often misinterpreted - being a cynic, Diogenes believed such a thing did not exist, the story being an analogy for such a viewpoint. It also illustrates his view that life was pointless, as he is engaged in an [[Impossible Task]] to prove his own belief.
 
== [[Professional Wrestling]] ==
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* The general consensus on the 2007 [[Scandalgate|Spygate]] scandal is that the New England Patriots are cheaters. In actuality, the Patriots were found guilty of recording the New York Jets' defensive signals ''from an illegal location'' (i.e., the sidelines). Also, Super Bowl-winning coaches Jimmy Johnson, Bill Cowher, Dick Vermeil, and Mike Shanahan admitted to doing the same thing.
* The [[wikipedia:Tueller Drill|Tueller Drill]] is about the average distance at which someone with a '''holstered''' gun can successfully draw and shoot before an assailant with a melee weapon can reach him, and by corollary, the distance at or below which a melee assailant can close to land an attack before said would-be gunman can make his. Somewhere along the line, it somehow (d)evolved into the notion of a melee attacker being able to invert [[Never Bring a Knife to a Gun Fight]] at a distance below that; given that there is still a high likelihood of being able to complete the draw-and-shoot despite injury and that [[No Range Like Point-Blank Range|a gunshot will still do at least as much damage up close]], this is not the case. It definitely does not say anything about trying to close with an active shooter, but from the way the story has mutated, one could be forgiven for thinking it did.
* King Tutankhamun's golden burial mask (you know, [https://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Mask_of_Tutankhamun:Mask of Tutankhamun|this thing]]) is one of the most famous and iconic artifacts pertaining to ancient Egypt, but it is also one the media tends to get wrong. Quick, what is on the mask’smask's forehead? A cobra, right? Well, right! But there is also a vulture next to the cobra, something that, 99% of the time, isn’tisn't there when the mask is depicted in the media. Kind of odd for something so famous.
* Most claim that the flush toilet was invented by a plumber named [https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Thomas_Crapper Thomas Crapper], his name being an [[Ironic Echo]] of the device he invented. Truth be told, he can't even take credit for the word "crap", which was being used well before he was born. The flush toilet was actually invented in 1590 by [https://www.wikiwand.com/en/John_Harington_(writer) Sir John Harington] (a godson of Queen Elizabeth I, by the way) but it was a noisy and unsanitary device (due to a lack of sewers) that didn't catch on until around 1880.
* What was the first major act of politically-motivated terrorism on US soil? 9/11? Nope, not even close. The World Trade Center bombing in 1993? No, not that either. Pearl Harbor? Getting closer, but no. Everyone seems to forget about the [[w:Black Tom explosion|1916 attack on an island near Liberty Island in New York harbor]], where a bomb was detonated in a munitions dump by German agents, creating one of the largest non-nuclear explosions ever recorded. This is, by the way, the reason the Statue of Liberty’s torch is closed to tourists; it was damaged by the attack. Since television had not been invented yet and the government tried to conceal the attack<ref>[https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/black-tom-1916-bombing Not any more, though.]</ref>, it is not as widely known as the other examples mentioned.
* Violent attacks on schools are a recent thing, right? Wasn't [[Columbine]] was the first, that everyone else copied? Sorry, no -- while Columbine is a kind of grotesque [[Trope Codifier]], with cases much more common in the subsequent decades than in those before, schools have been the target of armed lunatics for a century -- the [[w:Bath School disaster|Bath School massacre]] of 1927 was the first and worst in the US. The former school board treasurer of Bath Township, Michigan, upset at increased taxes, his defeat in an election for town clerk, and the impending foreclosure on his farm got his "revenge" by surreptitiously planting explosives under and then blowing up the farm and the north wing of the town's school building, killing 38 children and six adults, and injuring at least 58 other people. (More explosives were found under the south wing of the school, but they had apparently misfired.) Then he drove up to rescuers working at the school and detonated his truck, which he had turned into a shrapnel-filled car bomb, killing himself and four rescue workers, and injuring numerous others. In fact, you can go a ''lot'' further back than ''that'' if you look outside the US. [[Oda Nobunaga]] once ordered his troops to attack a Tendai school during the Sengoku period of Japan, as he feared the Tendai would use religious claims to make him unpopular.
* "Milspec/military-grade" is better than civilian, right? Not always. Sure, being built for the rigours of combat and rough handling on the battlefield demands a certain amount of ruggedness and capability, but militaries are still susceptible to budget woes, awarding contracts to the lowest bidder, and the like. On the flipside, it is possible for bespoke equipment in civilian hands, like handloaded ammunition, to be better-performing. Veterans and others in the know look dubiously at anything that tries to use milspec as a selling point.
* In grade school, everyone learned that the vowels in the English language are A, E, I, O, U, and "sometimes Y". Truth be told, however, the "sometimes Y" part seemed to be related to the grammar rule that a word must have at least one vowel, and is overall inaccurate, and Y can act as a vowel in a word that has one or more of the five "regular" vowels. Technically, letters are ''not'' designated "vowel" or "consonant", those words refer to particular speech sounds: a ''vowel'' is one made with your mouth open and your tongue in the middle of your mouth not touching your teeth, lips, etc. (in other words, there's minimal manipulation of air flow while expelling a vowel sound); a consonant, on the other hand, is one (such as \p\, \d\, or \s\) that is made by partly or completely stopping the flow of air breathed out from the mouth with the tongue, teeth, lips, etc. Using that guideline, a Y is actually used as a vowel ''more'' often than it is as a consonant.
* “A tomato is not a vegetable, it is a fruit!” A comment often made by trolling [[Know-Nothing Know-It-All]] types. Often this same assumption is made with eggplants, cucumbers, and other well-known veggies. Truth be told, they are both. “Fruit” is indeed the scientific designation given to the edible part of a tomato plant, the fleshy part that contains seeds. However, “vegetable” is [[Square Peg, Round Trope|not a botanical definition at all]], being more a culinary term used to describe ''any'' edible part of a plant at all, including flowers, stems, seeds, leaves, roots, and tubers, as well as fruits.
* [[wikipedia:Dynamite|Dynamite]] and [[wikipedia:TNT|TNT]] are the same thing, right? Actually, no, not at all. The only thing the two materials have in common is they're both explosives. Chemical composition aside, dynamite is most often used for civilian demolition and excavation projects; TNT (trinitrotoluene) on the other hand, is about twice as powerful (dynamite has 7.5 megajoules per kilogram, while the same amount of TNT has 14.5), would be far too expensive for such endeavors, and is actually used by the military to build munitions. The confusion stems from old theatrical cartoon shorts like ''[[Looney Tunes]]''. In those cartoons, pretty much anything that could explode, including dynamite sticks or kegs of gunpowder, were labeled TNT to indicate "bomb". The creators figured such an easily recognizable acronym could be better identified by the viewers (don't forget, not all viewers were literate in the 1940s) leading to the general perception that they were the same thing.
 
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