Every Common Misconception Debunked in 6 Minutes - the Paint Explainer Reaction 

As for number 6, I don't think I've ever heard someone claim that Santa Claus was created by Coca-Cola. What I did hear though is that the wide-known depiction of Santa Claus wearing a red and white coat was popularised by Coca-Cola, and that before that, his looks were usually different (e.g. a brown coat).

Honestly, I feel like for a lot of these ones like Napoleon being short and Vikings having horns, these things are so infamous for being "misconceptions" that the idea that they're misconceptions are sort of misconceptions in and of themselves.

13:45 This is a common point of confusion, the whole comparing percentages of gene similarity because there’s some crucial nuance that often gets left out of the picture, and that context is at what “level” of analysis are we taking for this comparison. For example, when we say that humans and chimpanzees are 99% related, we don’t mean the exact same genes in the sense that if you looked at the nucleotide sequence, they would be identical. In this context, that comparison is saying: we both have genes encoding two eyes/ears/etc; we both have a midline symmetry to our bodies; we both have genes which encode hair production/growth and for teeth and nails; we both have genes for a four chambered heart…some of those types of genes we share with other species and even phyla (like how sharks also have teeth) , others we don’t (we share with only mammals genes responsible for mammary glands). This is in contrast to when we say that siblings are about 50% related-in this context, we ARE talking about the exact genes…genes for the same shade of eye or hair color, genes for whether you are lactose persistent… Unfortunately, this video didn’t cover that well at all, but for one thing it’s not a biology channel and for another, the format of a short video like this just doesn’t accommodate it either. Hope that helps

Can you please react to Mr. Beat’s “every president’s favorite president” video?

Another common misconception: There is no such thing as an "alpha male" human. The concept was taken from a study of wolves, and extrapolated to humans by guys who want to believe they're innately superior babe magnets or something. It's not even true for wolves. The study in question has since been determined to be inaccurate in some ways and misunderstood in others; it's own author no longer stands by its conclusions. It studied wolves in captivity, which changed their normal behavior. In the wild, wolf packs typically consist of a single breeding pair and their offspring who have not yet set out on their own. So the other wolves don't defer to the "alpha" male and female because they have some kind of magically dominant personalities. They defer to them because they're the *_parents_* .

16:34 - Yeah, it's true. What makes sushi "sushi" is the rice. The inclusion of fish or other protein is just for flavor or creative culinary inclusion, but even if you take away the fish and replace it with, I don't know, plantains, it's still sushi. Same way that a sandwich is still a sandwich even if it doesn't have cheese, lettuce, and/or tomato. The consumption of raw fish without the rice is called sashimi, which is why you often see the two terms (sushi and sashimi) used together but not interchangeably when eating out; you have a sushi course, fish with rice, and a sashimi course, just the fish.

7:39 Spanish flu broke out in WWI, not WWII

As a Mexican, I would like to add some context on the Cinco de Mayo fact. It does celebrate the Battle of Puebla (1862), in which our vastly inferior army defeated the best army on the world, the French. The French at the time were led by Napoleon III. After the battle, the French were so ashamed that they sent reinforcements and eventually captured the capital, leading to the second Mexican empire. The reason why the USA celebrate the day is because they couldn’t help with the defense against Europe powers as the Monroe Doctrine stated since they were fighting the civil war. When they heard about the invasion, I believe they braced for the worst, just to get news back that the Mexican army, composed in great part by native indians, defeated the professional French army, so they celebrated the date as a way to humiliate the French. We Mexicans do commemorate it as a heroic day in history, but we all know we were swiftly defeated after the battle. Our actual independence is September 15th when we actually have a huge party. If anyone wants to join in the conversation, feel free to do so!

Marie Curie was originally buried in two coffins, a lead one placed in a normal wooden one. When they exhumed her body for transfer to the Pantheon, they intended to place the lead coffin into a new one built for her niche, but they found that it didn't fit. As far as I can tell, her remains didn't show signs of significant radioactive contamination when they opened the lead coffin, and I believe her body (still a body at that point, having proved very well preserved) may have simply been placed in the unshielded new coffin. Pierre Curie's remains, however, do seem to have been noticeably radioactive when surveyed in 1995. I'm not sure what measures were taken with them.

Ooh, fun! I found this video 34 seconds after you posted it. I feel so early. BTW, when they say "no slaves but rather paid laborers" in ancient Egypt, that doesn't necessarily mean slaves never existed there. Egypt has a nearly 5 000 year history. Circumstances changed a lot over time.

"The vomitorium is not a place where romans would go to vomit" Have you smelt the exit and entrances of stadiums? They would have been both lol

16:30 - Caffeine is a diuretic. People hear that and make the leap to "Oh, coffee must dehydrate you!" without considering that the minor diuretic effect of the caffeine isn't nearly enough to offset the water that's in the coffee itself. The most you could say is that coffee's net contribution to your hydration will be slightly less than an equal amount of plain water's would be.

11:28 her name is claudette colvin, i believe she’s still alive today

I like dinosaurs so a few to add are that Dinosaurs are not actually lizards despite the name translating to "terrible or fearfully great lizards". They were archosaurs, more closely related to crocodilians. Dinosaurs are not cold blooded or ectothermic. They were warm blooded or endothermic. T. rex was not the ancestor of chickens. The two lineages branched off from a common bird-like ancestor by the early-mid jurassic. Pretty close in terms of dinosaurs but not a direct ancestry.

I did not expect the Spanish Inquisition.

*Looks at thumbnail* *Sees "Earth is a sphere" listed on common misconceptions* *Puts on tinfoil hat* Hah! I knew it! Earth is not a sphere like everyone says! Earth is a giant frosty donut flying in space!

Chris in a flannel makes him look like a badass historian

The lightbulb fact is incredibly misstated if it includes Tesla, Edison had already made the lightbulb by the time Tesla started working for him. It is true that there had been many lightbulb designs before Edison's though. Joseph Swan made a commercially viable design independently of Edison in England, so Edison had to work with him to manufacture bulbs there.

The thing with the laws of physics is that they came from our observations of the universe around us. They are laws only in that we have not seen cases where something occurs against them, however, it's not impossible that there is such a thing, it would just mean we would have to revise our "laws" of physics.

The books of The Bible were not selected at the Council of Niceia. Dan Brown spreads this false rumor in the DaVinci code. The Bible coalesced over centuries, and to this day still includes extra books in some versions, like The Ethiopian Bible that is used in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church for example.

A note on the last fact: Ub Iwerks' name is pronounced just like it looks: Ub (rhymes with tub or sub). He was born with the name Ubbe, but that, too, is pronounced the same as Ub.

Randall Munroe (XKCD) on the lightning trope: "They say lightning never strikes in the same place twice. 'They' are wrong. It is a little surprising that this saying has survived; You'd think that the people that believed it would be gradually filtered out."

The first one, there was an older BBC history show on Ancient Egypt. Next to the remains of the workers village they recovered a lot of papyri about daily life of the inhabitants. Love letters, risqué subjects, and just daily stories were among what was found. One chief supervisor and his wife had love letters and they were even able to locate their home. The marriage practice was to date another and when it seemed the time to marry the potential groom would wrap his belongings into a bundle and try to enter his beloved’s family home. If accepted they were deemed married. He could be chased away as well which was an emotional and social blow. Two or three papyri were found that told of one rejection. Archaeologists find all the important stuff in the garbage dump. The Viking Horns came about from a performance of a Wagner Opera “Die Walkure” as additional ornamentation.

16:50 After all these years, VTH is still VTHing creators. Love it!!!

While blood is thicker than water is an idiom about familial bonds, it is also true. Not sure why he said it's not. Blood is both denser and more viscous than water.

15:40 this reminds me of the fun fact that a squirrel would have to fall 4800 miles to die from falling. This is approximately the time it would take a squirrel to starve to death since their terminal velocity isn’t high enough to kill them on an impact

One that I would add is that the Bible never describes Noah's Ark as a boat, despite most artist's renderings. Apart from rough dimensions, there is no description of a keel, a mast, oars, a rudder, anchor or any other object or structure that would describe a boat. The Hebrew word translated as 'ark' (ta-va) is only used one other time, and this is in reference to the basket that the baby Moses is placed in.

The Coca Cola santa was created by one of my ancestors about a century ago. While he often gets miscredited with creating the modern depiction of Santa his drawings definitely popularised it. Hence why it’s a common misconception

2:48 the assertion isn't that Coke "created" Santa, but rather that they were instrumental in the now popularized characteristic images of him, essentially their art department gave us the first ubiquitous images of him.

VTH you can't ignore Epic History's Battle of the Wabash forever. It's literally Ohio history. This is your destiny.

Also "blood is thicker than water" always meant what people think it means. That it originally meant the opposite is a misconception itself. There are a few sayings that can mean the opposite of what was intended (like how "a few bad apples spoil the bunch" but you might refer to "it's no big deal, just a few bad apples" or how "pulling yourself up by your bootstraps" is supposed to mean an impossible task but is often used now to mean "someone who overcame adversity all by themselves.") but that's quite rare.

13:25 Skin or eye color is hardly a "race". Those are just simple traits. The word "race" doesn't have any defined biological or physical meanings.

"Genetics doesn't determine race" is probably better phrased as "genetics does not support the notion of race." The qualities we might associate as defining a particular "race" are trivial compared to other genetic differences -- which we overlook because they may not be as readily apparent. It is a mistake to assume race exists because of surface qualities -- after all, we don't think people of different hair colors belong to a "race" of people.

4:30 To be fair, there was probably not much of THAT, either.

Regarding the tallest mountain one, if you exclude "island mountains" like Mauna Kea, then Everest STILL isn't the tallest mountain from base to tip, as Base Camp is already a good way above sea level - the tallest entirely above-water mountain is Kilimanjaro (also, the tallest mountain known to man is Olympus Mons on Mars...)

As the husband of someone with a seizure condition, NEVER try to put something in their mouth.. Roll them on their side in The Recovery Position.

10:31 I would assume it has to do with apple and fruit was practically synonymous back in the days. For example: we call it a pineapple not a pinefruit

Hey Chris, you should react to a video called "Stopping at McDonald's in 1989", where the guy is vlogging at a McDonalds, in 1989. Seems more like 1983 to me though. It would be nice to get someone who was around at the time to do a commentary about it. There's another similar cool video by a Spanish vlogger who vlogged himself on top of the World Trade Center before it was destroyed. Super HD footage. That one's called "SUBIMOS a las TORRES GEMELAS 3 meses antes del 11 SEPT"

What I’ve heard regarding the Genesis fruit thing is that it’s a latin pun that led to depiction as an apple, with “malum” being used as the word for apple but also for evil. Interestingly, Michelangelo depicts the fruit as a fig in his paintings, which has lots of other fun Biblical symbolism attached.

10:55 #30 is incorrect. It was said without evidence that the full phrase was "the blood of battle is thicker than the water of the womb", but the saying dates back to 13th century German with the generally accepted meaning (with the water referring to baptism)

Love your personality VTH, very soothing to watch

11:41 Thank you for bringing this up. It is a rarely spoken about black history fact.

#41 - these studies were the inspiration for the Great Cornholio

5 second rule. Total agree few people actually believe that. It's not the "5 second rule" it's the "I still want to eat that rule" 😂

Will you guys be visiting Hadrian's wall? Also great video!

Unfortunately a lot of police departments help perpetuate the 24 hour missing person myth. Pretty common that they wont do anything about it until at least 24 hours have passed.

17:27 1st World: NATO-aligned 2nd World: USSR-aligned 3rd World: Unaligned 4th World: Not advanced enough to participate in WWIII

5:55 Yes, The openings if brought together were about the same square footage as a door. Had a door sized hole been blown in the ship in any one location, it would have survived. Instead it was inflicted as a series of gashes along 1/3 of the ship, compromising five compartments. Too many to sustain buoyancy. Another misnomer about Titanic is that if it had more life boats, more people would have survived. They only had time to properly launch two less than what they had as it was, with the last two being floated off the deck (one partially flooded and the other upside down). If they had more boats, it would have slowed down the boarding process and it is possible even fewer would have survived.

13:26 I think a more important explanation is that race is a societal construct used to group people. Certain groups used to be considered "not white" and now are considered "white" such as Italians. It was not a genetic change that caused them to go from one racial group to another, rather it was a change in attitudes and perspectives toward such groups of people.

14:08 Its mainly about debunking scientific racism from the early 20th century and before, which at points embraced Darwinian thought regarding evolution, but tended to reject genetics and genetic diversity. This is where concepts of purity of the blood came from, leading to the preference for inbreeding among the elites (which stretched back eons of course). This underpinned the push for eugenics and also the tendency of segregationist politicians to stoke fears of mixed race couples and relationships. Genetic diversity leads to resilience to adverse conditions, while lack thereof does the opposite and leads one more susceptible to hereditary illness.

Ah, glad to see Napoleons Marshall's being donen😂 Joking, can't wait to see more historic battle feilds!

For number 62, Coffee is a diuretic so it makes you pee more when drinking so people believe that is forces the liquid out of your body prematurely there for drinking to much can be bad for you, but in actuality the effect on the body is so minor that for the regular coffee drinker there is little to no effect on hydration, and do to the amount of water in coffee some people my actually experience hydration

8:17 he fell out with Gauguin, who left the studio. he cut his ear in unstable rage, and a postman found him. That's how a biography i read as a kid went.

I always thought that Titanic could probably survive a direct hit with that glacier better than carving the whole hull open on it like a can opener by trying to steer away from it. But I guess the sudden deceleration would probably injure or outright kill more people than actually drowned there, so I guess it all probably worked out as well as it could have..

Another great video VTH!

If i remember correctly, the first girl who refused to give up her seat was 15 and indeed pregnant. She also, and i may be wrong about this so correct me if I'm wrong, was either violent or belligerent when ordered to give up her seat, so Rosa Parks was chosen as she was a better candidate due to her passive resistance

In the Philippines (or in my area at least) older people believe lightning is more prone to hit a gecko so they kill it whenever they see one to spare their house of fire from a lightning strike, but I guess that's not a misconception, just a superstition.

17:12 I'm actually surprised you didn't know that.

I was just watching ''Why Didn't Spanish America Unite Like Brazil?'' by Icebulb and noticed you were in it for a second at 25:10 I'd also recommend you to watch some of their videos

Darn! I didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition! The sign for sparing a gladiator was a clenched fist with the thumb inside, indicating a sheathed sword - an extended thumb in any direction was the sign to finish off the opponent. The reason for Antarctica being the largest desert is not due to a lack of precipitation (there is plenty) but the lack of liquid precipitation, which is almost unheard of. It is not short of snow though, and that is precipitation just as much as rain is.

I had heard that Van Gogh lost part of his ear in a duel with a friend after a heated dispute, and that he and his friend concocted the story of him cutting off his own ear as a way to avoid him losing face(pun both untended and unintended).

History Matters did a hilarious video about how wild the Wild West wasn't.

13:54 true I agree but it’s also fascinating when two white parents have a black child and find out one of there ancestors/relatives was black or half black it’s quite interesting or the case of the UK twins one ginger white girl the other a darker girl with different hair but they are the exception more likely we look like our parents or a combination

44 is an incredibly strange one to include on this list. I see a lot of modern science trying to just ignore the idea of human genetic haplogroups and therefore a massive amount of anthropological science. We aren't gumball machines, just like every other animal isn't. You don't just pop out a random color lol.

I've known the wet hair was a myth forever. I always air dry my hair and growing up in Texas but going to college in New York, I didn't let the fact that it was 25 degrees outside stop me from going to cafeteria. My response to a coworker on a "cold" Houston day when she tried to tell me this was "Well, it hasn't happened for the 20 years i have gone outside with wet hair in the cold before, so i doubt it will happen today."

Greg, you're no one trick pony! You've got a fantastic range of knowledge. And ability to explore your ignorance:)

Yes it’s true there is no waiting period to report a missing person, the problem is that many police departments will claim there is and will not file a report. They will just tell the person making the call to wait 24-48 hours. I’m sure there are many false alarms, but not accepting missing person reports right away has lead to so many unsolved cases of missing or murdered people

18:17 this is kind of splitting hairs, but the great persecution was mainly overseen by Galerius who was one of the emperors of the tetrarchy.

The sugar one is an example of correlation not causation, man it must be this cake that has all these kids rawled up and not that they're at a birthday party, it must be the candy and not that Halloween is fun

4:35 - That is as loud as i have ever laughed for a Vlogging Through History video.

1:49 that is the most pedantic reason given by the op video just lol

Funny enough you hear all the time from police even that they cant look for a missing person unless 24 hours have passed, heck even then most police will respond to missing persons requests with "if theyre an adult im sure theyre being responsible for whatever theyre doing, they probably just chose to disappear and theyll be back when they're ready." Ive even heard cases of police doing this for missing kids, replying to every case with "they probably just ran away, not our issue"

I think our intrepid host might be a bit buzzed, or maybe sleep deprived? which is not a complaint, it just adds to the rich texture of the fun imho. He seems loose and having fun with this.

Can you please react to ancient Roman history in 20 minutes by arzamas?

can you please vlog France and the American revolution by the Megan Daily

Oh, i didnt know you where going to visit my home country, hope you enjoy

11:25 If it wasn't for the fact that Claudette Colvin was 15, do you think she would have become the poster child for the movement? I remember you've said you read every comment, and I'm interested in your opinion on that.

well.... if the two blacks have white ancestory... it is actually possible for them to have a "white" child even if a lot of their black heritage still shows through in other forms or if that is extremely rare... I actually witnessed this in my time in the Domincan Republic, although those people have an incredible amount of genetetic diversity when it comes to the color of their skin simply because of their history of Spanish, African, and maybe possibly Taino heritage. but yeah, the point is the same.

don't know if anyone has mentioned this but, the title of your video says "6 minutes" but the original video says "9 minutes". Just wanted to point that out to ya! Love the videos and have a safe flight!

During the segment discussing the origin of the Spanish Flu, the text says that Spain was neutral during WW2…when the World War in question should actually be WW1. Still cool though

I heard somewhere that "rule of thumb" comes from falconry where you'd place your thumb over a falcon's feet when it's on your arm to keep it from flying off.

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition on this list

The Titanic disaster was Apollo 13 sans ground control - an insanely convoluted chain of events which, if even one hadn't occurred precisely how and when it did, the disaster wouldn't have happened. In most regions, an inch was defined as the width of a specific individual's thumb (usually the regional potentate - king, emperor, whoever). When someone needed a quick measurement and didn't have an actual ruler handy, using their own thumb was usually accurate enough to get the job done. Literally "a rule (as in "a measurement") of one's own thumb".

The Spanish flue was not during WW2, but WW1. And as they were neutral and had no censorship at that time they reported it first. Through the mystery plays around Christmas in Medieval times, you needed a fruit and apples were available, as you could keep them a long time through the winter and some may even had a bright red colour, so that fitted as a contrast to a green tree.

you can see the great wall from space if you have a picture of it!

The origin of the fire was "un-cow-n." My understanding about "flying on broomsticks" was it refered to using opium, something common in the day. Opium was best absorbed through thin membranes so women would apply it to the end of their broomsticks and insert it, well, we'll say where the membranes were thinnest. I'll let you imagine that for yourself rather than paint the picture.

"Every scientist builds on the work of previous scientists" To your point there: Charles Darwin didn't come up with Evolution, there had already been theories about it floating around and being discussed and debated for about a century before him. He just came up with a better theory of it than what came before

It’s a misconception that Joe Biden is perfectly fit right now

While we only get to see 50% of the Moon at any given time, we get to see 59% of the Moon's surface over time. due to two effects called libration. The first effect is caused by the Moon's orbit being at an angle to the Earth's equator. If the full Moon is well south of the equator observers in the northern hemisphere will see a distance over the Moon's north pole and not see the south pole at all. If you are the southern hemisphere observing the full moon the opposite effect will occur. The second effect is caused by the fact the Moon's orbit is slightly elliptical it's speed of revolution is not constant. It orbits faster when it's close to the Earth (perigee) and slower when it's further from the Earth (apogee). Since it's rotational period does not vary the observer may be able to see a little further to the east or a little further to the west.

Coming scotland come moray its the best

Might just be me, but I never believed that "lightning never strikes the same place twice" as a literal thing, but that it was just an exaggeration to express how unlikely it was for lightning to strike the same spot more than once.

A question that you might have an answer to, pertaining to how you get over certain violent urges in your mind. EG, like how it keeps feeling in my mind like in 1981 how close Reagan was to dying and feeling in my head how it feels unjust to so many millions of people that he didn't. If human lives are equal in value, then it feels like there are certain policy choices and prejudices that would have not continued like his bad policies on drugs, HIV, gay rights, vetoed bills condemning South Africa, and the way he undermined governments in other places even if democratic, or helped to fund Saddam in the war with Iran (that Saddam started). I don't know your thoughts on Reagan as a man so much, but imagine if the guy who shot Roosevelt in 1912 had instead chosen Wilson. We know just how much you detest Wilson for so many policies specific to him like his immense racism even by 1912 standards which helped the country remain on another 50 years of terrorism, poverty, and complete dejection of so many racial minorities from the country that falsely claimed that they were equal before the law. There could easily be dark thoughts in your mind wishing that the would be assassin had chosen Wilson. We heard from your video about reacting to a guy who espoused completely the wrong ideas in Lincoln: American Dictator, about how you turn away from people who advocate for shooting presidents. But we also know from your political compass video about how you think there are certain people who need to be deleted from the world basically. Rarely, but necessary in a few cases. Is there a line certain leaders can cross making it permissible to wish to do this sort of thing? And if not, how do you get over this sense of justice by revenge that can lie in your mind, even if you would reject doing it yourself by applying a moral code to yourself and fear the alternative

Canaries are named for the islands which were named for dogs.

In Portuguese law, you can’t report someone missing until 72 hours after, no? I’d heard that, but don’t know if it’s actually true.

Have a safe trip

Hope you have a wonderful time whilst over here in Bonnie Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

This is a really interesting one. Hopefully there will be more of these. 📻🙂

The coffee one is referring to caffeine’s diuretic properties

I got one I would add... Wearing a hat does not actually make somebody go bald like is the common perception

During the cold war 1st world meant allied with the west/nato. 2nd world was allied with the Soviet Union and third world wasn't alligned to either. We assume 3rd world = poverty because they didn't have the economic strength of the nato powers (1st world) and the 2nd world wasn't that far behind (tech and econ). Some countries in the 2nd world were rather quite poor with subpar living conditions as well as rights (East Germany comes to mind).