Author Max Cryer dispels the simple truths which are actually lies in new book Is it True?

THERE are a lot of things in life you think are true but are actually wrong. Brace yourselves, these will blow your mind.

We may think angels have wings, but they don’t so there.

THERE are a lot of things in life you think are true but are actually wrong.

From common misuse of English words and expressions to myths we have simply accepted as fact, there's a lot of things we’re getting wrong — even if we don’t want to accept it.

That’s the view of British-born author Max Cryer whose book, Is It True?, dispels many of the myths and beliefs we have all been getting wrong for so long.

Released this week, Is it True?, spans across language and history to music and politics, with Cryer revealing the gap between what we think we know is true and what isn’t.

Now based in New Zealand, the broadcaster and entertainer told news.com.au that just because something appeared to be common knowledge didn’t necessarily mean it was a fact.

Joking that the book may make him unpopular for busting popular myths, Cryer said people simply believed what they were told first and settled on that being a fact.

“Some people just don’t want to be told something is wrong,” he said.

According to the author, here are just some of the things we are getting wrong and probably don’t even know it.

A scene from the 2009 film 'Sherlock Holmes'.

USE OF COMMON SPEECH/EXPRESSIONS:

The expression “Elementary my dear Watson” was said by Sherlock Holmes.

False: According to Cryer, Sherlock Holmes never actually said it and neither does it appear in any of the 60 Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The expression was first mentioned by author P.G Wodehouse in his 1909 novel Psmith, Journalist. Twenty years later it was used in the film The Return of Sherlock Holmes and has been popular ever since.

Mayday is English for the French term ‘m’aidez:

False: It was invented in England in 1923, supposedly based on the French term ‘venez m’aider’ which means come and help me. The abbreviated version was used with the intention that both the French and the English would understand it. But it is an English, not a French expression.

Bimbo means a pretty blonde woman

False: Basically it is slang for short boy in Italian whereas bimba means girl.

Just deserts means someone got what they deserved

True: The expression ‘deserts’ is the noun from the verb ‘to deserve’

SOS means saved our souls and was first used on The Titanic

False: Neither is true SOS, doesn’t actually mean anything and the first recorded use of it was in June 1909 when the SS slavonia was in distress in the North Atlantic.

The word crap was named after Thomas Crapper

False: The word was used 300 years before the inventor was even born.

Decimated means considerable devastation

The word derives from decem which is Latin for 10. So when you’re saying decimated you’re basically saying one out of every 10 things are lost or destroyed.

Nope these popular plants don’t actually come from where you think they do.

POPULAR MYTHS:

Jingle bells is a Christmas song

False: The song, according to Cryer, was actually written about winter and thanksgiving, neither of which Australia and New Zealand celebrate during a summer festive season. Yet the song is played everywhere.

St Valentine is all about love

False: Not really true either — the Roman Catholic priest St Valentine was never married or in love and was actually celibate, Cryer said.

Santa’s reindeers all have big antlers

False: In Alaska, males lose their antlers in winter, only females have theirs for foraging which must mean all Santa’s sleigh pullers are in fact female.

Angels have wings, play harps and are women:

False: They may be mentioned hundreds of times in the Bible but they are not female nor is there any mention of them having halos but they do play a musical instrument — the trumpet.

Smoking causes nicotine stains:

False: Nicotine is colourless, the stain you see is actually tar.

Cigarettes may addictive but the nicotine in them doesn’t stain.

HISTORY:

Henry the VIII divorced his wives:

False: His marriages were either annulled or ended in death.

King Henry VIII never got divorced, despite the popular idea that he did.

The Von Trapp family escaped from Austria over the mountains

False: The family left the country on a train, the mountain scene was a Hollywood construction.

The Wright brothers were the first to fly

False: Gustav Whiteead technically flew in 1901 before the famous brothers did in 1903.

Tulips came from Holland

False: The truth is the universally popular flower originated in Turkey and was actually named because of its close resemblance to a turban.

Santa Claus is from the North Pole

False: St Nicholas was actually born in Turkey.

Brown or white eggs?

FOOD:

Brown eggs are better than white:

False: As it turns out there’s no evidence to say darker eggs are better than lighter, it is just simply the shell colouring which is different.

Instant coffee originated in the US

False: It was actually patented in New Zealand in 1890.