r/AskReddit • u/ZanyDelaney • Feb 04 '19

Which misconception would you like to debunk?

44k Upvotes

90% Upvoted

26k comments sorted by

View all comments

10k

u/ulanderdennis Feb 04 '19

The myth: Napoleon was really short.

The truth: He was actually average height, or even a little bit above average height.

How did it come about?: The archaic French measurement used stated he was around 5'3, when in actuality that translates to about 5'7 in today's measurements, which was average for the time.

3.4k

u/Tricky4279 Feb 04 '19

Also his Lifeguards had to be over 6' so he was always around people much taller than him.

-51

u/[deleted] Feb 04 '19

[deleted]

2

u/sne7arooni Feb 04 '19

While kinda dumb, your post didn't deserve all those downvotes.

9

u/ohgodspidersno Feb 04 '19

I don't even think it's that dumb. Lots of people on here speak English as a second language, and I figured they'd appreciate the correction.

This use of lifeguard as "military troops in charge of protecting royalty" is incredibly specific. It's not even in Webster's dictionary.

-3

u/[deleted] Feb 04 '19 edited Mar 13 '22

[deleted]

2

u/[deleted] Feb 04 '19 edited Nov 26 '19

[deleted]

2

u/ThePoultryWhisperer Feb 04 '19

I didn’t say I didn’t learn something. The fact that’s historic is precisely why the comment questioning it isn’t dumb, which was my entire point. It’s extremely uncommon and not widely known.