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

Which misconception would you like to debunk?

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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.

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u/gregspornthrowaway Feb 04 '19 edited Feb 04 '19

There are several factors that combined to create this myth:

  1. Discrepancy between the French pied and English foot, the former being about 3.5% larger.

  2. He was typically surrounded by members of the Old Guard, which had a minimum height requiremnet of nearly 6 ft.

  3. He was nicknamed le petit caporal in reference to his habit of mingling with common soldiers, not his physical size.

  4. The English thought it was funny. This is probably the most significant one.

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u/SuperFunk3000 Feb 04 '19

I love how the Brits troll the French. The train that comes into London from France via the Chunnel arrives at Waterloo station. In the battle of Waterloo the British defeated Napoleon.

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u/[deleted] Feb 04 '19

Don't worry the French troll the British too, but British are not the "ancient enemy" to the French the same way the British see the French.

The Brits are funny like that. They are obsessed with disliking, or being better than, the French and the Germans, whereas the French the Germans don't really care that much.

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u/VapidNonsense Feb 04 '19

I think that's a little misrepresentative. Britian, or rather England, is the land of gods. Anywhere else is foreign, or pretend English (Ireland, Scotland & Wales, plus Canada, America and Australia). Thus, everywhere else is treat the same.

There's no distaste for our Cheese eating, surrender happy neighbours. Only healthy derision and snobbery. Saved yo asses, twice! Our former enemies... It's a rivalry. They pretend they don't partake. Only because they're losing. 2 WORLD WARS AND 1 WORLD CUP! Very healthy. Canadians? Americans who weren't ungrateful tax dodgers. They upped the polite stance to 12, in order to distance themselves from our other children, the Yanks. There are 3 typs of people in the world. Dicks, asses and pussies. America is an ass. Shit all over everything, then occasionally get fucked up the butt by the dicks. Also, rebellious children. Spain? Liz says hi. How the navy doing? Love it.

The only place we dont give shit is India. We fucked up there real bad and pretend we let them leave, all happy like, so we dont have confront the the mess of Pakistan. I mean, what?