Popular Fallacy

Pic by Premeditated Chaos from http://commons.wikimedia.org

That´s what the book (German) I just finished is all about.

Here are the ones that I found astonishing the most:

Wild pigs were a delicacy for the Gaul
Nope, that animal was sacred to them. Big mistake in Asterix-Comics!

Dark skin developed to adapt people to strong solar irradiation
The other way round, remember, we all come from Africa. People who became more light-skinned by mutation did better in cooler regions.

Cats and Dogs can´t bear each other
Certainly they can learn, funny are these two examples:
   When a dog waggles his tail, he´s happy.
   To a cat this signals strain, emotional stress.

   When a cat lifts her paw she shows she´s ready to defend herself.
   Poor doggy thinks it´s a peace-offering (ouch!).

Ravens are bad parents
(there is the German saying "Raven-Parents" for uncaring parents)
Totally wrong! The young ones leave the nest on their own before being fully fledged.
So, whilst they sit in their new home looking rather clumsy, the parents still feed them - just like human parents still look after students who live away from home the first time :-)
(except mine - does it make them Raven-Parents? Errrrr Human-Parents? Now I´m confused!)

Captain Kirk says: "Beam me up, Scotty!"
Nope, he never did!
He said, "Scotty, beam me up", "Beam them out of there, Scotty", "Beam us up, Mr. Scott".
The mentioned phrase probably comes from the car-sticker: "Beam me up, Scotty. There´s no intelligent life down here."
Very embarrassing!

New Year's Eve Movie Dinner for One is a British export
It´s not even known there. It was written by an Englishman in 1920. 1963 it was filmed and two British Comedians starred, but not in England. In 1963 it was played in the theatre Hamburg, Germany, and recorded and that is the version we get every.single.New.Year'.Eve!
It´s also known in Austria and Switzerland. And was shown for 6 years in Sweden.
(Wikipedia has different/expanded info)

BTW - where I work, in Wolfsburg, we have lots of ravens, I like those clever birds.
And now in our new area on the way to the city (walking) there is one place where there are Ravens, too. They always remind me of Australia, though these are not as ... hm... long in their "calls".