There are thousands of great dishes in the world, and considering this it is not surprising that many people have mistaken impressions of where certain cuisine comes from, or where it is popular. Many dishes that we think come from one country, either do not originate there, or are served in a completely different manner. Some things that we consider to be extremely popular in certain countries, or even believe are national dishes in certain places, may originate loosely in that country but are rarely eaten there. Below are ten common fallacies in regards to the origin of foods.

Misconception: French Fries originate in France.

French Fries are incredibly popular all over the world, but the origin really wasn’t French. While the French have tried to claim them in the past, the truth is that they were invented by the Belgians. While they were invented in Belgium, and still quite popular there, some of the folklore around them is a little fantastic. The stories say that some Belgians would often fry very small fish, and when they had no fish, they would make potatoes in the shape of small fish instead. The story may sound a little fantastic, but all good folk tales do.

Misconception: Chimichangas are a Mexican food.

Many people would name Chimichangas if you asked them to name Mexican foods, but they aren’t really a Mexican food at all. The truth is that Chimichangas would fit more in the category of “Tex-Mex”. However, this deep fried burrito does not originate from Texas either. According to recent developments, it is likely that the state of Arizona invented the Chimichanga, and they have been considering making it the state food.

Misconception: Egg rolls are a Chinese food.

The Egg Roll that we eat in many parts of the western world isn’t really all that much like the most similar Chinese food. The egg rolls westerners know was created by Chinese immigrants to America who were using what they had on hand to make something that would still seem like theirs, but was meant to appeal to Americans. However, the thick hard-shelled egg rolls are nothing like the actual spring rolls that you will find in Hong Kong or elsewhere in China. Spring rolls are much more delicate and light, while western egg rolls are much more like deep fried dough stuffed with lettuce and tiny shrimp.

Misconception: Nachos are a Mexican food.

While nachos were originally invented by a Mexican, they were made to satisfy the appetites of visitors from the USA, out of spare ingredients that were lying around. The man who invented them was known by the name “Ignacio”, which is where the name nacho comes from. A man named Frank Liberto eventually starting selling them at stadiums and the rest was history. They have now become a wildly popular concession food. The nachos often seen in western stadiums today are made with a strange cheese concoction invented by Liberto that would stay good longer and not need to get hot to melt. Basically, Liberto invented mutant cheese sauce.

Misconception: Sushi rolls are commonly eaten in Japan.

Most westerners think of sushi rolls whenever asked about Japanese food, however, the truth is that sushi is not nearly as popular in Japan as it is among those who are trying to emulate Japanese culture. Many Japanese people, just for starters, feel a little bit intimidated when they head down to the sushi bar. More importantly, however, sushi is rarely eaten in Japan. Less than a quarter of Japanese surveyed even ate sushi a couple of times a month or more, sushi is simply a meal usually reserved for an important event. And Japanese people would rarely eat the kind of rolls westerners are used to. What they usually eat is called nigiri and consists of a long piece of fish with a big ball of rice wrapped around it using seaweed.

Misconception: Spaghetti and Meatballs are from Italy.

When asked about foods that come from Italy, many people would think of Spaghetti and Meatballs before anything else, but Spaghetti and Meatballs is not a dish of Italian origin. While it was invented by Italians, they were immigrants in North America. But more to the point, in Italy Spaghetti and Meatballs is not on the menu, and not really something they serve. On the rare occasions that pasta and meatballs are even involved in the same dish, they are definitely not served together.

Misconception: Croissants originate in France.

Many people are under the impression that croissants were invented in France, some westerners even say it with a faux French accent in an attempt to sound sophisticated (in English it is pronounced “cruh-sont”. However, the croissant is believed to have actually come from something called the kipferl. While there are many conflicting stories about how the croissant came to be, most believe that it was by an Austrian man. Legend says the man was an artillery officer from Austria who decided to open up shop in neighboring France, and that after introducing the kipferl the croissant eventually followed.

Misconception: Crab Rangoon is a dish of Chinese origin.

Crab Rangoon for those who don’t know, is a cream cheese filled, deep fried wanton, with crab meat in it. It has enjoyed considerable popularity in the western world, but as you might have guessed, isn’t really Chinese at all. Rather, it fits into that dubious category of “Chinese-American Cuisine”. The main reason why this dish doesn’t make any sense as Chinese is that cheese in generally, especially cream cheese, is seldom eaten in China. Also, while the dish may sound good now, keep in mind that the crab meat inside is rarely actually crab meat. Much crab Rangoon only carries imitation crab meat, and some recipes call for it especially.

Misconception: Pizza is Italian.

While Italian’s do have their own version of pizza, it is nothing like what many in America would expect it to be. And the legends of who invented pizza, and where and how are very murky. However, it is important to note the differences between the two styles of pizzas. In America, pizza is generally slathered in tomato sauce with seasonings, topped with a ton of cheese and then heaped with toppings. However, in Italy, pizza is a much more exquisite creation that might disappointment American food cravings. They don’t always involve tomato sauce—some opting instead for fresh tomatoes— and frequently include fresh herbs and vegetables, some mozzarella and olive oil. While both dishes have the same name, they are strikingly different.

Misconception: Corned Beef and Cabbage is the national dish of Ireland.

With St. Patrick’s Day recently behind us, millions around the world may have eaten corned beef and cabbage in honor of the Patron Saint of Ireland. However, corned beef and cabbage really isn’t all that popular amongst the Irish, and it certainly isn’t the national dish. While Ireland doesn’t really have an official national dish, some believe that the most popular would be a bacon joint, likely served with potatoes and maybe vegetables. There are, however, many different great Irish foods. The key point is that there really isn’t any one national food of Ireland, and Corned Beef isn’t even all that Irish.

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Without written records to give us an idea of what life before written history was like, we are left to decipher the clues left behind and put the pieces together for ourselves. Imagining a world before the written word is a little mind-blowing, and as we learn more and more about life thousands of years ago, we’re also finding that a number of popularly held beliefs about the prehistoric world are absolutely false.

10 Food Was Dull and Bland

Historians at the University of York recently analyzed several pottery shards found along the Baltic Sea. The pottery, which was in use about 6,000 years ago, contained traces of lipid deposits, which came from fish, shellfish, and deer, and after comparing other trace residues to more than 120 different types of plants, they found that the prehistoric chefs were using garlic mustard to flavor the dishes.

Garlic mustard seeds are tiny and have a hot flavor similar to a peppery wasabi. What they don’t have is any real nutritional value, leading the researchers to conclude that the only reason they were included in cook pots was to add some spice.

Other European sites, dating back to between 4,000 and 5,000 years ago, have yielded other cooking pots and vessels that still contain traces of spices like turmeric, capers, and coriander.

9 Industry Was A Foreign Concept

Archaeologists have recently uncovered sites recognizable as workshops that date back to around 60,000 years ago, but Blombos Cave in South Africa has yielded something even older. Researchers call it a prehistoric paint factory, and the cave contains everything that would have been needed to assemble paint kits for ancient cave paintings. The site contains containers made from abalone shells, bone spatulas for grinding and mixing components, and pigments used in the creation of red and yellow paints.

In 2008, 70,000-year-old ocher pigments were uncovered, and the finds have suggested that the cave was used as a manufacturing facility for tens of thousands of years. The colored paints would have been used not only in cave paintings but on leather objects, pottery, or even as body paint. Red paint dating back at least 160,000 years has previously been found, but the findings in Blombos Cave show an unheard-of level of chemical knowledge, preparation, and the ability to mass produce and store products.

8 Prehistoric Creatures Were Dinosaurs

The term “dinosaur” actually has a very specific definition, and the creatures that fall into that category only occupy several steps along a whole family tree of prehistoric critters. In order to be considered a dinosaur, there need to be a few specific features present in the skeleton: The most apparent feature is in the hip; dinosaur hip bones consist of three separate but joined bones with a central hole for the head of the femur. That construction is what gives the dinosaur its stance, and not all ancient creatures have that particular bone structure. From there, dinosaurs are further classified as “bird-hipped” and “lizard-hipped,” a distinction made in 1888.

So, what creatures are most commonly misidentified as dinosaurs? Pterosaurs, the iconic prehistoric flying creatures, are technically part of another branch of the family tree called the avemetatarsalians.

7 There Is A Missing Link

There are few paleontological terms that are tossed around more than “missing link,” but the popular impression that one single creature is the missing link is deeply flawed.

In 1863 a Scottish physician named John Crawfurd first used the term to refer to the idea of a species that existed between modern man and our primate ancestors. Afterward, it was applied to the discoveries of Homo erectus and Australopithecus africanus, and it has been a media misconception ever since. Technically, every single species and every single fossil is a missing link because of the slow development of transitional anatomies.

6 Prehistoric Humans Ate A Paleo Diet

The idea of a singular Paleo diet first showed up in the 1960s, and today, it is still a way of life for a certain percentage of the population.

The modern Paleo diet is heavily meat-based, with no processed grains, legumes, or sugars. Supporters of the Paleo lifestyle argue that this is fine because we haven’t changed too much since the time we were hunter-gatherers, so we should—in theory—be healthier this way.

The idea that it was only when we got away from healthy living that we developed diseases like diabetes is what one researcher calls a “Paleofantasy.” It is completely false, just as it isn’t true that we remain unchanged from our prehistoric ancestors.

And finally, there is no such thing as a single, historical Paleo diet, anyway. While ancient Inuit people had a diet that was heavy in meat and fish (with not much of anything else), the !Kung of southern Africa were eating mostly nuts and seeds.

5 Agriculture Started The Development Of Cities

For decades, the standard explanation of how we went from our prehistoric society to our modern one was with the development of agriculture. Once we started figuring out how to farm, we no longer needed to move with migrating herds of animals. We could build permanent homes and villages and we could turn our attention to things like writing and culture.

Discoveries of stone tools and animal bones at Gobekli Tepe suggest that we have that all completely backwards.

At the heart of Gobekli Tepe are a series of carved stone megaliths dated to around 11,000 years ago. The stones were carved and installed while the civilization was still relying on its hunting and gathering ways. It was only about 500 years later that they established a nearby village where they domesticated sheep, pigs, and cattle and started to farm the world’s oldest strains of wheat.

The need to build a massive complex, carve sacred images into stone, and to create a sociological center forced mankind to develop farming and herding as a way to feed the builders and stoneworkers. Farming provided the fuel necessary to allow our prehistoric ancestors to make their vision a reality.

4 Neanderthals Didn’t Honor Their Dead

Several major discoveries have shown that not only did Neanderthals bury their dead, but they mourned them in complex rituals as well. We know that they were certainly capable of forming attachments and feeling grief—precursors to the need to mourn. For example, discoveries of the remains of Neanderthals who were elderly or infirm shows us that they would go out of their way to provide extra care for an aging individual rather than abandon them.

In addition to burials, archaeologists have also excavated Neanderthal remains that show signs of processing, much like modern bodies that are processed for burial. In some remains, knife marks show where bone marrow was removed, where soft tissues were cut away, and where joints were purposely separated. It has been suggested that these particular cuts can be associated with cannibalism, but also that it might have been done as part of a spiritual ritual.

Furthermore, at least one formal prehistoric cemetery has been found in Irkutsk, Russia. The cemetery contains more than 100 bodies belonging to the members of a hunter-gatherer tribe that lived in the area between 7,000 and 8,000 years ago.

3 Neanderthals Lived Short Lives

The last Neanderthal died around 40,000 years ago, and science has been trying to figure out just why Homo sapiens were the ones to survive. One theory is that Homo sapiens simply had a longer lifespan than our Neanderthal cousins.

An analysis of fossil records refutes that idea. Neanderthals and early humans had similar life expectancies. The two species coexisted for about 150,000 years and about 25 percent of individuals from both species survived past the age of 40. There were also about equal percentages of people that made it past the age of 20.

2 Prehistoric Art Was Simple

A 2012 study analyzed artistic depictions of movement in four-legged animals from prehistoric cave paintings all the way through the modern era. The study found that prehistoric artists were better at accurately depicting animal movement than modern artists. The analysis looked at 1,000 modern works of art and found that the error rate in artistic depictions was around 57.9 percent. The prehistoric artwork studied had only an error rate of around 46.2 percent. That makes our ancient ancestors much more accurate in their art than modern masters.

Prehistoric people weren’t just making art on cave walls, either. Countless bog bodies and mummified remains have been found with extensive tattooing, and the discovery of 3,000-year-old artifacts from the Solomon Islands has afforded valuable insight into the practice of early tattooing. The volcanic glass tools are among the only prehistoric tattooing instruments ever found.

1 Prehistoric Living Was Clean

As it turns out that prehistoric man needed a little escapism, too—by getting high.

Traces of the hallucinogenic San Pedro cactus dating to around 10,000 years ago have been found in caves in the Andes Mountains of Northern Peru, and documented evidence of the use of magic mushrooms is even more plentiful.

There is also evidence of opium use and humans chewing coca leaves at least 8,000 years ago, beginning in the area around the Mediterranean and spreading to the rest of Europe.

And alcohol, the favorite modern drug, dates back to at least 7000 BC in the form of a fermented rice, honey, and fruit beverage discovered on pottery shards from the Henan Province.

As language evolves, we often expand the meanings of certain words and phrases. Thanks largely to slang, words like “bad” and “ill” can now be used positively. In most instances, though, those words rarely lose their original meaning. We just expand our use of them.

However, there are many words in the English language that have truly lost their original meanings over time. It’s not that we’re necessarily using these words wrong or even that we’re using an alternate definition of them. Instead, these words have changed so much over the years that it’s almost impossible to use them in their original contexts without sounding like you’re speaking a different language.

Related: 10 Pop Culture Tattoos (and Their Secretly Ridiculous Meanings)

10 Awful

Awful can mean “bad,” but it’s more commonly associated with “unpleasant.” These days, you typically use “awful” to describe something that is not only bad but that upsets or offends your senses on some level.

Yet, “awful” is derived from the Middle English words “agheful” and “aueful,” which were used to describe the sensation of being filled with awe or to describe something worthy of invoking such a feeling. Even at that time, though, the word was sometimes used to describe something that fills one with so much awe that it also inspired a sense of dread. That helps explain how the word eventually came to invoke powerful feelings of disdain.^[1]

9 Apology

We all apologize (hopefully) when we’ve done something wrong and wish to make amends to the person we’ve wronged. It’s essentially an admission of guilt mixed with a plea for forgiveness. That’s nearly the opposite of how the word was originally used years ago, though.

As recently as the 16th century, the word “apology” was used to describe one’s defense against an accusation. An apology (or “apologie”) could be rooted in facts but was also a way to say “here is my side of the story” to defend yourself—as in Plato’s Apology. It’s not entirely clear when the popular shift in meaning occurred, though Shakespeare’s use of the word in Richard III and other works gradually brought us to the point where apologies became associated with forgiveness.^[2]

8 Terrific

Centuries ago, the word “terrific” was commonly used to describe something that invoked a great sense of terror. Even as late as the 1800s, the word was more closely associated with things of great size or intensity. It was essentially a combination of “terrifying” and “excessive” that grew to emphasize the meanings of the latter word.

So, how did “terrific” come to mean something wonderful? The shift seemingly happened in the late 1800s when writers began to use the word somewhat ironically in things like advertisements and reviews. The increasingly popular idea was that something could be so bold or excessive that it almost had to be seen. Interestingly, the English language is filled with words that were once used to convey terror but gradually became something positive through the bridge concept of “awe.”^[3]

7 Cynicism

The ancient Greeks used the word “cynic” to convey the idea of someone or something having “dog-like” features. It was commonly applied to a group of philosophers who believed that people should live simple lives in pursuit of virtue. Those philosophers were referred to as Cynics by those who saw them as beggars and outcasts.

However, by the time the word “cynic” began to appear in English writing, it was most commonly used to describe those philosophers and their beliefs in a more neutral, observant way. Over the years, though, the idea of being “cynical” was adopted by those who derided such people due partially to the belief that they were judging those around them. That revised definition, combined with the beliefs of the original philosophers, eventually gave us the now-common idea of a cynic being skeptical toward modern people and systems.^[4]

6 Peruse

In more recent years, people have used the word “peruse” to describe a casual observation of something. For instance, you may peruse the sales rack of a store or a book as you flip through its pages. As far back as the 16th century, though, peruse was used to describe someone reading something in great detail or otherwise performing a thorough examination.

Remarkably, people are still arguing over the correct definition of peruse to this day. Some dictionaries offer both seemingly contradictory meanings of the word, while other sources have sided with one or the other. It’s not clear why the “skim” definition has become especially popular in recent years, though you can find centuries-old uses of that interpretation in various published works.^[5]

5 Nice

While the word “nice” can be used as an insult these days—such as saying someone is too nice or using the word to mock an obvious mistake—it is considered the standard way to convey that something is pleasant. In the 1300s and 1400s, though, “nice” was more commonly used to call someone ignorant.

What changed? Society did. The word “nice” was gradually used to describe excess luxury and, eventually, high society people who focused too much on polite appearances. As parts of the world shifted to gradually emphasize such behavior, “nice” eventually became a far less derogatory concept. Of course, you can still find the roots of the word in those who use “nice” as an insult these days.^[6]

4 Naughty

Essentially, the opposite of “nice” (especially around the holidays), “naughty” is used to describe someone or something that is very bad. It’s such an obvious example of that idea that the word is often used when you want to convey an exaggerated parody of that concept.

However, “naughty” was originally used to describe poor people who had very little in life. The word eventually grew to describe such people who were also believed to lack basic morality, which is the use of the phrase that slowly caught on. By the 1600s and 1700s, “naughty” was more commonly used to describe someone (usually a child) who is misbehaving or generally exhibits bad behavior.^[7]

3 Meat

It’s hard to imagine that there could be another definition of the word “meat.” Sure, we have adopted various slang phrases that use that word in slightly different contexts, but it’s difficult to imagine a time when “meat” was popularly used to describe anything other than food that comes from the flesh of an animal.

Yet, until around the 14th century, “meat” was used to describe almost any solid food (as opposed to liquids). If you go far enough back, you’ll find that variations of the word have been used to describe a wide variety of substances. As the English language evolved, though, the word “meat” eventually conveyed something much more specific. It grew to be used in the more specialized way we use it today.^[8]

2 Speed

Until around the later days of the Middle English era (the late 1500s), the word “speed” and its variations were typically used to convey the idea of success. Specifically, it was often related to the pursuit and achievement of your goals. While achieving those goals quickly was sometimes implied in variations of the phrase, the idea of rapidity wasn’t necessarily automatically applied to the word “speed” (or even the phrase “Godspeed”) at that time.

By the mid-1500s, though, “speed” was more commonly used to imply a quick and successful journey or endeavor. As that phrase was used by growing industrial sectors to suggest increased work and production rates, the haste aspect of “speed” became much more prominent. Even today, you can argue that we often use the word with the implication of success.^[9]

1 Bully

As late as the 1500s, the word “bully” was used like we may use the phrase “sweetheart” today. It was a term of endearment that could describe a variety of people you have an intimate relationship with. Around the 1600s, though, we find more instances of the phrase being used to describe males as essentially being “good guys” or “fine fellows.”

Interestingly, the word continued to evolve from there and was eventually used to describe blusterous individuals (typically males) who were not afraid of taking risks. Eventually, some applied that word to people fitting that description who had also done something wrong (usually something violent) to them. While “bully” was often used at that time to describe ruffians and thugs, the original intimacy of the phrase is arguably still implied in the hurt we feel that someone socially close to us would do us harm.^[10]

Many people have studied body language to figure out what an individual is saying nonverbally through unconscious gestures or movements. Facial expressions and how someone holds their body are supposed to tell us what a person really means, even if it conflicts with that person’s words.

One area of body language isn’t that difficult to interpret. In fact, the meanings of some hand gestures seem fairly straightforward—like the infamous middle finger. Interestingly, most hand gestures never started with the insulting, neutral, or positive meanings they have today. Many have changed meanings so much that you may be surprised by their origins.

10 Middle Finger

The infamous middle finger is one of the most offensive hand gestures out there. It can mean anything from f—k you to f—k off, go f—k yourself, and shove it up your a—. The sign did not mean any of these when it originated in ancient Greece. The meaning was no better, though. It was used to ridicule a man penetrated during gay sex.

The Greeks called the gesture katapygon. The term spilled over into ancient Latin where it was called digitus impudicus (“shameless, indecent, or offensive finger”). By the 1700s, the gesture meant sexual intercourse or a penis. When used to depict a penis, the fingers on either sides of the upright finger represented the testicles.^[1]

Italian immigrants introduced the gesture to the U.S. in the 1800s. At that time, it took on its modern meaning. The gesture became popular and replaced yelling as a method of showing discontent with a person.

9 Salute

The origin of the salute is somewhat obscure. One theory claims that it first appeared in ancient Rome when soldiers raised their hands to greet other soldiers. This is disputed because there is no evidence that Roman soldiers raised their hands in greeting.

Another theory claims that the gesture originated in medieval Europe when fully dressed knights raised their visors with one hand to show approaching knights that they were friendly. This idea is also disputed. A third undisputed theory claims that British soldiers created the salute.

Before the 18th century, British soldiers removed their hats to greet higher-ranking soldiers. This became an issue in the 1700s when British soldiers started wearing elaborate hats. Junior soldiers started slapping their hats to greet senior soldiers because removing the hats was a chore. The British army later formalized the gesture and turned it into the salute that we know today.

However, unlike the U.S. military that salutes with the palm facing downward, British soldiers salute with the palm facing outward. This is because the U.S. military salute is based on the British Navy salute. The British Navy salutes with the palm downward because sailors often had dirty palms.^[2]

8 Handshake

A handshake is the most common hand gesture out there. Like other frequent hand gestures, its origin is somewhat disputed. Many agree that the handshake started hundreds of years ago when men moved around with weapons.

Men in close contact shook their right hands to prove that they did not have weapons on them. They even moved their hands up and down—just as we do today—to make weapons hidden in their sleeves fall out.

Another likely origin indicates that the gesture may have begun as a sign of sealing an oath or promise. An artifact from the ninth century BC even depicts King Shalmaneser III of Assyria shaking hands with the king of Babylon to seal their alliance.

Whichever is true, the Quakers were the first to use the handshake as a form of greeting. In the 17th century, the Quakers adopted the handshake over concerns that bowing the head or removing a hat did not show equality.^[3]

7 Crossed Fingers

Crossed fingers are used for luck or to indicate a lie or preplanned ploy to renege on a promise. Its origin is disputed, which isn’t surprising as its dual use could indicate two different origins. Some say that the gesture first appeared in pre-Christian Europe.

Europe was a hotbed of superstition at that time. A common superstition was that good spirits lived at the intersections of crosses. If two people made wishes while creating a single cross with their index fingers together, they believed that the good spirits would be inclined to grant their wishes.

Others say that the gesture first appeared after Christianity reached Europe. Christians were persecuted at the time, so they created several secret symbols, such as the cross, for identification. Back then, two people created the cross symbol differently. Each made an “L” sign with the thumb and index finger. Then they would cross their index fingers with their thumbs touching.

Whichever explanation is true, the gesture became common during the 14th century when soldiers fighting the Hundred Years’ War crossed their fingers for luck and protection. Soldiers made the cross with two of their fingers because it was sometimes impossible to create the symbol with another soldier.^[4]

For the lying connotation of crossed fingers, it is believed that early Christians made the cross when they told a lie because it supposedly protected them from the wrath of God. At the time, the punishment for being Christian was death. As a result, Christians often denied their faith so they would not be killed.

6 Sign of the Horns

The sign of the horns is a hand gesture with various meanings and uses in different cultures. It is formed by extending the index and little finger while holding the middle and ring fingers down with the thumb. In Italy, when made with the “horns” pointed downward, the sign is used when confronted with unfortunate events or to ward off bad luck or the “evil eye.” It is called a corna, meaning “horns.” Also, in Italy and other parts of the Mediterranean, it can also be seen as an offensive gesture when directed at a person and swiveled back and forth. Then, it is a sign of cuckoldry.

It is also a sign seen in rock ‘n roll culture. It was first seen on the album cover for a band named Coven and then on a Beatles album cover (Yellow Submarine). It was made famous in the heavy metal scene by Ronnie James Dio. Dio claimed that it was not a sign of the devil, but instead, it was a sign he learned from his Italian grandmother—a symbol to ward off the evil eye. The horns became popular in metal concerts very soon after Black Sabbath’s first tour with Dio. The sign would later be appropriated by heavy metal fans.^[5]

The “sign of the horns” is also associated with gang membership or affiliation with Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13). The significance is both the resemblance of an inverted “devil horns” to the Latin letter ‘M’ and the broader demonic connotation of fierceness and nonconformity.

To anyone in Texas, the hand gesture is most well-known as the Hook ‘em Horns sign for the University of Texas at Austin. The gesture is meant to approximate the shape of the head and horns of the UT mascot, the Texas Longhorn Bevo. Other sports teams also use this gesture, or a slight variation, to represent their various mascots—bulls, bison, and devils.

The symbol was also described in Bram Stoker’s Dracula in 1897.

5 V-Sign

The V-sign could have a different meaning depending on where you are. The palm-facing-outward version common in the U.S. is used to indicate peace or victory. The palm-facing-inward method common in Britain is considered an alternate version of the middle finger.

The origin of either sign is disputed, and whether they are of the same origin remains unclear. Some believe that the gesture first appeared during the Battle of Agincourt between England and France in October 1415.

French soldiers hated the highly effective British archers so much that the French cut two fingers off the hands of captured British archers. The fingers were the most important for using a bow. Other archers realized this and began raising two fingers at French soldiers as an insult.^[6]

Another story indicates that the V-sign originated from the cuckold gesture made with the little and index fingers. The cuckold gesture was usually directed at the husband of an adulterous wife. While derogatory, it was not considered a serious insult.

4 Thumbs Up And Thumbs Down

A thumbs-up is a symbol of approval. A thumbs down shows disapproval. Both gestures originated from the gladiator combats of ancient Rome. They were called pollice verso (“turned thumb”) at the time.

At the end of bloody combat, the referee was sometimes asked whether a defeated and badly injured gladiator should be killed or spared. The referee turned to the spectators, who indicated their choice by giving a thumbs up or thumbs down. A thumbs up meant the loser should be killed. A thumbs down (indicating “swords down”) meant the loser should be spared.^[7]

3 Clenched Fist

The clenched fist is the ultimate symbol of solidarity. It has been used by oppressed, resistance, and political groups to show solidarity, defiance, struggle, triumph, resistance, and power. Most Americans will be surprised to learn that the gesture is actually a communist symbol.

The clenched fist first appeared during the Spanish Civil War between the fascists and the communists. The fascists used an open palm salute as their symbol. Searching for a symbol of their own, the communists settled for the clenched fist.

The communists soon used the symbol to show they weren’t pushovers. Unlike the open palm that depicts a palm, four weak fingers, and a thumb, the clenched fist depicts four weak fingers and a thumb made into a powerful fist. Other communist groups later adopted the symbol, and it soon spilled over into civil rights groups and anti-colonialist opposition.^[8]

2 Shaka Sign

The shaka sign is made with the pinky finger and thumb pointing upward while the other fingers rest on the palm. It is popular in Hawaii where it is often accompanied with the greeting “Shaka, brah!” It means everything from hello to goodbye, thank you, hang loose, right on, no need to rush, and everything is all right.

The origin of the shaka sign is disputed. Two stories attribute its start to a Hawaiian named Hamana Kalili. Although both versions agree that Kalili had lost three fingers on his right hand, one claims that he unwittingly created the gesture when he used his right hand to bless a person.^[9]

The second version states that Kalili started the gesture when he used the hand to ward off children trying to jump on trains. Other sources say that the gesture was first used by a surfer who had three fingers bitten off by a shark.

A fourth explanation states that the sign was used by the first Spaniards who landed in Hawaii. The Spaniards supposedly made the gesture at the natives but raised their thumbs to their lips. This showed that they were friendly and wouldn’t mind sharing a drink with the natives.

1 Vulcan Salute

The Vulcan salute resembles the V-sign except that it is done with four fingers on the same hand. With all fingers on that hand initially together, the middle and ring fingers move away from each other to create the letter V. The Vulcan salute is considered a greeting by fans of the Star Trek series and people who just love sci-fi.

Leonard Nimoy first used the Vulcan salute when he played Mr. Spock in a 1967 episode of Star Trek. Initially, it was a greeting among members of the Vulcan race in the series and meant “live long and prosper.” The gesture was created by Nimoy, who wanted the Vulcans to have a unique greeting.^[10]

Nimoy borrowed the Vulcan salute from a similar Jewish gesture depicting the Hebrew letter shin, the first letter in “Lord.” Jewish priests can use the gesture to bless people during services, which Nimoy had seen when he was younger.

The writings of great men like Plato and Marcus Aurelius are studied today with the same fervor and admiration they enjoyed thousands of years ago. However, we often overlook the poor folk who lived ordinary lives and dealt with ordinary problems. Etchings from some of these men have survived thousands of years and give us extraordinary glimpses into everyday life in ancient empires.

10 An Egyptian Soldier Abroad Just Wanted To Go Home

In AD 214, an Egyptian man named Aurelius Polion left his home to fight in the Roman legion. He was stationed in Pannonia Inferior near modern Hungary, which was 1,600 kilometers (1,000 mi) from home. The boy was terrified—not of dying in battle but of being forgotten by his family.

“I sent six letters to you,” Polion wrote to his family, “but you never wrote to me.”

He believed that his family had forsaken him. Still, he wanted to be with them more than anything else—so much so that he would have abandoned his post if they had written him a single word.

“The moment you have me in mind,” he promised, “I shall come to you so that you may know that I am your brother.”

9 A Babylonian Trader Struggled With A Powerful Merchant

A Babylonian man named Nanni holds the unique honor of writing history’s first letter of complaint in 1750 BC. Ea-nasir, a copper merchant, had tricked Nanni into buying a low-quality product. When Nanni’s messenger complained, he was told, “If you do not want to take them, go away!” He wasn’t refunded a single coin.

Nanni was furious, but there wasn’t much he could do. According to other translated documents, Ea-nasir was powerful in the copper business and a trader probably couldn’t succeed without going through Ea-nasir.

Still, Nanni furiously chiseled these words into his tablet: “Take cognizance that from now on, I will not accept here any copper from you!” Reality must have sunk in, though, because he added a meek “that is not of fine quality.”

8 A Priest Helped A Starving Chinese Woman Get Back To Her Mother

In AD 313, a Chinese woman named Miwnay was stranded in a town called Dunhuang, living in abject poverty, and desperately trying to get home to her mother.

Miwnay may have lost her husband. In a letter to her mother, she wrote that her journey home was delayed by her husband’s relative, who disapproved of her trip. The other in-laws followed suit, and every person she came to closed their doors.

“I live wretchedly,” Miwnay wrote, “without clothing, without money.” She only got by through the charity of a priest, who promised to give her a camel and take care of her on the journey.

Miwnay sent a letter home promising to be back soon. However, the letter was confiscated by a Chinese garrison and locked in a tower for 1,500 years. Miwnay’s mother never saw the anguished words her daughter wrote.

7 A Sumerian Work Crew Was Paid In Beer

In 3000 BC, a group of Sumerian workers left their homes to work for a powerful man. This was at the dawn of civilization before the country used currency. Workers were paid in beer instead of coin.

As a receipt for their payment, a Sumerian bookkeeper tacked up a clay tablet that survives today. The tablet only says that the men were given beer for work—but it’s a fascinating look into what life was like before money.

Most men could provide shelter and food for their families by the toil of their hands, but they didn’t have the resources to make wine. So early men left their families to work for someone more powerful—and get drunk.

6 An Angry Roman Drew Jesus As A Crucified Donkey

In AD 200, a Roman named Alexamenos was a member of the Christian faith and his community didn’t care for it. One man, who must have hated Alexamenos, etched a crude drawing of a man worshiping a donkey-headed man on a cross. Scribbled underneath were the words: “Alexamenos worships his God.”

It was a hateful act, but it wasn’t unique. In the early days of Christianity, many Romans believed that Christians were cannibals. Even Marcus Aurelius’s tutor went on record saying that Christians held rituals “initiated by the slaughter and the blood of an infant.”

Jesus was often called the “Donkey Priest” as an insult. A few people even seem to have believed that Jesus literally had the head of a donkey. So when Alexamenos saw the crude drawing on the wall, the message was clear. He was not trusted—and he was not wanted.

5 An Egyptian Worker Refused to Take A Sick Day

In 1500 BC, Egyptian workers lived in a town called Deir el-Medina near the Valley of the Kings. These men would make the trek to the tombs of the pharaohs to work, leaving their families for a week at a time.

Papyrus scrolls show that the workers were given paid leave when sick and a physician would be dispatched to their homes to take care of them.

A reprimanding record tells us that one worker named Merysekhmet drudged through his work while ill, refusing to take time off. For two days, he worked despite the pain—until he couldn’t do it anymore.

Merysekhmet was forced to take a few days off to recover. But as soon as he was able, he headed back to work on a project that would outlive even the kings for whom he built it.

4 The People Of Pompeii Loved To Party

Before Pompeii was buried in a volcanic eruption, the city was a party town filled with obscene art and brothels—and graffiti.

Messages like “I screwed the barmaid” showed up on tavern walls. “Celadus the Thracian makes the girls moan!” was scribbled in a gladiator’s barracks. The most memorable of all was on the walls of a brothel. “Weep, you girls!” it said. “My penis has given you up! Now it penetrates men’s behinds.”

The people of Pompeii drank and enjoyed themselves, but they loved, too. One proud man wrote on the walls of a home: “If anyone does not believe in Venus, they should gaze at my girlfriend.” A woman wrote that she wouldn’t sell her husband “for all the gold in the world.”

But in a city frozen in time, it’s the simplest message that seems the most meaningful. “Gaius and Aulus,” it reads. “Friends forever.”

3 A Greek Tourist In Egypt Missed His Mother

Around 278 BC, tourists from Greece and Italy started flocking to the Valley of the Kings in Egypt to see the tombs. They also left graffiti that shows an incredible reverence for the site.

Some etched their names or their jobs on the sides of walls while others wrote of their amazement for the place where they stood. However, one unique piece of graffiti at the Colossi of Memnon stands out.

The Colossi had been damaged in earthquakes, and air seeping through the cracks tended to make a high whistling sound. When one Greek tourist heard the whistle, he believed that Memnon had cried out the name of his mother.

He wrote what he’d heard on the foot. Then he added a message to someone else. “I missed you, O my mother,” he wrote, “and I prayed that you might hear him, too.”

2 The Men Who Built The Pyramids Left Their Marks

Some young men in Egyptian villages had never seen more than a few hundred people in their whole lives—until someone came and ordered them to work on the “royal labor project” as a form of taxation.

They were sent on great journeys across the country, leaving their homes for the first time. Then they saw what they were going to build—the pyramids, a wonder of the world towering above the horizon.

It must have changed everything these men understood about what was possible in this world. While they worked, they lived in lean-tos, ate at a local bakery, and sometimes died on the pyramid walls and were buried nearby.

Even so, each crew left their tag on the walls they’d worked on, making sure that their part in building something that would be remembered for millennia would not be forgotten.

1 Sumerian Accountants And Slave Traders Just Wanted To Do Their Jobs

The oldest names written in history are the names of common people doing nothing more than working through the daily drudge of their jobs.

The first written name we have is an accountant from 3100 BC. The tablet reads, “29,086 measures of barley [over the course of] 37 months” and is signed “Kushim.” The first tablet with more than one name is an ad from a slave trader that reads, “Two slaves held by Gal-Sal: En-pap X and Sukkalgir.”

These writings were likely mundane moments in the lives of these men. They were repeating things they did every day at work. Kushim was counting barley, Gal-Sal was selling slaves, and En-pap X and Sukkalgir were dreading a new life of servitude.

+Further Reading

It is always surprising to see how much the ancient’s lives had in common with our own (minus free and easy debt of course). Here are some other lists of a similar nature from the archives:

10 Ways We’re All Picturing The Ancient World Incorrectly
Top 10 Ancient Jobs That Sucked Big Time
10 Surprising Facts About The Ancient World
10 Discoveries Of Ancient Cultures Nearly Lost To History

The apocalypse could happen at any moment, so it’s best to be prepared. This list is a small assortment of techniques and tools to turn everyday household items into either deadly or extremely helpful tools of survival.

All these techniques are alternative, creative uses for these items. With the information provided in this article, we hope you can outlive the apocalypse or any sort of survival scenario that may occur.

10 Toilet Paper

With the lack of factories making medical equipment during the apocalypse, it is important to know what can be used to replace the bandage, our most common medical tool. Turns out that toilet paper, paper towels, and tissue paper can all be used as bandages in cases of absolute emergency.

However, you need to be cautious when using these tools to treat open wounds. First, any paper product will break down and leave behind fragments whenever it comes in contact with liquid. Also, many paper products are not sterile and may cause infection if used to treat the wound.

To avoid this problem, combine the paper product with a mixture of clean water and soap. Soap is a “basic” compound, so it will kill any bacteria on it. Do not use alcohol or hydrogen peroxide as they can be a health hazard if they enter the bloodstream.

Once you dissolve the toilet paper or tissue paper in the soapy water, apply the pulp lightly to the abrasion. Do not force the pulp into the cut. Just lay it on the surface of the wound. Once the pulp is secure, wrap it in dry paper to hold it there. If the wound bleeds, start over with new paper.^[1]

9 Safety Pins

Many people know that you can pick locks with bobby pins. But there is an even better way if you have some tweezers or a little patience. Lock picking is an extremely useful skill to have during the apocalypse as it gives you access to places and resources that others may not have already claimed.

Safety pins can be better for picking locks than bobby pins. For one, safety pins are skinnier and have more flexibility. Two safety pins have a broad circular point on them, which is easier to hold when used as a tension wrench.

If you have some tweezers, bend and twist the two pins apart. Be careful not to break either the broad safety case or the flat wire circle. Then pry the sharp point of the pin down like an “L” angle—this will be your tension wrench. The pin with the big broad safety case at the end will be your pick. You may want to make a slight “V” shaped bend in it for the sake of ease while lock picking.

If you don’t have tweezers, it will take a significantly greater amount of time to complete. Once you have the lock pick constructed, you want to hold each pin by the broad side and insert the narrow side into the lock. Put the tension wrench in at the bottom of the lock and give slight pressure. Then “rake” your pick across the lock’s tumblers until it opens.^[2]

8 Glass Bottles

As everyone knows, glass bottles, bowls, and vases are very good for holding water and transporting liquids. However, during the apocalypse, glass may have a far more useful and ultimately deadly application.

If society were to fall into anarchy, you’d need to defend your home and family at all costs. Some of the simplest yet most effective defenses come in the form of booby-trapping your own home.

Making your home a labyrinth of deadly or dangerous traps will make it severely unappealing for looters or marauders. Not everyone has guns, knives, and other weapons lying around. Some people may not even own the tools to make these weapons.

However, many people have glass items in their homes. If you shatter glass, you instantly have a deadly weapon. But be careful when working with broken glass. If possible, use something thick and bulky to protect your hands.

Once you have a bunch of broken glass, you have many methods of using it. First is a glass carpet, where you simply lay glass all over the ground so that people cannot walk there without foot protection.^[3]

If you have the means, an effective deterrent is to crush glass into dust and then construct dust bombs or pouches. Broken-down glass dust is extremely dangerous and can easily cause asphyxiation. You can also develop projectiles or pole weapons from broken glass so that you can fight at a range.

7 Shower Curtains

If you have to worry about fallout during a nuclear apocalypse, you may not have access to a radiation suit. Fortunately, you can easily devise a makeshift suit out of several items, including your shower curtain.

The most important material you’ll need is polyester or nylon. Either is good because each is waterproof. If you can find raincoats, windbreakers, shower curtains, and waterproof jacks that contain no organic fabrics, any of them would work fine.

If you find any metal or other absorbent fibers sutured into your suit, they must be removed or covered by the aforementioned materials. With the combination of plastic twine or duct tape, you may be able to tailor a wearable suit to keep fallout off and outside your body.

If you do not have a gas mask, it is best to put some fabric of any kind over your mouth and nose. Don’t reuse any fabrics exposed to fallout radiation. If you venture into an area contaminated with fallout while in your suit, make sure to wash down and remove any dirt or particles from your body when you return. This is why you must use either nylon or polyester waterproof fabrics.^[4]

6 Hair Conditioner

It is a lesser-known fact that hair conditioner strongly binds to radioactive fallout particles. The chemical composition of hair conditioner makes its atomic structure bind with any particle of heavily ionized or radioactive material. Knowing this, we can prevent harm to ourselves and use the highly radioactive substance against any enemies.

All sorts of weapons using pure radiation in small doses will strictly have to be employed for the long game as the effects of radiation sickness can take several weeks to years to begin. If you have an especially concentrated batch of irradiated hair conditioner, you can do one of two things to inflict harm on another person.

First, you can poison him by slowly having him ingest the compound. Alternatively, you can find a way to get the compound mixed in with his hair. If irradiated conditioner contacts human hair, it will bind the radioactive isotopes to that person’s hair, which would constantly poison him and eventually lead to an early death.^[5]

A nonhostile use for hair conditioner is to collect fallout particles to cleanse something of radiation. If you coat an object in hair conditioner, then the chemicals in the conditioner will extract most of the radioactive fallout from the object. Then you would need to thoroughly cleanse the item with water and scrubbers to remove the radioactive conditioner from the object.

5 Sugar

“Kill them with sugar” is truer than many think. The chemical composite of common table sugar is actually used in many formulas for low-yield exothermic reactions. Sugar is a prime ingredient of solid-form rocket fuel.^[6]

When you combine table sugar with potassium nitrate, which is a salt found in many home products, then you have highly flammable, superhot burning rocket fuel. Once you have created rocket fuel, there are many possibilities.

Solid rocket fuel can be used to create a lot of heat and light quickly, which is helpful with applications such as forging, melting, camping, smiting, lighting, alarming, and signaling.

As a final use for rocket fuel, you can strap little rocket packets to arrows and then create rocket-propelled arrowheads. If you create enough rocket arrows and set them up with other trapping devices, you can easily defend your home or hunt for food.

4 Notebooks

Notebooks, especially the metal-bound ones, are filled with incredibly useful items. First, the metallic spine found on most college-ruled notebooks can be removed and used for many tricks and traps. The metal coil is very flimsy and malleable, so you could use it as twine to bind two objects together.

If wrapped around with other coils, the notebook coil could be long enough to make a sturdy trip wire frame. If you had the means or the patience to dismantle and sever the metal wire, then you could also create makeshift needles, sutures, and nails from the metal fragments.^[7]

The next steps can also be applied to notebooks without metal spines because the paper and cardboard covers also have many uses. You can create makeshift window shutters with the cardboard covers. As each cover already has punctured holes in it, all you have to do is weave string through the holes and attach the string to a pulley.

The paper inside the notebook also has several uses, with one of the biggest being fuel. As the notebook companies design the paper so that it won’t burn easily, the best way to set the paper ablaze is to take each page and crumple it into a ball. This allows enough oxygen to get to the fire so that it can burn the rest of the paper.

If you have too many paper balls, they can be used as an alarm system. If someone is trying to sneak through an area, littering the space with bunches of crunchy paper balls would make it much more difficult to be silent.

3 Lighters

Pocket lighters have obvious uses such as providing light or fire. But there are many more tricks you can do with these little lighters. The first trick is a reminder that the lighter that burns twice as bright lasts half as long.

There is a special technique to make the flame on your lighter twice as big as it would be normally. First, you need tweezers or some patience if you’re doing this by hand. Remove the small plastic brace at the top of the lighter. (This only applies to the cheap plastic lighters.)

After you remove the top, you want to find the small lever that controls the height of the flame and push it all the way over to full. Then lift the lever up from its track, put it back to small, and then push the lever to full again.^[8]

The resulting flame will be twice as big and bright compared to the original flame produced by the lighter. This is useful if you need a more powerful flame for lighting something or if you are in a very dark area and need brighter light to see.

A diversionary trick with these lighters involves creating small light flashes. There are small bars of flint that look similar to pencil lead. If you heat these up and throw them against the ground, they will explode into a bright flash. You can also use empty lighters because the flint inside them is still good. Also, the more flint they have, the brighter the flash.

2 Brooms Or Mops

The most powerful and versatile weapon or tool on this list is the broomstick. It doesn’t matter if it’s metal or wood. A hefty wooden pole for bashing people is the very least of what these items can do.

Pole arms may become the best melee weapon once again in the aftermath of an apocalypse. Before the invention of the firearm, pole arms ruled the medieval battlefield. Best of all, you most likely already have one in your house.

The method is simple. Find your broom or mop handle, and remove the bristle end. Yes, it’s that easy. You now have a quarter staff with many different applications in a postapocalyptic world. If you’re clever, you can forge or “MacGyver” a spearhead onto the end of your pole. This increases its deadliness tenfold.^[9]

If you don’t use the staff as a spear or weapon, it makes a good hiking stick or an even better trap detector. A pole arm can be effectively used as an extension of your body. You can safely put your pole through suspected traps and dangers because it is better to lose the pole rather than your arm or hand.

If you are absolutely swamped with these poles or you find some nicely sized tree branches, they can all be used for defense as well. Simply sharpen the ends, stick one end of each in the ground, line rows of them up, and you have basic wooden fortifications.

1 Silverware

If the apocalypse rolls around, silverware can be used for much more than eating. However, if it’s made of actual silver and there is fallout radiation, then do not use it. Silver absorbs radioactive isotopes, easily binds to them, and becomes radioactive itself.

Each type of silverware has different applications during the apocalypse. Obviously, knives are practical as stabbing or defense weapons, but they become leagues deadlier if they are attached to poles and made into spears or pole arms for defense.

A steak knife or even a sharpened butter knife is flawed due to its short range. So you need to put them on an object that can extend your reach, which is extremely helpful in defeating foes during close encounters. Forks are helpful for stabbing your enemies as well as making effective trap devices.^[10]

With a fork, the flat end with the prongs is easily secured into flat stationary objects. This would allow you to sharpen the handle of the fork and then put the fork in the ground, secured by its prongs, to forge a sturdy stake ready for an unknowing thug to step on and gore his foot.

Spoons reinforce your pole arm or walking sick. You take 3–5 spoons and flatten them all out. Then you bend the flattened spoon parts into right angles to the handles. Melt all the spoons together on the blunt end of your pole arm. When they have all cooled, secure the spoons with twine or small nails. Now you have a sturdy, blunt melt reinforcement to your pole arm.

I am a history and science enthusiast, keenly interested in the progress and future of mankind. I have knowledge in the fields of physics, chemistry, psychology, prehistory, medieval history, European history, and American history. I am currently attending my second year of college and working toward my AS in general science. Then I hope to get my bachelor’s in psychology. I have a strong passion for writing and teaching others about the world they live in.

We may have been fighting each other since the dawn of time, though the average person still has little idea of what war is really like. Our mental image of what happens on the battlefield is heavily influenced by pop culture, particularly the movies. Unfortunately, the people making those movies have usually never been around a real fight, either, and are mostly just making things up as they go.

See Also: Top 10 Awesome Films Hollywood Ruined With Lies

While we agree that fiction requires some suspension of disbelief to be enjoyable, that applies to genres like science fiction and horror. Misrepresenting serious subjects like war on the big screen comes with its fair share of drawbacks. Most of us grow up with a glorified idea of what war is really like, as movie writers are busy writing about dual-wielding guns rather than the stench of poop in the aftermath of a typical battle.

10 Showing off Your Dog Tag Isn’t Cool

Dog tags have always been a popular part of casual fashion. They admittedly look quite cool, which is probably because of their association with the military. Because of Hollywood, a lot of us assume that wearing dog tags as necklaces is something people in the forces do all the time. As any veteran would tell you, though, showing off your dog tag isn’t considered to be sound etiquette within the military.

While it’s true that you’re to wear your tags at all times for identification while on duty, most soldiers keep them tucked inside. Off duty, keeping your dog tag visible in civilian clothes is not in good taste, even—and especially—if you’re topless, unlike what the movies tell us.^[1]

9 “Military Grade” Is an Advertising Gimmick

From knives to antivirus software to alarm systems, companies across the board brand their products as ‘military grade’, usually to signify higher quality and price. If we were to ask you what that exactly means, chances are most of us wouldn’t be able to say. We have this idea of things made by the military to be of higher quality than consumer-grade products.

As it happens, military-grade quality actually doesn’t exist and is yet another one of countless gimmicks advertising agencies use to justify exorbitantly higher prices. While it may be true that civilians don’t yet have access to a lot of military tech, it’s because it’s classified for security reasons and not because they’re somehow making better things in there.^[2]

8 Almost No One Uses Automatic Fire

As we’ve mentioned before, movies exaggerate the effects of various weapons to make them look more impressive on screen. Take grenades as an example; invisible shrapnel paralyzing someone’s lower legs isn’t as impressive as a house blowing up with six people flying in the air. Apart from giving us a faulty idea of what a battle is really like, it also affects decision-making during real-time disaster situations.

One particularly glaring difference between real and fictional wars is “automatic fire” in assault rifles. While military rifles do have a setting to turn the automatic, continuous burst mode on, almost no one uses it in real battles. Apart from bullets costing a lot of money to buy—a fact we’ll come to in a bit—the distances in a real battle are simply too great for automatic fire to be efficient. That’s not to say that automatic fire isn’t used in real wars, though those guns are usually heavier and mounted on a bipod or tripod.^[3]

7 You Can’t Fire A Rifle From The Hip

Rambo may be the best example of this one, though it’s hardly the only movie that’s guilty of it. Many war movies feature an outnumbered hero picking up a mounted gun as a last resort and just mowing down his opponents like a walking machine gun.

There are no walking machine guns because machine guns are extremely heavy, and it’s almost impossible to walk with one, let alone shoot with it. Many movies do it with guns like an AK-47 too. The dangers of shooting out of stance aside, the recoil would make it impossible to continue holding and shooting it for an extended period of time. Moreover, shooting from the hip isn’t a part of any professional training schedule and is something only seen in Hollywood.^[4]

6 Slaughter Isn’t Usually a Part of Battle

Thanks to movies like Lord of the Rings, our mental image of an ancient or medieval war usually features both sides running into each other with their cavalries and actively engaging in hand-to-hand combat throughout the battle. That’s how video games see historical wars, too, influencing our idea of how wars were really fought.

While slaughter is obviously a widespread—and crucial—part of any battle, it usually comes at the end, when the winning side is chasing the routed force. Battles, at least before mass slaughter became a part of all stages of war because of artillery and gunpowder, used to be won through attrition and strategy and not trigger-happy fighters fighting to their last breath. Most battles of history involved calculatedly tiring out the enemy for hours with arrows or mobile units, fighting in isolated units at times, and moving in with full force only when there was a definite advantage.^[5]

5 Infinite Ammo

War movies are quite lenient about the amount of ammo a unit has access to. A part of that could be attributed to making it look amazing, as a battle with everyone saving their bullets would look quite drab on the big screen.

The difference between movies and reality, though, completely changes how battles happen in real life. Limited ammo—for you and the enemy—is an essential part of military tactics, which is especially true today when wars are fought in overseas, cut-off regions. In a real battle, most of the legwork is done by artillery and all of those other big explosives. Even in gunfights, you’re likely to not hear anything for several minutes, instead of the consistent hail of bullets we all imagine. That would also heat up your guns quite fast, which is yet another thing soldiers in real battles have to think about.^[6]

4 Throwing Knives Is Not a Thing

We’re not sure when the dreaded throwing knife showed up in a movie. We can trace its origins to the art of throwing knives, which—much like the art of throwing anything else for no reason—doesn’t have many uses in the real world. It’s unclear, however, when a director saw that and decided to make it a staple weapon in war movies.

A single throw of a knife has killed many people in the fictional world, though how does it stack to its kill count in real life? According to some, it’s even ridiculous to suggest that knives could be thrown to kill.

While throwing around anything pointy is not a good idea, throwing knives hardly produces the impact necessary to kill someone. Moreover, the steel has to be sharp enough to pierce flesh and bone, which is harder than movies make it look.^[7]

3 You Can’t Just Shoot Anyone

We think of the beginning of the battle to be a coordinated and single-minded affair. The commander issues an order to shoot at the other side, and his units just fire off indiscriminately. Much like the other myths on this list, this one only exists in Hollywood too.

In reality, there are specific, written rules around what you can and cannot do in a war. Every war has its own rules of engagement, and they keep changing depending on objectives. As an example, there are times when generals have to get court orders to move into certain territories, which can take hours.^[8]

2 Everything About Cavalry Charges

We think of the historical horse cavalry as an incredibly powerful unit that could decide the course of any battle for the better part of history. Until it was made defunct by tanks and artillery, it dominated battlefields around the world and remained a staple of some of the most powerful armies.

While it’s true that the heavy cavalry was an immensely powerful unit—the mere sight of an organized unit of horses just running towards you with armored warriors is enough to scare anyone—it was quite easily countered by many infantry units throughout history. Moreover, battles rarely started with a cavalry charge breaking the enemy ranks. For one, you don’t just send your most heavily armored and well-trained unit—which was usually the case for elite cavalry units—as an opening attack. More importantly, though, horses are surprisingly (or rather unsurprisingly) unwilling to run into a wall of visible spears. Cavalry charges were mostly used to chase down disorganized enemies or other specific roles in the middle or end stage of the battle.^[9]

1 Most Soldiers Don’t Shoot to Kill, or at All

War is imagined as an absolute rivalry between two sides, one in which everyone is personally involved. The soldiers must be doing their best to kill the other side and expect the same. It’s how movies feed war to us and how we’ve all come to imagine a typical battlefield.

In reality, most of the soldiers aren’t even shooting unless a senior ranking officer is around. According to one historian, one in three soldiers in Vietnam never fired their weapons. In an average battle in WW2, only around 15 to 20 percent of soldiers on the Allied side opened fire.^[10]

About The Author: You can check out Himanshu’s stuff at Cracked (www.cracked.com/members/RudeRidingRomeo/) and Screen Rant (https://screenrant.com/author/hshar/), or get in touch with him for writing gigs ([email protected]).

School is much more than just a place of learning—it’s a central part of childhood and a nurturing environment where memories are made, friendships are forged, and both academic and social growth is fostered. Whether it’s the carefree laughter at recess, the thrill of field trips, the magical moments that unfold at school dances, or the organized structure of classroom assignments and projects, these everyday moments shape the school experience as a whole. They are an integral part of growing up.

However, within the familiar routines that school days provide, students, teachers, and parents alike can often forget the delicate nature of everyday moments and the sense of normalcy we take for granted.

In this list, we will explore how even the most ordinary aspects of school life can set the stage for unexpected tragedy and sorrow. From a fatal accident on a playground slide to a teacher’s tragic death in the parent pick-up line to a mother’s devastating final act at her daughter’s graduation, this list explores ten common school events and activities that were transformed into heartbreaking, tragic events no one could have expected.

Related: 10 Bizarre (and Tragic) Food-Related Deaths

10 Recess

Recess is a cherished part of the school day, giving children a much-needed break from their academic routines and an opportunity to engage in free play and interact with their peers. Unfortunately, this much-anticipated part of the school day was marred by a tragic accident, leaving a Utah community in mourning.

Shortly before 10:30 a.m. on February 6, 2023, the Tooele County Sheriff’s Department responded to an injury report at Rose Springs Elementary School in Erda, Utah. Upon arrival, deputies discovered that as eight-year-old Dallin Cunningham came down a corkscrew slide on the school’s playground, he “flew out” 7 feet (2.1 meters) above ground, landing on his head in an area of “frozen rock-hard” ground.

When the recess monitors initially found Cunningham, he was unconscious but breathing. However, Cunningham later stopped breathing, prompting the recess monitors to perform CPR until a patrol officer arrived on the scene and took over. Cunningham was rushed to a local hospital but, sadly, never regained consciousness. He died on February 7, 2023, due to blunt force trauma to his head.

While the slide was removed from the playground, Cunningham’s parents, Kathryn and Timothy, also went on to sue the Tooele County School District for negligence, seeking $90,000 for their son’s medical expenses. Cunningham’s parents stated that the school district not only failed to properly supervise the use of the playground equipment but also allowed “unreasonably dangerous” conditions on the playground.

Aside from the circular slide being “excessively fast and steep,” the structure also had an excessive slope, lacked guardrails on the side, and lacked high banking “to keep children inside the slide instead of flying out.” In addition to the safety standards not being met on the slide, the playground also contained an inadequate amount of playground mulch to cushion Cunningham’s fall—just 1 inch (2.5 cm)—and was frozen solid underneath. Per standards, there should have been 12 inches (30 cm) of mulch filling the area below the slide.^[1]

9 Lunch

The Mid-Day Meal program was first introduced for poor and disadvantaged children in Chennai, India (formerly Madras) in 1925. It has since become one of the world’s largest school nutrition programs, reaching 120 million children in 1.2 million schools across the country. While the program was intended to put a dent in India’s chronic malnutrition problem by providing an incentive to poor families to send their children to school, nearly two dozen children lost their lives after consuming food served through the national campaign.

On July 16, 2023, two cooks, Manju Devi and Pano Devi, began preparing a meal of rice, lentils, soybeans, and potatoes for children at the Dharmasati-Gandaman Primary School in the eastern Indian state of Bihar. Devi, however, noticed that the mustard oil used to prepare the food looked and smelled bad, but when she raised concerns with the school’s principal, Meena Kumari, Devi was told to use it anyway.

Soon after their first bite of lunch, the students began fainting and vomiting, and within hours, they began dying. In total, 23 children between the ages of 5 and 12 died, and more than two dozen others became sick as a result of eating the free meal. Both Kumari and her husband—the owner of the grocery store where the ingredients were sourced—fled as soon as the students became sick.

Naturally, with dozens of innocent children dead and dozens of others hospitalized from a school meal, angry allegations of blame and violent protests throughout the region became widespread, with many refusing to eat food from the program.

Scientific tests later revealed “very toxic” levels of monocrotophos—an organophosphorus compound used as an insecticide—in the meals, specifically high contamination in the vegetable oil used to prepare the food. Investigators also later discovered that Kumari’s husband, Arjun Rai, stored pesticide at the school for use at his farm and that the chefs had cooked with it by mistake.

On July 24, 2023, 36-year-old Kumari was on the way to turn herself in when she was arrested. Both Kumari and Rai were charged with murder. However, they both denied any deliberate act on their part in harming the children. Kumari’s husband was later acquitted by the court, but on August 29, 2016, she was sentenced to a total of 17 years in jail for culpable homicide and negligence. She was also ordered to pay a $4,476.69 (Rs. 3.75 lakh) fine.^[2]

8 Parent Pick-Up Line

Parent pick-up lines are a common feature at most schools and are designed as a way to not only streamline the dismissal process but also keep children safe. These lines offer the convenience of remaining in your vehicle during pick-up, shielding parents from inclement weather and eliminating the need to navigate crowded hallways in search of students. However, these lines also bring their own set of challenges—long waits, traffic congestion, and, at times, frustration for both parents and staff alike.

Despite such a well-intentioned system, one kindergarten teacher in Missouri lost her life in a tragic incident while assisting with the school’s parent pick-up line. On September 5, 2018, 48-year-old Angel Hayes was guiding students and cars as rain fell in the parent pick-up line at Benton Elementary School in Neosho, Missouri. Eighty-eight-year-old Erwin Parker was in line that day, waiting to pick up his 12-year-old granddaughter from school.

Unfortunately, Parker’s foot became caught between the gas and brake pedals of his SUV, causing the vehicle to lurch forward and hit Hayes. The SUV continued moving through the parking lot, dragging Hayes an estimated 20 to 25 yards (18 to 22 meters) before striking another vehicle and finally coming to a stop.

Neosho Police officers were called to the school, where emergency personnel used an airbag inflation device to raise the vehicle and free Hayes from under the front right wheel well. Despite their efforts, it was sadly too late, and Hayes was pronounced dead at the scene. No charges were filed against Parker.^[3]

7 Physical Fitness Testing

For many students, physical fitness tests are the ultimate schoolyard nemesis—a rite of passage filled with push-ups, sit-ups, and the dreaded mile run. Although these tests are designed to gauge endurance, strength, and overall fitness, they often strike fear into the hearts of even the most athletic students.

However, for one young boy in Singapore, a physical fitness test proved to be much more than just adaunting school activity when it tragically claimed his life.

On May 2, 2024, 14-year-old Lu Xuanzheng was participating in a 1.5 mile (2.4 km) run as part of a physical fitness test at Woodlands Secondary School when he collapsed. Xuanzheng was rushed to the KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, where he fell into a deep coma. Xuanzheng remained in a coma for 24 days, and on May 25, 2024, doctors declared him brain dead. After losing her husband to liver cancer in 2022, 52-year-old Su Yanfen had to make the difficult decision to say goodbye to her youngest son.

While Yanfen claimed there was no family history of heart conditions, it is believed that Xuanzheng experienced cardiac failure due to the intense exercise, leading to arrhythmia and then a coma.

Despite another family tragedy and the grief of Xuanzheng’s death, Yanfen stated that “her son’s greatest dream was to help others.” Therefore, given the hundreds of hospital patients waiting for organ transplants, Yanfen decided the best way to make Xuanzheng’s dream a reality was to donate his organs.^[4]

6 Graduation

On May 5, 2024, 53-year-old Larissa R. Brady, her husband, and their 12-year-old son went to The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio to attend the graduation ceremony. Brady’s daughter was one of the 12,555 Buckeyes set to graduate that day, earning her bachelor’s degree.

As her daughter entered the stadium, Brady told her “that she loved her and would always be her mother.” Little did Brady’s daughter know that this would be the last time she would speak to her mother and that a day meant for celebration would be filled with mourning instead.

From there, Brady proceeded into the stadium with her family to watch the ceremony. Once they were seated, Brady claimed she wanted to move higher in the stadium, but eventually, her family lost sight of her. Brady, however, made her way to the last row of benches, and shortly after the ceremony began, she climbed over the stadium’s concrete wall, falling 136 feet (41 meters) to the pavement below.

Brady, who had a history of bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, and anxiety, was said to have been non-compliant with her medications. At 12:25 p.m., she was pronounced dead by medics who arrived on the scene. Her death was ruled a suicide.

The graduation ceremony carried on as planned following Brady’s death without any mention of what happened. The university later contacted all graduates and staff who volunteered at graduation to offer counseling services.^[5]

5 Field Trip

Field trips play a crucial role in the educational experience, offering students a unique opportunity to engage with the world outside of a traditional classroom setting. These excursions allow for hands-on learning, where students can explore, discover, and connect what they’ve learned in the classroom to real-world experiences. While these school trips offer endless opportunities for learning, one field trip in England led to a heartbreaking disaster.

On May 22, 2024, 10-year-old Leah Harrison was taking part in an outdoor education forest walk as part of a school trip at Carlton Adventure in North Yorkshire when a mudslide occurred.

Emergency services flooded the scene, with police paramedics and the Cleveland Mountain Rescue Team dispatching 30 volunteers in a desperate attempt to save Harrison. Sadly, the “happy, bubbly little girl” who dreamed of playing soccer for the Lionesses did not survive the tragic incident.

All outdoor activities in the area, which had been under a Met Office yellow weather warning for heavy rain, were temporarily suspended while the North Yorkshire Police and the Health and Safety Executive began a joint investigation into the incident.

After hearing the devastating news of Harrison’s death, the Lionesses paid tribute to the young girl on their Instagram page, stating, “To Leah, you will forever be a Lioness.” They also asked their fans to come together in the 10th minute of their game against France on May 31, 2024, in recognition of Harrison’s life and in support of her family.^[6]

4 School Concert

The Monster Concert has been a tradition at Austin High School in Austin, Texas, since 1987. The concert, which is held every October, features the school’s own various orchestras as well as orchestras from various elementary and middle schools in the area. In addition to the Halloween-themed concert, the annual community event and fundraiser also includes games, contests, food and beverages, and a haunted house.

Unfortunately, halfway through the event, on October 21, 2023, a fire started after a gas-powered generator got too close to a propane tank while it was being refueled, causing an accidental flash fire. Three people were hurt and taken to the hospital—Sam Herrera, the husband of orchestra director Ana Solis-Herrera, her son Gabriel, and Paco Guajardo, the father of two orchestra students.

Guajardo was later released from the hospital, and Solis-Herrera’s son, Gabriel, was also expected to make a full recovery. Herrera, however, suffered burns on 60% of his body, and sadly, on November 8, 2023, he died as a result of his injuries.^[]

3 Sports Practice

School sports provide students with a wide range of opportunities- physical exercise, personal growth, and learning the value of teamwork. However, beyond the physical benefits, these athletic programs also provide a sense of community and belonging among students, which also becomes an integral part of their identities. The thrill of competition and the camaraderie with their teammates often defines a student’s high school experience.

Sadly, the promising future of one high school baseball player in Gainesville, Georgia, was cut short due to a devastating accident during practice.

On November 20, 2023, Jeremy Medina, a senior at Gainesville High School who played both pitcher and catcher on the school’s baseball team, was attending a routine practice session at the school’s on-campus batting cages. However, as another player followed through on his swing, Medina leaned into the net and was struck in the head by a baseball bat.

Medina lost consciousness and was rushed to the Northeast Georgia Medical Center, where he was diagnosed with a subarachnoid hemorrhage involving the left temporal lobe, a depressed skull fracture, and other trauma-related injuries. Medina remained in a coma, and on December 6, 2023, he was declared brain dead. Medina was later taken off life support and was pronounced dead on December 11, 2023.

Medina’s parents, David and Yasmira, went on to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the school system and the coaches, seeking a sum of $722,208 and a jury trial for the school officials’ negligence.

The lawsuit, which names the high school principal, assistant principal, athletic director, and multiple baseball coaches, stated that the baseball season did not officially start until January 15, 2024, but the coaches decided to call a mandatory practice. Medina’s parents described the practice as “illegal,” arguing that it violated the Georgia High School Association’s code.

Medina’s parents also claimed that no adults or school employees were present during the practice, leading to a slow response. The filing alleges that it took three minutes for an adult to arrive at the batting cages after the accident, seven minutes to call 911, and over seven minutes for the school’s athletic trainer to begin CPR. The lawsuit also claims that the athletic trainer did not have keys to access the AED, which was located in the school’s softball concession stand.^[8]

2 Back to School

Each new school year brings with it a sense of excitement and anticipation for both teachers and students alike. Teachers spend countless hours preparing their classrooms, ensuring every detail is perfect to welcome their new students. However, behind the scenes of such meticulous work lies the story of a devoted teacher whose preparations for the new school year took a tragic turn.

On September 1, 2026, 41-year-old Lynsey Haycock, a “much-loved” science and health teacher at Valley Forge High School in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, was putting up a display in her classroom in preparation for the return of her students when she fell and broke her leg. Haycock was taken to the hospital but sadly died on September 2, 2026, as a result of medical complications.^[9]

1 P.E. Class

Physical education is a cherished part of the school day for many students, offering a chance to engage in physical activity and enjoy a break from academic pressures. For those passionate about sports and fitness, P.E. class is often one of the best parts of the school day.

However, for some students, particularly those who are not as confident in their athletic abilities, P.E. can be a much more daunting and less enjoyable part of the day, filled with challenges and anxieties that overshadow the fun of physical activity. Tragically, a P.E. class that was a routine part of the school day became the setting for a gruesome freak accident.

On April 27, 2023, 16-year-old Brayden Bahme, a sophomore at Cheney High School in Cheney, Washington, was running during his 4th-period P.E. class when he fell into a goal post and was impaled through the eye.

First responders arrived at the school within one minute, and Bahme was transported to Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital but later died from his injuries.^[10]

The world can be a frightening place. Images of violence, natural disasters, accidents, and other such dangers permeate our media, sowing fear in many. While these threats should certainly be respected, other far more mundane things in our lives are statistically much more likely to kill us.

Note: This list primarily shows statistics for the United States. This is not out of deliberate ignorance of the rest of the world but simply due to the ready availability of US-based statistics.

10More People Die Falling Out Of Bed Than From Roller Coasters

Some people love roller coasters; some people are terrified of them. The high speeds and great heights provide a relatively safe thrill for amusement park goers. However, accidents do happen, and roller coasters kill an average of four people in the US each year.

One-quarter of roller coaster deaths are occupational fatalities involving workers. Half are caused by a rider’s medical condition being exacerbated by the ride; these can be prevented by increased signage warning sufferers of certain conditions against boarding. Only the final quarter are caused by some sort of trauma to a park visitor, such as falling out of the roller coaster.

Rest assured: You probably won’t be killed the next time you ride a roller coaster. You’re much more likely to die from falling out of your own bed. Every year in the US, 450 people die this way. Ironically, bed rails sometimes make things worse. Hospitals have found that stubborn patients try to climb over them and fall farther than they would have otherwise.

9Cows Are More Likely To Kill You Than Bears

Fatal black bear attacks on humans have been rising in North America since the 1960s. Over the past 110 years, 63 people have been killed by black bears, mostly in Alaska and Canada. This amounts to fewer than one person per year. However, since 86 percent of these fatalities occurred after 1960, the current average is closer to two people per year.

Increased human encroachment into black bear habitats is cited as a probable cause. Most fatal attacks have been perpetrated by lone male bears sampling humans as a new food source. Surprisingly, mother bears defending their cubs or bears that have become familiar with humans are responsible for few fatalities.

While injurious encounters with black bears may continue to rise with human expansion, they have a long way to go before they kill more people than cattle, which kill an average of 22 people per year in the United States alone. Most fatal attacks on humans by cattle are deliberate, either by territorial bulls trampling and goring farmers or mothers protecting their calves. Other times, people are simply accidentally crushed.

8A Rip Current Will Get You Before A Shark Does

Going to the beach is a common and beloved summer pastime for people across the world. Such outings are not without danger, of course. You could get sunburned, stung by a jellyfish, or bitten by a shark.

Most unprovoked shark attacks on humans are cases of mistaken identity, where the shark takes one bite and then swims away upon tasting a distinctive lack of seal or fish. Those single bites can still cause serious injury or death. Even these mistakes are comparatively rare; most sharks that attack have been provoked by a human in some way.

All the same, if you’re in the water and feel yourself pulled away from safety, a rip current is much more likely to be responsible than a shark. Rip currents are more powerful than you may realize. They can pull you away from shore faster than an Olympic swimmer can swim. Trying to directly swim against a rip current, a common reaction, will only lead to fatigue and drowning.

It is estimated that over 100 people drown each year in the US due to rip currents. Conversely, despite some swimmers going to such extremes as taunting sharks, someone dies in the US from a shark attack only once every two years. Worldwide, only five die each year.

7High School Sports Kill More US Citizens Than Terrorists Do

Terrorism has been a defining fear in 21st-century US culture since the horrifying 9/11 attacks in 2001. From Al-Qaeda to ISIS, the news has frequently been filled with frightening terroristic imagery, causing many citizens to fear for themselves and their children.

In truth, US children are far more likely to end up dying on their high school playing field than at the hands of a terrorist. Roughly 50 young athletes die each year in the United States due to sports-related injuries. Rural areas are the worst-affected. Common causes of death include overheating (more on that later), brain injuries, and sudden cardiac arrest. It certainly doesn’t help that two-thirds of athletes show up to practice significantly dehydrated. Nor does it help that 16 percent of football players who are knocked unconscious from a hit will play more that same day; those who suffer further injury as a result have a 50/50 chance of dying. Sudden cardiac arrest kills 90 percent of the young athletes that it strikes.

Terrorism, on the other hand, has taken roughly 12 private US citizens per year, with 2001 an obvious anomaly. For example, terrorism killed nine in 2009, 10 in 2010, 17 in 2011, 10 in 2012, and 16 in 2013. The overwhelming majority of these deaths involved travel to Afghanistan. Not one death occurred within US borders.

6Disney World Kills More Than Florida’s Alligators

From 2005–2014, eight visitors to Disney World in Orlando, Florida were killed. Heart attacks (sometimes worsened by a lack of readily available defibrillators) and traumatic injuries are common causes. Five workers have also been killed in that time span, including three during a particularly bad season in 2009, by trauma or electrocution.

Some might consider Florida’s alligators to be more frightening than Mickey Mouse. The prospect of being bitten or dragged under and drowned by one of these ancient reptiles is certainly grim. While most alligators only attack if provoked, unprovoked predation does occur. Victims are often completely unaware of the alligator until it attacks. Still, you’re more likely to win the lottery in Florida than be killed by a hungry alligator. From 2005 to present, only six people have died in unprovoked alligator attacks. None have died since 2007.

5Summer’s Heat Will Kill You Before Lightning

Not only does it simply get hot in summer, but it’s also the time of year where one might have the greatest fear of encountering temperatures hotter than the surface of the Sun. Lightning can reach temperatures of 30,000 degrees Celsius (50,000 °F), causing severe burns, as well as killing an average of 51 people each year in the United States. Contrary to popular belief, most lightning strike victims are not struck directly but instead succumb to simply being near another object that is struck. This is why it always best to move indoors during a thunderstorm, as lying flat in a field will do nothing to save you from indirect strikes.

While you’re running inside, you might want to check your air conditioner, as you’re over 10 times more likely to die from excessive heat exposure, which generally kills 618 people each year in the US. Dying by heat is a surprisingly nasty way to go. As your temperature rises, in addition to sweating, your body tries to cool down by pumping more blood closer to the skin to radiate heat. If you can’t cool down, more and more blood is pumped away from your internal organs.

The lack of oxygen from blood strains the organs, while the continuing heat buildup causes an inflammatory response across the whole body, making it even harder to cool down. Once your temperature reaches 40 degrees Celsius (104 °F), your brain will get less blood due to increased intracranial pressure, and damaged tissue in the blood may cause your kidneys to fail. If your body makes it to 49 degrees Celsius (120 °F), and you’re not already dead, your cells will suffer direct heat damage.

4Worry More About Wind Chill Than Tornadoes

Hypothermia is an arguably sneakier killer than heat. Mild hypothermia may only manifest as the usual attributes of “being cold,” such as shivering, fingers feeling numb, and so on. If shivering isn’t enough to warm the body back up, it will do the opposite of the heat response described above and divert blood away from the extremities and into the internal organs.

Violent shivering will begin once the body’s temperature drops to 35 degrees Celsius (95 °F) but cease below 32 degrees Celsius (90 °F). At this point, the sufferer will be unable to think clearly and may even irrationally remove clothing.

Unconsciousness comes at 30 degrees Celsius (86 °F). At this point, a hypothermia victim may appear dead, as their body has slowed its metabolism to reduce oxygen requirements. Heart rate and respiration are quite slow. The heart finally will stop at 20 degrees Celsius (65 °F), though arrhythmias may cause death as soon as 28 degrees Celsius (82 °F).

Exposure to excessive cold kills roughly 1,300 people per year in the US. It would have to be a truly terrible and record-shattering weather year for tornadoes to match that. They kill 75 US residents each year on average. That chill you may feel in your fingers as you clear snow off your car this winter is a much more pressing danger than those thunderheads you may see in the distance this summer.

3Food Poisons More People Than Carbon Monoxide

Carbon monoxide (CO) is an even stealthier winter killer than hypothermia. You can’t see it, taste it, or smell it, and it won’t even make you sneeze or cough. Cars produce it every day, and your furnace might make the next cold winter night your last. After being inhaled, CO kills when it enters the bloodstream. It bonds to the hemoglobin in blood, which normally bonds with oxygen and carries it throughout the body. Carbon monoxide makes blood useless. Every year, 430 people die in the US of CO poisoning.

Don’t run away from your gas stove just yet; you need it to make sure your food is properly cooked. Foodborne diseases kill 3,000 US residents per year. A plurality of food poisoning cases are caused by poultry, although fruits, nuts, and leafy greens cause many cases as well. Several deaths might be prevented by simple measures such as proper hand-washing and cooking food to the correct temperature.

2Your Doctor’s Bad Handwriting Will Kill You Long Before Ebola

Ebola is a terrifying disease. The pathogen attacks nearly every organ and system in the human body, sparing only bones and muscles. Connective tissue such as collagen is effectively dissolved. Without that foundation, the skin floats over liquefied tissue, and the sufferer will bleed spontaneously from various orifices. This only gets worse once bloody vomiting and diarrhea commence. Blood loss ultimately kills an Ebola victim.

Fear of the disease led airports in the US and other countries to screen incoming passengers from West Africa. Despite this, health care workers in the US contracted Ebola, sparking fears of an outbreak. Four people were diagnosed with Ebola in 2014; one died, while the others recovered and were released from treatment. The one person who died caught the virus in Liberia.

Patients at the Texas Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, Texas, the site of three of the four Ebola cases, faced a much greater risk even during the stays of the Ebola patients: their doctors’ bad handwriting. A doctor’s frequently illegible notes or prescriptions may seem like joke fodder, but it leads to an average of 7,000 deaths every year in the US. Consider that 3.2 billion prescriptions are written annually. Bad writing can easily lead to the wrong dosage, and an unclear abbreviation might lead to the wrong medication being dispensed.

1Binge Drinking Kills More People Than All Other Drugs Combined

Sending a child off to college can certainly be stressful for concerned parents. They’ve kept their kids away from cows, bundled them up in the winter, cooked food just right, and made their pediatricians print every prescription. Now the time has come for the kid to leave the nest, get a degree, and ultimately land a good job. Of course, there’s always the frightening possibility that he or she will get hooked on drugs while they’re away. A bigger concern might be how much the kid has to drink.

Roughly 80,000 Americans die each year from binge drinking, defined as five or more alcoholic drinks in a short period of time for men or four or more for women. Most of these deaths may not be from direct alcohol poisoning, but car crashes and drunken violence can be just as deadly.

Only about half as many people die from drug overdoses in the US each year: for example, 41,000 in 2011 and 44,000 in 2013. These figures include overdoses on legal prescription drugs; illegal drugs constitute less than half of overdose deaths. In other words, parents should worry more about frat parties than a marijuana-smoking college roommate.

Anthony’s warnings to the Department of Homeland Security about the dangers posed by high school sports keep getting ignored for some reason.

There are many common microorganisms that sometimes make their way into the local and national news. These may include microorganisms that cause food poisoning, fever, pneumonia, and more. However, these common pathogens, usually residing unnoticed on the different parts of our body, can actually turn against us and begin eating our flesh! This ranges from killing surrounding tissues to actually ingesting flesh and brain matter.

10 Streptococcus Pyogenes

Streptococcus pyogenes, also known as group A streptococcus (GAS), is a normal flora of the human body. Under ordinary circumstances, it resides on our skin and other parts of the body. Since it is naturally pathogenic, it can sometimes cause diseases such as strep throat and scarlet fever.

In more severe cases, this bacterium can actually eat our flesh in what is called necrotizing fasciitis. In 1999, the CDC reported 600 cases of necrotizing fasciitis by S. pyogenes. The bacterium releases toxins and enzymes that directly attack and kill surrounding body cells.

If left untreated, it can eat away large parts of the body and cause death. Unfortunately, a newly discovered strain of S. pyogenes called emm89 is becoming prevalent and is a potent, causative agent of necrotizing fasciitis.

It is important to know that flesh-eating disease is only common to those with immunocompromised bodies, such as diabetics.

9 Apophysomyces

Soil harbors an extreme number of microorganisms, including a fungus called Apophysomyces. Although infection from this fungus is quite rare, it can still cause a flesh-eating disease called mucormycosis.

Mucormycosis is not unique to Apophysomyces. Other fungi belonging to the order Mucorales, such as Mucor and Rhizopus, can also cause it. To be pathogenic, it must be delivered deep into the flesh.

One unfortunate incident with this disease occurred when a tornado hit Joplin, Missouri, in 2011. Thirteen injured survivors soon found themselves infected by the fungus. As the fungus grew, it invaded nearby tissues using its mycelia, damaging blood vessels and restricting blood flow.

Starved of blood and nutrients, the tissue began to die. As scientists discovered, the sheer force of the tornado delivered the fungus from the soil to deep inside the wounds of the victims in an unusual and extremely unlucky event.

8 Leishmania

Even a normal fly bite can progress to a flesh-eating disease in certain circumstances. Leishmania is a parasite common in the tropics and subtropics, including countries in southern Europe. Its life cycle needs both a human and a sand fly host.

After living in a sand fly and maturing to a certain degree, Leishmania is transferred to the human body through a fly bite. The parasite then matures more in the human body and invades nearby cells. The affected cells burst and die after serving as residences for the parasite.

Flesh eating almost always happens around the bite and can enlarge significantly if left untreated. On rare occasions, the parasite can become systemic, migrate to other parts of the body, and begin to eat them, too.

There are two types of leishmaniasis: cutaneous and visceral. The former type manifests as raw, erupted skin, while the latter affects the internal organs. Right now, war-torn Syria is experiencing an outbreak of leishmaniasis. Travelers to the Amazon and Africa are also susceptible to this infection.

7 Aeromonas Hydrophila

Aeromonas hydrophila is common in fresh and brackish waters, such as estuaries. It can also contaminate drinking water when purifying equipment malfunctions or is suboptimal. Travelers are usually infected by this bacterium, which manifests as diarrhea (aka traveler’s diarrhea).

The bacterium can also contaminate food products when water used to clean the facilities or products is contaminated. Since Aeromonas hydrophila is resistant to cold temperatures, storing the contaminated foods in the refrigerator may not effectively eliminate the contamination and may later affect people who eat the products.

Though it is rare, a person can be infected by this bacterium and experience flesh-eating disease when wounded parts of the body come in contact with contaminated water, as in the case of a woman from Georgia in 2012. The bacterium entered her body through a wound acquired from a zip line accident.

Amputation and removal of some affected internal organs are common treatment options to stop the spread of the disease. So try not to dip in the water if you have open wounds.

6 Bacteroides Fragilis

Bacteroides fragilis thrives in the oxygen-deprived environment of the human gut, especially in the colon. It is a normal resident of our body and actually aids in digestion. This bacterium also prevents the invasion of other pathogenic microbes by competing for space and nutrients. Since the bacterium is well-adapted to the gut environment, foreign and invading microbes are at a disadvantage most of the time.

Ironically, when this commonly friendly bacterium leaves the gut, usually during surgery or a traumatic accident, it can cause severe necrotizing (flesh-eating) infections. These infections are usually characterized by excessive puss and edema in the surrounding tissues.

Unfortunately, treatment of a B. fragilis infection is moderately cumbersome. The bacterium is capable of destroying penicillins and its relatives by producing enzymes that break down the antibiotic. Usually, higher forms of antibiotics, such as carbapenems, are needed. However, frequent use of these higher-generation antibiotics may also lead to increased antibiotic resistance.

5 Clostridium Perfringes

Clostridium perfringes, a cousin to the Clostridium botulinum bacterium that causes botulism, is another common pathogenic species of the Clostridium genera. It is commonly found in soil and the human gut. It is also common in raw meat and poultry products.

When these products are eaten uncooked, the bacterium may cause food poisoning. In extreme cases, C. perfringes can cause necrotizing fasciitis, just like Streptococcus pyogenes, Aeromonas hydrophila, and Bacteroides fragilis.

Clostridium perfringes may eat the surface of the skin or the deeper parts of the muscle, usually leading to amputation. In addition, C. perfringes may cause gas gangrene.

Gas gangrene is a serious infection and involves the muscle instead of just the skin. It is characterized by gas production on the dying muscle tissues. Usually, infection by this bacterium happens when a wound comes in contact with contaminated soil.

This scenario is common in the battlefield, where wounds may be left open and exposed to dirt. Common treatment options are skin grafting and amputation.

4 Klebsiella Pneumoniae

Klebsiella pneumoniae is considered a normal resident of the human body, usually in the gut and in the nasopharynx areas. Considered to be one of the most antibiotic-resistant microorganisms, Klebsiella pneumoniae is associated with numerous diseases, such as pneumonia, bloodstream infections, and meningitis. Infection by this pathogen is common in hospital settings, where the bacterium resides in catheters and breathing apparatus.

On rare occasions, Klebsiella pneumoniae may cause flesh-eating disease. The first case in North America was documented in an article published in the Western Journal of Emerging Diseases. An elderly Filipino woman living in California presented with muscle necrosis caused by K. pneumoniae. According to the paper, such cases are normally found in southern Asia where the bacterium is prevalent.

Infections from Klebsiella pneumoniae are particularly hard to treat because they are resistant to a wide variety of antibiotics. In fact, it is well-known that K. pneumoniae is resistant to all penicillins and increasingly resistant to higher generations of drugs as well.

3 Vibrio Vulnificus

Vibrio species are usually found in marine environments because they require salty water for growth. Both Vibrio cholerae, which causes cholera, and Vibrio vulnificus are members of this genus.

Vibrio vulnificus is usually contracted from marine foods, such as crabs, and may cause diarrhea and vomiting when the bacteria is ingested. On rare occasions, susceptible individuals may also develop liver disease. When open wounds are exposed to seawater contaminated with V. vulnificus, necrotizing infections may occur.

Necrotizing infections caused by V. vulnificus are common to areas near the coast, like US states that border the Gulf of Mexico. In 2015, several cases of flesh-eating disease caused by V. vulnificus were recorded. In fact, Florida has as many as nine deaths per year due to this bacterium.

Infection is most common in May and October. To prevent necrotizing fasciitis caused by Vibrio vulnificus, it is better to keep open wounds away from saltwater environments, especially during the warm season when the bacterium is prevalent.

2 Staphylococcus Aureus

Staphylococcus aureus (aka Staph) is a common pathogen that may reside transiently on the human skin and other parts of the body. According to the CDC, 30 percent of the global population carries the bacterium in their nasal region. In most cases, they are nonpathogenic events.

Staph is associated with bloodstream infections and infection of the heart valves (aka endocarditis) when introduced to the bloodstream via open wounds or surgical operations. When ingested, it may cause food poisoning when the bacterium releases toxins. Cooking may effectively kill it, but the toxins remain undamaged.

In extreme cases, Staphylococcus aureus may cause necrotizing fasciitis. This is common with patients who have underlying illnesses such as diabetes and hypertension. With impaired immune defenses, the bacterium can easily invade and kill body tissues. Treatment of these infections may be difficult because many of these cases are caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), which is tolerant to many available antibiotics.

1 Naegleria Fowleri

The next time you dive into a freshwater environment, you may want to cover your nose as a safety precaution. Common to lakes, rivers, and other freshwater environments, Naegleria fowleri is an amoeba that actually ingests brain matter.

Upon entering the nose, the amoeba travels through the olfactory nerves until it reaches the brain, where it feeds. Although its usual diet includes bacteria, that particular type of food is severely lacking in our brains. So Naegleria fowleri switches to actually eating our brains instead.

Although natural bodies of water are common sources of this amoeba, contaminated pools or tap water may also harbor this zombie pathogen. It is important to know that contaminated water must pass through the nose for infection to occur. Infection cannot happen if the amoeba is ingested through the mouth or any other body openings.

Infection by Naegleria fowleri is rare but almost always leads to death when it occurs. Currently, there is no standard drug used to treat this type of infection, which usually requires surgery as a last resort. To avoid infection by this brain-eating amoeba, avoid untreated and warm freshwater environments. Properly chlorinated pool and tap water is generally safe.

Matthew is a premedical student majoring in microbiology.