h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Can anyone think of any misnomers? Famous, trivial, odd: anything will do. Maybe there could eventually be a Guide Entry in this. (a badly named one, obviously).

To get started, I thought of "The World Series" which is an american (i.e. not open to the whole world) baseball competition.

"White Rhinos" which are not white.

Scotland's "Black Isle" which is not an island and not really black either.

Any more?

When Christopher Columbus arrived in America he thought he was in India and called the Native Americans Indians. To this day many people still refer to Native Americans as Indians when they actually are not at all Indian.

I don`t know whether this is completely true but in a similar vein when the Conquistadores landed in Mexico they asked the Mayans where they were. The Mayans answered in their own language that they didn`t understand what was being said to them. The Mayan for don`t understand is Yucatan and the Spanish named the area that under the misapprehension that the Indians were answering them truthfully.

Red

Thats actually kind of funny. It would be kind of to say you were from Don't Understand

These are good. Keep em coming. Thanks.

Purple grapes are refered to as red grapes when they are clearly purple

I heard somewhere that the Battle of Hastings in 1066 was actually fought not at Hastings, but at a nearby place called Battle. So it should have been the Battle of Battle. Anyone else heard that?
What about other battleplace names?

The baseball thing actually isn't a misnomer - it's called the "World Series" 'cos it was originally sponsored by a now defunct newspaper called the (New York? Washington? I can't remember) World, rather than claiming that it's a "world championship".

There's one real misnomer that bugs me lots, but at the moment I can't remember it. It got so bad that I used to shout at the telly because of it. I must have been so traumatised that I've suppressed all knowledge of the thing...

Peking Duck is a fish dish - from southern China.

Now that I think about it, I can't believe that nobody has meantioned the fact that the millenium was celebrated in the year 2000 when we didn't actually enter into a new millenium until the year 2001.

Restaurants call spicey chicken wings buffalo wings for some reason that I could never quite understand. They are made of chicken, they are actually the wing of a chicken, yet they appear on the menu as buffalo wings. Why Why WHY WHY WHY!!!!!!!!!

There is nothing Buffalo about them

Nothing makes me as mad as the whole millenium thing though.

Kansas City is not in Kansas.

Its in Missouri.

Battle was called Battle after the Battle you know! At the time the Battle of Hastings was called (by the winners at least) The Battle of Senlac Ridge - not half so catchy.

The Holy Roman Emperors were, as a rule, neither Holy, nor Roman nor Emperors!

...Chillis are Hot

Greenland's Icy and Iceland's Greeny

Black rhinos are gray

Thanks, Cloviscat. That should have been obvious to me (about the Battle of Hastings).
Also Weakpun, thanks for putting me right on the World Series too.

It was certainly worth starting this thread!

Keep 'em coming. Thanks
Add explanations as to how things got missnamed, if poss.

This is a thread

And for one more...

When you go to a restaurant, you ask the waiter or waitress for the check when you are finished the meal.

Why???

If they were really bringing you a check, then wouldn't they just be giving you money?

Shouldn't we be asking for the bill not hte check?

Peking Duck? What about Bombay Duck.
I remember a friend looking at a letter which had 'This is not a circular' on it. She found this incredibly funny, as it was clearly oblong-shaped.
It's an oxymoron rather than a misnomer, but: Military intelligence, public opinion, organised religion etc.

Friendly fire (not friendly),
Charm offensive (no charm),
Customer Service (not service),
Any "helpline" (not helpful)?

I had an exam paper on one page of which was written "This page is intentionally left blank".

YES! Absolutely. That was on every single on of our exams ever, except it was worse since they were unequivocably labelled 'BLANK PAGE'.
The fools.