Hello Kitty isn’t a cat, she’s a British girl & 7 other lies that’ll blow your mind
Today the earth was shook to its very core when news broke that Hello Kitty (that’s right, we wrote KITTY) isn’t actually a cat. That’s right. Hello Kitty (again, KITTY) isn’t actually a cat. We’ll give you a minute to process that one…
According to Buzzfeed, anthropologist Christine R. Yano was curating a Hello Kitty exhibition at the Japanese American National Museum in L.A. when she was contacted by Sanrio, the Japanese company who created the super popular feline character. They assured her that Hello Kitty isn’t a cat, but she’s a girl. She told the Los Angeles Times:
‘She is a little girl. She is a friend. But she is not a cat. She’s never depicted on all fours. She walks and sits like a two-legged creature. She does have a pet cat of her own, however, and it’s called Charmmy Kitty.’
But… But… Her whiskers? Her ears? Her name? Her undeniably cat-like features? THE FACT SHE’S A CAT?! We know, we know. We screamed all of those same things at the sky earlier today when we were questioning our very own existence while crumpled up in a heap on the floor.
What’s more, the LA Times claim that she’s British. She’s just a regular girl (with cat ears, cat eyes, cat whiskers and a cat name). And oh yeah, she likes apple pie. (??!!)
So while you feel so confused. So violated. So vulnerable. We have a bit more news to break to you about the lies* we’ve been led to believe are true our whole lives. Sit back. Find something to hug. And get ready to question EVERYTHING.
*In the interest of being honest (and not getting into trouble), I’d like to point out I know all of these aren’t technically lies, they’re things we didn’t know.
Morgan Freeman was wrong, we don’t just use 10% of our brains
There’s this huge science-y myth going round that humans only use 10% of their brains and if we could only all unlock that elusive other 90% we’d be superheroes. Unfortunately this has been cemented into popular culture by Luc Besson’s recent flick Lucy, in which Morgan Freeman goes off on one about our limited brain power. It’s actually all completely made up. According to Gizmodo we use WAY more than 10% of our brains. If we did only use 10% we’d probably be a vegetable.
You can’t technically ‘shake it like a Polaroid picture’ (or you could, but it’d ruin your picture)
OutKast were lying when they said ‘shake it like a Polaroid picture’, because when ‘Hey Ya’ hit the charts back in 2004, Polaroid issued statements to the press explaining that shaking your Polaroid photos will in fact ruin them. A Polaroid spokesperson told CNN: ‘In fact, shaking or waving can actually damage the image. Rapid movement during development can cause portions of the film to separate prematurely, or can cause ‘blobs’ in the picture.’
Ian McKellan wasn’t first in line for the role of Gandalf, Sean Connery was
This is one that’s sure to stir LOTR fans to their very core. According to The Telegraph, Connery turned down a reported £283 million because he wasn’t really convinced by the script.
You don’t know how to peel a potato
Potato peeling has been the bane of human existence for millennia. But according to the gif above, there’s a super quick, easy and painless way of doing it right. HT All That’s Interesting.
And on that topic, you don’t know how to peel a banana either
Goldfish actually have fairly capable memories and can learn stuff
No one is sure where the saying ‘you’ve got a memory like a goldfish’ really comes from, but it’s widely believed that goldfish are a bit… Well… REALLY STUPID. But according to Mental Floss, our gold little friends are actually much cleverer than we think because they can learn things, retain information and then even use that information later on.
Those lovely IKEA photos of all that beautiful, minimalist Scandi furniture? THEY AREN’T REAL
That’s right, according to GSociety the homeware (and meatballs) institution that is IKEA (or should we say LIE-kea?!) has allegedly been fooling us all for decades with its irresistible and actually too good to be true idyllic scenes of Scandi home style. Instead those scenes of tranquil, minimal, DIY Nirvana are in fact computer generated images. HT Reddit.com.
