Myth Quotes

Ken Olsen, co-founder and CEO of Digital Equipment Corporation, did indeed utter those words at a 1977 meeting of the World Future Society. While his comments seem remarkably shortsighted, particularly considering that his company manufactured personal computers in the 1990s, they should be examined in context.

Olsen was not referring to PCs, which he later had in his own home, but to the more complex computers of science fiction that could run all the systems in your home (climate control, meal preparation, cleaning, entertainment), such as the ship's computer in Star Trek. Of course, today that possibility doesn't seem so far-fetched anymore, either …

While this catchphrase has come to be attributed to Holmes through subsequent movies, plays and TV specials featuring the fictional detective, Holmes never said, "Elementary, my dear Watson," in any of Doyle's books.

While Dan Quayle was a notoriously bad public speaker, who frequently garbled his statements to the point of inanity ("For NASA, space is still a high priority." "Verbosity leads to unclear, inarticulate things."), this is one gaffe that can't be attributed to the former V.P. It was actually part of a story told to a gathering of Republicans by Rep. Claudine Schneider (R-RI) as a joke.

Rep. Schneider said she had recently attended an event at the Belgian Embassy, where the vice president had complimented her command of French, and then went on to comment on his lack of Latin skills. Although she concluded her story by admitting it was a joke, several news organizations picked it up and reported it as true.

While the legendary baseball player was well known for his head-scratching -- and often unwittingly profound -- sayings ("A nickel ain't worth a dime anymore." "Ninety percent of the game is half mental."), this one came out just as he intended. His home near Montclair, N.J., could be reached by going in either direction from the fork in the road.

Anyone who's ever experienced a foggy San Francisco summer has most likely thought of this famous quote, but the truth of the matter is there is no evidence that Mark Twain ever actually uttered (or wrote) those words.

When Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the surface of the moon, he had prepared a speech appropriate to the occasion: "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." However, either due to a transmission glitch or Armstrong being caught up in the excitement of the moment, what the world heard was, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.'"

When taken literally, the sentence doesn't make sense, since "man" and "mankind" mean the same thing in that context. Nevertheless, that is what Armstrong has been quoted as saying for nearly 40 years.