History NonIndicativeName / RealLife

* Most of what's sold in American grocery stores as cinnamon sticks are actually the bark of several closely-related species. "True" or Ceylon cinnamon is ''Cinnamomum verum'', while other species in the same genus ('' C. burmanni'', ''cassia'', ''loureiroi'' and ''citriodorum'') are collectively called cassia and make up the bulk of "cinnamon" on the market. They taste similar, but not identical. Cassia barks are slightly thicker and keep better than true cinnamon bark.

* "Hamburgers" are made of beef, not ham. Well-worn {{Outside Joke}}s aside, Hamburger never ''did'' mean "a burger made from ham" but instead "[someone or something] from Hamburg", in this case a ground-meat patty sandwich. The suffix "burger" is itself a {{snowclone}} based on the custom in German-speaking countries of naming snack foods after the town with which they're most closely associated (Hamburg, in this case), much as "Frankfurters" (the sausage used for hot dogs) are associated with Frankfurt-am-Main (they're also called wieners, as similar sausages came from Vienna, or "Wien" as it's called in German). In the 19th century chopped beef patties were known as "Hamburg steaks" (and still are in much of the world), so a "Hamburger" was a Hamburg steak sandwich. Also, "ham" is not a meat in its own right, but the cured hindleg of a pig. In the case of actual hamburgers, though, the non-indicative name is complete; there are half-a-dozen potential origin points of the hamburger sandwich ranging from Boston, Massachusetts to Seymour, Wisconsin, anywhere between 1885 and 1900. Regardless the hamburger sandwich was already an extant dish by the time of its debut at the 1904 World's Fair.

* Most of what's sold in American grocery stores as cinnamon sticks are actually the bark of the Cassia tree. They're closely related and taste similar, but not identical. Cassia bark is slightly thicker and keeps better than true cinnamon bark.

** The African elephant is now considered two separate species. The Asian elephant is larger than the African forest elephant (''L. cyclotis'') but smaller than the African bush elephant (''L. africana'').

** The African elephant is now considered two separate species. The Asian elephant is larger than the African forest elephant (''L. cyclotis'') but smaller than the African forest elephant (''L. africana'').

* Two-toed sloths are better termed "two-''fingered'' sloths" since they have three toes on each hindfoot.

* The long-extinct sea scorpions, or eurypterids. Not only were they not scorpions, but there were plenty of freshwater species; in fact, after a few mass extinctions claimed a swathe of them, all surviving sea scorpions were found in rivers and lakes.

** It doesn't help that literal Indians, as in people who came from the Indian subcontinent, have been living in the Americas far longer than people expect, and comprise only ''part'' of the people blanket-labelled as "West Indian" today. Indians were settled in large numbers in the 19th century by the British in the West Indies to work as laborers, and their descendants are still a huge population block in the region, making up the plurality of the population in UsefulNotes/{{Guyana}} and UsefulNotes/TrinidadAndTobago.

*** The Dallas Cowboys haven't played in the Big D itself ever since they left the Cotton Bowl in 1971 (Texas Stadium was in Irving, the current one is Arlington)[[note]]Not to mention, Arlington, Texas, is not even in Dallas County (where both Dallas proper and Irving are located). Instead, Arlington is ''Tarrant'' County (of which Fort Worth is the county seat)[[/note]]. They also don't have their HQ in the Big D either; they had that in Irving during the existence of Texas Stadium, and moved it to Frisco a few years after their current stadium opened.

** The [[UsefulNotes/NationalBasketballAssociation NBA]] lost its most recent example of this trope when the Detroit Pistons moved in 2017 from The Palace of Auburn Hills in the city's far northwest suburbs to Little Caesars Arena in Midtown Detroit.
*** However, its sister league, the WNBA, has two or three, depending on whether you care to split hairs. There's no doubt about the Atlanta Dream, who moved from downtown Atlanta to suburban College Park after the 2019 season, or the Dallas Wings, who have played in Arlington since their arrival from Tulsa in 2016. The hair-splitting comes with the Las Vegas Aces, which like the NFL's Raiders play in the community of Paradise.
*** Also in the WNBA, the New York Liberty have zig-zagged this trope. When they and the league began play in 1997, the Liberty, which was owned by the parent company of the New York Knicks, shared Madison Square Garden in Midtown Manhattan with the Knicks. After the 2017 season, the Liberty's home games were moved to Westchester County, directly to the north of NYC (though still in New York State), while the Liberty was put up for sale. Early in 2019, the Liberty was bought by Joseph Tsai, then owner of 49% of the Brooklyn Nets, who kept the team in Westchester but moved two home games to the Nets' home of Barclays Center. After the 2019 WNBA season, Tsai became sole owner of the Nets and moved the Liberty to Brooklyn full-time.

* Duck sauce doesn't contain any duck.

* The UsefulNotes/OedipusComplex is named after a character that didn't have it: Theatre/{{Oedipus|Rex}} didn't know that the man that he murdered was his father or that the woman that he married was his mother (his biological parents abandoned him at birth because of a prophecy saying he would do exactly that...), and was revolted by both revelations. Moreover, he wasn't in love with his mother, and he didn't hate his father--he killed his father after a chance encounter with him (because his father tried to run him off the road with a chariot), and he only married his mother (the queen) as reward for slaying the Sphinx and replace the missing king.

* Ginger beer, root beer, birch beer, ginger ale and butterbeer are all non-alcoholic drinks, though the first four were actually fermented like their more grown-up namesakes, and the last coincidentally shares its name with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_Jgq-VQE-o an actual Tudor-era drink based on heated up beer and butter]]). Now, most beverages sold as these drinks are made like any other soda-pop/fizzy drink these days; a flavored syrup dissolved in carbonated water. Finding these beverages in the original, brewed and fermented form is rare, although some places do make it and are gaining in popularity (e.g. Small Town Brewery's "Not Your Father's Root Beer," an alcoholic root beer that became popular in the United States c. 2015).

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amaterasu_particle Amaterasu particle]], an ultra-high-energy cosmic ray, is named after the Japanese goddess of the sun, but it neither came from our sun (it came from outside the Milky Way), not was detected in Japan (it was detected in Utah, USA). That said, the study leader ''is'' Japanese.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amaterasu_particle Amaterasu particle]], an ultra-high-energy cosmic ray, is named after the Japanese goddess of the sun, but it neither came from our sun (it came from outside the Milky Way), not was detected in Japan (it was detected in Utah, USA).

** For that part, the [[ElegantGothicLolita lolita fashion]] subculture has pretty much nothing to do with ''Literature/{{Lolita}}'', and if one would ask any Japanese member of the subculture they'll usually say that men hate the style, which is the reason why certain women wear it.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_tacos French tacos]], by contrast, were invented in France (specifically in Lyon), but aren't really "tacos" in any conventional sense of the term. Large packages of a cheesy filling wrapped on all sides in a flour tortilla and then grilled in a press, they are, from a Mexican point of view, more like a bizarre hybrid of a burrito and a quesadilla[[note]]Burritos are made from flour tortillas and are fully wrapped around the filling, but don't ''need'' to have cheese and are usually not grilled and certainly not in a press. Quesadillas are usually made from corn tortillas (though they may legitimately be made from flour tortillas, especially in ''el Norte''), do need to have cheese ("queso" is right in the name; while Mexico City cuisine features "quesadillas" with no ''queso'', everyone else in Mexico agrees that the ''chilangos'' don't know what they're talking about), and can be pressed (though they're usually just toasted) and can be made from corn or wheat tortillas (depending on region) but are only folded in half and are open on the edges. (There's a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPxjQetKPoo fascinating 19th-century recipe for quesadillas made by stuffing a masa round with cheese like a weird corn empanada and frying the whole affair in lard]], but it isn't in common use anymore.) Actual tacos are usually made from corn tortillas and are never grilled (the tortilla is usually toasted, but the fillings are added later).[[/note]] with extra-weird fillings (though admittedly ones Mexicans would thoroughly enjoy). The filling also makes them questionably French, since it's usually made of fries (which are, again, Belgian), gyro/döner meat (brought by Greek/Turkish immigrants), sauces like ketchup, and some very optional vegetables; the most distinctively French item in the device is usually the cheese--which is most commonly is Comté (France's favorite melting cheese for sandwiches)--but even that can be replaced with Swiss Gruyère (which is virtually indistinguisbable from Comté so whatever) or even (British) Cheddar or processed "American" cheese. To further add to the confusion, they are called "tacos" even in the singular (it's ''un tacos, s'il vout plait'', not ''un taco''), and the biggest chain for French tacos [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O%27Tacos suggests a (completely nonexistent) connection to Ireland]].

* To add to the confusion, what we know as "English muffins" aren't English and aren't what what we normally call muffins. They were invented in New York City by Samuel Thomas, a British immigrant as a variation English crumpet. However, the same kind of thing as English muffins are popular in England -- where they are called by many names, none of which are "muffins"[[note]]When you hear the British arguing over baps and rolls and cobs and barms this is it (one name for them, in a very small region, is an oven-bottom muffin, though usually shortened to oven-bottom).[[/note]] The true equivalent isn't really this, though: it's the bread used in fast food chains for breakfast burgers, hence the name Egg [=McMuffin=], which was imported from America and so is in no way English, nor really a muffin. Ask your average English person for an English muffin and they'll probably not even know what you mean, likely giving you a smaller American muffin. The American kind, the sweet, larger cupcake-type confectionary, are sometimes called "American muffins", which ''are'' American in origin, but normally just muffins nowadays after EaglelandOsmosis.

* Sea hares aren't hares, they are slugs.
* Mountain chickens are frogs that live in wetlands. The chicken part comes from how they supposedly TasteLikeChicken, although the "mountain" part is unclear.

** In modern-day US, the indigenous Americans are usually called "Native Americans" both to keep from offending anybody and to end the confusion, but "American Indian" is still often encountered. In Canada, they are called the "First Nations".

* A [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_examples_of_Stigler%27s_law great deal]] of formal/informal scientific principles or laws named after people (i.e. Pythagoras' Theorem, Benford's Law, even UsefulNotes/TheBechdelTest) weren't originally invented/discovered by those people (Pythagoras' Theorem was already known to the Babylonians, Benford's Law was originally discovered by Simon Newcomb and the Bechdel Test was actually created by Alison Bechdel's friend Liz Wallace). This is known as "Stigler's Law of Eponymy"... which also happens to be an example of ''itself'', since the eponymous Stephen Stigler attributes Robert K. Merton with its "discovery".

*** However, the discovery in 2017 of a dinosaur which shows both Theropod and Ornitischian traits made experts to reclassify dinosaurs into Saurischians, which includes Sauropods and Herrerasaurs, and Ornithoscelidae (bird leg), which includes Theropods and Ornitischians. That means birds are indeed more closely related to Ornitischians than they are to Saurischians.

* Because they're geographically isolated from the rest of their states, a few American high schools compete athletically in a neighboring state's federation. For a long time the only example was five California schools[[labelnote:*]]Coleville, North Tahoe, South Tahoe and Tahoe-Truckee, all cut off from the majority of California schools by the Sierra Nevada, plus Needles, separated by the Mojave Desert[[/labelnote]] in the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association, but then an Arizona school [[labelnote:*]]Beaver Dam, in the extreme northeast corner of the state[[/labelnote]] joined the NIAA as well. In 2017 a school in Oregon[[labelnote:*]]Hermiston, in the northwest part of the state[[/labelnote]] joined the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, then a few years later six small Washington schools[[labelnote:*]]Bickleton, Glenwood, Klickitat, Lyle, Trout Lake, Wishram[[/labelnote]] defected to the Oregon School Activities Association.

* Adobe Acrobat has nothing to do with the circus.

* Actual stars tend to have very weak colors. As such, the color description used in stellar classification usually aren't that accurate. Red dwarf stars are more of a burnt-orange color, while yellow dwarf stars (such as the sun)are usually white with a very faint yellow tint. Blue giant stars [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers actually are somewhat blue,]] although it's still usually a very pale blue.

--> '''Sam Stone''': "If this is a minigun, I wonder what a maxigun is!"

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* Unlike astronomical objects like dwarf stars and dwarf galaxies, dwarf planets are considered as being a separate type of astronomical object from planets, which notably includes [[PlutoisExpendable Pluto]].

* Relatedly, in English-speaking military parlance, plain solid ammo without hollow points, tracers, or incendiary loads is still called "ball", despite universally being either a cylinder with one rounded end (pistol ammo) or pointed (rifle ammo). In fact, the word "bullet" comes from the French word ''boulette'', meaning "little ball". And the current French word for "bullet" is ''balle''.

* The Pharaoh Hound has nothing to do with Ancient Egypt. Its name was the "Maltese Rabbit Dog" until the late 1960s. A British fan of the breed renamed it a more "romantic" sounding name as he thought the original name didn't fit the breeds elegance enough. As their original name implies, the breed originates from the Malta region and is traditionally used for hunting rabbits. The new name comes from images of Pharaoh Hound-like dogs on Ancient Egyptian carvings and paintings. It was assumed that these were Pharaoh Hounds due to their similarities and due to trades between the region, however there is no evidence of the fact besides "These dogs look like those dogs."

* In UsefulNotes/{{Cricket}}, a team is "all out" when all ''but one'' of the players are out (the last player standing can't continue without a batting partner).

** The UsefulNotes/NationalHockeyLeague has had teams from both the U.S. and Canada for almost all of its history, which makes it international rather than national. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Hockey_League#Early_years It was founded in 1917 with four teams, all Canadian.]] The Boston Bruins were the first American team to join, in 1924. Today, the majority of teams are American, and the league's headquarters are in New York City; ironically many people assume that "National" refers to the US, and the inclusion of Canadian teams makes it a misnomer!

*** The Canadian Hockey League, an umbrella organization for the country's three junior hockey leagues, has American teams. Each of the member leagues demonstrates this trope in its own way: