10 simple misunderstanding, turned into a disaster Bashny.Net

There is one thing that is known for sure: people are far from perfect. Error we all make. Unfortunately that is only a small misunderstanding for some, it may cause huge problems for others. Sometimes misunderstandings can have a positive effect, and sometimes this influence is devastating. The following list describes a few historical misunderstandings that had serious consequences.

1. The statue of Moses by Michelangelo

Moses is a sculpture created by famous artist Michelangelo Buonarroti. On this statue you can see by visiting the Church of St. Peter, in Vincoli, in Rome. She performed extremely detailed and impressive, like all the works of Michelangelo, however, it seems that Moses just sits there with a thoughtful look. And all the attention of the observer will be focused on the head of Moses, but rather, two parts on this head.

These items is a pair of small horns, and these they became the subject of fierce disputes about whether depicted Moses, and about the statue in General. Horns of Moses has arisen after he had read one of the translations of the Vulgate (the Latin Bible), but rather, the place in Exodus, where Moses returns to the people after his second meeting with God, during which he received the Ten Commandments. To describe the face of Moses there was used the Hebrew word "???". Unfortunately, this word could be translated as "horn", and as "heat", everything depended on the placement of dots in it. It is possible that the translation was correct, but still most people like to think that after meeting with God and receiving the Ten Commandments Moses literally glowed, and without any horns. Unfortunately, this incorrect translation of the Vulgate is inspired by Michelangelo to create the sculpture, it has also led to the fact that for many centuries had many paintings of "horned Jew" on them.

2. Hemophilia

The above incorrect translation is not just to meet you in this list, because incorrect translations are the source of many misunderstandings. A misunderstanding happened with one Norwegian student who studied in Copenhagen. This misunderstanding at the moment when he went to the emergency room" after I got hit with a glass to the head during a fight in a bar. In the emergency room" student tried to explain to the doctors that he suffers from hemophilia, a condition which does not allow the human body to control blood clotting. Despite profuse bleeding, the doctor decided that before him the usual scratch, and telling the student that he was fine, sent him home. The incident was another misunderstanding. Student trying to explain to the doctor about your illness, constantly using the word "homophilia" (homofil). The doctor decided that the student was gay. Naturally, he told him that there is nothing to worry, and that he does not need any treatment. Due to the small language barrier that separates Denmark and Norway, the doctor misunderstood the problem, and the same barrier a wounded student thought that he rendered all necessary help and calmed down, went home. Two days later he was found dead.

3. The atomic bomb

Anyone who's ever studied history, must have heard about the dumping by the United States atomic bombs "Little boy" and "Fat man" on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It was the first and only case in history when nuclear weapons were used for military purposes. The importance of this moment cannot be overestimated, but this may have been avoided if it had not been a misunderstanding. As you may have guessed, the cause was again a bad translation. When the Japanese side asked why they did not surrender during World war II, the Japanese Governor in response said the word "mokusatsu" (mokusatsu). It is now clear that this word means "we will refrain from comments — there will be a discussion." But when the response of the Japanese sent to Washington, he was transferred incorrectly, and the result came out "we will treat your question with contempt". The answer came in the American media, and the hype around it began to spread like wildfire. President Truman knew that he would have to answer it very seriously, and at some point, he decided that the atomic bomb would be the most appropriate answer. Now it seems very strange why no one has studied the response of the Japanese people more carefully for errors in translation. But regardless, this error has led to the fact that 150000-250000 people died. Some of them were killed at once, part later from the effects of radiation.

4. The trial of "Salem witch"

The trial of the "Salem witches" took place from 1962 to 1693, the first years in colonial Massachusetts. Weird and not too normal action of three young girls led to a series of accusations and executions, and such a process had never been conducted in America. Currently the events that occurred in Salem, well researched, and it's safe to say that they occurred because of a misunderstanding. And it all started with the abnormal behavior of three girls. With them on and off seizures, they were throwing different things started to make strange noises, etc. To survey the girls physicians were summoned, but they failed to explain what is happening from a physical point of view, and therefore were forced to surrender. And in those days in colonial America, people were firmly convinced that the devil exists and that he can give his followers supernatural powers that allow them to control the actions of others. The people in town decided that this is the only explanation for everything that happens with the girls, and given the fact that traditional methods, the behavior of the girls to explain it was impossible, we should not be surprised that the version with the intervention of the devil worked. In the result the girls were forced to name "witches", who ruled their behavior. Unfortunately for everyone, one of the "witches" confessed his guilt, and the situation got out of control. People began to accuse of witchcraft right and left, and it has grown to such an extent that the only way to avoid accusations of witchcraft was to get accused of witchcraft to someone else. This lasted until until the Governor does not put an end to the hearings, which were held in the local court. By the end of the court more than 200 people were accused of devil worship, 19 people were executed by hanging and 1 man was crushed to death with large stones.

5. Nikita Khrushchev

Another famous historical misunderstanding associated with Communist leader Nikita Khrushchev. Khrushchev, as head of the Soviet Union, once attended the reception, which was held in the Polish Embassy in Moscow. It is at this reception on 18 November 1956 he addressed to the Western ambassadors, said: "we will bury you". Reporters American news immediately published this statement, but unfortunately, translated it inaccurately, and the result came out "we will bury you." Given the extremely tense relations between the two countries in the period of the arms race and the cold war, it is easy to guess that the Americans have decided that Khrushchev threatens the United States. Fear of the cold war reached its peak, and admittedly, this review must be simply horrified the West. Today we know that it was just a misunderstanding, and if at that time someone had bothered to better understand this issue, it would be clear that Khrushchev in his statement used a common Russian idiom. A more accurate translation would be: "I, of course, upsets your ignorance, but it will be your funeral, not mine." And although it still sounds scary, but at least it becomes clear that Khrushchev did not threaten anyone.

6. "War stray dog"

In times of extreme tension require very little to cause disaster. And "War stray dog" is no exception to this rule. During the phoney war of the 20th century ordinary stray dog could cause an international crisis. As the Second Balkan war ended in 1913, between Greece and Bulgaria has accumulated such amount of hatred and aggression that could at any moment spill out in any direction. But surprisingly, the reason which led to this outburst of aggression has become a common misunderstanding. When the dog is a simple Greek soldier in October 1925, the year crossed the border with Bulgaria, he did what would make any good dog owner. Despite many people trying to kill him, the soldier ran on Bulgarian territory, where he was shot. The Greeks immediately used this border incident as a pretext for the invasion of Bulgaria. The Greek army began to occupy the small village, and was about to fire at the Bulgarian town of Petrich, but the League of Nations failed to stop this attack. Eventually a truce was declared, but before it happened 50 citizens of Bulgaria were killed.

7. The battle of Antietam

The battle of Antietam (also known as the battle of Sharpsburg) is beyond doubt the most significant battle in American history. It took place September 17, 1862, near a small river Antietem Creek, Sharpsburg, Maryland. Most people don't even realize that this iconic battle took place because of a misunderstanding that happened between General Robert Lee and the commander of the rear D. hill. When Lee led his army North, he sent several of his generals the orders to move with their units at a given point. In the orders contained details of what is needed to make maneuvers in order to divide the troops into an equal number of connections. By mistake, all the orders were accidentally left in camp, in the rear, while he himself continued to move into the territory of allies. These orders end up in the hands of George McClellan, commander of the allied forces. Knowing the plans of the Confederate army, the Union army was able to quietly approach, and strike troops of General Lee on the river Antietem Creek. It was the bloodiest day in American history when a misunderstanding has killed more than 22,000 people.

8. The Murder Of Franz Ferdinand

Archduke Franz Ferdinand is a shining example of how one false move can change the history of the world. The murder of the Archduke was thus the wrong move, which led to one of the largest wars in the history of mankind. It happened on 28 June 1914 when the Archduke and his wife attended the rally completely innocent in Bosnia. Representatives of the Serbian terrorist organization "Black hand" tried to kill Ferdinand, throwing a grenade at a passing convoy. The grenade missed the target as he was not in the car. After a failed assassination attempt, a group of terrorists hiding in the city. Further history tells us that the Archduke decided to visit the wounded in a local hospital, but his driver, who knew the local roads, once turned in the wrong place, and didn't know where to go next. Seemed to help in finding the right path came in the form of a young man in uniform, who was sitting on the side of the road. But unfortunately for the Archduke, this young man was one of the conspirators. He shot the Archduke and his wife. This misunderstanding, which began with the driver, led to the outbreak of the First world war, which claimed the lives of nearly 10 million people.

9. Massacre on the Creek of wounded knee

Massacre on the Creek of wounded knee (eng. wounded knee — wounded knee occurred on December 29, 1980 on an Indian reservation pine ridge, South Dakota. This massacre is often used today as a nightmarish example of how the United States treated with the indigenous people of America. Many innocent people were killed, but much worse than that is the fact that this massacre could have been avoided if not for a misunderstanding.

The following happened. In 1889, the Indians of different tribes began to cross the Western us States, from time to time doing absolutely harmless "dance of the spirits". This dance was actually a new Indian religion, the inspiration of which was a Holy man of the tribe Pautov named Wovoka. He argued that when the Indians finished their dance, the world cleansed of evil, and the dead will be reunited with the living. "Dance of the spirits" began to spread from one tribe to another, but the original meaning of this religion gradually began to be distorted, similar to how distorted the original message in the children's game "broken telephone". In the end it turned out that the goal of religion is not to cleanse the world of evil and create a world free from the white man. You can imagine what effect this news had upon American soldiers. Despite the fact that any threat posed by the "Ghost dance", was not the soldiers on the Creek wounded knee misunderstood its significance. They tried to stop the "dance" that led first to the murder of Sitting Bull (Sitting Bull, the legendary Indian chief hunkpapa), and then were massacred 150 native Americans.

10. Jimmy Carter

In December 1977, the year U.S. President Jimmy Carter planned a trip to Poland to pronounce it. In Poland in those days was a very complicated relationship with the Soviet Union. Unfortunately for Carter, what was supposed to be the usual boring speech, turned into a disastrous and politically offensive misunderstanding. The intention of the President was that he wanted to ask poles, what kind of future they want for themselves. That meant the President and what he said to his translator, is incredibly very different in meaning. First, the translator said that "the President wants sensual poles." But the matter is not over. Next, Carter in a speech mentioned that he is very happy to be in Poland. This phrase seems harmless enough, but when it was translated, it turned out that the President is very pleased that Poland grabbed the genitals. Then Carter mentioned his departure from the United States, and it was translated as "Carter left the United States forever." The latter misunderstanding arose when Carter's speech praised the Polish Constitution of 1791, the year. It actually was a compliment, but after his "transfer" was that the Polish Constitution needs to be laughed at. It is easy to imagine the reaction of Polish citizens and officials of Poland to make such statements, uttered by one of the most influential people in the world.

source: publy.ru

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