In 1918, Pink Was for Boys: The Fake Rules You Grew Up With

Carrots don't help you see in the dark. That was a World War Two cover story for a secret weapon. "Clean your plate" was a wartime government campaign. And in 1918, pink was for boys. Here are 9 fake rules you believed your entire life, in the order you learned them, and who actually invented each one: a baby-store trade magazine, Herbert Hoover's Food Administration, a 1908 Boy Scouts handbook, a 1970s diet craze, Britain's Ministry of Information, a 1970 U.S. Army survival manual, the preface of a bestselling self-help book, and a 1935 spreadsheet that still decides when you retire. Which rule did your parents tell you that I missed? Tell me in the comments and I might trace it next. CHAPTERS 0:00 Carrots, clean plates and pink for boys 0:21 Age 0: In 1918, Pink Was for Boys 1:04 Age 5: "Clean Your Plate" Was a War Plan 1:38 Age 7: The 30-Minute Swimming Rule 2:15 Age 8: The Sugar Rush Myth 3:00 Age 10: Carrots and the Secret Radar 3:41 Age 13: Knuckle Cracking and Arthritis 4:12 Age 16: "You Lose Heat Through Your Head" 4:47 Age 25: The 10% of Your Brain Myth 5:33 Age 65: Why You Retire at 65 6:13 Your whole life, rule by rule Sources: Smithsonian Magazine, "When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink?" (Earnshaw's Infants' Department, June 1918; 1927 Time store chart) — https://www.smithsonianmag.com/histor... Clean Plate Club / U.S. Food Administration, 1917 (Herbert Hoover, Lever Act, children's pledge) — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_P... Mental Floss, "Do You Really Need to Wait 30 Minutes After Eating to Go Swimming?" (1908 Boy Scouts handbook; American Red Cross 2011 review) — https://www.mentalfloss.com/science/h... Wolraich, Wilson & White, "The effect of sugar on behavior or cognition in children: a meta-analysis", JAMA 1995; Hoover & Milich, Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology 1994 — summary: https://www.popsci.com/does-sugar-mak... Smithsonian Magazine, "A WWII Propaganda Campaign Popularized the Myth That Carrots Help You See in the Dark" — https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-c... Unger DL, "Does knuckle cracking lead to arthritis of the fingers?", Arthritis & Rheumatism 1998; 2009 Ig Nobel Prize in Medicine — https://thetech.com/2009/10/02/ignobe... Vreeman & Carroll, "Festive medical myths", BMJ 2008 (head heat loss ~7-10%; 1970 U.S. Army field manual) — https://www.grough.co.uk/magazine/200... Scientific American, "Do People Only Use 10 Percent of Their Brains?" (Lowell Thomas, 1936 preface) — https://www.scientificamerican.com/ar... U.S. Social Security Administration, "Age 65 Retirement" (Bismarck, 1889 law at 70, lowered in 1916; CES 1935) — https://www.ssa.gov/history/age65.html #history #myths #psychology