See title. For those who don’t know, the Mandela Effect is a phenomenon where a large group of people remember something differently than how it occurred. It’s named after Nelson Mandela because a significant number of people remembered him dying in prison in the 1980s, even though he actually passed away in 2013.

I’m curious to hear about your personal experiences with this phenomenon. Have you ever remembered an event, fact, or detail that turned out to be different from reality? What was it and how did you react when you found out your memory didn’t align with the facts? Does it happen often?

    • frightful_hobgoblin@lemmy.ml
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      5 months ago

      I know!

      He was constantly in the papers in the 1990s, major figure, every mac madra knew he was alive, where do they get this shite.

      • JCPhoenix@beehaw.org
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        5 months ago

        Yeah, I never understood that either. He was the president of South Africa from 1994-1999. Yes, he kept a lower profile in the 2000s, but I remember even as a kid/teen seeing articles and photos of him in the news. Bizarre.

        Now the Berenstain Bears one, I understand. At the same time, I just chalk that up to spelling. For what reason would I need to know how to spell “Berenstain?”

        • frightful_hobgoblin@lemmy.ml
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          5 months ago

          Now the Berenstain Bears one, I understand. At the same time, I just chalk that up to spelling. For what reason would I need to know how to spell “Berenstain?”

          I had one like this where I was shocked to learn there was never a band called Chumbawumba; they are called Chumbawamba and have been all along.

          • JCPhoenix@beehaw.org
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            5 months ago

            Next you’re gonna tell me their hit album was called “Tabthamping” instead of “Tubthumping!” Where does it end?!

            Honestly though, I thought the same!

  • xmunk@sh.itjust.works
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    5 months ago

    I remember there was an AskLemmy question on the Mandela effect, but a week later we all realized it was just a dream.

  • paddirn@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    The Berenstein Bears one and the Fruit of the Loom not having a horn are the ones that have me questioning reality and my childhood.

  • ExLisper@linux.community
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    5 months ago

    I’m never sure if Castro is dead or not. I was sure for very long time that he died already but it would turn out that he’s still there. I also don’t remember any events specifically related to his death. His brother (?) took over and he kind of fizzled out before he died. Or maybe he’s still there? I’m never quite sure. I mean, it’s 2024 now, he’s definitely dead. Or is he?

  • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Somehow I had always thought it was Klu Klux Klan instead of Ku Klux Klan. I’m not sure where I got that or if anyone else thought the same thing though.

  • Annoyed_🦀 🏅@monyet.cc
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    5 months ago

    When i got into monster hunter 4 ultimate(the one with a good story) i was told that Deviljho, a voracious monster that will eat anything mid combat to recover its stamina, will eat its own tail if you cut it. Everyone believed it, no one tried to capture it on camera because of the hardware limitation(no “clip that”, no shadowplay).

    Turn out, millions of Monster Hunter fans remembered wrong because it’s a hoax.

    • RampageDon@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Ghost types are only weak to psychic in that game because they are poison types too. Ruined me for generations swearing psychic was super to ghost.

  • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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    5 months ago

    I just found out that you can’t take someone’s lead in order to behave like they are behaving, you can only follow their lead.

    I thought that taking someone’s lead, “I’m taking their lead”, is an actual expression, while apparently it is not.

    • Mechanismatic@lemmy.ml
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      5 months ago

      Taking someone’s lead sounds like a British saying indicating the opposite of following someone’s lead. It sounds like you’re taking someone’s leash in your hands and directing them where to go.

        • indun@feddit.uk
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          5 months ago

          “Take the lead” is certainly an expression used in the UK to denote guiding people, as in “I’ll take the lead”. I assume both come from ballroom dancing.

          I’m sure it’s used elsewhere but it may also simply be a conflation of the two.

          • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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            5 months ago

            Yeah, taking the lead I think is a pretty common expression, meaning that you’ll take the initiative, but I’ve used " taking their lead" to mean that another person has taken the lead and someone else is following them.

            Which is apparently not real at all, but I only became aware of this because another Lemmy put up a TIL post that explained how they thought that was an expression and discovered after using it their entire life that it was not in any dictionary.

            Just like me

    • twice_twotimes@sh.itjust.works
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      5 months ago

      It may not be the original idiom, but it’s definitely something people say. If the core expressions are “(I) take the lead” and “(you) follow my lead,” that lends itself easily to a merge: you take my lead. It’s not as common as the originals but it’s definitely out there. It will stick around because it’s really easy to unambiguously infer what it means in context.

      • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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        5 months ago

        I agree that it’s used, I’m sure that if we looked in movie scripts or novels, we would find examples of that phrase, but I can’t find a single dictionary that agrees that the phrase is a legitimate phrase, and that’s what really boggled my mind.

        Boggled and boondoggled over here.

      • BertramDitore@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Lol I got into a pretty heated argument with a group of friends, half of whom definitely remembered the movie and even started recounting some of the plot. The other half had no idea what the hell we were talking about.

      • BertramDitore@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Heh yup! That’s part of the effect, a whole generation potentially conflated Shaq’s movie with a movie that was never made. Scroll down the link I posted, they mention it. So bizarre.

  • livus@kbin.social
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    5 months ago

    None but I live in New Zealand and have met a lot of strange people online who think our geographic location has changed.