Cokelore

Not all of these Coke myths are scientifically accurate. Take them in general with a grain of salt, unless my observations on the myths, in parentheses, say something about their accuracy.

• The present-day Coke formula is kept by the Coca-Cola Company in a bank in Switzerland under highest security (accurate fact) for a good reason; the original recipe, dating from the Gilded Age US (turn of last century), contained cocaine and kola nuts (scientifically accurate AND hence the brand name)... but no one knows if the drink does so still.
• Coke dissolves milk teeth if you put one in a glass of the dark nectar overnight or over several days (alas, poor tooth fairy).
• Coke hurts raw meat if you put some in a glass of the dark nectar overnight or over several days (thus, the same would apply to exposed human flesh, muscle tissue as well).
• Coke kills human sperm.
• An Aspirin in a glass or small bottle of Coke makes a tried-and-true love potion and/or aphrodisiac.
• A Mentos mint in a glass or bottle of Coke makes a chemical geyser (this is scientifically accurate, due to the reaction that ensues).
• Human fingers and dead rodents have been found in Coke bottles (again, this is scientifically accurate, but it happened more commonly in the olden days, when industrial oversight and industrial accidents were far more common).

THINGS THAT SURPRISE ME

• Cowards are called "yellow" in English. Why? Because some chickens are yellow? Or Asians (OK, not all Asians are yellow-skinned)?
• Inherently funny words: the English animal names "duck", "frog", and "weasel" make speakers and listeners laugh...
• Some idioms: "brass monkey", "dead as a doornail", "the straw that broke the camel's back".
• Bach: not the flower therapy, but the late cantor of Leipzig. This baroque composer has some extraordinarily dense and evolving cantatas. And I do like such music. Especially when in a good mood.
• Coke: the recipe is secret. So what's in the can? Does Coke dissolve teeth, kill sperm, act as a love potion, or have any other unusual properties?
• Red Bull: the same as for Coke. Besides, at the age of 16, I noticed protrusions on my shoulder blades having drunk this product. Nothing more. But does it qualify as "growing wings"?
• My own state of mind: I am currently researching about the amygdala, the real seat of human emotions (though saying "with all one's amygdala" or "from the bottom of one's amygdala" sounds disastrous). It's an ovoid structure of white matter, the size of an almond or of a quail's egg, located in the human midbrain. And in my case, it doesn't have a secure cortical connection, leading to phobias, philias, manias and other quirks that sometimes prove a thorn in the flesh.
• Sacred texts: why are old-fashioned sacred books displaying male chauvinism, nationalism, and fatalism (the Bible and the Torah, to quote only a few), still so popular nowadays?