Perhaps I was too strong in my reaction, but I sensed a smug arrogance in the post. Everyone of us suffers from misconceptions about many things. Everyone of us has mistaken ideas that we have gotten somewhere, ideas that won't be corrected unless we happen to encounter clearly contradictory evidence. We of course will go on believing we are correct until that happens. When we are corrected, we hope it is done with patient understanding rather than condescension.
Let me give a very common example. One of the most famous American writers is Henry David Thoreau. People who have studied his works enough understand that his name should be pronounced like thorough. If you use the correct pronunciation, though, you will likely be corrected by someone who will tell you it is pronounced thu-ROW. Most Thoreau scholars simply avoid the problem by accepting the common misconception and intentionally mispronouncing it themselves. Similarly, when talking about someone's personal strengths, people may use the word forte and mistakenly pronounce it as for-TAY. People who know it should be pronounced fort usually keep their mouths shut and let it pass.
Certain diving equipment that was common decades ago is now exceedingly rare in many parts of the world. It would not surprise me to learn that a very higher percentage, probably the overwhelming majority of divers and employees in the dive industry, have never seen many of those pieces of equipment. It should not be at all surprising to find out that misconceptions abound. It seems to me that the response to such misconceptions should be marked by patient understanding rather than an outright attack on their inadequacies.
My patch is only $10.99 and has a naked mermaid on it....
