The Mandela Effect: Poll shows most Americans misremember Darth Vader quote, Monopoly logo

The "Mandela Effect" is the nickname given to the phenomenon of large numbers of people incorrectly remembering the same thing in the same way, either a historical event or perhaps a scene from a movie.

One example comes from one of the most famous scenes in movie history. In "The Empire Strikes Back" it is common to remember one of Darth Vader's most shocking lines as "Luke, I am your father."

In fact, in the film he says, "No, I am your father."

A polling organization has quantified how common such errors are among Americans.

The London-based research firm YouGov found that 63% of respondents incorrectly remembered Darth Vader's line, and only 17% got it right.

Another example: Many Americans incorrectly believe the logo for Fruit of the Loom includes a cornucopia of fruit. In fact, the logo includes fruit but no cornucopia. In the poll, 55% of respondents got that wrong and only 21% got it right.

More examples from the poll are available here.

Another example: Does the mascot for the game Monopoly wear a monocle? About 61% of respondents incorrectly said he does, while only 18% correctly said he does not.

The polling organization surveyed 1,000 Americans in August, with a margin of error estimated at 3%.

The term Mandela Effect was coined by a researcher who said she and many others had false memories of watching news coverage of Nelson Mandela dying in the 1980s while in prison. In fact, he was released from prison in 1990 and went on to serve as the first president of South Africa, dying in 2013.

Ironically one of the questions most people answered correctly in the YouGov poll was the date of Mandela's death. The majority of people, 58%, answered correctly that he died in 2013, while only 13% said in prison in the 1980s.