Garble

"to so alter or distort as to create a wrong impression or change the meaning." Merriam-Webster Online

For a short, simple word, I have a short, simple story of a short, simple bird. To the right is the Jan Savery 1651 painting of a dodo bird, which has helped create the overall feeling that dodos were fat, clumsy creatures. However, according to scientist like Andrew Kitchener, Savery's models were captive dodo's with restrictive cages and stuffed with the wrong food. In fact, some scientists estimate that had the dodo actually looked like the obese, fluffy creatures of Savery's drawings, they would have collapsed because their skeletal system is not strong enough to support all that fat. The scientific community has since moved toward a slimmer, more streamlined version of the dodo. Yet, the misconception of the fat, immobile dodo, which had its origins in one artist's misconception of a now-extinct bird, still persists. Very sad.