Misleading or outdated names

[Kyng]

There are quite a lot of things in the world - animals, places, inventions, and others - whose names don't seem to make any sense. Sometimes these names did make sense when they were first coined, but they no longer do - and sometimes, they never made sense to begin with . Here, we can post some of them, explain why the names don't make sense now, and explain why they did in the past (if they ever did at all ).

Here are a few to start us off:

• Kyoto - Literally means 'Capital City', but it hasn't been the capital of Japan for over 150 years now. It was the capital for over 1,000 years; however, that ended in 1868, when the capital moved to Tokyo (literally meaning 'Eastern Capital'). At this time, Kyoto was briefly re-named 'Saikyo' (meaning 'Western Capital'); however, this didn't catch on, and it soon regained its original name (albeit not the title to go with it).
  
  
• Guinea pig - Not pigs, and not from Guinea. Instead, they're rodents from South America. If you want a term for these animals that isn't misleading, there is an alternative: 'cavy'.
  
  I should that the figurative use of the term 'guinea pig', to mean 'test subject', also qualifies for this thread . This is largely outdated, because guinea pigs have mostly been replaced in this role by mice and rats now.
  
  
• Steam roller - Road rollers have all been diesel-powered for almost 50 years now (true 'steam rollers' look like this, not like this). However, since the name was already well-established, and these diesel rollers are used for the same purpose as those steam rollers were, it's stuck around to apply to them too.

So, can anyone think of any more examples?

[Deleted User 8]

"Hash brown" is one name I don't get, and never did. It's not even brown, and it's definitely not made from hashish either. Turns out that one half of the name is from the French word hacher, which means "to hack and chop".

There's others that I know of that have left me stumped but, that's the first one. I would've said "guinea pig" myself actually.

[Lurkerish Allsorts]

"Hash brown" is one name I don't get, and never did. It's not even brown, and it's definitely not made from hashish either. Turns out that one half of the name is from the French word hacher, which means "to hack and chop".

They are a golden brown though....

[JHG]

Missing link implies a complete stasis in evolution which is impossible. They simply evolved at a slower rate. Try evolutionary slowpoke instead.
You know what? Screw it: 

[Kyng]

Here's another one I just thought of:

In the UK, most cars over three years old need to be tested for roadworthiness every year. This annual test is known as the 'MOT test', where 'MOT' stands for 'Ministry of Transport' - an organisation which hasn't existed under that name for nearly 50 years.

These days, the equivalent organisation is called the 'Department for Transport', but nobody ever thought or cared to update the name to 'DfT test' .

[Detective Osprey]

Crested Jay is one of my favourites. It's neither a jay or a corvid, but rather a shrike/lanid.
Yellow-breasted Chat is not an Australian chat, a saxicoline chat or a Granatellus chat, but rather, an American blackbird/icterid.

[Kyng]

Speaking of birds, here's one I discovered while I was looking for a bird for the "ABCs of Birds":

Despite the name, the Iceland gull does not breed in Iceland. Instead, it breeds in Canada and Greenland.

[Detective Osprey]

Green, Spotted and White-eared Catbirds aren't mimids like the Grey and Black Catbirds, but bowerbirds.

[Kyng]

Here's one I found out about today:

Austin County, Texas, does not contain the city of Austin. (In fact, Austin County is closer to Houston than it is to Austin!)

[Nakago]

The term ‘dinosaur,’ god is this one so blissfully outdated. They aren’t lizards and they’re not even terrible. A better term would be Ornithogens, it roughly means ‘bird creators.’