  There are many theories that have resided these last fifty years within the
hazy mist we have been calling the Standard Model (SM) of elementary particles.
An attempt is made here to construct a coherent description of the SM today,
because only precisely articulated theories can be targeted for annihilation,
corroboration, and alteration. To this end it is useful to categorize the
facts, mysteries and myths that together build a single conception of the SM.
For example, it is argued that constructing a myth for how neutrinos obtain
mass is useful for progress. We also advocate for interpreting the cosmological
constant, dark matter, baryogenesis, and inflation as four "mysteries of the
cosmos" that are indeterminate regarding new particles or interactions, despite
a multitude of available particle explanations. Some history of the
ever-changing SM is also presented to remind us that today's SM is not our
parents' SM, nor will it likely be our children's SM.
