Ask people any of these questions: whether mice really love cheese, sugar makes kids hyperactive, or if Ancient Greek architecture was made of pure white marble, and there is a big chance they will nod their heads in agreement.
But many of these common beliefs that live years and years rooted in our conventional wisdom have little to do with facts. So today we looked at this illuminating Reddit thread where people named all the annoying myths many of us still cling to, and it may help us to recalibrate our truth and fiction radar if it’s out of sync.
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That carnivorous pets can live healthily on a vegan diet.
Stop it. It's animal abuse.
Thank you! Scientifically speaking, look at the teeth. Carnivorous pets are specially designed to eat meat.
Vaccines cause autism.
Ok vaccines do NOT cause autism, yes it may have side affects mentally or physically but autism is something you are born with! And I know that some of our beloved bored panda community has autism and can back me up on this. (edit: im sorry to everyone that got ofended by this statement! im not a medical professional!)
That having hobbies as an adult is only worth it if it brings in money. No, I love my meaningless and expensive hobbies, even if they don't bring in any income.
Bored Panda reached out to Lauren McMenemy, a professional writer, journalist, and marketer with a desire to tell stories, shine a light on society and advocate for better mental health and self-care, who was happy to share some insights into how folklore-based myths and beliefs form and why people believe them.
Lauren, who is a writing mentor and coach who runs workshops and training to help people get their words down right, said that first, it’s worth defining the terms “myths” and “beliefs”.
“Many people, when you say ‘myth’ or ‘mythology’, will immediately think of the old gods or collections of tales based in folklore - such as the Greek tales of Medusa, or Nordic tales of Thor and Odin,” she said.
That cats are cold or unfriendly. They’re not going to run up to every person like a puppy, but most are very affectionate with their humans.
Once when I got home from work my cat came walking down the hallway meowing happily. It was so cute
Trickle down economics
Best described as the top dog drinks champagne while the masses below have to drink their p*ss. Trickle-down economics only works if the rich do not control the tap
Moreover, “There is another usage which is more akin to religion: belief in faeries in Celtic nations, for example, has led to many common practices that still happen to this day.”“
Then there is the folklore-based myths and beliefs,” Lauren continued, “which are often based in practices designed to keep humans safe and healthy. Conventional wisdom can come from the latter, I think - don't walk under a ladder, for example, lest something falls on you from above!”
That you need to wait 24 hours to file a missing person’s report
What would the point of this if it was true? In a missing persons case the first 24 hours are the most crucial for investigators and the missing person
Billionaires are smart and we should be “grateful” for the jobs they provide.
The 'just world fallacy'[people get what they deserve].
It's responsible for a lot victim-blaming, which re-traumatizes people who have already been traumatized. It's the worst.
Sometimes bad things happen to people who don't deserve it. It shouldn't be that difficult to grasp.
Conversely, really good things happen to people who really don't deserve it!
When asked why some myths disappear while others remain something people believe throughout generations, Lauren said that it depends on the origin of the myth. “If it's a story based in keeping people safe from harm, that will get more embedded over generations.”
Moreover, “The fairy tales about the dangers of the woods remain because it was dangerous to go into the forest - there lurked robbers, wild animals, entities that would do you harm. Those that disappear are more likely to be ones that have lost their relevance to modern society,” Lauren explained.
The alpha theory for wolves, people still believe it even though the person who made the theory took it back. The ‘alpha’ of wolves is actually just the pack’s parents, and the pack is usually made up of their offspring.
We also wondered if some people are more prone to believing popular myths and things like old wives' tales than others. “Since the emergence of science and the Enlightenment, there has been a cohort of people who will claim logic above all else - if it's not provable beyond a shadow of a doubt, then it's ridiculous to believe in,” Lauren explained and added that these people are never going to believe in popular myths.
That antibiotics are needed for colds.
Too many antibiotics can lead to C-Diff and TRUST ME YOU DO NOT WANT THAT. It happened to me, I get a lot of staph infections that require antibiotics and I ended up with C-Diff. Would not wish on my worst enemy, lost 20 pounds and was having a very hard time keeping any nutrients in - my body was deficient in a lot by the time they figured out what was wrong. Also it's something you have forever that can flare up again - the flora and fauna in your gut are never the same, ugh
Zodiac signs and their effect on our everyday lives
I personally don't really believe in zodiac signs, horoscopes, angel numbers etc. But if it's making you happy, and not making you anxious or creating negative feelings then what's the harm? Let people believe what they want, as long as it's not harmful or dangerous
The Shirley exception.
When looking at an issue, they assume that anyone who REALLY needs it will “Surely get taken care of…”
I.E. “All abortion should legally be banned, but surely one’s where the mother and child die will be taken care of.”
“It doesn’t matter how we treat prisoners because surely the ones there on accident are going to be protected.”
“This job won’t fire you for missing too much work because you’re REALLY sick, surely they realize that?”
“We don’t need to make strict laws about disability access because surely the legitimate cases will be taken care of.”
There is no Shirley making sure everyone is legitimate and those who need it with get some kind of justice in a magical fairy bending the rules just for them.
Having said that, Lauren believes that those cultures which are more rooted in traditional beliefs and practices are more likely to maintain some belief in myth and folklore. “Asian cultures, for example, have a strong thread of old stories running through them. And we see it, too, in the rise of modern witchcraft; so much practice in that realm is from ‘the old ways.’"
That when you meet "the one" you just know. And that there is a "one" for every one of us.
There are a ton of ridiculous myths around pregnancy. The worst one I was told was not to ever raise my arms over my head so the baby didn't get tangled in the umbilical cord.
Used to be a child and family health nurse. I could write a book on ridiculous myths surrounding pregnancy, birth and babies. One of the best ones was a woman convinced she had mastitis because her baby burped while feeding “blowing bad air” into her breast.
My first pregnancy, my ex mil told me to stop eating spicy foods ( I’m from se Asia every thing is spicy) that the baby will come out red and burnt
And listening to heavy metal music when pregnant will produce a psychopath!
Only true one I’ve come across is heartburn. The hormone that produces hair in your developing miniature human also weakens the sphincter at the top of your stomach. The worse the heartburn, the more hair your baby will have. NINE FREAKING BOTTLES OF PEPCID. Four kids, 3 with heartburn, 1 without. The one without was practically bald. The other three all had tons of hair.
Had a lot of heartburn and my baby began growing hair only at 16 months. Means nothing.
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I'm getting this odd image of a fetal clothes line and babies just hanging out trying not to tangle themselves... /s
Try this for size: Many Chinese in rural areas don't get out of bed or even wash for 100 days after giving birth. Mindblowing...
I’ve seen this in action (though with the Chinese women I nursed it was reduced to 30 days and that they just didn’t leave the house). I do wonder, though, what the incidence of DVT is in these communities - postnatal women are already more at risk of DVT - 100 days of bed rest on top of that can’t help.
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You mean you wanted to dress in smart/pretty clothes, do your hair and go out while you were pregnant? You didn't even put your life on hold for those months! What were you thinking?!
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Yep. An older woman in a grocery asked me to get something from a high shelf but when she saw I was pregnant, she panicked and said..."Oh not you! I'll ask someone else."
I personally think the silliest one is that it's the breastfeeding baby that causes the boobs to flatten after the birth. In reality it's because you produce milk in the breast during pregnancy and the expansion that causes on the breasts will make them be flat when not full of milk anymore. All those babies being bottle-fed because their moms were scared to get flat breasts... it's just so silly. I don't find bottle-feeding silly. But if you do it in the hopes of having boobs as "happy" as they were pre-pregnancy well.... you are most likely in for an ugly surprise. :)
Copped similar from my MIL…I reached up to hang the washing…she was certain that was the cause of my miscarriage…yeah as if you don’t second guess yourself enough when that happens.
My wife & I had a very diverse circle of friends when she was pregnant. All of the old wive's tales from multiple cultures told us that we were having a boy. Surprise. We had a girl.
I babysat some girls who's grandmother told them they couldn't swim while on their periods. The water would cause the "stuff" to float up and their uterus would burst. FOTFLMAO Told em, use a tampon, and swimming provides relief.
Multiple births must have terrified these believers. Must of thought the fetuses could get tangled up in the umbilical cords with every movement.
"Don't take a hot bath, it might harm the baby" Like the entire Japanese population?
I was told this, too. As well as not jump and jogging. I fell on my stomach, my butt, my knees when I was pregnant and my baby wasn't harmed. They are cushioned and floating around in amnionic fluid. It would be like experiencing an earthquake while scuba diving in the ocean. It still worried me, though.
Good job it's not true.. it would make arresting a pregnant terrorist that wee bit harder. :)
When it comes to conspiracy theories, especially modern-day ones, Lauren sees them as very different from common beliefs and widespread myths. “Can those modern-day conspiracy theories be harmful? Absolutely yes: look at what happened during the pandemic. Look at the rise of extreme right-wing views and of QAnon. These are very, very different to popular myths and old wives' tales, which developed for mainly instructive reasons,” she concluded.
Not so much a myth but a misconception… I still hear people laugh at the fact that solar powered flashlights exist, thinking they must be useless because flashlights are only needed in darkness, where solar panels won’t generate anything.
They charge their batteries with sunlight. The batteries supply power on demand. Was that such a difficult concept?
Got one on my desk right now. It also has USB ports to charge my phone and other devices.
You will catch a cold from being cold.
Complicated. TL;DR version: Viruses last longer on cold surfaces than warm. Natural immune processes in our noses don't work as well as normal in low temperatures. . . Forgetting a coat won't give you a cold, but more people get sick more often in winter.
An undercover cop has to tell you they're a cop if you ask them.
It's illegal to lie to the cops. but the cops can lie to you all they want.
Videogames cause violence. There is literally no correlation.
That people in the Middle Ages thought the earth was flat?????
It has been widely accepted since Ancient Greece that the earth is round and I have no idea why people still call it the Dark Ages either
It was called the dark ages because the sun hadn’t been invented yet /j
“Your blood is actually blue but only becomes red when it comes out of you”
Road widening improves traffic flow. It doesn't, if anything it just causes induced demand and within Months the road is congested again.
That carrots give you good eyesight
This started in WWII. They didn't want to give away that Allies had radar so they said the Pilots had good night vision from a diet of carrots. Everyone believed it. The Axis started eating carrots.
That introversion = shyness or social incompetence. Like, it‘s not that hard.
Agreed! I'm super introverted, I'm basically asocial, but one thing I am definitely not is shy! If anything, I'm the queen of oversharing, LOL! And other than having some trouble detecting sarcasm, my social competence can range from adequate to actually really good, depending on the setting.
That msg is bad for you
I was under the impression that it’s basically just really salty so it should be ingested in moderation, just like other things that are full of sodium like table salt and soy sauce. But that it’s really no worse for you than those. Someone feel free to corset me if I’m wrong. Edit: ooh, kinky. I clearly meant correct me. LOL
Ancient Greek and Roman sculpture and architecture being pure white marble.
They are now. That's because art dealers long, *long* ago washed the paint off.
I would imagine that 2k years of elements would have a similar effect.
Eating cheese before bed gives you nightmares.
I eat cheese during the night (3am) I'm fine. Secret night cheese tastes better
Shaking or flipping integral Polaroid photographs while they're developing. This dates back to the 'peel-apart" instant Polaroids that came before the all-in-one "integral" instant films. You used to have to coat the finished print with a polymer coating fluid, and shaking the print would help it dry faster. But it's unnecessary now.
Almost all the weird things people believe about charging batteries is completely wrong, they are based on Old NiCad cells and most of that advice does not apply to lithium ion / LiPO batteries
Note: this post originally had 37 images. It’s been shortened to the top 35 images based on user votes.
That homeless people are all just drug addicts or mentally ill, when most homeless people aren't.
*most* homeless people are one or both of those things. About 52% total suffer from one or both. 38% alcohol abuse, 26% drug abuse and about 30% serious mental health issues such as schizophrenia or bipolar (not including things like depression, which is probably hovering around 100%). You cannot fix a problem when you refuse to acknowledge that it exists: this problem exists and there are a variety of ways it could be overcome.
Load More Replies... Daylight saving time was invented by farmers. It was always presented as a way to save energy during World War 1. Changing the time on the clock changes little how farmers operate. In fact farmers don’t really like it. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time#History
Farmers work when the work needs to be done, day or night. Farming is a 24/7/365 life. I grew up on a farm & the livestock doesn't care about day or night hours, or the season of the year. I remember my father going out in the middle of the night during a snowstorm to save a newborn calf that the cow had given birth to in a snow drift. And he would get home from his airline job at midnight, have some coffee & sandwiches & then go out on the tractor to work the fields. DST is a crock of poo. And it screws up our circadian rhythm for at least a week afterwards! I hate it.
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In the US, there's an assumption that if you're from the rural South, you're an idiot. I think people hear my southern accent and mentally subtract points. Part of this is because in popular media, people with southern accents are invariably portrayed as racist, misogynistic, fanatical christian, gun-loving, homophobic, ignorant bullies and idiots. And some of them are. But a lot aren't, and I wish the media would stop painting people that way.
You are right. However, using the expression “the media” doesn’t help if you want to reach over the aisle.
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My I add: *That silica gel packets are poisonous* They're not. Check on any poison control website to see for yourself. They're labelled "Do Not Eat" because the packet itself is a choking hazard or could cause an intestinal blockage, and eating a bunch of silica gel is slightly worse than swallowing the equivalent amount of gravel (since they'll absorb moisture). HOWEVER: if your silica gel is coated in either cobalt chloride (which looks pink / blue), or methyl violet (which looks orange / green), then you've got a problem. Though I think the second two types are rare, and are known as indicator gel since their colour changes depending on how much moisture they've absorbed. I think those packs are generally marked as such and have some way of seeing the colour inside.
Because no one can prove Gods existence or nonexistent.
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Because these kind of “dreams”, which are referred to while awake, tend to hurt others every now and again.
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The beginning includes: “ sugar makes kids hyperactive “ as a myth. As a kid who can have a bag of skittles and be bouncing off the walls, I can assure you it is no myth. One time I ate 37 Pixie Stix (sugar tubes) in one go. I ran SO FAST. Edit: I know this was downvoted, but the downvote isn’t a dislike button. It’s like a report button. Too many dislikes and you’re banned. Please don’t downvote me because I was wrong.
That homeless people are all just drug addicts or mentally ill, when most homeless people aren't.
*most* homeless people are one or both of those things. About 52% total suffer from one or both. 38% alcohol abuse, 26% drug abuse and about 30% serious mental health issues such as schizophrenia or bipolar (not including things like depression, which is probably hovering around 100%). You cannot fix a problem when you refuse to acknowledge that it exists: this problem exists and there are a variety of ways it could be overcome.
Load More Replies... Daylight saving time was invented by farmers. It was always presented as a way to save energy during World War 1. Changing the time on the clock changes little how farmers operate. In fact farmers don’t really like it. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time#History
Farmers work when the work needs to be done, day or night. Farming is a 24/7/365 life. I grew up on a farm & the livestock doesn't care about day or night hours, or the season of the year. I remember my father going out in the middle of the night during a snowstorm to save a newborn calf that the cow had given birth to in a snow drift. And he would get home from his airline job at midnight, have some coffee & sandwiches & then go out on the tractor to work the fields. DST is a crock of poo. And it screws up our circadian rhythm for at least a week afterwards! I hate it.
Load More Replies... In the US, there's an assumption that if you're from the rural South, you're an idiot. I think people hear my southern accent and mentally subtract points. Part of this is because in popular media, people with southern accents are invariably portrayed as racist, misogynistic, fanatical christian, gun-loving, homophobic, ignorant bullies and idiots. And some of them are. But a lot aren't, and I wish the media would stop painting people that way.
You are right. However, using the expression “the media” doesn’t help if you want to reach over the aisle.
Load More Replies... My I add: *That silica gel packets are poisonous* They're not. Check on any poison control website to see for yourself. They're labelled "Do Not Eat" because the packet itself is a choking hazard or could cause an intestinal blockage, and eating a bunch of silica gel is slightly worse than swallowing the equivalent amount of gravel (since they'll absorb moisture). HOWEVER: if your silica gel is coated in either cobalt chloride (which looks pink / blue), or methyl violet (which looks orange / green), then you've got a problem. Though I think the second two types are rare, and are known as indicator gel since their colour changes depending on how much moisture they've absorbed. I think those packs are generally marked as such and have some way of seeing the colour inside.
Because no one can prove Gods existence or nonexistent.
Load More Replies... Because these kind of “dreams”, which are referred to while awake, tend to hurt others every now and again.
Load More Replies... The beginning includes: “ sugar makes kids hyperactive “ as a myth. As a kid who can have a bag of skittles and be bouncing off the walls, I can assure you it is no myth. One time I ate 37 Pixie Stix (sugar tubes) in one go. I ran SO FAST. Edit: I know this was downvoted, but the downvote isn’t a dislike button. It’s like a report button. Too many dislikes and you’re banned. Please don’t downvote me because I was wrong.
