There are a lot of common misconceptions that people still believe to this day. Some are small — others are larger. Sometimes, a common misconception arises from one person and spreads like wildfire to other people. There is a high chance that you have encountered them yourself. It's vital to find the popular myths that impact our society and try to fix them.
These misconceptions touch upon plenty of topics — from birds to historical figures. One of the more common beliefs is that you shouldn't hold a baby bird because then the mother would abandon the helpless creature. That is false. It was created by older people so that children wouldn't mess with bird nests. Birds aren’t cruel enough to throw out a bird just because a human touched them.
With the world full of misconceptions, it might be time to learn the truth. Luckily, several online users, like ZanyDelaney and darrius500, asked a question on AskReddit related to these popular lies. Below, we have compiled a list of common misconceptions that you might hear throughout your life. Be sure to upvote the misconceptions you believe in yourself. On the other hand, if you’ve got anything more to add, do so in the comments below.
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"That an anxiety/panic attack is just when someone feels stressed and over-reacts.
You know what an anxiety attack is like? You know that feeling when you're going down the stairs with your arms full and you miss a step. Or when you lean back in your chair just a bit too far, then it almost tips you over?
It's that feeling NON-STOP FROM ANYWHERE TO A MINUTE TO HOURS LONG! annnddd thennn you can't breathe... like a fat guy is sitting on your chest."
PSA: It’s a bit different for everyone. I personally don’t have the first symptom here. I disassociate, hyperventilate, and get dizzy. Sometimes I feel nauseous or my vision blacks out. It’s a little different for everyone but unmistakeable.
Sola_Solace said:
"That to be sick you have to look sick. There are a lot of people with chronic illness that don't need to deal with skepticism along with their symptoms."
ScarletVillain replied:
"Which means if you see someone in a handicapped parking space with proper tags but they don't look sick, just leave them alone."
phire said:
"Depressed people don't feel sad.
The most common feelings when Depressed are: numbness, nothingness and extreme boredom (things that used to feel fun and exciting are now just boring).
The public misconception that depression means feeling sad all the time pisses me off, because people spend months or years wondering what's wrong with them instead of seeking professional help."
hunterddnd replied:
"Don't forget anger.
People always sweep that one under the rug."
The term "depression" is really the problem because it's commonly used to mean melancholy. There needs to be a better term to describe clinical depression.
takethecannoli4 said:
"Introverts are not dying to be 'normal.' Some of us are perfectly happy being quiet."
FlaredFancyPants replied:
"Absolutely. Happy and confident introvert here. I have my moments where I can be more extraverted, but depending on who I'm with those moments can be exhausting and I need space and time out to recuperate afterwards."
"That your pet dog is challenging you to be alpha of your pack. Your dog is not a wolf. Wolves don't even do that. You're just being a d*ck to your dog for no reason. Stop it."
happytreeperson said:
"That anyone who’s a farmer is dumb. It takes a lot of smarts to be a farmer. Whether it’s diagnosing your own animals/crops with disease to having to work on a limited budget, they have to do so much."
Commenter replied:
"If a farmer tells you it can’t be fixed, then it can’t be fixed."
sutkusman said:
"That few people lived past their 30s in the middle ages or some other ancient era.
This misconception arises because of an automatic and incorrect assumption people make when they hear the statistic 'the average life expectancy was 35 in the middle ages'.
In reality there have always been lots of people who live to 70+ years old in all societies. The difference was that in the middle ages there were many childhood diseases that caused a much higher childhood mortality rate which skews the numbers much lower. If you survived childhood there was a very good chance you would make it into your 60s+."
julianface replied:
"I think there's another misconception about this misconception that people regularly lived just as long as they do today. We still live longer than in the past but not as extreme as it seems when looking at an average."
I've been doing genealogy research lately and it runs the gambit. By and large, male American Colonial (and beyond) lived long natural lives. Those living in England didn't have the same longevity. (Note, I'm only going by actual relatives so it's a fairly small sampling). But there are numerous relatives from the 1640s through the late 1800s who lived well into their 80s and 90s. Women for the most part lived until 50 or so and I have quite a number of relatives who had 12-20 children with 3 different wives. On a side note, I'm related to both Abraham Lincoln and Elvis and can trace some of those branches back to the 13th century England. Some of the Polish ones I can't get past about 1830 or so. If you plan on tracing your own roots, take EVERYTHING you find on the internet with a grain of salt and do your own research to prove or disprove it. There is so much sloppy research out there that it can become quite maddening.
Jorshington said:
"That ignoring bullies automatically means they'll go away."
ingridelena replied:
"Even worse, my mom used to believe only kids who provoke others get bullied. That's just not true at all."
Omg yes! Ignoring bullies just makes them angrier at you, AND it's really hard to do. If someone is bullying you, you nedd to teach them a lesson, NOT ignore them
tymopa said:
"That eating disorders are about food..."
qsims replied:
"Or even worse - that eating disorders are about being 'pretty.'"
"All opinions are not valid and do not deserve equal consideration.
Example: News entities giving 'equal time' to scientists and science deniers on climate change.
Or 'Teach the Controversy.'"
Simmo10 said:
"That daddy long legs spiders are dangerous to humans."
DarksteelPenguin replied:
"Well, if you start with spiders, I'll keep going:
You don't eat spiders in your sleep, spiders aren't dumb enough to enter your mouth;
Spiders don't sting, they bite;
If you wake up with a bug bite on your arm or leg, that's not from a spider;
Don't feel bad about destroying a web. If you can see it, it's probably an old, unused one;
A very large majority of spiders don't present any danger for humans. And even when they do, they won't bite unless attacked."
seegeesee said:
"Most psychological disorders don't present like the media would lead you to believe. See also: what therapy looks like."
GahdDangitBobby replied:
"Bipolar disorder = one day you're crazy off-the-walls and the next day you're sobbing and eating ice cream alone in bed.
In actuality: in most cases, symptoms only get severe if left untreated for a long time. Also, most experience episodes for months (mania) or years (depression), so they wouldn't go from mania to depression that quickly."
Bad_Bi_Badger replied:
"Yeah, and there are types if bipolar as well.
Some are severe, some are slow-cycling, some present as other disorders.
My point is: mental is not like physical health. It is to see and address physical damage, not as easy to figure out if a chemical is off - or which one."
Therapy is waaaaaaay different from how a lot of people think it is. So is adhd
Commenter said:
"That all cats are aloof, unaffectionate a**holes.
Some cats are like this but there are many that are very friendly, loving, good floofs.
I was a dog person until I got married. We now foster cats and I've found that the majority are very friendly and affectionate and act dog like.
We have one right now that loves to play fetch, greets us at the door, loves his belly rubbed, loves to lay on you, sleeps under the covers and walks on a leash.
If you adopt from a rescue group you will be able to find a cat that acts how you want because the foster knows which cat has what type of personality."
Commenter replied:
"My cat pretends to be aloof and then immediately wants pets and cuddles like there's not tomorrow."
HoriOri said:
"I was barred from participating in a school swimming race because I ate some chocolate beforehand and a teacher caught me. She said I would get a cramp and die and I had to wait 20 minutes. Even 8 year old me knew it was complete twaddle."
UppityScapegoat replied:
"Your teacher had money on another kid."
This was only removed from the Red Cross first aid books in about the 2000s
Ryguy55 said:
"If you wake up early in the morning you're automatically a super productive, upstanding member of society, and if you sleep in and stay up late you need to get your priorities in order."
Ixidane replied:
"Long ago, this was a common argument between me and my dad. He didn't know why I wouldn't get up in the morning and take care of business immediately. It's because the things I had to take care of could be done in the afternoon or night just as easily and would then allow me to spend the night hanging out or whatever.
If I needed to get up early for something (like an interview or to catch a flight), then that was fine but if there was no reason to get up early, then what was the point?"
"The myth: Napoleon was really short.
The truth: He was actually average height, or even a little bit above average height.
How did it come about?: The archaic French measurement used stated he was around 5'3, when in actuality that translates to about 5'7 in today's measurements, which was average for the time."
gregspornthrowaway replied:
"There are several factors that combined to create this myth:
1. Discrepancy between the French pied and English foot, the former being about 3.5% larger.
2. He was typically surrounded by members of the Old Guard, which had a minimum height requirement of nearly 6 ft.
3. He was nicknamed le petit caporal in reference to his habit of mingling with common soldiers, not his physical size.
4. The English thought it was funny. This is probably the most significant one."
And the French have retaliated ever since by making fun of England’s food.
not_alexa said:
"The act of reproduction does not entitle you to the love and respect of your children. Love is a gift. Respect is earned.
I think it should be said that when I say respect is earned, what I DON'T mean is 'devalue and mistreat a person that you don't feel has earned your respect.' In no way am I advocating for actively disrespecting people. This statement is targeted specifically at those parents who demand you to honor their every wish, that you don't complain or have any negative reaction to their behavior, simply because they brought you into the world. It's disgusting to treat a child as though they 'owe you' just for giving birth to them."
IntellectualOctopus replied:
"Took me a second to get what you are saying, but I agree, even parents can be toxic even if they aren’t abusive."
"Respect" can either mean "treat like an authority" or "treat like a person". So when some (mostly older) people say stuff like "If you won't respect me I won't respect you", they mean "If you won't treat me like an authority, I won't treat you like a person".
QXBvbGxv said:
"Diamonds aren’t actually as rare as they are made out to be. They are severely overpriced and just made to seem super expensive."
Apps4Life replied:
"Next you'll tell me WWE is fake!"
"That sharks are man-eating monsters that hunt humans for sport like aquatic Hannibal Lectars. Here in Australia the papers literally report on shark attacks like there is a serial killer on the loose.
No, someone went into the natural habitat of the worlds oldest and most effective predator and got bitten. What the hell did you expect? The media makes a massive deal while the people who got bitten usually end up saying, 'yeah, I don't blame the shark.'"
vpatel27 said:
"George Washington Carver didn't invent peanut butter. Sorry black history month. It was a white Canadian bloke 50 years prior. Still, carver did a lot of cool stuff with peanut cultivation."
R1DER_of_R0HAN replied:
"To add to this, Carver's work was so much more complex than merely inventing peanut butter (as great as peanut butter is). He worked hard to create and promote products and food recipes that involved peanuts and sweet potatoes because 1) those were cheap, hence more readily available to poor farmers, and 2) they were better for the soil, which had been stripped of its nutrients in his home area by cotton farming. He wasn't just some guy who put peanuts on food; he was a professor, an agricultural scientist, and an environmentalist."
Markymark142 said:
"If you swallow your gum, it will stay in your stomach for years."
Commenter replied:
"IF this were true I'd fave a wad of gum the size of a basket ball in me. My dad always taught us that we should swallow gum because spitting it out was littering. I still swallow gum."
beccaonice replied:
"If only there was an alternative to swallowing or littering, like a container of some kind where you could place the gum when you finish with it."
When I was about 5 or so an adult told me if I swallowed my gum my butt would blow a bubble if I farted and I would blow away. For the longest time I wouldn’t fart unless I was holding really tight to something. I was terrified of blowing away.
"Touching a baby bird is not going to cause it's mother to abandon it.
An old wives tale designed to stopped kids messing with young chicks has now caused a generation of people to pass on this old belief without ever being corrected.
Yes, if you see a baby bird on the ground chances are it's mother kicked it out to teach it to fly or something, but if you need to cut the grass / mow the lawn you can lift it and put it back in it's nest, it's mother isn't going to abandon it just because you touched it. That's like thinking a human mother would abandon a baby because a cat rubbed it's butt on it."
"Guess what time it is my child" What time is it momma? "TIME TO FLY!" *yeets chick out of the nest*
adognamedgoose said:
"You don’t have OCD because you like things organized or clean. OCD is horrible and debilitating and it’s a lot less fun than feeling 'satisfied' when things are organized."
Azelais replied:
"Additionally:
You don't have bipolar disorder because you occasionally are moody.
You don't have depression because sometimes you're a little sad.
You don't have anxiety because you get stressed during normal, stressful periods."
"That going in an ambulance to the ER will get you seen faster. It won't. Unless you are actively dying, you do not suddenly get put on a higher priority list.
Stop calling 911 for bullsh*t. Thanks.
Signed,
An EMT."
Here you get a nice ambulance bill :). We'd rather crawl to the ER.
hy-yh said:
"That anything labeled 'vegan' or 'organic' is automatically healthy and you can eat as much as you want without worrying about the calories. Even those energy bars made by a brand rhyming with MIND still have a lot of added sugar and you'd probably be better off eating fruit or something less processed."
Daniel_A_Johnson replied:
"Oreos and Fritos are both vegan."
CaptainKangaroo_Pimp said:
"You can file a missing persons report as soon as the person goes missing. No need to wait 24 hrs or whatever."
Xenon32 replied:
"'As soon as a person goes missing' should be noted as 'as soon as you think something might be wrong.'"
emartinoo replied:
"It's actually a law (or is proposed, I can't remember) in my state that parents must report their child missing within 24 hours or they are charged with a felony."
Commenter replied:
"Casey Anthony said she was just seeing if her kid turned up again somehow, like a lost cat."
"Type one diabetics can’t eat sugar.
Yes we can. We can eat whatever we want, as long as we take insulin for it.
We can eat whatever we want, when our BG is appropriate. For example, I’m not gonna eat 12 bags of skittles when I’m at 300.
Insulin is something we use to manage it, not a complete workaround. No matter what we try, BG levels will never stay perfect. Try to have a little empathy for us, it’s a constant chore we have to think about all the time."
One of my closest friend is a Type 1 diabetic... it's constant management and a lot of work. Plus we're in America and if his insurance lapses, he's basically screwed.
FavorableFox said:
"Autism is a genetic disorder. Genetic Disorders are created within us before we are born, while our DNA is still being made up. Vaccines don't change our genetics. Therefore...
Vaccines. Don't. Cause. Autism."
PunchBeard replied:
"Mine's about Autism too. But from a much different angle:
Autism doesn't grant super powers.
Ever since 'Rainman' everyone assumes that autistic people all have some sort of super intelligence or hyper concentration. Sure, there's autistic people who do have extraordinary abilities but they are extremely rare."
talonofdrangor replied:
"My cousin is autistic, but his only superpower is keeping up with like 20 ongoing anime series at once. But then again, I used to do that too and I'm not autistic (as far as I know)."
In the 1960s there was a Readers Digest article about autism and a revolutionary treatment newly discovered. When an autistic child was unresponsive or had a meltdown, the solution was a hard SLAP to the face. As many slaps as it took to calm them down or "wake them up" to normal behavior. I was only a kid reading above my age level, but I was horrified. Imagine being put through that! Thank goodness there has been progress in understanding autism!
Commenter said:
"Eating fat doesn't make you fat, what really does it is eating more calories than what you use."
TheMoleBear replied:
"The American war on fat started in the 80s. It was a huge mistake."
Commenter replied:
"60s, actually. It was between sugar and fats and Big Sugar lobbied their way to make sure it was fat to take the blame."
Commenter said:
"Fresh fruits and vegetables are necessary to eat healthy.
Frozen can even be superior and canned produce saved countless lives over the years. Fresh produce is also responsible for the largest share of produce food waste because it has higher appearance standards and shorter shelf lifes."
Fresh fruit and veg is great but a lot of what you buy in supermarkets is anything but. I take fresh to mean fruit and veg eaten in season, basically if you're buying "fresh" strawberries in December in the UK they really aren't and have probably been shipped from thousands of miles away and kept in cold storage to prolong their shelf life. Frozen though is usually picked and frozen within hours and often has a much greater nutritional value.
boxpear said:
"'Curing cancer' isn’t going to be a single eureka moment and BAM! cancer is gone forever. There are tons of different types of cancers, with different genetics and epigenetics playing into how they develop.
There seem to be people out there who think Big Pharma™️ is sitting on some magical cure that they’re holding out on because they want to sell treatments. To even suggest that there’s one catch-all cure is soooo reductive of what “cancer” is—it’s not really one disease, it’s tons of different ailments with different symptoms that happen to share some commonalities in the way the cells divide and spread."
zebrucie replied:
"F*cking thank you... The amount of people I've just wanted to slap in the back of the head for saying 'I know they have a cure!' gives me nightmares."
"Sikhs are Muslims.
We are a completely different religion. Just because you saw Bin Laden with a turban does not mean we are the same. There are many differences e.g. The shape/style of our turban, we don't cut our hair, we wear a steel bracelet etc."
"That dog breeds are natural and healthy. They are not. They are man made and most of them have serious genetic problems or deformities."
This is so true. But thanks to Poodle mixes we get to invent countless made up breed names that have the word Poo in them. (Pekingese + Poodle = “Come and meet my darling little PeePoo!”)
Prof_Alchem said:
"Flushable wipes aren't flushable. Toilet paper breaks down easy in water, but you ever seen a baby wipe rip up? Those things just end up clogging pipes and ruining the sewers. Hell, New York (Sorry, LONDON. My bad.) found a huge mass of those things (along with a bunch of other junk) the size of a bus in the sewers thanks to those wipes."
cosmogoinggoinggone replied:
"IIRC, makers of those wipes are allowed to call them 'flushable' if they can get around the u-bend and out of the pipes of your home. Once they’re in the sewer, what happens to them isn’t considered a problem as far as the labelling is concerned. Which leads to a lot of people thinking they’re fine to flush - or at least those that care about those sorts of things in the first place."
I live in a condo community. Those "flushable" wipes cause a huge problem. Several people have to stay in a hotel for a month or more while their place was disinfected and repaired due to sewage backups cause by wipes - flooring removed, two feet of drywall removed etc. The insurance payouts and premiums got so high that the finances aren't there to take care of much needed repairs. The office sends out emails, automated phone calls,, flyers, posts notices on the community billboards and people STILL flush those wipes. They need to be banned, period.
Rasheedgames said:
"Giving a cat milk is a very bad idea. Most cats are lactose intolerant and giving them milk will cause stomach problems."
leargonaut replied:
"We could always force evolution by only giving them milk."
shrifbot said:
"That something needs to be direly wrong in your life before you should see a therapist. You can gain so much from therapy, even if you're not critically distressed."
Commenter replied:
"The best description of therapy anyone ever gave me was 'it's like a personal trainer but for your brain.' That really helped me look at it differently."
My therapist is helping me learn to control my adhd better :) (like, get distracted less)
RavenNif said:
"You weren't the fastest spermatozoid.
Actually the first ones to arrive sacrifice themselves to destroy the protective barrier surrounding the ovule."
Arstya replied:
"Ah, I'm the opportunistic f*cker. I like that more."
praziquantel said:
"That an apple has as much caffeine as a cup of coffee. I'm just tired of hearing it because I have one friend who says it every time she sees someone eating an apple. and it is not true."
cogitoergoiratus replied:
"Sounds like she read a report about apples being a better source of energy in the morning than coffee, and misinterpreted it to mean that apples are full of caffeine."
Please, let’s not judge this woman. She may just be extremely gullible.
PM_ME_WITH_ANYTHING said:
"You'd be happy with your job if you just found something you love doing. F*ck that. The second something I love doing turns into a job I would despise doing it ever again."
EstherHarshom replied:
"Speaking as someone who does something they love as a job, I've found that to be half-right. You still get bad days, and those bad days are as bad as they are at any other job, but the ease of the good days (especially if you're self-employed, so you don't have a boss to piss you off) more than makes up for it."
Be here at this time, in this place, and do the thing you love, but the way I tell you to, or you starve. Sounds slightly less attractive
I love gardening. In my own backyard, in my own time, to my own consumption, through no pressure to get enough crops or I'd starve. Yesterday I went to a professional place where they germinate seedlings for sale, and also grow veggies on a large scale. It was amazing, but also clearly, obviously a very demanding job, with tons of risks and stress. I'm sure they love it, but I'm also sure they have tons of problems and hardships.
I like what I do at my current job enough that I'm content. It's some of the people on my team that need to go.
"I haven't met too many people who believe this (I do live in New England though) but nobody was burned at the stake during the Salem witch trials. 19 people were hung, and one man was pressed to death, but nobody was burned."
Barthaemewl said:
"That one side of your brain controls logic and calculations etc, while the other music, art and language."
deadcomefebruary replied:
"However, certain things such as ability to recognize objects, buildings, faces, people are stored on certain sides of the brain.
Highly recommend The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks if you are interested in this sort of neuropsychology."
IAmTheBatmanXIII replied:
"And you don't just use 5% of your brain."
m37an13 said:
"Not all Canadians pronounce about 'aboot.'"
Mr5yy replied:
"Are you sure aboot that?"
Every one I've ever heard does. I'm sure 3 is a big enough sample.
"The misconception that psychotic means homicidal, violent or dangerous.
Psychotic describes hallucinations, delusions, and other symptoms found in schizophrenia.
Psycho-PATHIC can describe someone who is homicidal, violent or dangerous.
The misconception causes great harm for people who are already struggling with a potentially very distressing and difficult disorder."
Psychopathy is filled with it's own misconceptions, and that statement is one of them. So many times it's mistaken for sociopathy. They are similar and share some of the same traits. However, psychopathy is born. Sociopathy is developed, usually from traumatic childhoods, neglect, abuse, exploitation. Both exhibit low feelings of empathy, but sociopaths learn to suppress those feelings (numbing, raising emotional walls) for long periods out of survival, and do extreme things to get back a sense of feeling alive (risk taking, self-harming, harming others including animals, out of joy). Psychopaths have a hard time feeling sympathy for others. Some don't enjoy the lack of feelings towards others. Some don't care, and a few will use it to their advantage to get ahead. There are some good psycho/sociopaths and some nasty ones.
Mr_Sarcasum said:
"That violent video games cause violence.
I get it, it looks like it might make sense. But crime rates are down and I've yet to go on a murderous rampage."
Dankest_Of_MayMays replied:
"Idk man, ever since I've started playing guitar hero I sort of want to become a guitarist."
I absolutely loved being in the black brotherhood in Oblivion and Skyrim (assassin's guild) and I haven't murdered a single person. Nor do I sneak around and steal everyone's alchemy ingredients.
"The idea that you are a flip-flopper if you change a long held idea, concept, or assumption when newer or more accurate information is presented to you.
That being said, if you are a rational person who doesn't let your ego consume you with ideas, then changing a view isn't personal but logical. Your ideas, religion, and political associations are not you. They are only your ego grasping onto something to create an 'I' or 'my' in your life. Let it go."
"Shaving doesn't make you grow facial hair."
In the 90’s plucking was all the rage for eyebrows, gotta gave pencil thin eyebrows. Yeah that shite doesn’t grow back…
"That Androids have worse cameras than Iphones, when people are only judging by the quality on snapchat and Instagram. It's the app that causes the grainy picture, not the phone's camera abilities."
ilikedanger said:
"That everyone who shops at Walmart is trash."
DiscoHippo replied:
"Not everything in the dumpster is garbage."
"I work as a ride operator at Disneyland, and please just let me say this. THE PURPLE TEACUP DOESN'T SPIN ANY FASTER THAN THE REST OF THEM PLEASE STOP GETTING INTO FIGHTS OVER IT."
I would also like to say that people throwing up on that ride is actually not common at all, I have personally never seen it happen in my 3 years of working there."
xrowrx said:
"Type 1 Diabetes is never ever caused by diet or lifestyle things. Like never. Not ever."
umybuddy replied:
"What if my lifestyle choice in replacing my pancreas and f*cking with my immune system! Huh! What now smarty pants."
"I'm color blind but it's not all black and white. I see colors... just not like you do."
Hmm really? My bro in law is color blind, found out when he asked what color something was (can't remember it was obvious though) and he told me.
MaximiliaanVM said:
"That weed is legal in the Netherlands."
tymaretthemurderking replied:
"Yea what is the deal there? Is it just certain places in Amsterdam or is it just illegal and nobody cares? I've always seen that weed is illegal everywhere, yet Amsterdam pot stores have been American stoner legend for years."
Broddit5 replied:
"It's illegal, but personal use is decimalized so it's cool if you only have 5 grams or less which is why you can walk into a coffee shop and buy some joints."
Thank you! Yes, personal use has been decimalized. Before, they would put you in jail for a whole year. Now, it’s less time, like .1 year, or .3 year.
sarahmagoo said:
"Bettas and goldfish can't healthily live in a bowl.
**to clarify I'm saying DON'T put any fish in a bowl. The misconception is that it's okay but it's not."
Commenter replied:
"To add to that: The reason the myth started that bettas can live in, or even prefer, small containers was because unlike other fish, they can breath from the surface and live in unoxygenated water. This helps them survive in the wild in small bodies of water during severe droughts.
What that myth doesn't acknowledge is that 1) filters do more than just oxygenate water, they cycle the tank so ammonia doesn't build up and cause burns or increase the risk of fungal infections, and 2) they don't live their whole lives during a drought, they usually live in vast rice paddies and may never see a drought in their lifetime, living in a tiny container smaller than a puddle is like living their whole lives on survival mode. Also, bettas are tropical and need heaters, and for the water to stay at a stable temperature, which is kind of hard to do under 5 gallons."
iScabs said:
"Tomatoes are legally vegetables. While scientifically they are considered fruits, some importers tried to dodge the tax on veggies by saying they were fruits and than the supreme court stepped in and was like 'No.'"
Commenter replied:
"'Vegetable' and 'fruit' are not words in the same domain, so this is a meaningless statement. 'Fruit' is a botanical term. 'Vegetable' is a culinary term. An edible fleshy plant is a vegetable. Some vegetables are also fruits. Not all fruits are vegetables, because not all fruits are edible. But any edible fruit is also a vegetable."
"When people call their background image their 'screen saver.' I don't know why this upsets me so much."
Technology is confusing for some people. You may be tempted to call them Dumb, but that would be unkind.
Cameltoe__tea said:
"Ted Bundy's looks isn't how he was able lure women. It was a numbers game with him and he asked many girls to help him out, and many refused. But of the many, all he needed was one to help. The ones that walked away later reported him, saying he gave off a creepy vibe."
IDontRecallBeingMade replied:
"Hey isn't that how pick up artists operate?"
Alundra828 replied:
"Yes, it's not the quality of their pickup moves, it's the quantity of women sampled. Also a common tactic on dating apps like Tinder (before they fixed it) was to just say you're interested in everyone. Out of 1000 girls one of them is bound to respond back."
He also put his arm in a sling so that the women would be more likely to assist him
MrAngryMoose said:
"The dark side of the moon isn’t always dark, it’s called that because it’s the side that we never see."
TheMoleBear replied:
"It also synchs up to The Wizard of Oz."
Pink Floyd was originally going to call their album “The side of the moon we never see.” A last minute change resulted in the album we know today.
theWet_Bandits said:
"The red liquid from a properly cooked steak is not blood. Don’t worry."
Shaninja92 asked:
"Ohhh interesting. What is it?"
Supersonic_Walrus answered:
"Myoglobin."
"People thinking a 'del' is a measurement of pain. There is no measurement of pain!! Everyone experiences pain differently, so you can't measure it. So stop posting things about how woman giving birth experience 70 del of pain, which is the equivalent to 20 bones breaking at once because it's not a real thing!"
rebothy said:
"When you have an IV cannula inserted, a needle is used to insert the cannula but then the NEEDLE IS REMOVED and you're left with a tiny thin plastic (?) tube in the vein.
I think 50% of my patients don't realize there's not a needle in their arm for hours/days on end."
Sirisian replied:
"Explain that to everyone when you do it. I had an IV and the nurse mentioned it immediately and said I can move my arm. If she didn't say that I would have assumed I couldn't move my arm."
Many years ago, your arm would have been strapped to a board to prevent movement. As a nosy patient, I like to watch procedures like this. I discovered the changed facts comparatively recently.
"The Teddy Bear was named for a bear that Theodore Roosevelt spared on a hunting trip. However he didn't exactly spare it and it wasn't exactly out of mercy. There was a professional trapper/tracker/hunter dude with him who's job was to find a bear for him to kill. However the bear he found was so pathetic looking that Roosevelt just didn't think it worth his effort. The trapper dude just cut it's neck open instead."
"The boiling frog experiment that's quoted everywhere didn't work.
For those not familiar, it is said that you can boil a frog to death by raising the temperature of the water it's in extremely slowly so that it doesn't notice.
Well, it only works when parts of the frog's brain are removed. A frog with an intact brain will jump out, no matter how slowly the water is heated."
delkadr200 said:
"That Texas retains the right to secede back to the Republic of Texas when ever it wishes."
alien6 replied:
"Don't they have the exclusive right to split themselves into multiple states without Congressional approval, though?"
PM_ME_UR_REDDIT_GOLD replied:
"Mayyyybeeeee. The were given that right when they joined the union, but not when they came back again after leaving to join the CSA. Or maybe they never actually legally left the union, since the Union didn't acknowledge the succession as legitimate and so retain the right. And just maybe the US Federal government doesn't have a good record of letting people keep the rights they were granted by treaty. In other words: Mayyyybeeee."
SuperSecretMoonBase said:
"'Circa' means 'approximately' not just 'back in the year of.' Only use it when it's not known exactly when something happened."
SOwED replied:
"Doesn't it literally mean 'around?'"
“Circa” is actually based on a Latin word that originally meant a group of traveling bears, with clowns. EDIT: Dear Pandas, this is just a joke. I was making a comparison between the words circa and circus. I did not in any way intend to demean bears, clowns, cows, zebras, snakes, pears, glass, light, water, faith, democracy, synchronicity or the British. Please accept my apologies.
"A lot of people seem to think that Easter Island is a great environmental fable: a small island, almost the most remote place on Earth, cut down all of their trees to build giant head statues, resulting in the collapse of their society and extinction.
Except that native Easter Islanders didn't go extinct. They're still there. The collapse of their society was precipitated by slavers, who took most of the population - anybody who could read, basically, in the written language they had invented - to work on the west coast of South America. Also, a lot of those heads are full bodies that have sunk into the sandy soil."
"Scientists aren't super clean and organized people in lab coats with beakers full of colourful liquid. They're incredibly messy and unorganized people with notebooks full of scribbles and multiple beakers of clear, messily labelled liquid. Every single lab I've worked for is a mess, as is every scientist I've met (myself included)."
"There is no 'Skip all the floors' button combination on any elevator you're going to be in, and even if there is one there's no way you'll find it.
I'm an elevator lover, and I have family in the elevator repair business, so I've spent a lot of time listening to elevator stories, and doing my own research. All those pictures and posts about how if you 'Hold the buttan and the close door button you skip the calls' are all lies, especially the ones that say it's for emergency services. Emergency services that would realistically need this kind of control over an elevator have keys to turn the elevator into fire mode, which does indeed skip all floor calls.
If a building owner wanted an elevator to be able to ignore calls without fire emergency operation mode, there's another way. Called Independent Service mode, sometimes called 'Operator's service' like the old time elevator operator who sat in the elevator and drove it all day. Independent Service is also usually key activated, though It could be activated through a button at the front desk, on a computer, or in the controller room at the top of the shaft manually. In 30 years of elevator installation and repair, my uncle says he has never once seen an elevator that had a button combination set up to do anything like that without first inserting an operators key. The only exception being in hospitals freight elevators, which usually have a 'code blue' button on the inside panel and the outside call buttons, but those are usually employee access only, and there is an understanding in a hospital that you don't just hit that button for no reason."
There's also a service override on top of the car where a tech can operate the elevator, but it runs very slowly for safety.
i-want-to-say-hello said:
"That low testosterone levels make a man effeminate or emotional or gay. Not how it works! Low testosterone makes a man apathetic and unmotivated.
Obviously apathy/unmotivation could be symptoms of other things, too (such as depression). I’m not trying to diagnose anyone with low testosterone. Please go see a doctor, my guys."
CommandoDude replied:
"Wow, I constantly feel apathetic and unmotivated.
...maybe I should take supplements?"
hubert_cumberdalee said:
"Undercover cops have to tell you they are cops if you ask."
albyagolfer replied:
"I learned that lesson vicariously. From Badger."
plainawesomeXx replied:
"It's in the constitution you know."
"There is no such thing as 'aircraft grade aluminum.'
It's just a marketing scam, we use many different grades and tempers depending on the application."
Notasupervillan said:
"My room and car being a mess doesn't prove I don't have OCD. In fact, if I didn't have it it'd be easier to get things like cleaning done."
blindedbytofumagic replied:
"Explaining the difference between OCD and OCPD is maddening. Plenty of patients with OCD hoard and they act far differently than Monk."
People with OCD can be obsessive over any number of areas other than keeping things clean.
pinksugarsun said:
"Babies placed for adoption at birth in the US DO NOT go into foster care. There’s a waiting list at least 36 people long for each newborn placed for adoption. That’s why it’s expensive. That’s why people go overseas to adopt."
hollisd09 replied:
"I was adopted at birth but was with a foster family for about a month. Don't know why, birth mom didn't second guess the adoption, but my birth dad did. They weren't together, just found out this year he wanted to raise me. Am 28."
I had three mothers. Birth mother, foster mother, adoptive mother. 1956. Tomorrow husband and I are putting up the greenhouse and potting up the courgettes (zucchini) and tomatoes, also potatoes, carrots, red onions. Aside from being an introvert, which is just me, I don't think having three mothers did me any lasting harm
"I'm late to this thread, but as an artist, it irks me SO MUCH when people say 'I'm not good at drawing because I can't even draw a straight line!' Newsflash: most professional artists can't do this either. We use rulers.
I really don't get what straight lines supposedly have got to do with being good at drawing."
"I can't draw stick figures" Pretty much means you don't have the motivation to try to draw but enjoy others art.
"Abraham Lincoln's famous a log cabin was not built during his lifetime. This was built 30 years after his death by entrepreneur Alfred Dennett."
Next you'll tell us that Abraham Lincoln didn't actually hunt vampires.
arunkumarcea said:
"There is no specific Plymouth Rock, but there is an enshrined rock that someone basically picked out and people pilgrimage to."
SanJOahu84 replied:
"Most boring landmark ever."
ewwFatties replied:
"And it's been replaced more than once from what I remember."
"Anything about nice Canadians apologizing for everything."
Please keep it straight. All Canadians are nice. It is British people who apologize for everything.
Jonsmith78 said:
"The 'black box' (flight recorder) on an aircraft is orange, not black."
Trifusi0n replied:
"In engineering a black box is a standard solution to something which can be integrated into a larger system, despite the designer not knowing what the interiors of that 'box' are.
I would guess that these things were designed by separate companies to the plane manufacturers and then sold to them as black boxes. It probably doesn't have anything to do with colour."
If the black box always survives the crash, why don’t we build the entire plane out of those things?
"Not exactly a misconception, but people who think evolution is just "humans came from monkeys" make me cringe. My PSR teacher once blatantly said that to us and my group of friends at the table that we were sitting all face palmed in unison."
We came from a common ancestor (the so-called missing link). Maybe things would have been better if we'd come from a posh ancestor.
"There isn't a dead body being transported on all or most commercial airlines. Seriously, what airline or airport has all these corpses going back and forth?
I work the ramp at O'Hare, I might see a corpse being transported once a month and maybe handle one once a year.
Now if you ever see the fire department and police lined up at a plane coming into a gate, not following the plane as if it was an emergency, chances are there is a fallen servicemember or someone notable that is being transported to their final resting place."
"That getting the chicken pox means you can't get shingles later in life. It's the other way around god damn it."
"A proposal to make German the official language of the United States of America was defeated in Congress by one vote.
It's easily debunked by common sense (seriously, why would they do this??) and congressional records. The myth likely comes from the fact that a proposal to adjourn and discuss at a later time a petition to have laws translated to German for German-speaking residents was defeated by one vote."
"Old windows are thicker on the bottom because the glass flowed. Motherf*cker, room temperature window glass doesn't flow. Old glass was not very consistent in thickness and it was standard practice to install them with the thickest part at the bottom."
theoptionexplicit said:
"Flashbacks aren't caused because LSD stays in your spine. It's all psychological."
fn0000rd replied:
"Well, this is mostly true.
I had pockets installed in my spine so I can trigger flashbacks during boring meetings."
One I've heard (but I don't know if it's true so please correct me if I'm wrong) is that when something is classed as "military grade" is doesn't actually mean it's super high quality, best of the best. It's something that can do the job for the lowest actual cost. Obviously that's not to say something "military grade" is bad just that it's not necessarily a definition of quality.
One I've heard (but I don't know if it's true so please correct me if I'm wrong) is that when something is classed as "military grade" is doesn't actually mean it's super high quality, best of the best. It's something that can do the job for the lowest actual cost. Obviously that's not to say something "military grade" is bad just that it's not necessarily a definition of quality.
