We humans are a weird bunch. Some of us are shooting a spacecraft at an asteroid to demonstrate that it's a viable technique to protect the planet but others still insist that swallowed gum will stay in our stomachs for 7 years.
Interested in hearing the most prevalent misconceptions, Reddit user FM596 made a post on the platform, asking everyone to share myths that are passed from generation to generation, and that people still believe in. Turns out, there's no shortage of those! Continue scrolling and check out some of the most-upvoted entries.
This post may include affiliate links.
That certain animal 'parts' have healing/magical properties. Like tiger whiskers protect the wearer or rhino horn cures impotence and hangovers.
We managed to get in touch with FM596 and they agreed to tell us more about what inspired their post. "One of the reasons I decided to ask this question was to see how many people will mention the thousand-years-old-myth of supposedly living in a democracy (in any country)," they told Bored Panda.
"Democracy was real and has existed only once. After it was violently destroyed, leaders used the word democracy to mislead us into thinking that what we have is the best we can get."
"Out of the 12,000 comments, only 12 people mentioned that myth, just 1 out of 12,000, or 0.008%. That says a lot about the level of political edification we get from the state."
Boys playing with dolls (or other traditional feminine toys) will turn them gay. Or that anything will turn people gay or lesbian.
Trickle down economics.
If rich people were putting their money back into the economy, there wouldn't be any billionaires.
However, after going through the replies, FM596 thinks not all of them are valid. "First, not everything posted as a myth is, indeed, a myth. Many [of the entries] are half-truths, others are imprecisely expressed or misunderstood, and others are definitely non-myths."
The Redditor believes that, "we are ignorant on many critical subjects, because: "a) we get a really bad education from the state, and b) we are being bombarded daily with misleading information that aims to serve the best interests of the powerful few -not the people, and that's a fact, not a myth, that's the world we live in."
That being out in cold weather will make you catch a Cold. The cold is a virus you catch from others and nothing to do with the outside temperature.
There is basis of truth in this one. People stay inside more during cold weather. Spending more time with other people in an enclosed space makes you more likely to be exposed to any viruses that might be around. Also, studies have found that airborne viruses are carried farther by the more denser cold air. Therefore, there is a greater chance of airborne viruses touching a person rather than ending up on the ground.
That you have to wait 24 hours before filing a missing person report.
Ironically, as much as we like to think that we value truth, we have also designed the world in a way that makes it really hard for it to travel between us.
There's a well-known MIT study from 2018 that analyzed the spread of news stories on Twitter. Using data drawn from 3 million platform users from 2006 to 2017, the researchers, led by Soroush Vosoughi, a computer scientist who is now at Dartmouth, found that fact-checked news stories moved differently through social networks depending on whether they were true or false.
"Falsehood diffused significantly farther, faster, deeper, and more broadly than the truth," they wrote in their paper.
That the hymen is a freshness seal like a snapple cap, has any bearing on virginity, and your first time should hurt and cause bleeding
Religion, easily.
I get that people believe in religion but they have zero proof that any of it is true.
That GMOs are bad. Without GMOs, we wouldn't have a lot of the food we have today.
We've been eating GMOs for 1000s of years. That's what selective breeding does. Some of the foods we eat would be poisonous in their original forms
That we use 10% of our brain. Power or capacity, this was actually proven to be b******t.
That shaving makes hair grow back thicker and longer.
When you shave, the hair is cut in two. The lower part of the hair is now the top, where it used.tot be the middle of a hair. The original top of the hair had to move up to skin level and further on and was damaged doing so. And damaged means thinner. So the cut side is al the way up and as thick as possible. And this is what you experience when it grows further on. Massive and thick hair.
I got pregnant in 2002 and people legit told me I shouldn't raise my arms over my head because the cord would wrap around the baby's neck. Not just great grandmas telling me this either. People at my restaurant job fussed at me all the time for getting things off high shelves. Insane.
This was hilarious! Can those people please draw a pic on how they think your arms and the cord ia connected?
That your generation is always the last good generation.
Swallowed gum will stay in your stomach for 7 years. Never seen a single wad of gum in the hundreds of thousands of stomachs I’ve looked into.
That fish only have a 5-second memory. My fish are fed automatically on a timer and they know dinner time better than my goddamn cat.
That your hair and fingernails still grow after you die. It's mainly an optical illusion. Your skin decays and shrinks, causing hair and fingernails to look like they've grown.
That birds will abandon their babies if they have a human scent on them.
That cats kill babies.
I’ve run into this so many times since having kids. And it’s not the older grandmas making these statements. I’ve had 20 year olds tell me that you can’t have cats if you plan to have babies because “they’ll steal their breath” or some other variation. No amount of reasoning or rationale will dissuade them of this belief
I've always hears that this come from cats that end up sleeping on a baby and the baby can't breath. I have no idea if this is true or not.
Circumcision is medically beneficial enough to be *routinely* done to every male infant born, rather than just like.. you know… waiting to see if it’s actually necessary.
Call it what it is. Genital mutilation. I don’t care if it’s your religion or your belief. It’s mutilation. This applies to girls and boys, if you are taking a knife to them for any other reason than a medically recommended reason then you are committing genital mutilation.
I was honestly so happy to see people saying this. Seeing how US centric this site can get, I assumed more peeps would be supporting male genital mutilation here.
Load More Replies...
It is. And it was originally promoted as a means to stop masturbation. Here's Adam Ruins Everything ruining circumcision: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCSWbTv3hng
Load More Replies... I think this is mainly in the USA. In the UK baby boys are not routinely circumcised.
Neither in Germany, Poland, Finland…. The list goes on and on…
Load More Replies...
This is only really done in America. They claimed it for the above reason but (and I might be wrong here) they tried to use it as a way to get boys to stop masturbating
Yep, it has its roots in masterbation. They did a lot of stuff to avoid boys choking the chicken. Horrific stuff
Load More Replies...
I'm an American. Not only was I circumcised as a child, my father, grandfathers, uncles, and brothers were too. When I was in school, I knew of only one boy who wasn't. Almost everybody had it done where I lived, and the vast majority of the parents, if asked, would talk about the "medical benefits", but deep down, it was because in the King James translation of the Bible, Zipporah protects Moses by circumcising their son and spreading the blood on Moses, and many Americans in "The Bible Belt" consider it a sacred covenant with God. As a person who has been circumcised, let me say to anyone considering it: Don't. I wish it had never been done to me. I think that while my parents were good people, they were misled, and that the practice is evil, freakish and disgusting. Don't do it.
American as well...I think a lot of my friend's still get it done to their babies because it's so ingrained into them here. A few of them said they let their husband's decide (which I find problematic) and they usually opt to do it so they "look like they do" it's really weird. I have only girls so this never came up for me. I also have a lot of Jewish friends with sons and their religion is what makes it a no-question in their mind thing.
Load More Replies...
I don't think I've known a single guy in my 40 years on this planet who's been circumcised - and with the family/mates I have for whatever reasons d***s get a lot of conversation time - my sons haven't been, my brothers, ex partners, husband, friends and not one of them has succumbed to deadly crotch rot - so many times I've heard it's done for better hygiene but, like, yeah it'd be easier to clean my eyeballs without eyelids but lopping them off is just horrific, and so is removing skin from a poor boys penis - just let them have a bath and leave their d***s alone. If it needs done for medical reasons then fair enough, fill the dude up with all of the drugs, get it done them send him in his way with more drugs and an ice pack - otherwise leave them be
It's really prevalent in America, The only men I've been with that weren't had parents from other countries. I honestly have no idea if my dad or brother are.
Load More Replies...
I had the biggest fight with my in-laws over this. It ended by me saying I was not going to let a doctor that specialized in woman parts cut on my sons parts and if they wanted to pay for a plastic surgeon to do it I will allow that. I knew they would never pay for that so It ended the argument. I just got tired of them bringing it up all the time.
Yeah it's a more acceptable form genial mutilation in western cultures.
….. no, I would not say „western cultures“ in general. I am pretty sure that Europe does not look that kindly upon it
Load More Replies... I'm not in favour of blanket circumcision but I really don't think it compares to FGM. Female "circumcision" is anything but - it removes the whole external clitoris, making sexual pleasure nigh-unobtainable. "Circumcision" literally means "to cut around" - the glans penis, the most sensitive part of the male sexual anatomy, is left intact. Again, not arguing for circumcision, but I don't think it really measures up to FGM in terms of intentional harm.
I suspect you would love it if it hadn't been circumcised as well - you'd know no different to what was your norm.
Load More Replies...
I've seen a lot of people commenting that the trend toward circumcision started in the US as a way to prevent masturbation. Not so. It proliferated in the US (and in pre-WWI UK) as a cleanliness measure. It was believed that circumcision would prevent unnecessary infection and halt the spread of sexually-transmitted diseases. In the 70s, a movement actually started to STOP routine circumcision (and bottle-feeding, pacifier use, sedated child birth, etc). But, as it turns out, circumsized men appear to transmit HPV and HIV at lower rates than their uncircumsized breathren. So, maybe the Victorians and modern day families in the US aren't so crazy. TLDR: Circumcision became popular in the US due to public hygiene concerns, not to discourage masturbation.
I think there are certain medical risks to being uncircumcised, at least according to many doctors. My son has one of those medical conditions (kidney problems), and our doctors told us that circumcising him would reduce the risk of UTI and certain cancers.
A medical risk is different, if that is the case. Doing it when it isn't necessary is another matter entirely.
Load More Replies...
teach your male children how to care properly and clean their members,so they grow up happy and uncut. There is nothing worse than. Medically necessary circumcision, because a boy or man comes in and his foreskin is fused to his penis by uncleaned smegma, or, you have to use general anesthesia to take care of a good cleaning, snd let me tell you, it is not pleasant. I can guarantee if some male has this done, he will keep his penis and foreskin cleaned forever more. Ouchie!
I've thought this one over many times, and I was honestly on the fence until I witnessed my new nephew's circumcision. The area was numbed with gel, and the little guy didn't even flinch. Was not even fazed. If you blinked you would have missed it, it was over that fast. I'm gonna have to go with "it's a personal decision."🤷♀️ My partner is from the UK and he is circumcised, but his two older brothers are not. I just asked him if he misses his foreskin. He said "no." 😆
My body my choice! I was never consulted about having my genitals mutilated, that choice was taken from me. It's a disgusting practice
Load More Replies...
look it's central to many cultures/religions...i knew two men who had to get it done as an adult for medical reasons...they said it is torturous as an adult....(i imagine it's like how kids are relatively unphased by a tonisilectomy, but having one as an adult is two weeks of agony)...anyway, both said that they didn't notice any loss of sensation during sex, and told everyone they knew to circumsize your kids when they are babies...so, even though i am not religious, i had my baby circumsized....they put anaesthetic gel on his penis...the whole thing took under a minute...my son didn't seem too bothered by it, and his penis was healed in like two days....TLDR: they are many reasons for circumsizing babies, most are done for what the parents earnestly believe is good reason...you may not agree with the reason but it's a private decision
You admit you had your baby circumcised, and I absolutely believe that you did what you honestly thought was best at the time, that you would never have knowingly done something to harm your child, and so I 100% sincerely believe you should not feel bad about it. But I also know that the medical reasons for circumcision are not logically or medically valid. Circumcision prevents relatively minor and easily remedied complications that have an incidence rate of about 1/50,000. That means that for every person who successfully avoided a very minor medical procedure to correct these simply problems, 49,000 are potentially subjected to an unecessary surgery. It is not a private decision. A private decision is one that only affects a consenting individual ... not the consenting individual's infant (who is incapable of consent). I'm sure the individuals in question "didn't notice any loss of sensation". But honestly: How would they know? They have nothing to which to compare it?
Load More Replies...
My dad got circumcised later in life and he says he wished his parents had done it when he was a baby because it hurt, and the healing process was not comfortable. He did it because it is more hygienic to be circumcised. My parents wish they had circumcised my brother when he was a baby, but they wanted him to be able to make that choice, just like how my grandparents wanted my dad to make that choice on his own. Anyway, the point of this is that you guys keep saying that the babies should be given a choice to be circumcised, and my dad was one of those that was given that choice, but he wished that he had been circumcised as a baby instead of given that choice.
The majority of the world is not circumcised, the hygiene reasoning is a myth. Men across the world aren't walking cases of crotch rot and are able to keep themselves clean without chopping parts of themselves off
Load More Replies...
It's nothing but a jewish religious practice inflicted on non jewish people to push their beliefs.
My religion does male circumcision. I have not met a single person who regrets it or has a problem with it outside my religion. Now female circumcision is mutilation.
No. Male circumcision is mutilation, too. How about waiting for the child to be old enough to decide for themselves?
Load More Replies...
Yet not remotely an issue outside a couple of countries (if I believe you about 'raging' UTI etc). Maybe that lack of sex education in the good old US (assuming, yes, as you say ER nurse) is also missing out on basic hygiene lessons. Parents should teach boy children how to be clean, it's not difficult. Not a health issue in the VAST MAJORITY OF THE WORLD.
Load More Replies...
Yet, funnily enough, the rest of the world looks at uncircumcised penises and see normal. Your view is just lack of experience and, pardon the phrase, exposure, to what the majority of the world sees as ordinary and typical. 'Ew' as a response... well, it's far from informative or useful. I was going to say childish but I didn't want to insult. It's certainly based on very little seeing how varied penises are anyway. Not sure one friend is exactly statistically valid as research either. Come outside of the US and do your study on what people think. As for finding penises 'attractive'...be serious. People might get aroused over genitals but no-one looks at them and thinks 'gosh, that's pretty'.
Load More Replies... Pit bulls can lock their jaws. If they bite you then you have to kill them because their jaws are locked.
No, I am not kidding. I’ve heard this BS from the elderly and from kids. They just keep repeating this nonsense.
Only if it is a hybrid created in a Chinese research lab and one of its parents was a snapping turtle.
90% of the myths surrounding pregnancy and childbirth.
If the baby’s heart rate is fast it’s a girl. If you crave sweet things it’s a girl, if you are carrying “high” it’s a girl.
They’re the only ones I can think of at the moment but there are so many other myths out there.
funnily enough I had a major sweet tooth in both my girl pregnancies and was craving savoury foods with my boy. Didn't know about that belief though...
Lightning never strikes the same place twice.
As Fleetwood Mac would say, “Lightning strikes maybe once, maybe twice.”
Someone can be tested to determine their virginity status. Hymens aren't barriers, they aren't supposed to be broken, and they heal when they do tear. No one, not even a doctor can look at someone and know they're a virgin or not.
Bulls become angry seeing the color red.
Bulls become angry when men in stupid Prince outfits taunt them while crowds cheer and then the poor bulls get speared. Absolutely disgusting.
That reading in dim lighting will cause you to lose your eyesight.
If you watch the TV too much or too close, you will go blind
One that's still not known well is the white people in the south and middle America that think they are part Cherokee. You're like 99.9% sure to be wrong. Your family is wrong. There wasn't a "Cherokee princess" or any of that. It's a folks tale basically. And your grandma was told the same as a kid, she told your mom, hour mom td you.
People get defensive about this because you have to accept that A) Your family accidentally mislead you on something your whole life, and B) you don't have some magic Cherokee princess Native American blood. You're just white.
This is what happened with Elizabeth Warren. She was told this tale and believed she was part Cherokee. I was also told this and believed it while growing up. Almost all of my friends were told the same about themselves too.
Just a folk tale passed down the generations
100% true. I heard the same c**p my whole life. Did the old 23&me test... ZERO native DNA. I'm literally more Neanderthal than Native American.
Carrots improve vision. Has to be on the list for top propaganda campaigns. Started in WWII to cover for the use of radar. Still to this day more people I meet believe it than don't.
Carrots contain beta-carotene which is converted to vitamin A in the body, which in turn binds to a protein in the eye to make rhodopsin. Rhodopsin is a light-absorbing molecule necessary for low-light and colorvision. In turn, the absence of vitamin A can cause nightblindbess. So in a way, carrots can improve your eyesight.
Note: this post originally had 54 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
That removing a gray hair from your head will cause ten more to grow back.
Right? LOL because if it were true balding people would gladly pluck the grays to get two more.
Load More Replies...
How do you add more? That spinach has an amazing amount of iron. Like all dark leafy greens it has some, but not a lot. Someone mad an error with a decimal point many years ago and some textbooks picked it up and for years it was taught.
That removing a gray hair from your head will cause ten more to grow back.
Right? LOL because if it were true balding people would gladly pluck the grays to get two more.
Load More Replies... How do you add more? That spinach has an amazing amount of iron. Like all dark leafy greens it has some, but not a lot. Someone mad an error with a decimal point many years ago and some textbooks picked it up and for years it was taught.
