Remember when you were a kid on the playground spreading all the wildest facts you heard floating around. Did any of those ever stick with you to adulthood? Would you be shocked to find out they aren’t true?
A Reddit post asked people to share myths that are still widely believed as fact, and many people came to the comments to do some debunking.
A change in demeanor.
“Bulls hate red. They are actually colour blind and are reacting to the movement of the cloth and the asshole behind it.”
Someone who works with bulls weighed in, “You also gotta keep in mind those bulls are poorly treated and usually given some kind of stimulants. Bulls on our ranch are actually quite friendly […].”
Slimming down.
“That you can reduce fat from a particular body part,” said one comment.
Another replied a similar myth relating to this, “A related myth in the opposite direction is that fat loss happens evenly across the body.”
Brains and beauty.
“That goldfish have a 6 second memory. I mean it’s still not great, I think like a couple months. But still…. Get your fish a bigger damn tank.”
“People have actually taught their goldfish to do tricks like swimming through a hoop,” read one reply, “They are a lot smarter than we give them credit for.”
Twice over.
“I was adamantly told by some seniors at work not to drink the water that boiled twice because it cooks the oxygen out of it.”
“What is with seniors and water that’s been boiled twice?” one reply asked, “My grandmother used to say that it would make the water radioactive – I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that a woman that had been a chemist her entire working life believed this.”
Not what it looks like.
“The Myth: You can tell if a snake is venomous or not by the shape of its pupil (slit for venomous, round for nonvenomous).
“The Truth: Pupil shape has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not a snake has venom, and, if you’re close enough to get a good look at a snake’s pupils, you’re probably close enough to get bit.”
Growing pains.
“That shaving makes your beard grow better.
“When I was a teenager, a lot of people told me that shaving would make my beard grow faster. Well, I didn’t want to shave any more than I absolutely had to, so I often went weeks at a time without shaving. It wasn’t the best look for me,” read one reply.
No time to lose.
“That you have to wait 24h before you can report a missing person. If someone is missing, go get help!”
People in the replies said this was very dependent on location and some police stations will make you wait before filing a claim, but this is sometimes ignored in regards to missing children.
Vinegar on the wound.
“Urine neutralizes [jellyfish] stings.”
Someone else brought up that vinegar is actually the savior for jellyfish stings. When another person asked who brings vinegar to the beach, someone replied, “In an area with deadly varieties of jellyfish (ok I’ll say it Australia) you would frequently find bottles of vinegar tied up to posts and [lifeguard] towers on the beach.” It really is the best immediate remedy!
A well-earned wash.
“That soap destroys cast iron skillets. Soap used to have lye in it which was used to break down human bodies and bones into dust. Now some mild dawn dish soap won’t do damage to a pan unless it soaks for a long time.”
Less is more.
“That E-waste recycling is good for the environment. Much of it gets shipped overseas to be burned or dissolved in chemicals to extract the precious metals. The real way to help is to buy less.”
Miscommunications.
“People in general though the world was flat until Columbus sailed the ocean blue.
“No, the Ancient World figured that out a long time before. People just thought that it wasn’t possible to sail across the ocean to Asia because sailors would run out of food by then, while Columbus thought that wasn’t case because he thought Asia was bigger than contemporary estimates.”
Hot to the core.
“That the seeds are the spiciest part of a hot pepper. The seeds are the only part of a pepper that isn’t spicy. The white stuff near the seeds though, spice max.”
I avoided the seeds of a pepper recently because I remembered this myth, good to know it’s not true!
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The perfect experiment.
“That whole ‘you eat seven spiders a year’ myth. It was created by some lady in the late ’90s or early 2000s to prove that ridiculous things can be found on the internet, spread like wildfire, and believed by many.”
I was a believer of this, but I was also 12 at the time, so I’m cutting myself some slack.
Stood the test of time.
“That corsets are a lethal torture item and every Victorian woman did tight-lacing.
“The myth about harmful corsets was started by Victorian men, in order to bring down women-owned businesses. […]The truth is, corsets are way better than bras. If you have back pains, which many women have because of their bras, switch to corsets. There is a reason, why it was used that long.”
Publicity stunt.
“A lot of people still believe a woman sued McDonald’s because her coffee was hot. In reality the woman had 3rd degree burns throughout her pelvic area and only asked that her medical bills be paid.”
Someone expanded on this, “It was like only $30k or something and McDonald’s went ‘nope, here is like $200 bucks’. So she sued. They were selling illegally hot coffee [without] a proper warning. Then, McDonald’s spread this lie to keep their good name.”
No ill effects.
“Knuckle cracking doesn’t lead to arthritis, it just an old wives tale people use in place of simply telling you it’s annoying them. Crack away!”
As someone who cracks their knuckles frequently, this is such a relief to hear. I wasn’t going to stop either way, but still.
Speading germs.
“That washing chicken gets it rid of bacteria. No. Cooking chicken gets rid of bacteria, given that you do it well. Washing chicken, on the other hand, can contaminate your whole kitchen with salmonella.”
Hearing that people wash chicken was a shock all on its own. I’m glad this isn’t something I’ve had to witness.
Scary seasoning.
“That MSG is very bad for health and anything with it is seen as unhealthy.
“MSG being unhealthy was an idea created to specifically and directly target [Asian] food restaurants who used the seasoning,” another user explained, “It was bad science done by very racist people to perpetuate that racism.”
Sky’s the limit.
“That the US spent over a million dollars and two years to develop a pen that could work in space…whereas the Soviets decided to just use a pencil.
“In the early days, both used pencils, but since pencils are made out of graphite, and graphite is conductive, snapped graphite particles are dangerous in a pressurized space capsule….to put it lightly. Fisher, the owner of the pen company, spent his own money to develop a pressurized [ballpoint] pen. And cost only about [$6.00] per pen.”
Not what they meant.
“That we only use 10% of our brain.”
Someone else explained why this myth might have come about in the first place, “The myth comes from the fact that only about 10% of our brain is made up of neurons – the cells that use electricity and chemicals to transmit information. The rest of the brain is made up of glial cells – they help clean the brain and produce myelination to help info travel faster and more smoothly.”
