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Humans are naturally curious. We seek to explore, learn, and understand. In fact, the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute and the HAAS School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, have discovered that when the brain searches for information, it accesses the same neural code as when it's hunting for money.
"To the brain, information is its own reward," said co-author of the study Ming Hsu, Ph.D. According to him, just as we like empty calories from junk food, we can also overvalue data that makes us feel good but may not be useful.
Or, as one Reddit thread shows, even accurate! Started by platform user lilCRONOS, it has folks sharing "the dumbest" things someone made them believe to be true that they later found out wasn't. Below you will find the most popular submissions to the discussion, which serve as a reminder that we can't trust everything we hear.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Many years ago when my little sister and I were between 8-10, we were listening to Christmas music while decorating the tree. The Little Drummer Boy sang about performing for the newborn king, telling us “the ox and lamb kept time” while he played. Little sister asked me to explain what this meant.
Very seriously, I informed her that when barn animals hear music, they instinctively tap their feet. This helped the Little Drummer Boy keep the beat while he played for Jesus. She accepted this new piece of wisdom as fact and carried on.
A decade later we were sitting at Christmas dinner with the whole family which now included little sister’s fiancé. Little Drummer Boy played on the radio and she looked to her future husband and said, “did you know when barn animals hear music, they instinctively tap their feet?”
He laughed hysterically, calamity ensued, and I had to run for cover. Worth it. Pa rum pum pum pum.
Javelina Poppers 1 year ago (edited)
Told my kids that cows standing on a hillside have shorter legs on one side and if they turn around they'll roll down the hill. They're now in their 40s and passing that little gem of knowledge on to future generations.
RELATED:
#2
My father used to have a “turbo button” in his car that he’d pressed to make the car go faster. Dumb a*s kid me didn’t know it was the ac button, so when the air would hit my face while seeing the car move, I thought we were flying. Coolest s**t ever until I grew older and realized lol.
Ąåřţđęşịɠŋȿ 1 year ago
easily mistaken at a certain age... but as you learned stuff, it's like, "hey!... it's not turbo!" pretty cute though
Bec 1 year ago
My dad would hit the radio buttons and pretend he was making the stoplight change faster
Leading_Gold 1 year ago
My mom would call out exactly when the lights changed. I thought she was magic
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Shelby Moonheart 1 year ago
My dad's Volvo did have a Turbo button. It shifted the car into overdrive.
The Rogue Adventurers. 1 year ago
Some cars do have sports buttons that can increase performance
However, these stories don't prove that we're doomed. Yet Mercier, a cognitive scientist at the Jean Nicod Institute in Paris, thinks that in order to fight disinformation more effectively, we need to stop believing in our own gullibility.
"We are skilled at figuring out who to trust and what to believe, and, if anything, we're too hard rather than too easy to influence," Mercier said. He bases those statements on a growing body of research in fields such as neuropsychiatry and evolutionary psychology, and argues that humans are hardwired to balance openness with vigilance.
#3
I asked my sister what the small brown round things i saw in the fruit aisle were and she told me they were goat balls. Later found out they were kiwis.
Disgruntled Pelican 1 year ago
I mean...I suppose they do contain seeds...
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Not intentionally, but for a long time as a young kid I thought women with dark eyebrows and blonde hair were robots or androids or whatever.
I heard my mum and dad saying that someone on TV was fake or not real or something to that effect. When I asked why, they said her eyebrows are black and her hair is blonde. Whatever the terminology was, it was unclear to me they were talking about her hair colour not being real, I just assumed it was a giveaway to know who weren't real humans.
Kaedyn Walsh 1 year ago
I know it's off topic but that girl in the pic is gorgeous and I'd give anything to look like her.
Devil's Advocate 1 year ago
Don't sell yourself short, going by your PFP, you're beautiful too :)
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actaeon cross 1 year ago
As someone born with blonde hair and black eyebrows, the disbelief it was natural has always been a pet peeve of mine. Probably because of how offended my mom would get when people implied she was dying my hair at six years old
Anna N. 1 year ago
Lucky you. I ended up with the dreaded white blonde eyebrows. I envy you! I had a natural blonde friend with dark brown eyebrows so I know such lucky ones are out there!
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TheElderNom 1 year ago
You can blev a real blonde with black eyebrows. Heard of eyebrow colouring or makeup? I mean it is still "fake" to some extent but usually people talk of fake blondes.
Jaya 1 year ago
Also, there are plenty of people who naturally have blonde hair on their head but naturally have black eyebrows, black pubes and black bodyhair.
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Chelsea McKee 1 year ago
They just spent a little bit of money on their hair. Money and time can do wonders.
Dread Pirate Roberts 1 year ago
There are actually a lot of natural blondes with dark eyebrows. I've known a few.
To gauge a statement's accuracy, we instinctively test it from many angles, including: does it jibe with what I already believe? Does the speaker share my interests? Have they demonstrated competence in this area? What's their reputation for trustworthiness? And, with more complex assertions: does the argument make sense?
So there are a few ways of scrolling through the list: you might view the entries as proof that we can be easily persuaded, or you might treat them as evidence that we, eventually, figure things out. After all, the people sharing these anecdotes did.
#5
Yellow tomato sauce.
When I was about 8 or 9, mum forgot to order a mcDs plain so she said it was yellow tomato sauce from the tomatoes like my grandad grew. I moved out at 18 and went shopping for the first time. Wanted to make a ‘real’ burger. Couldn’t find it anywhere. Called mum; 22 years later she’s still laughing.
glowworm2 1 year ago
Would yellow tomatoes make yellow ketchup/ tomato sauce though? Now I’m curious.
Philly Bob Squires 1 year ago
They do make yellow ketchup and it is from yellow tomatoes. It's pretty good and a bit sweeter and milder than red ketchup.
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Khall Khall 1 year ago
I used to tell my kids that hot mustard was yellow frosting and they should try it. Was hysterical.
#6
I thought that men had one less rib than women. I believe I was told this by Sunday school teachers and my parents and believed this until my girlfriend in college told me that it was not true at all.
Hugh Cookson 1 year ago
Ah, yes, that ultra truthful, historically accurate document read, absorbed and followed (sometimes to the letter) by deluded people worldwide. For balance, this also applies to every other 'holy' book as well. Apart from Harry Potter and the Tellytubbies, which are obviously true in every way ....
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Yer Maw Lorna 1 year ago
Went to catholic school and was about the only religious c**p I fell for and genuinely believed men and women had a different number of ribs until far too old watching a documentary and they were trying to determine whether a skeleton was male or female and I asked why they didn't just count the ribs - Google set me straight. I was raging
Mario Strada 1 year ago
It's truly amazing how many people share this misconception. Bart Ehrman, a bible scholar and professor, made it part of his pre-lecture jokes. The other joke is that there are always a few new student (this is University, not middle school) that absolutely believe Jesus spoke English.
Regina Holt 1 year ago
And the English language hadn't even been created yet.
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Peter H 1 year ago
Even if the Bible story was true, that would just mean that Adam was missing a rib, not that all men forever had one less. People who have appendectomies don't have kids without appendixes.
Bo'owowo'uh 1 year ago
Yeah but this is the same book that says because Eve and Adam did something bad, all of their descendants are responsible... A lot of hereditarience
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Justin Tyme 1 year ago
I got down voted for writing that the Bible doesn't say men have one less rib than women. But that statement is absolutely correct. If you think the Bible says men have one less rib than women, then I challenge anyone to cite it - book, chapter, and verse.
ThatBlackNightingale 1 year ago
You are absolutely correct- the Bible only claimed Adam had one less rib, not the rest of mankind.
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Andy Frobig 1 year ago
Hank Williams wrote in "Nobody's Lonesome For Me:" "Now I ain't had a kiss since I fell out of my crib It looks to me like I been cheated out of my rib"
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#7
When I was a young kid my dad was watching a news segment about funding for NASA. They showed an astronaut strapping into some sort of training device against a wall that began rotating him like a clock. He was spinning faster and faster. The news overlaid an image of a spinning dollar bill which then slowed and came to a stop.
For adults, it was a visual metaphor for the cost of NASA.
For me, it was a demonstration how money is made by spinning people until they turn into money.
Sunny Day 1 year ago
This is why merry-go-rounds were removed from playgrounds. Kids got on, spun very fast - and money was made when the parents sued over the kid's injuries
parmadillo 1 year ago
The gentler method, although less lucrative, is to turn them upside down so that coins fall out of their pockets.
Hugh Cookson 1 year ago
While the military get 5% ..... oh and social healthcare gets 0.002%. Now call me an old silly but maybe that might be a bit wrong.
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Bill Swallow 1 year ago
Sure! They did that with all those dead Presidents! That's why their faces are on the money!
#8
That working hard in corporate America actually gets you anywhere.
Nina 1 year ago
Working hard in any commercial organisation worldwide. (Yes there will be exceptions, but they're the rare good ones)
iseefractals 1 year ago
Saying "i work hard" doesn't really mean anything. Effort, does not equal value, nor does it mean you're doing it well.
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Zoe Vokes 1 year ago
Much easier to get ahead in business if you’re related to the owner / friends with the owner. You don’t need to be as good at your job as your coworkers and yet you get promoted. Plus they want the hard working people to stay in the jobs they have working hard and not appreciated.
The Starsong Princess 1 year ago
Working hard may not get you anywhere on its own but you likely won’t get anywhere without working hard. The trick is to be selective.
Scott Wilkins 1 year ago
Corporations are set up to benefit whomever set them up...period. Welcome to capitalism!
michael Chock 1 year ago
Success comes to those with connections, opportunity, timing and work ethic. In that order.
#9
When I was a kid we had this brush in the car, the kind for getting snow off the windows in the winter, and I asked my mom what it was.
She told me it was an elephant toothbrush, and that we used to have an elephant, for her that was just a silly joke, but my 6 year old brain never questioned the fact that we used to own an elephant.
A few years later, I must have been more like 9, I brought it up to my mom; something about it didn’t make sense. How did we feed this thing? Where did we keep it? How did we afford an elephant? Where did it come from? What did we do with it in the winter?
My mom, had entirely forgot she ever told me that, and never realized I had been left to believe we owned an elephant.
lol.
Jenna Kay 1 year ago
My dad told me we had a pig, and it ate all the things that went down the garbage disposal in the sink, so to only put food in it. At some point in time, I realized that I had not seen a pig anywhere, so asked, and my dad, being a dad, said it had gotten too fat and we had to sell it!
#10
That the red triangle (hazard lights) in a car is an eject button for the kids in the back seat. Truly believed that was a great call for crashes or whatever. My dad told me that if we were too annoying on long car rides he would eject us via red button.
Ken Beattie 1 year ago
My car says "Hello" when you start up and "Goodbye" when you shutdown. Not sure whether it's standard to the car or it's because of the aftermarket bluetooth that was installed when I bought it. Anyway, picked up a friend and they're at the time pretty young kids and the car says "Hello". The kids are like OMG the car just spoke to us! So naturally we told them, that yes of course the car can talk. When they said hello back and it didn't reply, we told them it must be feeling shy because it doesn't know you. Maybe next trip it'll talk with you. That was entertaining for awhile.
#11
When I was little my sister told me tofu was koala meat and I believed it for years.
setsuriseikou 1 year ago
What a stupid thing to believe! Tofu is Japanese, so obviously it's Hello Kitty's meat, duh
Melissa Matusevich 1 year ago
Dad told my little sister's friend the meat mom served was sliced elephant's trunk. (It was Canadian bacon.)
Mr.Li 1 year ago (edited)
The dumbest thing I recently heard about Tofu is "Tofu is made by vegans for vegans!" Well a j@ckass vegan said this.
Panda Boom 1 year ago
As a hungry vegan who loves tofu, the more people eat it then the more they'll have to make, and the more I might get to devour! 😂
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#12
My cousins told me that in the Blackpool Tower kids play area, the Jungle Gym I think it was called, that if you jumped in a specific spot in the ball pool you'd go through a trap door into a secret room. Spent the whole of the time we were in there on a school trip trying to find it and didn't have time for anything else. Bastards 😂.
Delilah Rankin 1 year ago
hmm, is that why they disappeared after they went there...
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Peppermallow 1 year ago
I literally found a secret door in one of those things and i managed to get myself locked out of the theme park and stuck in the service area
#13
My dad would tell me he can make red lights turn green just by pressing the garage door opener. I didn’t believe him but every time he did it, it worked. Still didn’t believe him but I couldn’t figure out how he was doing it.
When I got older and learned to drive, I realized he was just looking at the other lights in the intersection to time out when to press the opener.
Mario Strada 1 year ago
I lived on a street where if I pressed the garage door opener too soon, another 2 garages opened. I had to train myself to wait until I was in front of the house.
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Eugenia 1 year ago
I bought a remote-operated, multicolor lamp for my sister, and one for me. The lamps suddenly went on and off or changed colors by themselves. We didn't know what to think, and did not mention this to each other. Then I asked her if her lamp gave her any problems and she said it did. We live on the same floor, door to door but in different apartments. We found that the remotes worked through the walls, and we operated ours and the other lamp. If we were strangers, just two neighbors with the same device and remote, I guess we would have thought we had ghosts at home
Dark Side of the Loom 1 year ago
My dad used to blow at the traffic lights to make them magically turn green!
lawrence Andrew 1 year ago
Don't let the kids know how the dad magic works. I used an incantation.
Vivian McBride 1 year ago
The first time I voted, the polling place was in a garage. There were a lot of people waiting to vote, as it was a long and comlicated ballot. Suddenly, the garage door opened. The election officers said not to worry, as it was probably a neighbor using the remote for their door.
#14
Well I didn’t find out until a few years ago that narwhals are real and not mythical. I’m 35.
Upstaged75 1 year ago
My SIL was the same way. The only place she'd ever seen one was in the movie Elf, so she thought they were made up. :) And I will tease her mercilessly about it for the rest of her life!
Jennifer Altschuler 1 year ago
Omg, I thought the exact same thing bc of the movie Elf. My husband found out and, yeah, it gets brought up constantly haha. “Bye, Buddy, I hope you find your dad.”
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Kenneth Hovestøl 1 year ago
Actually, these *horns* were sold by the Norsemen for several hundred years, to Europeans, as unicorn horns.... Until someone traveled up north in Norway and saw where the horn came from...
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Dread Pirate Roberts 1 year ago
A lot of people seem to have thought this way for some reason. They do look like chubby water unicorns, but still lol
Bettye McKee 1 year ago
My daughter had an ABC book that had an animal for each letter. She knew what a narwhal and other animals were early on.
Brian Droste 1 year ago
WhenI was growing up I thought that reindeer were fake. Don't know at what age as a adult found out they were real. It is the caribou
#15
Not me but a pal of mine, it's one of the greatest misleadings I've ever heard of. Her older brother told her that seagulls and bats were the same animal, seagulls by day, bats by night. She believed it for years and years, until she confidently told some friends and they all said, "...what?? Are you stupid!"
Hahhaha, fantastic deception.
Birgit Sommer 1 year ago
While we are talking birds, as a wildlife rehabber I often get baby birds brought in by random people. When I tell them to put it back in the nest they say "But mom will reject it, she'll smell that a human touched it!" The majority of birds, especially songbirds, don't even have a sense of smell. Just put it back.
Ąåřţđęşịɠŋȿ 1 year ago
she was indeed stupid. Gullible much? Who would believe such an asinine story?
#16
My older sibling would never let me drink 7up...because I was only 6 years old.
Brian Droste 1 year ago
They were doing you a favor. Probably didn't realize it at the time.The amount of sugar and caffeine in them is not good for young kids. Probably not for adults either.
Dreaming Spirit 1 year ago
But 7up does not have any caffeine? At least in the EU it's just lemon & lime soda.
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Ru Bee 1 year ago
I thought 7 up was called Zup until the age of about 10. I think I misread it one day in the supermarket as a small child and as I've never liked carbonated drinks I probably never looked at it again My entire family and friend group still call it Zup to this day after I confessed! I'm in my 40s
MaximumKarmaSaint 1 year ago
At some point, my mom and my sister got into an argument with me, I told them it was "7up", and for some reason, they thought it was "7cup". After a while of arguing, they finally convinced me (mainly because I was too tired to keep arguing). Cut to 4 years later, they tell me if I'd like to have "7up", which I respond with something along the lines of "So now you guys say it correctly." AND THEN SOMEHOW, they believed that I was the one who told them it was "7cup". They don't remember, I do, and they wonder why I don't always believe them.
Chelsea McKee 1 year ago
I started drinking coke at 8, I don't think it's something I would pass to my children. Caffeine addiction is no joke and the sheer amount of sugar is sending us all to an early grave.
Judes 1 year ago
Why do you think six year olds care about what's healthy?
Load More Replies... #17
That the black dots on a ladybug tell the number of years they're old. I was already 15 when I figured it out lol.
Chihuahua Mama 1 year ago (edited)
This one's cute. Sadly, I dont think ladybugs live that long ETA: I looked it up and they can only live up to 3 years in perfect conditions
Nicole Weymann 1 year ago
We were told the same thing when we were kids. My clue to the BS was the symmetry. If the bugs got another spot every year the distribution wouldn't fit (or spots would have to disappear/reappear overnight on their birthdays - unlikely). I was very proud of my 10 YO self
Jaya 1 year ago (edited)
This is common to tell children in the Netherlands. All adults know it's nonsense, but will tell their kids anyway. I'm not sure why, maybe similar to things like telling them about the tooth fairy and the easter bunny? Add some extra fun to a kid's life?
Tomaz Zsthorother 1 year ago
Dang, I'm almost 40, and I don't think I've seen ladybugs around here in probably 30 years.
#18
Told my kid that the squooshy stuff they felt when picking their nose was brains, worked a treat til they got a bad cold and had a meltdown in class that their brains were falling out. Fun meeting with the teacher.
Multa Nocte 1 year ago
Don't really approve of parents telling lies to their children for "humorous purposes." And to have children believe this until they were old enough to go to school is even less amusing.
Ross “Sarcastic Dad” 1 year ago
Multa doesn't approved. Shut it down, everyone.
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KariAdoresHerKats 1 year ago
We got told that if you pick your nose your brains would fall out. It really stopped me picking my nose
detective miller's hat 1 year ago
Makes me think of the time we told my youngest sister that if she didn't hold her breath when driving through a tunnel, she would die. We did this at the Lincoln Tunnel, in bad traffic, and me and my other sis pretending to hold our breath the whole time. Mum somehow missed this entire exchange and when lil sis flipped out at the end of the tunnel, mum yelled at her and told her she was going to leave her on the side of the road if she didn't shut up. Siblings are awful xD
shankShaw deReemer 1 year ago
My dad used to tell me the people on TV were little people inside the box who were doing all the acting. I was extremely gullible about everything my dad told me. Miss that man!
Ąåřţđęşịɠŋȿ 1 year ago (edited)
HA... oh that is FUNNY. Good one though, perhaps, to get them to not pick their noses. "Pick it and you will get stupid! They might get fewer colds and flu.
Rachel Pelz 1 year ago
Kindergarten teacher told me if you sniff (instead of blowing your nose), snot will get stuck in your head and you will need surgery to remove it. And that she knows a kid who needs that surgery (!!!). Took me time and courage to ask my parents how often they think I can sniff before needing surgery. Still resent that stupid person telling me that.
#19
My mum told me that if you fall down a sewer manhole then you turn into a ninja turtle, I was scared because I did not want to leave home and do ninja turtle stuff and also wanted my body to be human but now it would be nice to be a ninja turtle because I would not have to deal with life.
#20
The holes in saltine crackers were made by trained wasps. I believed this for a good few years.
The Original Bruno 1 year ago
As some British lady at Keebler silently weeps at going unappreciated...
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#21
I thought that if you touched a frog or toad, you'd get warts. This led to an irrational fear of amphibians until high school biology class set me straight.
Ariom Dahl 1 year ago
This was quite a common belief when I was young (a long time ago, I hasten to add!)
Cosmikid 1 year ago
Warts are biologically weird. Theoretically they are caused by viruses- but! Also highly documented - if you believe, like Tom Sawyer- that dead cats and incantations will remove warts - the warts WILL go away. Also, if you don't believe liquid nitrogen can freeze warts off (common procedure) - the warts will come back. Less tested but likely- if you BELIEVE handling toads will cause warts- it will. Maybe perhaps.
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Mocha the Lion 1 year ago
nope, but you still shouldn't touch frogs with your bare hands, (poison dart frogs aside) the chemicals and oils on our skin are very harmful to their skin
Brian Droste 1 year ago
I was told if you touch or pick up a toad you would get warts. Not necessarily a frog.
#22
That my dog went to live on a farm.
Biscuits n gravy 1 year ago
I wish I could find that farm! It must be a lively and fun place with all those dogs running around on it.
tigerlilly 1 year ago
It’s on the other side of the Rainbow Bridge, my friend. Hopefully we’ll all find it someday.
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Kathy 1 year ago
We had a lovely alsatian dog when my brother and I were very little, and we were extremely fond of him. But then he got canine ear canker and he became rather unpredictable when we would accidentally touch his ears or his face. So my parents sent him "to live on a farm". We were so upset that we kept crying all the time and demanding to see where he really was - so our parents took us to visit him on their friend's farm, where he was having the time of his life romping through the fields and paddocks with their other dogs! So yes, sometimes, they really do go to live on an honest-to-goodness farm, and it's not just a lie made up for when an animal is "got rid of"!
Hugh Cookson 1 year ago
Agreed ; an old friend of mine, Erik, took on a 9 month old Great Dane x Mastiff, who was enormous when he got him and proceeded to grow to twice the size within a year - think, large dog when first arrived to the size of a Shetland Pony ..... Anyway, Butch (yes, really), was a lovely dog, great temperament, great with kids / dogs / cats but frankly, when Erik took him out for walks it was slightly dangerous as they had to cross a main road before getting to open ground and Butch was not good on the lead, plus he weighed half as much again as Eric and was ferociously strong - I still have footage somewhere of Erik being towed, face down for 10 feet over muddy ground by Butch with me and 3 others laughing so hard in the background that I think we all wet ourselves (I know I did). Butch was found a forever home on a wonderful lady's Stud farm with loads of space to run, a comfy place to sit by her AGA (which was bloody funny in itself as the kitchen wasn't that big !!), wonderful.
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glowworm2 1 year ago
Sometimes, it turns out that the dog REALLY did go to a farm. Rare but not impossible.
Little king trash mouth 1 year ago
Mine did! Not quite a farm but our beloved cattle dog mix, Tango, was not suited for living in a home with people who could only walk him 1-2x day. As much as it killed us, we needed to find him another place to go. He was not re-homeable. He had major anxiety and aggression towards other people besides my husband and I. One time I startled him by accident and he went to bite me. It was horrible. I was pregnant with my first child and realized we couldn't live like this.
Load More Replies... Floof_the_Pom 1 year ago
and the goldfish, and the cat, and the turtle, and the guinea pigs, and the hamster, and the parakeet, and the.....
#23
When I was in the fourth grade I asked my mom if we were Irish (I think we were celebrating St Patrick’s day at school) and she told me that my grandmother was a leprechaun. So then I proudly told my teacher the next day that I was Irish because my grandmother was a leprechaun and the second I said it out loud I realized how stupid that was and have burned with shame thinking about it ever since.
Susan Teter 1 year ago
When my son was little, he asked what he was. I didn't understand so I asked what he meant. He said they were learning in school about nationalities. I told him he was part German and part Irish. He asked what part of him was Irish.without being able to stop myself, I said your liver and probably your p*nis. Phone call from teacher next day.
Freya the Wanderer 1 year ago
Funny, didn't know there were such things as female leprechauns.
Steph Adams 1 year ago
I remember when I was maybe 9-ish, proudly informing a girl at school that my great great (great?) uncle, who was in his late 90s, knew God because of his great age. The teacher overheard and told me to stop saying that. I was so irrationally confused as to why they were so sure I was lying. How did they *know*???????
#24
When I was about 5, my dad told me that if I put salt on a birds tail, I could pick it up and hold it. I ran around throwing salt at birds for years before I realized he had been f*****g with me.
Lesley Relph 1 year ago (edited)
Cerebos brand salt used to have a picture of a small boy chasing a chicken with a salt cellar on the label
Some guy 1 year ago
"Chasing the chicken" sounds like a horrible euphemism.
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Michael P (Perthaussieguy) 1 year ago
The point being that if you were that close to a bird to put salt on it's tail, your hand will be close enough to grab it.
Freya the Wanderer 1 year ago
A couple boys from the neighborhood and I decided to test this on some cockatiels. Turns out that sprinkling salt on their tails did not make them easier to catch. Rest assured no cockatiels were injured. And this was before Mythbusters!
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STress (I/me) 1 year ago (edited)
Must be somewhere from Balkans, it's a common saying there ("soli na rep")...
Jan Rosier 1 year ago
same over here in Flanders (northern part of Belgium)
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Ąåřţđęşịɠŋȿ 1 year ago (edited)
kept you out of trouble, didn't it? Really annoyed some birds, though!!
#25
That if someone has red eyes in a photograph, that means there is a demon living inside them.
Upstaged75 1 year ago
That does explain a lot about my younger brother! ;) (He's got very light colored eyes and they almost always flash red in photos)
Adrian 1 year ago
It has nothing to do with the color of the eyes, the iris, it's how dilated is the pupil, letting the flash reflect on the red retina.
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Lance LaRocque 1 year ago
Red eyes is a reflection of light off your retinas. You better hope you have it otherwise it's time to book a trip to the optometrist as it could be a serious issue.
SadieCat17 (she/her) 1 year ago
The issue is the presence of a white reflection, not the lack of a red reflection. Light has to hit your eye at a pretty specific angle for that to happen, hence most eyes in old photos don't have the red sheen. And it barely happens anymore with modern cameras. Don't try to scare people lol
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Daggie_style 1 year ago
Why do I have the feeling there are a not insignificant number of religious fundamentalists that actually believe this?
Gustav Gallifrey 1 year ago
Gosh, i can easily imagine that a lot of funny-mentalists think that this is true.
#26
Told my wife the channel tunnel has a 2 mile middle part which is see through so you can watch the fish as you pass through. Completely forgot until about 5 years later when we used the tunnel and she was gutted she didn't see any fish.
Fellfromthemoon 1 year ago
One of our metro/subway lines goes under the river. As a kid, I was always really disappointed that it is too dark to see any fish. Later I realized that the tunnel goes below the river, and the metro cars do not go into the water.
T'Mar of Vulcan 1 year ago
My disappointment lay in the fact that I couldn't get my phone to sync and so couldn't see the journey on video (on the Eurostar in the Channel Tunnel).
#27
That if you swallowed a watermelon seed a watermelon would grow inside your stomach.
Also, we had a lot of those big black and yellow garden spiders around. They would have these big zig zags of silk down the middle of their web and I was told they were writing spiders, and if you bothered them they would write your name and you would die. The zig zag was them practicing their penmanship.
Cathy Augros 1 year ago
Lol, that'a hilarious about the spiders! Really creative! As for the watermelon seeds, when I was 5 an older kid on the playground told me the same thing. I believed it for years!
Kraneia The Dancing Dryad 1 year ago
That was a common belief before human biology was closely studied, seeds grow into babies, kissing got you pregnant, etc. Still common in more conservative areas.....
Load More Replies... Ąåřţđęşịɠŋȿ 1 year ago
oh course! Everybody knows THAT! However, never heard the spider one. Never ever saw a spider or a web like that either...
Scott Rackley 1 year ago (edited)
Mamaw called them lady garden spiders. God help you if you messed with one, she liked them eating bugs in her garden. So we would catch small grasshoppers and throw them into the web if it was empty. Spiders do get fat.
Load More Replies... Delilah Rankin 1 year ago
I used to think that if I ate a pepper seed one would grow in my stomach. I thought, "if they can grow in other peppers, they can grow in me!"
Lorraine Woollands 1 year ago
And if you swallowed apple or orange pips you would have apple or orange tree grow out of you mouth
Brian Droste 1 year ago
I believe that but not sure at what age I told that or how long I believd that.
Rebelliousslug 1 year ago
I, too, believed the watermelon seeds (or apple seeds) lie. Thanks grandpa.
#28
There is a snail that lives up your nose and it’ll bite off your finger if you try and pick it. Older neighbor kid.
I googled it and it’s from a Shel Silverstein poem. This has been in my head for 35 years.
Philly Bob Squires 1 year ago
Shel wrote a few songs for Dr Hook & The Medicine Show too! And Sarah Silvia Cynthia Stout, who would not take the garbage out! He was brilliant!
glowworm2 1 year ago
He wrote "A Boy Named Sue" which was made famous by Johnny Cash. He also wrote the lesser known sequel "The Father of a Boy Named Sue" which tells the story from the father's point of view. A word of warning though, that version is NSFW and messed up as anything.
Load More Replies... Ąåřţđęşịɠŋȿ 1 year ago
another potentially great way to keep kids from sticking their fingers up their noses, which potentially reduce how often they might get sick.
Comfortably Numb 1 year ago
People who eat their boogers have a much better immune system:)
Load More Replies... CD Mills 1 year ago
When I was a newborn, my dad lost the end of his left index finger in a punch press. Growing up, when I would ask him about it he would say that he stuck his finger up his nose and a booger bit it off... Now, I didn't really believe it because there was always laughter about the answer. I was around 12 when the topic came up and he recounted the actual story to a visitor.
lawrence Andrew 1 year ago
My favourite was Uncle Shelby's ABZ book. It took me years to learn the correct letter order
Andy Frobig 1 year ago
What rhymes with INK? What can you do with INK? __INK and X is for Xylophone...because X is ALWAYS for Xylophone
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glowworm2 1 year ago
That would explain a few of the dirty songs he came up with, such as a rather bawdy one about a mermaid.
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Salem 1 year ago (edited)
“Inside everybody's nose There lives a sharp-toothed snail. So if you stick your finger in, He may bite off your nail. Stick it farther up inside, And he may bite your ring off. Stick it all the way, and he may bite the whole darn thing off.” - Shel Silverstein
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Brian Droste 1 year ago
Need to check k out a song called A safari in my Sister's Nose or something Like that.
#29
That if my sister put a stamp on on my forehead and stood me by the mailbox,the mailman would take me back to God.
M O'Connell 1 year ago
The last recorded instance of a child being sent through the mail was in 1915, so perhaps at one point this was viable.
Sunny Day 1 year ago
Most postmen took the kid to a relative. Only the evil ones returned the kid to God.
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Philly Bob Squires 1 year ago
I wanted to send my wife something sexy for her birthday but the postman took the stamp off of my forehead and kicked me out of the post office.
John Leavitt 1 year ago
Used to happen in the U.S.A. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/brief-history-children-sent-through-mail-180959372/
Birgit Sommer 1 year ago (edited)
That was one of my mom's favorite: "If you don't (whatever), I'll wrap you up like a parcel, put a stamp on your butt and send you straight to (whatever location I was scared of at that time, typically the orphanage)"
KillerKiwi 1 year ago
When my mom was pregnant I wanted a brother really bad. She asked me what I would do if she had a baby girl and I said return it to god 😂
Susan Teter 1 year ago
That was mom wanting a break. The mailman probably brought the kid back 2 hours later for insufficient postage (babysitting fee)!
#30
I used to believe chocolate eggs were laid by roosters….
Ąåřţđęşịɠŋȿ 1 year ago
mom said chocolate eggs were from the Easter Bunny. Rabbits laid chocolate eggs. Which was a very bad story to tell a kid with a bunny. 'cause the only "eggs" I saw our bunny lay where little and round, and did not taste anything like chocolate... :(
#31
In my case, it was my mother and it was accidental.
In about 2nd grade, I watched an old episode of Little Rascals in which one of the kids uses some "Vanishing Cream" and disappears.
I was skeptical that something like this existed. I did not know that vanishing cream was just another name for skin cream and this was a joke.
So I asked my mother if vanishing cream existed. To my surprise, she said yes. This was a revelation. I said "So . . . can we get some?" "Um . . . sure, if you want to" she said.
As a result of this, I went to school the next day and told my friends I was going to get vanishing cream and disappear. And was embarrassed when I found out the truth.
glowworm2 1 year ago
I used to get really confused when this joke was used in a Foghorn Leghorn short. Foghorn basically put some on Henery Hawk then pretended that he disappeared. Yet, he was still there, so I was confused. I think it wasn't until a Rugrats episode dealing with this exact same subject finally clarified what the heck vanishing cream was if it didn't actually make you invisible.
LinkTheHylian 1 year ago
I say... I say... there's one born every minute.
Load More Replies... #32
That beta fish can change colors. My fish kept dying and my dad would replace them and told me they change colors. I had a lot of personal stuff going on and I was a dumb 5 year old so I believed him. He didn’t tell me the truth until I was 11 and my “second” fish had died. I had like 5 Nemo’s. Sorry Nemo.
SilverSkyCloud 1 year ago
tbf fish can change colour, one of my goldfish had a black stripe down its back and a few patches but it gradually faded and became full orange after a while
Jaya 1 year ago
The way we used to keep goldfish is basically animal torture and causes them to live very shortly, so I think many many kids have been told they still have the same goldfish, even though their goldfish actually kept dying because of the bad living circumstances and just kept getting replaced. It is so horrible, I hope people don't keep them like that anymore.
KillerKiwi 1 year ago
I had a male beta fish and my parents told me it was a girl because the males are fancier looking than the females. They only told me after “she” died.
Jacqueline Pittman 1 year ago
As a licensed psychotherapist I saw many children of this age range deeply affected by the divorce of their parents, the incarceration of a parent, abandonment by a parent, the death of a parent, sibling, or grandparent, a serious illness of a family member, experiencing child abuse/neglect, experiencing sexual abuse, and many other such situations. So yes, a five year old certainly can have major life affecting "personal stuff" going on.
Load More Replies... #33
I completely misunderstood pregnancy when I was little. When my mother was pregnant with my younger sister, she told me she had a baby living in her "tummy" which I understood as stomach. I thought babies literally sat in a woman's stomach and subsisted on the chewed up food the woman ate that day.
Zoe Vokes 1 year ago
I imagine most small children don’t understand how pregnancy works. Don’t parents say something like, “me and daddy wished for another baby and it happened,” or “when two adults love each other very much a baby happens.”
Kraneia The Dancing Dryad 1 year ago
They give each other a special hug! :)
Load More Replies... Debby Keir 1 year ago
My stepmother, when pregnant, thought the baby was in her bladder, and also wondered when, after the birth, the midwives would pierce her nipples to let the milk through.
Sunny Day 1 year ago
I mentioned to a coworker (a woman my age - 58 - who had a son) that I couldn't tell when menopause started because I'd had a hysterectomy, and that removed the uterus. She looked at me in shock "is that where the blood comes from?"
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Ąåřţđęşịɠŋȿ 1 year ago (edited)
oh man, when the older boys I happened to be hanging out with where talking about pregnancy and how it REALLY happens... Well, I (7yo) was amazed. SO amazed that when I got home I told my little sister (approx. 4yo) EXACTLY how this happens and it scared her and made her cry. I was, "No. really. that's how babies happen" and she would scream some more and go running to mom and told mom how I was lying and scaring her. Well, the next hour was real fun for mom who was faced with having to sit us both down and, yes, confirm what I had said and for my sister to not be scared. I told her I wasn't TRYING to scare her. I'm sure she was NOT ready to talk to her little kids about the "Facts of Life" just then. I felt pretty bad for scaring my sister and told my mom I was sorry. She just looked at me with a very strained look on her face. I didn't get to "hang with the crew" after that.
Kraneia The Dancing Dryad 1 year ago
Well, the last part isn't 100% wrong... the chewed up food is processed up a bit more before the baby gets it though ;)
#34
Thought reindeers weren't real, basically thought they were the same as unicorns until I went to a farm a few years ago and let me tell, you I was ASTOUNDED.
Persephone hates Pomegranate ️ 1 year ago
This is so funny to me as an alaskan! Caribou and Reindeer are the same thing! Caribou are wild, and Reindeer are farmed/captured. If you sucessfully capture a Caribou, it becomes a Reindeer. Thats where we get our famous Alaskan reindeer dogs from!
#35
I grew up thinking that the Great Wall of China is the only man-made structure visible from the Moon. It sounded so cool until I learned that, from that far away, you can't see any specific human-made structures at all.
TheElderNom 1 year ago
And considering the width any mega warehouse would probably be easier to spot.
Robert Beveridge 1 year ago (edited)
This was a very common belief when I was growing up - - I'm almost certain I read it in Ripley's, probably in the mid-seventies.
ElfVibratorGlitter 1 year ago
I think I had heard visible from space...which I took to mean like from a man made satellite.
Jaya 1 year ago
It's so strange that all of us used to just believe this. Some logical thinking can tell you this couldn't be true, because it is only very long, but not wide at all. So if something with that kind of width can be seen, then MANY other things could be seen, because there are so many things of which both the width and the length are bigger than the width of the Great Wall. But none of us (me included) seem to have thought this through.
Bill Swallow 1 year ago
We've gotten to the point where any '... so big it can be seen from space' claims should immediately be thrown in the trash unless they have other qualifiers, such as '... with the unaided eye'. Someone has posted a Google Earth shot of their house where their *CAT* is clearly visible lying on their deck. (But to be fair, there was no Banana For Scale.) And as for military and intelligence space sensor platforms, we can about read license plates and name tags now.
#36
A friend told me that humans only use 10% of their brains and that unlocking the other 90% could give you superhuman abilities. Turns out, we use pretty much all of our brain, just not all at once.
Tabitha 1 year ago (edited)
It takes a lot of effort for the brain (which includes our nervous system, btw) to keep our autonomic systems continually working to keep us alive. Imagine having to remember every second of every day to breathe in and out and make your heart beat. Couldn’t be done, so all those basic functions are set on autopilot, to free us up for everything else.
J C 1 year ago
A lot of people actually still believe that we only use 10% of our brains. Its sort of amazing.
Stardust she/her 1 year ago
Overload. You’d fry your brain if you keep using all of it at the same time
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#37
When I was little my parents always told me to never turn the lights on when driving or else the cops will arrest me.
I’m turning 24 and I just found out last year that it isn’t true..
Cathy Augros 1 year ago
Lol, my father always told me it was illegal to have a window open in the car when the air conditioner was on. I believed this until I was 25 years old.
Pedantic Panda 1 year ago
However, to quote the AA: “If you’re pulled over and it’s decided that your light was a probable cause in any bad driving, you can expect to get a careless driving charge though”
#38
The sun doesn't actually heat up the earth, it's actually the earth's molten core that heats us up. So, in sixth grade, I overheard a partial conversation with my teacher and a fellow student. At some point, my teacher said something along the lines of 'if the sun is what heats up the earth, why do mountains, which are closer to the sun, keep snow on them for longer than valleys?' Now, that's the only part of the conversation I remember and it left me wondering for a very long time(years, I don't remember when I figured it out) about how it is that snow stayed around on mountain peaks for so much longer than everywhere else. They're closer to the sun and proximity to heat makes things hotter, right? And when you stand on a road in the middle of the summer, you can *feel* the heat radiating off of it, right? And the hottest place on earth is Death Valley, which just so happens to be *below sea level*. So, obviously, if the sun is what heats up the planet, then the snow should melt faster the closer you are to the heat source, right? And if the earth has a molten core, clearly that should be radiating heat like *mad* and thus, that's what's keeping the earth warm, not the sun. It didn't sound right, but I didn't know *why* it didn't sound right. I just lived with this giant question mark in my mind surrounding *what is actually warming up the planet*. I'm sure there are many reasons why this is obviously wrong, but for a 12 year old autistic kid, it was the head scratcher of head scratchers. Then I learned more about thermo-dynamics and air density and *the fact that it gets warmer during the day which just so happens to coincide with the sun being out*. I don't like talking about it, because I'm certain you can get flat earthers to believe it and I don't want that nonsense on my conscience.
WindySwede 1 year ago
Well to them (flerfs) the sun is merely nothing more than a flashlight under the dome anyway? 🤷♂️🙈
The Original Bruno 1 year ago
World renowned scientist Al Gore actually said this. Long after he invented the internet. Best I can figure he was confused by the strange fact that the Earth actually is much hotter than the surface of the sun. But the sun doesn't heat things by convection, but by EM radiation emanating from a core that is millions of degrees.
#39
Swallowing gum again and again would eventually create a giant gum mass in my gut that would need to be surgically removed , i wonder when ill have to schedule that procedure.
KariAdoresHerKats 1 year ago
I was told chewing gum was made of rats tails and not to eat it. So i never did. Turns out my granny didn't want me to get any in my very long curly hair.
Rachel Pelz 1 year ago
Like me wondering about the snot in my head and when I'd need surgery...
Ross “Sarcastic Dad” 1 year ago
Ah yes, the very specific and deadly......"snacks"
Load More Replies... #40
The cartilage that covers the larynx that usually protrudes on men's throats is known as the Adam's apple. My wife convinced me that the more hidden cartilage over women's throats was called the Eve's pear. Never questioned her about it bc she said it so often. One day I said it back to her and she had the biggest laugh I have ever heard, lasted about 10-15 minutes, and that was the day I learned that my wife came up with Eve's pear.
The Amazing Fluffernaut 1 year ago
At first I thought it was Eve's spear and I was like "that sounds cool"
#41
In elementary school, a friend had me believe that if you kept a face like crossing your eyes or sticking out your tongue for too long, it would freeze that way. I was terrified of making faces for a while until I realized it was all a big joke.
#42
I actually convinced my wife that the bump strips on the road were so blind people could drive too. She was quiet till we got on the offramp. “How do they know when to stop?”.
#43
When I was 4, my (older) playmate cut my hair. I let her because she said we’d stick them back on after shower. The end result was so bad my mom had to shave my head. I remember going out of town with my family and people thought I had leukemia…
Geoffrey Scott 1 year ago
I got gum stuck in my bangs when I was <10. "No problem" I just cut a chunk out and pushed the rest over the gap...until Mom wondered what was going on. Never again had hair that short or doofus looking.
#44
I grew up in a small kind of rural town. The only restaurants we really had nearby were chain restaurants. For every occasion (birthdays, graduations, etc) my whole family would go to Olive Garden. My mother always made us dress up very nicely for it, jeans were not allowed. After growing up and moving out of that town I had a friend show me a meme that said something like “we all have that friend who thinks Olive Garden is a fancy Italian restaurant”. I was like “……is it not?” I called my mother and asked her and she laughed and said the only reason she made us get fancy for it was because my great grandmother would be there and she wanted us to look good and “proper”. I had no idea. I went to OG a while later and noticed everyone was in jeans and casual clothing. I was floored 😂😂😂.
weatherwitch 1 year ago
I always think these are quite b****y. There was nothing wrong with dressing up a bit to go for a meal. We couldn't afford Chinese takeaway but the Chinese did much cheaper lunch time in house deals so we would do that occasionally. We'd dress up a bit as it was a special occasion. I'm 50 now and never been to a posh or fancy restaurant. McDonald/Wimpy was still a city thing in the UK. I don't know what Olive Garden is as we don't have them but every time I see posts /memes like this I just feel it's shaming people for being at the poorer end of society 😔
Tomaz Zsthorother 1 year ago
Olive Garden is Americans' idea of an Italian restaurant.
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#45
When I was little, my Dad and I used to tease each other and call each other Turkeys. We were out to eat one day and there was a uniformed policeman at the restaurant. Without me knowing my Dad had a conversation with the cop. In the middle of my dinner the cop comes to our table and said to me 'we have a report of a turkey running loose inside this restaurant that fits your description. I'm going to have to take you to jail now.' He took out his cuffs and everything, but decided to let me off with a warning by writing me a fake ticket and made me promise to stop being such a turkey. I don't know how my parents and the cop kept straight faces, but I about messed my pants. I spent the next couple of weeks scared to death that the cops were going to come get me and falsely imprison me for being a turkey. Good one Dad. Don't ever change.
Zoe Vokes 1 year ago (edited)
Me neither. I never found pranks funny and being lied to about things as a joke always upset me as a kid. But I’ve always been very sensitive and get upset easily so I think it’s a personality thing. People have different sense of humour though. Some families love pranking each other.
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KillerKiwi 1 year ago
But the kid thought it was funny afterwards..? They’re clearly not traumatized.
Load More Replies... Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My! 1 year ago
When Alfred Hitchcock was five, his dad sent him to the police station with a note. The sargeant, a friend of the dad, read the note and locked Albert up in a cell for several hours, and told him that's what happens to bad boys.
Ąåřţđęşịɠŋȿ 1 year ago
OH GOD. THAT IS SO FUNNY! HAAA Oh my goodness... wow. That's priceless. I'm still laughing
#46
My dad told us (kindergarten) that Lake Tahoe was created when a tour bus full of sumo wrestlers stopped on the side of the road to pee out all the blue slurpees they drank. And my dad was bald only on the top of his head because the hot dog he was microwaving was so hot, when he opened the microwave door, the hot dog exploded and shaved off all his hair. I figured by 4th grade those stories were false.
#47
Another preteen told me when you're a teenager you start peeing blood once a month, it's called your period. I'm a guy and was told this by another guy. Believed it for a short time...
The Redhead 1 year ago
If it makes you feel any better...Being a girl I knew from a young age girls get their periods when puberty starts. Fast forward to 6th grade (I'm 11) and our teacher said boys go through puberty too. So I assumed boys got a period too (I don't have any brothers so I didn't know anything about boys). While thankfully I didn't ask me teacher I did turn to another girl in class and say "I wonder what boys use for a pad." She replied "I don't want to know" (she must not have had any brothers either).
54 s 1 year ago
Catholic school made me believe this for a short while too. I thought tampons were for girls and pads were for boys. I'd like to think education has improved but I'm not sure it has.
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SilverSkyCloud 1 year ago
if you're a guy whos having a period i suggest a trip to the doctor asap
Blue Bunny of Happiness 1 year ago
If only it did come out in the same way as pee, it’d be a lot easier!
Ąåřţđęşịɠŋȿ 1 year ago
THIS. This is how shiit gets started with disinformation. some ignorant horse shiit gets regurgitated, some other numb-nuts re-tells it as fact... and so on...
Regina Holt 1 year ago
Just another male who doesn't realize that women are different than men. Those men go into politics and legislate against women.
#48
I used to believe my uncle was actually a part of the Village People after my Dad said it in jest once. It was an awkward family gathering when I found out it was not true.
#49
My dad told me in a car accident, a monkey under the hood was trained to push a button that inflated the air bag. I always tried to peek into any opened engine bay to see the monkey cause I wanted to pet it.
#50
My dad told me it was illegal for kids to drink coffee and I didn’t question it until I was 16.
Bill Swallow 1 year ago
Kids everywhere: "You'll take my chocolate away when you pry it from my cold dead hands!"
Load More Replies... Charley128 1 year ago
Yup. When I was a kid we were told it would stunt our growth. Never developed a taste for coffee. Wonder how much money I've saved.
#51
Kind of a different situation but my sister thought the “Blind Factory” was a store for blind people. My dad and I went along with it for years until finally telling her when she was around 30 years old that it was for windows….
Blue Bunny of Happiness 1 year ago
Reminds me of the joke - A nun was taking a bath when there was a knock at the door. "Who is it?" She asked. The voice back replies "It's the blind man, can I come in?" The Nun thinks for a moment and says "yes that's fine". The door opens and the man says, Nice tits, where you want me to hang the blinds?
#52
That we were pennies away from being homeless and living on the streets- I think my dad was okay with me believing that because I stopped asking for things. Looking back now, both of my parents smoked, dad drank and would hang out at the bar all the time, he was also constantly giving his brothers money and buying them groceries and clothes for their kids. My brother used to think chocolate covered raisins were chocolate covered ants until he was like 14 but none of us, including him know why he thought/believed that….
#53
When I was a kid, I was looking through a family album with my mom. There were some pictures with a giant dinosaur balloon wearing a hijab and a traditional dress. My mom said she was a relative (grandma I believe) I was so sad that I never got to meet her.
#54
When I was about 6 my dad told me that the pumice I found washed up on the beach was in fact whale poo. I took it to school for show and tell the next day... thanks dad.
Ąåřţđęşịɠŋȿ 1 year ago
very rich! That disgusting mass sells for major coin. Bigger the better.
Load More Replies... #55
When I was a little girl my dad told me before he had his double knee surgery when he was in his 20s he was 6ft tall. After the surgery he was 5”9. I proceeded to tell people this story when I was younger until one day he overheard me and was like holy s**t you believed that?? He thought it was funny ..
Debby Keir 1 year ago
I had knee surgery (both legs) when 16, and grew another 4 inches afterwards....Maybe I got his ....
#56
Mustard came from wasps.
Arthur Waite 1 year ago
Well sure! After all, honey comes from bees, right? And wasps are bad-tempered, so mustard isn't sweet.
Philly Bob Squires 1 year ago
If that were true, hot sauce would come from wasps. Wasps are a******s!!
Load More Replies... #57
When I was young my mum told me that if I put live worms in milk they’d turn into gummy worms and I put a bowl of worm milk in my cupboard for weeks and it smelt HORRIFIC.
Ross “Sarcastic Dad” 1 year ago
Multa, you're not wrong with your comments, but kids ask sooooo many questions at a young age. It's hard to just spit out facts all day, or google the correct answer every time. Yes, you should always be 100% honest, but sometimes you just need them to get in the f*****g car, lol.
Load More Replies... #58
That carrots help your eyesight.
Bill Swallow 1 year ago
Not so much 'propaganda' as a 'maskirovka' (Russian word, a deception used as cover to protect a secret). In this case, the 'carrot' story was spread by the Allies to explain their success rates in aerial combat without spilling the beans with regard to the highly-classified development, 'RADAR'.
Load More Replies... KariAdoresHerKats 1 year ago
Well if it still encourages kids to eat vegetables I'm all for it
Pedantic Panda 1 year ago
They do, carrots are rich in the compound beta carotene, which your body uses to make a form of vitamin A that helps your eyes adjust in the dark.
Michael Danhauer 1 year ago
This was misinformation spread by the British during WW2... They didn't want the Germans to realize that the Allies could track them... So they used propaganda to create an explanation for their foes... There is some truth to it but you have to eat several times your weight in carrots to have any real effect and Id imagine there would be side effects lol
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Marykay Klim 1 year ago
Showing my age, but Captain Kangaroo had a bunny w/ glasses on the show.
Load More Replies... Learner Panda 1 year ago
The part of your eye that helps night vision is called carotene, because it was thought to be true.
#59
As a kid, my father told me Tapioca was fish eggs.
Stuart Fischbach 1 year ago
I told my kids it was sugared whale snot. They will not eat it to this day. Fine with me, I get to eat it all!
#60
My older sister let me believe the dumbest things. For example: At the beginning of Lady Gaga’s song “Born This Way” she says “It doesn’t matter if you love him or capital HIM” and because I was like 10, I asked my sister if she meant HIM from the Powerpuff Girls. My sister said yes. I believed that until like 2 years ago, when I brought it up and my sister about died laughing. She’d forgotten she told me that, and found it hilarious that I was 18 and still thought that. Apparently, Lady Gaga meant God, not HIM 🤦🏼♀️
Anke Dieken 1 year ago
My older sister told me that a nice little ghost lived in her wardrobe who could only eaat sweets. The ghost was shy and could only be fed by my sister while she was sitting in that wardrobe.... I fell for that once, afterwards my sister didn't get to eat my sweets any more.
Hugh Cookson 1 year ago
him / her / whatever. All made up stories to keep the peasants in their place and to be prayed (see what I did there !! ?) on by an immoral, dishonest, grasping priestly elite .... oh, no, wait, that doesn't sound like any churches in the USA at all, does it !!
Owen Hulme 1 year ago
Listen mate, is it really necessary to go after everyone else's religion while parading as the "moral" superior, as long as their not being ubnoxious or rude about it? Leave 'em alone... *cough* unlike you *cough*
Load More Replies... #61
Not me, but my grandfather convinced my dad when he was a kid that the olive grows on the tree with the pimento inside. My dad had quite the uninformed argument with his second grade teacher over that one.
#62
That the kid who played Mikey in the Life cereal commercials died from Pop Rocks and soda.
Bill Swallow 1 year ago
The gag was that the combination of Pop Rocks and Carbonated Soda induces nausea and vomiting. So, since Mikey eats 'Life cereal', when he ate pop rocks and drank soda, he "lost his Life". Hilarious.
ZuriLovesYou 1 year ago
Yes it was. He's alive and well. Educate yourself.
Load More Replies... Bill Swallow 1 year ago
But Eddie Albert, 'Oliver Wendell Douglas' from Green Acres, ran a landing craft at Tarawa during World War II, and had his decks literally awash with blood. Jimmy Stewart, of 'It's a Wonderful Life', served as a bomber pilot in Europe, stayed in after the war, transitioned to the Air Force when it was split off as a service, and achieved the rank of General.
Load More Replies... #63
I’m allergic to dogs. When I was little, my dad told me that in the “olden days” rib restaurants (as in restaurants specializing in ribs), instead of napkins, had dogs under the table you would wipe your hands on. I don’t know when I finally thought it may have been a joke, but I was over 40 when I finally called him on it. His answer was that he “must have had a couple martinis that night.” Bravo, dad. Ya got me.
Debby Keir 1 year ago
In medieval times, dogs were under the banqueting table in the hall - probably not to lick fingers, more to beg for scraps.
#64
When i was about 5, my dad convinced me that i was born in china, and that him and my mom lived there when they had me (we were white mormons from the suburbs for context). i didn’t believe him at first, but he said “it’s true, that’s why you can speak chinese so well”. i proceeded to babble in gibberish and he said “see? that was like perfect cantonese”. i told the rest of the family what i had found out and they still hold it over my head lol.
#65
My dad made me believe, that one of the bridges in our city gets pulled into a nearby tunnel when it rains in order to avoid it getting wet.
#66
That I’d get electrocuted if I showered during a lightening storm.
Col Car 121 Car 1 year ago
This is actually true. Lightning can travel through metal plumbing.
Daniel Atkins 1 year ago
Possible but not likely if the pipes a metallic it would have to strike the plumbing in the house otherwise it would go straight to ground if it struck a tower. The main lines are metal and it would ground really quick. Secondly even though water does conduct electricity it would need to be a steady stream of water to get the electricity to your body and lots of voltage to get it to jump between water droplets.
censorshipsucks 1 year ago
I still believe this and think it is quite possible if the lightning hits the water pipes.
#67
When I was about four or five, my cousins convinced me that the little white marks on fingernails occur whenever you lie.
When I was about nine, my dad convinced me that a plastic cross glowed in the dark. I spent a few minutes in a closet trying to see it glow before I realized he tricked me. He was laughing when I exited the closet.
He got me years later with his best one. When I came home from school, he was cooking stew on the stove. He asked me if I wanted any. After taking a couple of bites, he said, "You can't even tell that it's dogfood, huh?" I started to spit out until saw my dad start laughing.
Anke Dieken 1 year ago
Cousins... our cousins once removed were once playing a card game when we came to visit using words we had never heard. From watching them we concluded the rules of the game and started playing it at home, too. Much later we found out they invented it and all the strange words to prank us. Still funny.
#68
When I was little my mother had a boyfriend who had a teenaged son that convinced me ketchup was brain matter. I didn't touch it for years.
censorshipsucks 1 year ago
in south africa we have a sauce called 'monkeygland' which is basically like BBQ sauce. Same problem.
T'Mar of Vulcan 1 year ago
Two ethnically Indian South African guys moved to (I think) California and opened a restaurant that sold bunny chow... Americans lost their minds because they thought it was made from bunnies. ("Bunny chow is essentially a kind of bread bowl. You take a loaf of white bread, hollow out the middle and fill it with a curry, either vegetarian beans or some type of meat. ... But not rabbit. The name "bunny" comes from the corruption of an Indian term referring to merchants. The dish has its origins in Durban, South Africa's third-largest city.")
Victor Botha 1 year ago
Wow, now I'm hungry for a good Durban mutton bunny.
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David Paterson 1 year ago
Did you know that "dead horse" is rhyming slang for "tomato sauce"? I didn't.
#69
The blood in your veins is blue.
David Paterson 1 year ago
This one has a really nasty history to it. It dates back to Spain in the 15th century.
#70
A friend in elementary school convinced me that if you buy everything from the Frog Coin shop in Super Mario RPG it unlocks the 'Swamp Stick", which is the most powerful weapon in the game. A timed hit instantly kills anything it hits. Over 20 years later, beaten the game numerous times, bought out the Frog Shop, and I'm still convinced this item exists and I just haven't figured out how to unlock it properly.
Michael Danhauer 1 year ago
Lol... Next play through Mortal Kombat on the Sega Genesis 3 times without getting hit and do the trick to fight Reptile in the pit... He'll turn into a weird toxic looking version of Sonya Blade... There was a rumor if you did this trick and beat the fight without getting hit in a certain amount of time you would unlock a character named Nimbus Terrifax and there were even fake pictures in video game magazines at the time... My friends and I tried for days to accomplish this process only to have absolutely nothing happen after we beat green Sonya... I still feel mildly disappointed 30 years later lol
#71
One of my “friends” told me at MY birthday party when I was around 11 that she overheard my parents talking about how I was adopted. I knew it couldn’t be true, but I honestly never 100% believed that I wasn’t until I had an Ancestry test taken as a teenager and it showed my mom as a family member.
ElfVibratorGlitter 1 year ago
My sister used to say my parents put me up for adoption but the new parents did love me so they returned me. Brutal.
#72
My husband convinced me the words to Hail to the Chief were- Hail to the chief, he's the one we all say hail to, hail to the chief because he's the chief and we say hail. I believed it for years and then was talking about it to mutual friends and knew it was wrong when I saw the amused looks on their faces.
Noproblem 1 year ago
I think those are the words Kevin Kline sings in the movie “Dave” “He’s got the power, that’s why he’s in the shower.”
Greg Baughman 1 year ago
You are correct. :) Not to be confused with the words in... umm... another movie... old ex-presidents... can't remember the name... "Hail to the chief, if you don't we'll f**king shoot you..." lol
Load More Replies... megasmacky 1 year ago
🎵 Hail to the chief and the king of all the surgeons. He needs a queen to satisfy his urgins. From the original Mash movie.
Robert Beveridge 1 year ago
🎵Hail to the chief, 'cause the chief's in need of hailing... 🎶 (I can never remember what movie that's from)
#73
A college education is the key to a good future.
Michael Danhauer 1 year ago
It's the key to making properly informed decisions which certainly can lead to a good future, but sometimes life doesn't work out well no matter how much you know...
Der Kommissar 1 year ago
Depends on what major you choose. Bachelor degrees in Sociology, Psychology, Philosophy, and English are useless unless you follow up with grad school..
Some guy 1 year ago
Thanks a lot! My bachelor's is in sociology. (Of course, I'm writing this from the medical lab where I work as a technician, so point well taken.)
Load More Replies... Geoffrey Scott 1 year ago
It doesn't hurt, but most skilled trades make as much as a midlevel manager...without school debt.
megasmacky 1 year ago
A lot of those trades are facing a major crises because not enough people go into them. So you're essentially guaranteed a really high-paying job right out of your training. I have a neighbour who's a plumber at a nuclear power plant. He made $140,000 his second year out of training. He's 22 and owns his own house.
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Papa 1 year ago
It certainly can be, but there are no guarantees. Don't expect a degree in folk dancing history, or some other similar relevant subject, to lead to fame and riches.
Michael Largey 1 year ago (edited)
True, because your future is much more than your job. But it’s “a” key, not “the” key.
Ąåřţđęşịɠŋȿ 1 year ago
total horse shitt. HS grad and never went to college. making 6 figures and doing what I love.
#74
My mother didnt like me drinking out of bottles, so she gas lit me into thinking there was a poison gas that would kill me at the bottom of the bottle.... strangely, she pulls the shocked Pikachu face when i dont trust her stories now.
#75
My husband recently convinced me that spoons were invented in 1930.
#76
My mother convinced me that the song “Hero” by Enrique Iglesias, was written by a man, in honor of his pet fish?? Idk, man. Also I believed until I was EMBARRASSINGLY old, like 14, that babies were born with tails. My dad would always tell us about how once we were born, the doctor passed us to him to pull the tail off, as one does.
Captain Kyra 1 year ago
When my husband was 3 years old he cried because he thought they cut off his new brother's tail. It was the umbilical cord.
#77
That the policeman will shoot both me and my dad in the head if they saw me standing on the seat while he was driving.
Debby Keir 1 year ago
But bet it stopped them from standing on the seat. A seatberlt would have been more humane however.
Load More Replies... Regina Holt 1 year ago
I hate the stuff that makes kids scared of bad stuff being done by police
Geoffrey Scott 1 year ago
My youngest (about 4) learned about inertia when she got out of her car seat and was standing on the seat. Little tap on the brakes cured her of THAT.
weatherwitch 1 year ago
That's horrific! But then, if he had an accident then what would have happened to you would have been too. But Holy hell!! 😮
Ąåřţđęşịɠŋȿ 1 year ago
wow. Harsh. I guess if the little shiit was fuucking and dad was losing his shiit... it might get some harsh.
#78
I believed my dad was Jewish until I was 17 due to a joke he made when I was about 3 or 4.
David Paterson 1 year ago
Ha. My sister in law still believes that she's Jewish. Because her great grandmother had a German last name.
#79
A kid in school told me Nelly always had a plaster on his face because he tripped and fell on a birds beak and he was embarrassed of the scar.
Daniel Atkins 1 year ago
at first to cover an injury then as a tribute to a guy in prison. https://www.capitalxtra.com/news/nelly-plaster-bandaid-face/#:~:text=According%20to%20Entertainment%20Weekly%2C%20Nelly,song%20'Ride%20Wit%20Me'.
Load More Replies... #80
A friend of mine once convinced his kid brother that mashed potato flakes came from trees, and that they’d put a big tarp underneath and shake it like they do some fruit trees and that the flakes would fall down like snow. The dummy believed it for the longest time lol.
Bill Swallow 1 year ago
Don't be silly - Mashed Potato Flakes don't grow on trees! You're thinking of Spaghetti! Check out this really true documentary from the BBC! - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVo_wkxH9dU&t=1s
Jay Cee 2 weeks ago
The real clincher was the commentary which was spoke by Richard Dimbleby a much revered journalist (think Walter Cronkite in the US). To this day there is a Richard Dimbleby Lecture given yearly in his honour.
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Igor914624 1 year ago
When I was 17, I convinced my niece that Cheerios were donut seeds, and if she planted them in the back yard, they would grow donut bushes. Her mother is an avid gardener, so she believed me. My sister came home to find her daughter busily digging holes in the garden, dropping in Cheerios, and carefully covering them up and watering them. My sister and my Mother were pissed at me, and wouldn't let me finish the joke by hanging donuts on a bush in the back yard. :-(
megasmacky 1 year ago
My brother had me convinced the owner of Loblaws supermarkets was named Bob. Bob Loblaw.
#81
When we first started dating, I convinced my then-girlfriend-now-wife (who is, in most cases, much much smarter than I am), that a female pro wrestler had to take a several months-long break because she could only afford an implant for one breast, and had to save up before getting the other one done.
Randy Sanders 1 year ago
Joan Laurer, aka Chyna, a pro wrestler, had a breast implant popped in the ring from a hard impact.
#82
There used to be this website called Peter Answers (it might still be up idk) and basically, it was like a fortune teller/tarot website where the person typing asks Peter a question but if they pressed a special key, they could type an invisible answer so when Peter "answers" it's the text that the person typed. All for pranks, targeted to people who didn't know this. So when I was a kid, my friend asked Peter how I would die and it answered"lung cancer" I couldn't sleep for a week after and begged my dad to not smoke around me. I felt so stupid when I learned the trick.
Zoe Vokes 1 year ago
That’s horrible and scary but his dad shouldn’t smoke around his kid anyway.
megasmacky 1 year ago
Hopefully it was a long time ago. I can remember being on a Fan bus when I was 8, going to a hockey game and the air was blue with smoke.
Load More Replies... #83
My mom convinced me that tarantulas aren't really spiders, they just look like them.
censorshipsucks 1 year ago
hmm. Debatable: "Tarantula fangs face downwards, as opposed to those of true spiders, which face each other, allowing them to make pincerlike motions. They also own two book lungs, as opposed to true spiders which only have one. Their lifespan is also longer than most spiders."
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Jesha 1 year ago
Up until I was about nine I was convinced that since female dogs were called bitches, male dogs were clearly called bastards.
Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My! 1 year ago
Mom generally called dogs "he" and cats "she". I believed they were the same species. Oddly enough, we had a female dog and a male cat at the time.
Cosmikid 1 year ago
!!! Well obviously. It was clear to me until I was well into 1st grade I think, that cats were the Mommies, and Dogs the Daddies, and the same for Mommy Cows and Daddy Horses.
Load More Replies... Jenna Kay 1 year ago
When I was a life guard, I told the pool rats (the unaccompanied children that were dropped off and spent the whole day at the pool), that the reason their toes would bleed when they played in the pool all day was because they were stepping on tiny fish and getting little bites, and if they played less rough they wouldn't get bit as often. I was 16 and trying to deal with little kids whose parents used us a daycare, so cut me a break here!!
MurderMittens 1 year ago
I believed that too, but no one taught me. I decided it on my own. I also thought that red, orange, yellow, and pink were girls. Blue, green, brown, and black were boys. I was never sure about purple. I decided this on my own too. haha!
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Keith Lancaster 1 year ago
When my Nephew was about five, I told him that crab apples had crabs inside them that would climb out and bite him. He refused to walk under an apple tree for ages after that.
Robin Elledge 1 year ago
My sister told me that Brussels sprouts were parakeet heads. No. Nope. Nada. I still don’t like them. I still love my sister.
The Original Bruno 1 year ago (edited)
Ever see the ladder over the side of a mobile home/RV? He blames my parents, who very well might have jokingly said something so silly to him as a little kid, but at 19 years old, my brother saw an RV round a corner very quickly and marveled to his friends how the water didn't splash out of the rooftop pool. I mean, of course there was a pool on the RV... the pool ladder is right there. He knew it was absurd, but only after he said it out loud.
Jesha 1 year ago
Up until I was about nine I was convinced that since female dogs were called bitches, male dogs were clearly called bastards.
Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My! 1 year ago
Mom generally called dogs "he" and cats "she". I believed they were the same species. Oddly enough, we had a female dog and a male cat at the time.
Cosmikid 1 year ago
!!! Well obviously. It was clear to me until I was well into 1st grade I think, that cats were the Mommies, and Dogs the Daddies, and the same for Mommy Cows and Daddy Horses.
Load More Replies... Jenna Kay 1 year ago
When I was a life guard, I told the pool rats (the unaccompanied children that were dropped off and spent the whole day at the pool), that the reason their toes would bleed when they played in the pool all day was because they were stepping on tiny fish and getting little bites, and if they played less rough they wouldn't get bit as often. I was 16 and trying to deal with little kids whose parents used us a daycare, so cut me a break here!!
MurderMittens 1 year ago
I believed that too, but no one taught me. I decided it on my own. I also thought that red, orange, yellow, and pink were girls. Blue, green, brown, and black were boys. I was never sure about purple. I decided this on my own too. haha!
Load More Replies... Keith Lancaster 1 year ago
When my Nephew was about five, I told him that crab apples had crabs inside them that would climb out and bite him. He refused to walk under an apple tree for ages after that.
Robin Elledge 1 year ago
My sister told me that Brussels sprouts were parakeet heads. No. Nope. Nada. I still don’t like them. I still love my sister.
The Original Bruno 1 year ago (edited)
Ever see the ladder over the side of a mobile home/RV? He blames my parents, who very well might have jokingly said something so silly to him as a little kid, but at 19 years old, my brother saw an RV round a corner very quickly and marveled to his friends how the water didn't splash out of the rooftop pool. I mean, of course there was a pool on the RV... the pool ladder is right there. He knew it was absurd, but only after he said it out loud.
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