30 Common Myths That People Have To Finally Stop Believing

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.

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30 Common Myths That People Have To Finally Stop Believing Vaccines cause Autisim.

thugbunny12 , Steven Cornfield Report

Final score:

239points

POST

RJ 2 years ago

On behalf of every child with Autism, I would happily punch people who think/say this in the throat. I would have to start with my parent in-laws. Possibly my parents too. They didn't say it out loud, but I know they were 'thinking' it.

87points

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30 Common Myths That People Have To Finally Stop Believing That certain animal 'parts' have healing/magical properties. Like tiger whiskers protect the wearer or rhino horn cures impotence and hangovers.

storm-in-a-teapot , David Clode Report

Final score:

231points

POST

RMA 2 years ago

Tigers wearing their own whiskers didn’t get much protection.

87points

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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."

30 Common Myths That People Have To Finally Stop Believing Boys playing with dolls (or other traditional feminine toys) will turn them gay. Or that anything will turn people gay or lesbian.

Lmh68 , Etienne Assenheimer Report

Final score:

212points

POST

Nathaniel 2 years ago

If a boy picks up a doll, that doll magically transforms into an action figure!

52points

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30 Common Myths That People Have To Finally Stop Believing Trickle down economics.

TwoTeapotsForXmas , Scott Graham Report

Final score:

167points

POST

Waite Forit 2 years ago

If rich people were putting their money back into the economy, there wouldn't be any billionaires.

65points

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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."

30 Common Myths That People Have To Finally Stop Believing 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.

The_Geordie_Gripster , Kristin Vogt Report

Final score:

166points

POST

Waite Forit 2 years ago (edited)

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.

76points

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30 Common Myths That People Have To Finally Stop Believing That you have to wait 24 hours before filing a missing person report.

Alex Green Report

Final score:

166points

POST

Bored_Panda 2 years ago (edited)

No! You should file it straight away to find them sooner

51points

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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.

30 Common Myths That People Have To Finally Stop Believing 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

Honey-and-Venom , DANNY G Report

Final score:

154points

POST

Monday 2 years ago

You can break your "freshness seal" by riding a bike....I never understood the obsession.

60points

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30 Common Myths That People Have To Finally Stop Believing Religion, easily.

I get that people believe in religion but they have zero proof that any of it is true.

DreamerMMA , Noah Holm Report

Final score:

149points

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Rosa Harb 2 years ago

Thats why its called believing and Not knowing

89points

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30 Common Myths That People Have To Finally Stop Believing That GMOs are bad. Without GMOs, we wouldn't have a lot of the food we have today.

Th3MadCreator , Ralph (Ravi) Kayden Report

Final score:

145points

POST

Panda in the Fake South 2 years ago

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

58points

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#10

30 Common Myths That People Have To Finally Stop Believing That we use 10% of our brain. Power or capacity, this was actually proven to be b******t.

SadFront7566 , Kenny Eliason Report

Final score:

144points

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Waite Forit 2 years ago

But I still have this suspicion about some people I meet.

102points

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#11

30 Common Myths That People Have To Finally Stop Believing That shaving makes hair grow back thicker and longer.

DazzlingDifficulty36 , Christoffer Engström Report

Final score:

141points

POST

Anne Marieke Fransen 2 years ago

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.

40points

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#12

30 Common Myths That People Have To Finally Stop Believing 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.

YouSeaBlue , Jernej Graj Report

Final score:

141points

POST

Panda Kicki 2 years ago

This was hilarious! Can those people please draw a pic on how they think your arms and the cord ia connected?

67points

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#13

30 Common Myths That People Have To Finally Stop Believing That your generation is always the last good generation.

Special-Sandwich-324 , Everjean Report

Final score:

135points

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Monday 2 years ago

Can't we just agree that we all suck equally and move on?

125points

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#14

30 Common Myths That People Have To Finally Stop Believing 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.

DoctorJonesMD , cottonbro Report

Final score:

131points

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Nathaniel 2 years ago

I hope you have looked into these stomachs in a professional capacity?

124points

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#15

30 Common Myths That People Have To Finally Stop Believing Over cracking your knuckles will lead to arthritis.

HairoftheDog89 , Eren Li Report

Final score:

127points

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Mistiekim 2 years ago

It does lead to the people around you being annoyed though.

73points

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#16

30 Common Myths That People Have To Finally Stop Believing 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.

Osr0 , Brian Wangenheim Report

Final score:

124points

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Arn Edwards 2 years ago

Is your cat really damned by god?

20points

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#17

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.

CasinoKitten Report

Final score:

116points

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Mistiekim 2 years ago

Who’s worried about this anyway? Is someone thinking they’ll have to take the corpse to a hair salon for a trim and manicure?

39points

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#18

30 Common Myths That People Have To Finally Stop Believing That birds will abandon their babies if they have a human scent on them.

Dora_Rock , Maurice Schalker Report

Final score:

113points

POST

birdie 2 years ago

it can be looked as a good thing that this myth was made, keeps children (or anyone for that matter) from snatching them

68points

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#19

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

anothertimesometime Report

Final score:

112points

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Chucky Cheezburger 2 years ago

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.

28points

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#20

30 Common Myths That People Have To Finally Stop Believing 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.

Fit-ish_Mom , Carlo Navarro Report

Final score:

111points

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Circa 2 years ago

Chopping off bits of a baby's body is a horrific thing to do.

101points

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#21

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.

Not_the_EOD Report

Final score:

102points

POST

Waite Forit 2 years ago

Only if it is a hybrid created in a Chinese research lab and one of its parents was a snapping turtle.

43points

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#22

30 Common Myths That People Have To Finally Stop Believing 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.

squeephish , freestocks Report

Final score:

99points

POST

das aprilkind 2 years ago

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...

29points

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#23

30 Common Myths That People Have To Finally Stop Believing Lightning never strikes the same place twice.

SuvenPan , Dan Meyers Report

Final score:

99points

POST

Waite Forit 2 years ago

As Fleetwood Mac would say, “Lightning strikes maybe once, maybe twice.”

19points

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#24

30 Common Myths That People Have To Finally Stop Believing 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.

Much_Elephant , Clay Banks Report

Final score:

98points

POST

Mistiekim 2 years ago

Not true. Incels are pretty easy to spot sometimes.

124points

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#25

30 Common Myths That People Have To Finally Stop Believing Bulls become angry seeing the color red.

SuvenPan , Giovanni Calia Report

Final score:

93points

POST

Kookamunga 2 years ago

Bulls become angry when men in stupid Prince outfits taunt them while crowds cheer and then the poor bulls get speared. Absolutely disgusting.

131points

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#26

30 Common Myths That People Have To Finally Stop Believing That reading in dim lighting will cause you to lose your eyesight.

Dora_Rock , BENCE BOROS Report

Final score:

93points

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Waite Forit 2 years ago

It will cause you to lose your place on the page.

59points

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#27

30 Common Myths That People Have To Finally Stop Believing If you watch the TV too much or too close, you will go blind

rhi_x , Jens Kreuter Report

Final score:

88points

POST

Cecilie Hammershøy 2 years ago

Or get squared eyes

29points

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#28

30 Common Myths That People Have To Finally Stop Believing You eat 8 spiders a lifetime

Your_Enabler , James Petts Report

Final score:

86points

POST

Nathaniel 2 years ago (edited)

It is a ridiculous belief, I have eaten 8 just this morning.

156points

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#29

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

appleparkfive Report

Final score:

80points

POST

CaptainDinosaur 2 years ago

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.

55points

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#30

30 Common Myths That People Have To Finally Stop Believing 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.

Neither-Storage-4157 , Markus Spiske Report

Final score:

68points

POST

Susie Elle 2 years ago

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.

100points

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#31

30 Common Myths That People Have To Finally Stop Believing Sugar does not make kids hyper.

Before you say "I'm a parent, and I can promise you it does", consider when kids have plenty of sugar. Birthday parties, exciting events, etc. *That* makes them spin up.

If sugar was a direct cause of making kids hyper, why can they sit on a couch mashing candy for four hours while watching Frost on repeat. There's also the fact that kids are... You know, kids. Sometimes they're activated, sometimes they're not. Regardless of sugar intake.

Meior , Vika Strawberrika Report

Final score:

35points

POST

Ace 2 years ago

It's been proven wrong in blinded tests - kids at parties where the parents are told they're given lots of sugar are reported as hyper even when in fact all they've been fed is healthy fresh veg.

20points

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#32

The right side of your brain is for creativity and the left is for logic. If I see one more psych student with that sticker I’m gonna lose it

Cannanda Report

Final score:

30points

POST

RJ 2 years ago

That sounds like a challenge :)

12points

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#33

30 Common Myths That People Have To Finally Stop Believing In my country there's still a lot of people believing that first period blood is good for skin, like if u spread it on your face they say it will make your skin clear and you will not have acne if u did. It's dumb, stupid & disgusting.

marymiru_ , Alena Shekhovtcova Report

Final score:

30points

POST

RMA 2 years ago

Disgusting indeed. I’m not going to eat any placenta, either.

29points

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#34

Taking hot showers is good for sunburn. Helps draw out the stinging. When I was young I would always get sunburnt on vacation my dad always told me to take hot showers. I suffered through the pain thinking it would help. Turns out it’s the worst thing you can do.

mister-Cage Report

Final score:

26points

POST

Waite Forit 2 years ago

"Stinging" is not a substance.

9points

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#35

30 Common Myths That People Have To Finally Stop Believing Touching a frog/toad will give you warts.

PizzaLover_420 , Sergiu Nista Report

Final score:

25points

POST

*screams* 2 years ago (edited)

No, but you should wear protective gloves as not to hurt the froggo since they absorb almost everything on your skin :)

16points

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#36

Every once in a blue moon I stumble across someone who believes that cabbits are a thing. Some people genuinely believe that a cat and rabbit can bang and produce viable offspring, but anyone with an ounce of common sense should understand that it would be impossible.

Theearthhasnoedges Report

Final score:

25points

POST

Lisa H 2 years ago

Ngl, that sounds ADORABLE 😍

6points

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#37

30 Common Myths That People Have To Finally Stop Believing If your eyes stayed open during a sneeze, those mf's would pop right out

cdizzo23 , Edward Jenner Report

Final score:

25points

POST

Waite Forit 2 years ago

But this actually has happened on rare occasions e.g. the case of a 44-year-old male published in Emergency Physicians Monthly, December 2015.

13points

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#38

sex can make your vagina loose

alonelyolive Report

Final score:

24points

POST

Yvonne Dauwalder Balsiger 2 years ago

... but only if it is with different guys... With the same guy it doesn't get loose. Although after you have given birth then it's like throwing a sausage down the hallway for the guy. *eye roll* I wonder, if the people coming up with bs like this ever had sex with a vagina involved somehow

31points

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#39

If I get a raise at work, I’ll pay more taxes and just make *less* money!

Inoffensive_Account Report

Final score:

22points

POST

Waite Forit 2 years ago

This is not a sure thing. But in certain situations it could happen in the US tax system.

13points

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#40

Having the overhead light on in a car while driving is illegal.

Outrageous_Ad_9310 Report

Final score:

22points

POST

Waite Forit 2 years ago

This isn’t specifically illegal. But it could be considered Distracted Driving, which in the US legal system is defined as “any non-driving activity a motorist engages in that has the potential to distract him or her from the primary task of driving”. Distracted Driving may be classified as either a moving violation or a criminal misdemeanor depending on what jurisdiction you are in. To be realistic about it, you probably wouldn’t get in any trouble for having the light on unless you got into an accident.

8points

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#41

30 Common Myths That People Have To Finally Stop Believing That pissing in a pool makes the water go purple.

Jon_Wedge , Erik Mclean Report

Final score:

22points

POST

Waite Forit 2 years ago

If that were true, then 100% of swimming pools would be purple.

26points

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#42

I was told as a kid if I touched myself I’d go blind. I used to love telling that to optometrists, until laser eye surgery completely ruined that joke!

DrPooMD Report

Final score:

17points

POST

Jason Marin 2 years ago

There was also the myth that touching yourself would cause hair to grow on the palms of your hands.

17points

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#43

That you should give cats milk.

Smile_Terrible Report

Final score:

17points

POST

Kathryn Baylis 2 years ago (edited)

Some cats like a taste of it, but not entire big bowls. Our cat, Bazzy, who passed away a year ago at age 19 1/2 (we adopted him when he was 9 weeks old), was partial to a little bit of half and half in the morning. Milk was too thin, and cream was too thick, but half and half was just right. He never has digestive or other issues from the thimble full I gave him, but the fats in it made his fur incredibly soft. As long as it isn’t poisonous (it’s not like I fed him chocolate or anything fatal for a cat, and he ate regular cat food), anything in moderation should be OK. I miss him terribly. RIP, dearest Bazzy!

12points

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#44

Putting something still warm in the fridge will cause it to go bad.

Leaving it out actually allows bacteria to grow faster and putting it in the fridge will reduce the time it spends in the danger zone. Although, it should be put separate from other fridge items, as it can unnecessarily warm those items and potentially reduce their lifespans.

awssjay Report

Final score:

16points

POST

Chris Kane 2 years ago (edited)

Putting warm food in the fridge acts as a radiator, heating up the fridge which can possibly ruin the other food in there, particularly if it's large.

8points

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#45

That eating after a certain time causes weight gain, when in fact it has more to do with what time you go to sleep and not a specific time of the day

HoesDontGetC0ld Report

Final score:

16points

POST

Kathryn Baylis 2 years ago

More like how much sleep you get, and how overall healthy your lifestyle is. Plus the fact that most dinner food is heavier and has more calories, and many people follow it up with with a sweet dessert.

6points

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#46

That you won't get hired or taken seriously with piercings or tattoos. I've held a few jobs over the last 15 years that actually took your qualifications more seriously than your appearance.

S**t, even when I got my first adult job at age 20 as a medical filing clerk, I got my tongue pierced a few months later & my manager was like "you never had a lisp before" (tongue was swollen so I couldn't talk without a lisp) & when I showed her, she only said "hopefully the patients don't see it" & that was it.

I'm tired of ppl saying these things make you unprofessional. I respect those who choose to get tatted or pierced in unseen locations but stop telling ppl it's taboo. Times are changing & appearance does not necessarily translate into one's personality or intelligence

Ellieawi_07 Report

Final score:

13points

POST

Monday 2 years ago

Really depends on what your piercings or tattoos are though. Nobody is going to hire you if you have nazi propaganda tattoo'd on your forehead and a dildo shaped nose ring dangling from your schnoz.

26points

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#47

The reason astronauts float on the International Space Station isn't because of low gravity, they're would actually be 90% of Earth's gravity but its actually because its in a perpetual free fall.

Forlonic Report

Final score:

12points

POST

Waite Forit 2 years ago

The movement of the space station causes it to be falling toward the next point past the Earth horizon. The fact that it doesn't fall is one of the ways we know Earth is not flat.

11points

#48

Not a myth exactly, but more of a misconception.
Yawning is not because of boredom or for getting more oxygen to your brain. The latest research points to yawning assisting in lowering brain temperature.

ArcRust Report

Final score:

12points

POST

Beck 2 years ago

I hate when I can't complete a yawn. Especially at night when I am trying to sleep.

13points

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#49

Don't eat before swimming

Your_Enabler Report

Final score:

11points

POST

Chris Martin 2 years ago

i have eaten *in* the pool. swam about, bobbed, and dived. no issue. This also applies to swimming in the sea. check these tips out if unsure how to swim from Englan to France (and eat snacks on the way) http://cspf.co.uk/nutrition

9points

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#50

My dad insisted that if you didn't dry your hair immediately after getting out of the shower you would "catch your death of cold." As far as he was concerned, letting your hair stay damp would immediately give you a respiratory illness. Similarly, putting away dishes that weren't completely dry would putrify and poison someone. I know germ theory wasn't very well understood when he was a lad, but water was basically the end of all things as we know it to him.

ImGCS3fromETOH Report

Final score:

10points

POST

Monday 2 years ago

Going to bed with your hair wet can cause your pillow to grow mold though....so don't do that.

2points

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#51

Losing 90% heat through your head

nobodysperfcet Report

Final score:

10points

POST

Mat Hall 2 years ago

Well it's *sort* of correct, but only by virtue of the fact that obviously you'll lose more heat through uncovered parts of your body rather than any anatomy-specific reason, and having an uncovered head is more likely than any other body part; if you don't wear a hat then sure, most of your heat loss will come from your head, but if you wore a hat and no pants most of the heat loss will come from your legs.

2points

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#52

That Nightshade is a poisonous plant.

The European variety of nightshade, Belladonna, is poisonous, however there are other varieties that are completely edible. When European explorers went over to the Americas and Africa, faced with the contradiction of seeing indigenous peoples eating nightshade stalks and leaves as a part of their diet, came to the conclusion that it must be because the indigenous people were closer to animals than humans.

To this day people still believe that Black nightshade is a poisonous plant— entirely rooted in racism, scholars across generations have defended this lie.

garrgoyyle Report

Final score:

8points

POST

alias D. 2 years ago

Isn’t nightshade entire family of plants?

10points

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#53

30 Common Myths That People Have To Finally Stop Believing That women’s menstrual cycles sync up with each other after being around each other for a long enough time.

astroember , Behnam Norouzi Report

Final score:

4points

POST

Kookamunga 2 years ago (edited)

Years of this happening to me with women I'm close with. We're both PMSing together and we want to kill each other and everyone else. I know science says it's not true, but my experience says something different.

49points

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#54

Checking Halloween candy for whatever the hell it was checked for - razors, drugs, whatever the myth was

DFHartzell Report

Final score:

1point

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Enuya 2 years ago

It stemmed from a real story. There was a man who killed his son in 1970-something by lacing his halloween candies with poison to get an insurance money. He also gave poisoned candies to few other children (if I remember correctly, they all survived) to cover his tracks, thus causing a big mass hysteria and starting a myth which lives to this day.

19points

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What do you think ?

That removing a gray hair from your head will cause ten more to grow back.

WonderWoman 2 years ago

Right? LOL because if it were true balding people would gladly pluck the grays to get two more.

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Wayne Gossman 2 years ago

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.

7points

Bec 2 years ago

Milk builds strong bones! Is great PR with a grain of truth but there are lots of other ways to get calcium.

3points

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