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The internet is full of all kinds of information, especially fun facts and urban legends. You can find them on any social platform, and you probably read a few of them every day. Ranging from creepy and disturbing ones to funny and uplifting ones, people really seem to enjoy them and share them online and in real life. Who doesn't love to liven up a party by surprising friends with some unique trivia? But how do we make sure that the information we're reading is real and not made up?
Well, this online user decided to find out just that by asking, "What urban legend needs to die?" and they got some surprising and informative answers that might show you why you shouldn't believe everything you read online. So before you tell fun facts to your friends, check out the answers below to make sure that they're not fake!
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
That people only use 10 percent of your brain. That is only true for politicians
#2
That you need to wait 24 hours to report someone as missing.
You can, and SHOULD, report someone as missing as soon as they go missing. It could be the difference between finding someone who had a bad fall at home or getting lost in the forest, and finding their body.
#3
That vaccines cause autism.
#4
That the McDonald's hot coffee lady had a frivolous lawsuit. The coffee was so hot it fused parts of her genitals and she had to have several reconstructive surgeries.
#5
The “welfare queen” trope that Americans constantly use to justify exploiting low wage workers and punishing the poor for being poor. It’s a straw man offered as proof that poor people are immoral and that any economic assistance system will only entice them to further immorality. It is false, repugnant, and damaging to not only the poor but the whole economy.
#6
That vaginas get “loose” from having sex. There’s really Men out here that believe this
Jill Rhodry 1 year ago
Two things that always struck me with the lack of critical thinking on this one 1) 1000 peens equals loose vagina but 1 peen a thousand times doesn't. 2) do they really think women are walking around with baby head sized vaginas?
#7
Trickle down economics
#8
Gay people made your child gay.
Kokichi Ouma 1 year ago
What 😶 We don't effect what gender your child likes, they like who they like and that's okay.
#9
Detoxing treatments...... NO Sharon, "harmful chemicals" are not just going to ooze out of your face and feet if you use that mask... That's not how the human body works at all damn!
Amanda Rose 1 year ago
Your liver and kidneys do that just fine on their own (most of the time).
#10
"Black cats are evil" No they're not
Edit: getting spammed with "all cats are evil". Guys, I'm referring to different urban myths around the world which states that a black cat a demonic possession or just pure evil, related to witch and stuff.
#11
That MSG is toxic.
EDIT: As an Aussie it took me a minute to work out what all the replies about MTG meant but yes, seeing the full name I agree Margery Taylor Green is as toxic as cyanide. No urban legend there. F*****g lunatic. Especially as an Aussie it's like "WTF America?".
#12
That there are hot women in my area waiting for me to "chat with them".
Benita Valdez 1 year ago
There could be. I mean there have been record temperatures lately so definitely hot women in alot of areas
#13
Rich people work hard and are smart and deserve their money.
Edit: Since this turned into a discussion of how rich people get their money, let me elaborate. Under capitalism, rich people get their money by exploiting the labor of the worker, your labor.
You have nothing to sell but your time and your labor, and they take advantage of this, and give you back pennies on every dollar you have created for them, amount depend on how much exactly they can get away with without you taking your labor elsewhere. They can fire you anytime and use the threat of homelessness and starvation against you, for they are the ones who own the shop, the factory, the office, the land, the trade, and without those things, you cannot turn your time and labor into commodities you require and want in your daily life. This is the coercion of labor under capitalism. Always remember that.
This structure is designed to squeeze every bit of value out of you in the form of money, the form of profits. You are always closer to the homeless man on the street then the boss in an air conditioned office. Unionize. Organize.
Khall Khall 1 year ago
If they offer a job making 50k a year, as a broad generality you're adding 500k a year to their bottom line. It's not true in all cases for all jobs at all companies but... yeah, car salesman, factory worker, etc etc it is true.
#14
You don’t get sick because it’s “cold” outside or “you don’t have a jacket on”
#15
That touching baby birds or rabbits will cause their mothers to reject them because they smell like human. They absolutely will not. Don't go messing with babies for kicks, but if you can put a baby (that you are 100% sure belongs there) back in it's nest, do so. If you aren't sure, call a wildlife rehabilitator so you're not putting fledgelings where they don't belong.
Binny Tutera 1 year ago
The problem is when they are handled TOO much. That is not good for baby animals and birds, no matter how cute they are.
#16
Ostriches. Do not bury. Their heads. In the sand. If they’re afraid of something, they will run, kick, or bite. One of my biggest animal myth pet peeves.
#17
"You can't get STDs from oral sex"
One of the clinics I work at is a free sexual health clinic. Too many women are in there for mouth/throat/other digestive problems stemming from unprotected oral sex and various STDs.
#18
Vaccines cause autism, and the COVID vaccine was the Mark of the Beast.
The heel stick done on newborn babies to test for PKU and other genetic diseases is also not the implantation of a microchip.
Khall Khall 1 year ago
The ten minutes they make you wait after you get your COVID vax is to charge up the microchip wirelessly. Or, you know, to make sure you don't have a bad reaction. But the first one is a lot funnier to me.
#19
That your pullout game is strong. No, it isn't. Invest in an actual form of pregnancy prevention.
Jill Rhodry 1 year ago
What do you call people who practice the rhythm (pullout) method? Parents.
#21
The Bermuda f*****g Triangle. I live in Bermuda. The triangle is smack dab in the middle of hurricane territory so ships and planes back in the day (that didn’t have weather mapping) would get spanked by them frequently. It’s so irritating when you’re trying to introduce yourself, saying “I’m from Bermuda” and the response is “LiKe ThE tRiAnGle oMg hOw diD YoU sUraViVe”
Edit: Bermuda also has the highest cost of living in the world. More than NYC, Switzerland, or Dubai
Edit 2: methane from ‘volcanos’ in the triangle is just bogus. The only volcano that’s anywhere near the triangle is the DORMANT one that formed Bermuda.
Many a hurricane passes through the “triangle” every single year. Go back a couple hundred years and I’m sure you’d think that traveling through there was ‘cursed’ when realistically it was just a stupid time of year to travel that way
Edit #3: thank you for the upvotes! I just want people to see my little island x
Y’all are ridongculous! 4k+?? That’s over 5% of the population
Edit#4: we are now at over 10% of the population… lordamercy
P.s. Bermuda doesn’t have sharks like that. No one has ever been attacked. At most, a couple tiger sharks and nurse shakes have been seen (which is an island wide spectacle) but they aren’t on our radar like that. Same with tectonic plates. Nowhere near any of them
#22
You don't eat spiders in your sleep.
Kelley Vice 1 year ago
Not unless you have some kind of spider-dispensing mechanism built into your CPAP mask
#23
The idea that there are people in your neighborhood just waiting for the chance to poison your kids by giving them unwrapped Halloween candy.
#25
The customer is always right
David 1 year ago
I recently learned the whole phrase is "The customer is always right in matters of taste". That actually makes sense. If the customer likes something they are right about what is to their own taste. That's far different for how the shortened version is used by some customers to insist they are right in any situation. Which of course is BS.
#26
That you can target fat on a particular place on your body, like tummy fat. Fat doesn't know where it lives.
Edit: I am, believe it or not, aware of the existence of plastic surgery. You don't need to tell me about it.
#27
You can suffocate if you leave a fan on while you sleep (you can't)
Urine is sterile (it's not)
Highways have straight segments so that airliners can land on them in emergencies (they don't)
You should drive at a normal speed in low-visibility weather so the car behind you doesn't hit you (you should slow down)
You can suck out the venom from snake bites (you can't)
Men think about sex every 7 seconds (they don't)
der sebbl 1 year ago
That highway thing is at least partially true in parts of Europe, let me explain. There are sections build in the cold war to work as emergency airstrips. Not for airliners tho, only fighter jets and it would take a couple of hours to make them ready to work
Elio 1 year ago
The highway thing is also partially true in America, or at least it was several decades ago.
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Scarlett O'Hara's Ghost 1 year ago
I just want to say that I went to nursing school in the 90s and I was taught that normal urine was sterile. I understand we've learned differently since then, but it was taught.
Michael Largey 1 year ago
You can suffocate with a fan left on while you sleep, assuming the person pushing the pillow into your face is no fan of yours at all.
Frank Heidsick 1 year ago
You‘re wrong about the Highway Landings. I knew that there are a number of places in Germany, but according to Wikipedia you can find them in many countries: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highway_strip
Anxiousguest 1 year ago
First one.. if fans cause suffocation entire Indian population would have suffocated to death
Binky Melnik 1 year ago
You can’t suck venom out? You mean that dude who got bitten on his thingie was lying? 🤔 (But seriously: I didn’t know it’s not true. Good thing I found out before I see someone get bitten!)
Auntriarch 1 year ago
And a lot more "poison" came out than you were expecting, right 🤣
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Ivy la Sangrienta 1 year ago
I've been sleeping with the fan on for years. Had no idea people believe that.
Trophy Husband 1 year ago
The one about airplanes: that's not WHY they do it, but plenty of planes have landed on those straightaways.
tuzdayschild 1 year ago
I have slept with a fan blowing on me everyday for about 20 year. I had no idea I was a ghost. Boo y'all.
Bowtechie 1 year ago
Urine is literally the byproduct of what your kidneys filter out of your blood, DEFINITELY not sterile.
Mistiekim 1 year ago
Sterile= free from bacteria or microorganisms. Kidneys are filtering out the chemical waste your body makes and is helping to maintain some of the body’s electrolytes (among other things). It can indeed be sterile. What isn’t sterile is your urinary tract. When collected in a sterile environment (ie needle aspiration), urine should also be sterile. Any bacterial growth would most likely indicate infection in that case. Generally speaking the fluids your body produces are all sterile - ascites, synovial, peritoneal.
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Blue_Mouse 1 year ago
I’m pretty sure the airline thing is true for some places in case of war, but only small jets
Melissa Searl 1 year ago
Never heard about the fan one. I've slept with a fan on some that hombre invasion any 8 years ago (or else I don't sleep). I should be dead dozens of times over if that was true.
Michelle C 1 year ago
From what I understand, the only time you should ever drink urine is if you have no other way to stay hydrated and not doing so would actually kill you in the long term. Otherwise, you should find some other way to hydrate yourself in such a survival situation as soon as possible!!
Errrm..wot? 1 year ago
You might not think about sex every 7 seconds buddy but I do. You were winning the fact rant until then.
Vera Diblikova 1 year ago
Urine is sterile enough in an emergency if any other water etc. isn´t at hand.
Verena 1 year ago
No. 3 is correct, at least was for Germany. The additional spaces, to park planes and set up facilities are not maintained anymore/have been removed over the past 20 or more years ago. Here one of the platforms, today used as simple rest stop.https://www.google.nl/maps/place/Swistbach,+53501+Grafschaft,+Deutschland/@50.5885549,7.0423314,16z/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x47befda1052dd3f3:0xb6735a762a31ed8!8m2!3d50.5881638!4d7.0440711!16s%2Fg%2F11bw4c2xm4
Seadog 1 year ago
Airliners, now that's funny. Your average small plane has a wingspan of at least 26 feet. It would take a 2 lane highway with a wide, clear shoulder to land one of those. Your average commercial jet has a wingspan of 130 feet. You'll be hard pressed to find a highway wide enough to land one. I'd even bet that in the US the only ones that would make it possible would be in the southwest.
KIM BIDERMANN 1 year ago
For example, throughout the system, mile-long stretches of concrete pavement double as emergency landing strips for military aircraft. Built in 1956 in US.
John Harrison 1 year ago
I'm a dummy, I believed the urine thing. Also, some countries DO have straight sections on highways for planes. Germany is one. The myth is that every X number of miles has to be straight for planes to land.
Mario Strada 1 year ago
Actually, the people that invented the autobahn did intend to use them for landing airplanes and in the USA we copied their design. Not airliners though, fighters and bombers. I was just reading that recently, someplace in the USA, the Air Force did a test using a stretch of road as an impromptu airport.
U_dontwanttoknowme 1 year ago
As someone who sleeps with the fan on, I can confirm you are not gonna suffocate unless someone pushes a pillow to your face.
Bert van Aalsburg 1 year ago
I suspect the straight highway as air strip came in the promotion of the U.S. interstate system, during Eisenhower. I seem to remember, national defense was one of the talking points to convince Congress to fund it.
ROSESARERED 1 year ago
In outback Australia the roads do have signs on them that they are emergency runways for planes....RFDA Royal Flying Doctors Australia...happily let those amazing people land whenever and wherever they are needed, ambulances for outback, regional and rural Australia where vehicles would take hours to arrive, if not days
RavenTheCat 1 year ago
Never heard of the first one. Admittedly believe the second. Feel like ive heard of the third. Wait someone actually believed the 4th?? "Yes slow down!". The venom one i always question. As for the men one, well i guess i can see why someone would believe it but uh, okay?
Realistic_Lemons (any) 1 year ago
…you can suffocate if the fan is on while sleeping, that just would not be the reason
Not-a-Clue (she/her) 1 year ago
I've never heard the one about suffocating if the fan is on! It makes no sense at all!
jdtimid123 1 year ago
Just be sure to turn on hazard lights if you're driving slow in bad weather.
Benita Valdez 1 year ago
I'm not saying you can suffocate, I'm just saying that it's very easy for a fan to blow your bed sheat into your face and you suck it into your mouth. Not that I ever have done that because I wrap my sheet around my head or anything and always have a fan blasting on me. Just saying
Julia Mckinney 1 year ago
That's funny. I have no idea why anyone would downvote you for that.
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sassawrasse 1 year ago
Urine is sterile within the bladder, but all things change once it passes thru the urethra.
Becky Samuel 1 year ago
This is also a myth. The bladder supports its own microbiome, but it is poorly researched and the bacteria are notoriously difficult to culture in vitro. A person (or animal) can be suffering from a chronic UTI and show a clean culture time after time before a successful plate can be grown.
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#28
All the human traffickers that lurk in Target, Walmart, etc looking to snatch up random children and/or women.
People are more than likely to be trafficked by people they know than random strangers.
Kirsty 1 year ago
You say this, but years back we had a case in my local asda (Walmart), baby taken out of a trolley, mum had turned to get something on the shelf and poof, baby gone. Mum was smart and didn't run around to find her, just ran straight to security at the front doors. They pulled the shutters immediately and went over the tannoy to tell people description of baby missing and to be quiet. Followed the crying to the toilet where two women were found shaving the babies head and changing her clothes. Shutter didn't go back up till the police were there for them. I was in the car park when the shutters went down. My kids stay with me and I'm alert in every supermarket. It's not that those types of predators are there more than elsewhere, I take it that predators like that go about their day as normal and take opportunities that arise as and when spotted. Like an inattentive parent with their kids two aisles away.
#29
That there’s litter boxes in high school classrooms. I’ve heard this about 3-4 different schools in my area.
Edit: I get there's litter to clean up vomit and for the active shooter stuff. I'm talking about the people who swear they "know someone" who says there's a litter box for a girl in a cat suit and b******g tail who makes all the students watch her poop in the corner.
It's an anti LGBTQIA+ dog whistle.
Norm Gilmore 1 year ago
What sort of dystopian nightmare place needs a litter box for active shooter emergency's. Oh wait....
#30
"Blood is blue inside your body & red when it comes out."
Nope.
#31
That Dungeons and Dragons is satanic witchcraft, that's still a popular ideal in the bibble belt
Khall Khall 1 year ago
I wish it was true tho. Would have made being a library nerd in middle school so much more profitable....
#32
My dad coming back with the milk
#33
That if you ask if someone’s a cop, they have to tell you if they are a cop
#34
Bigfoot. It's 2023, if you can't get at least, a 720p video of him, Then give it up!
David 1 year ago (edited)
This is one of my favorites. I grew up in big foot country. so from time to time you would see somebody's blurry video of a supposed sighting. Then as soon as just about everybody has a HD Vidoe recorder in their hand (cell) and there are no more easy excuses for blurry film - suddenly the sightings go way down to basically zero. lol
#35
The idea that GMOs are bad for you. Seriously, we’ve been modifying plants and animals for years via breeding. Stuff like CRISPER is basically just a more precise version of that, the difference between doing surgery with an obsidian dagger and a sterilized scalpel.
#37
That doctors will let you die if you are an organ donor to steal your organs.
#40
That daddy long legs are the most venomous spiders in the world, but their fangs just aren’t big enough to spread enough venom. Edit: I’m referring to cellar spiders. Daddy long legs is vague term that describes several types of arachnids, none of them are venomous though.
Kokichi Ouma 1 year ago
I just imagine them as a cool lil friend with sunglasses flexing their legs
#41
That it's a felony offense to rip the tag off of your Mattress.
There was a major scandal in the past, where a couple mattress manufacturers were recycling used mattresses, re-stuffing them, and subsequently reselling them. 🤢
It is ONLY illegal for stores and manufacturers to rip the tags off of new mattresses for sale. However, once you buy it, and your mattress warranty expires (usually after 1 year or less), feel free to rip that annoying tag off
Glen Ellyn 1 year ago
I can't believe how many people do not understand this. The tag says "not to be removed EXCEPT by consumer. Sheesh.
#42
Our seventh grade English teacher Miss Jackson was not in Playboy in the 1980s... It does not matter that your brother's cousin's neighbor has the actual issue and they are going to bring it in to school someday.
#43
That it's super illegal to turn on your cars inside dome light while driving at night.
#44
In my country, there's something called "Deochi or deochiat", which mainly translates to "evil eye" or "getting evel eyed".
It is believed that this happens when an older person admires a younger person too much. Aaaand no, not in a disturbing way, more like, a grandma admiring her grandson for how handsome he is and such. The grandson starts feeling sick, fatigued, nauseous, etc.
This is an actual, real phenomenon that happens because of the widespread belief in it.
I've experienced it a couple of times when I was young, and I've seen many others experience it.
The "cure" for this "deochi", is most of the times a prayer, or a charm that, get this, you can't be taught, you have to "steal" it from a gypsy.
It all of course is fake, just superstition, the power of belief. After I figured it out and stopped believing it at idk, 14-15, I've stopped experiencing it completely.
The people I managed to convince that this doesn't really exist, stopped experiencing it as well, confirming my theory.
Just goes to show how influential believing in stupid stuff can be.
#45
That Marilyn Manson had a rib removed to suck his own member
What do you think ?
Notyomama 1 year ago
I live close to a hub of human trafficking and people SHOULD be scared. Down vote me if you want, but donating to help the victims is one of my favorite charities.
Veronica Jean 1 year ago
I agree, I thought the trafficking comment was in poor taste and not accurate. I studied criminal justice most of my young adult life and yes, people DO wait in public places and your child could be gone in seconds. There is no benefit to encouraging carelessness. I also saw girls trafficked in Nicaragua.American and local. It's a huge problem
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Benita Valdez 1 year ago
As a kid in New York, we were convinced that it was illegal to kill praying mantises. It took to my 20's and being at an internship in the Environmental Sciences to learn that was false but to just let people keep thinking that because they're good pest control (I listened Dr Green until now and now the Pandas will know the truth)
Duckie Measles 1 year ago
Let me add one: you've never met someone who named their baby La-a, Abcde, Orangejello or Lemoncello. I see those thrown around anytime BP posts those dumb names lists
Kevin J. Henning 1 year ago
I've seen these at least twice before. Any, some common sense thinking works wonders on stuff like this.
David Paterson 1 year ago
I opened this thread expecting to disagree with half of it. I wasn't disappointed. Only read the top 40, and for about half of them, the thread got it wrong.
Notyomama 1 year ago
I live close to a hub of human trafficking and people SHOULD be scared. Down vote me if you want, but donating to help the victims is one of my favorite charities.
Veronica Jean 1 year ago
I agree, I thought the trafficking comment was in poor taste and not accurate. I studied criminal justice most of my young adult life and yes, people DO wait in public places and your child could be gone in seconds. There is no benefit to encouraging carelessness. I also saw girls trafficked in Nicaragua.American and local. It's a huge problem
Load More Replies... Benita Valdez 1 year ago
As a kid in New York, we were convinced that it was illegal to kill praying mantises. It took to my 20's and being at an internship in the Environmental Sciences to learn that was false but to just let people keep thinking that because they're good pest control (I listened Dr Green until now and now the Pandas will know the truth)
Duckie Measles 1 year ago
Let me add one: you've never met someone who named their baby La-a, Abcde, Orangejello or Lemoncello. I see those thrown around anytime BP posts those dumb names lists
Kevin J. Henning 1 year ago
I've seen these at least twice before. Any, some common sense thinking works wonders on stuff like this.
David Paterson 1 year ago
I opened this thread expecting to disagree with half of it. I wasn't disappointed. Only read the top 40, and for about half of them, the thread got it wrong.
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