Common misconceptions universally accepted

stepbar

That you can see the Great Wall of China from the Moon. It's a myth.

ballsymchugh

Riddle101 wrote: »

Common misconceptions universally accepted:

That Eamon DeValera wasn't executed because he was American. He would have been executed either way, but by the time they got to him, the public outcry over the executions beforehand caused for the British to stop the executions.

jaysis even neil jordan got that wrong then.
but someone said that gary coleman never said 'what you talkin about willis'... erm, tis all over yootoob and i could swear that it's him, or a pretty good ventriloquist!

netwhizkid

stepbar wrote: »

That you can see the Great Wall of China from the Moon. It's a myth.

But can you see the moon from the great wall of china?

m@cc@

Hitler was German.

Reindeer

Cool Mo D wrote: »

There is an absolute ton of research on vitamin C - taking extra vitamin C does not help your health one bit, nor does it shorten colds.

There is evidence it does shorten colds, and it is partially based on the previous tons of research to boot:

http://www.harvardhealthcontent.com/health-news-reviews/vitamin-c-and-colds.php

Whether it makes a huge difference? *shrug*

Also bear in mind that much of your foods nowadays are already vitamin and mineral enriched; many brands of Milk and Breads/Cereals follow an enrichment process, salt is almost always iodized. Etc. etc.

Executive Steve

serendip wrote: »

Slightly off topic, but ...

"The exception proves the rule".

This is almost universally misunderstood.

In fact, the original meaning is that an explicitly-stated exception (e.g. a "no right turn on red" sign at a US traffic light) implies the opposite general rule (e.g. if there's no such sign then it must in fact be ok to turn right on red). It's a very elegant idea and comes up frequently.

Here's an example from Wikipedia:

"Special leave is given for men to be out of barracks tonight till 11.00 p.m."; "The exception proves the rule" means that this special leave implies a rule requiring men, except when an exception is made, to be in earlier. The value of this in interpreting statutes is plain.

I'm afraid you are actually 100% wrong on that one.

"The exception proves the rule" means that things which don't abide by rules weaken them slightly, but the rule is still a good one.

The word "proves" is there used in the exact same meaning as it is in "proving grounds" - "the exception tests the rule" in other words.

Ro: maaan!

Just because you can't distinguish the wall of China from all the surrounding crap from space doesn't mean it's not right there in your line of sight on a clear day. Surely.

mawk

its well believed that the celts were real. we were taught it in primary school as fact.

turns out they never existed and it was just a social tool to make us feel different to the brittish

Elliemental

Another big misconception is that stress causes somach ulcers and that eating sweets causes diabetes.
Ulcers are caused by a bacteria in the stomach. Diabetes is caused by the body`s inability to create insulin. Common in obese people, but no brought on by the sugar, apparently.

In terms of historical figures being misquoted, Marie Antoinette never said `Let them eat cake` (mores the pity).

me_right_one

mawk wrote: »

its well believed that the celts were real. we were taught it in primary school as fact.

turns out they never existed and it was just a social tool to make us feel different to the brittish

Total and utter bull. "Celts" is a mispronounciation of "Gaels", started by victorian english romance writers. And worse, people who dont know any better sometimes pronounce it as "Selts".

Most of Europe was once covered by the Celts, with France even being named "Gaul" once. The Romans fought them, their archeology and art can be found all over Europe, and the language the spoke was the ancestor of modern-day Irish. Yea thats right, IRISH.

Over thousands of years, cultures and societies evolved, and the main bulk of Celts got pushed more and more west. Which is why isolated little Ireland is where the language survived. But most placenames from Brittany across to Connemara have Celtic connotations.

The arguement that we were taught that we are "Celtic" to make us less british doesnt make sense, cos any caucasain human being has Celtic/Gaelic genes, especially our nearest neighbour, no matter how evil to us they are!

m@cc@

mawk wrote: »

its well believed that the celts were real. we were taught it in primary school as fact.

turns out they never existed and it was just a social tool to make us feel different to the brittish

The Celts were around a long time before the 'brittish'.

Elliemental wrote: »

Another big misconception is that stress causes somach ulcers.

I'm afraid this is wrong. Bacterial infection is the cause of ulcers in 80% of cases. However it does not appear to explain all ulcers and researchers continue to look at stress as a possible cause, or at least a complication in the development of ulcers.

me_right_one

Elliemental wrote: »

Another big misconception is that stress causes somach ulcers and that eating sweets causes diabetes.
Ulcers are caused by a bacteria in the stomach. Diabetes is caused by the body`s inability to create insulin. Common in obese people, but no brought on by the sugar, apparently.

Yes, but too many sweets means too many calories. Too many calories means excess fat. Excess fat means obesity. Obesity plus too many sweets puts a strain on the bodies ability to produce insulin. Already strained obese insulin producing body plus too many sweets means you entirely fcuk up the bodies insulin producing capabilities - hence diabetes.

Namlub

Guards are legally obliged to give a pregnant woman their hat to pee in if you need it.
A guard can't arrest you if you take his hat.
Well, I say 'common', most of my friends believe them...

Bandit12

Barrack Obama is black.

Joey the lips

Naos wrote: »

You eat 8 spiders per year in your sleep.

The amount of times I hear this one is astounding.

True bear gryllis eats 8 in one sitting

me_right_one

That cork has, or ever had, a right to call itself the real capital. The real capital of Ireland is Tara

Joey the lips

me_right_one wrote: »

That cork has, or ever had, a right to call itself the real capital. The real capital of Ireland is Tara

Well done, you have said this twice i think your point is noted oh a politically speaking Dublin is the true capital. Tara is a hole which they should put a road on never mind through

yousername

humans evolved from monkeys.


The irish national anthem was written in irish.



Pencils are made with lead.

chameleons change colour to match their surroundings.

dlofnep

yousername wrote: »

humans evolved from monkeys.

True. We evolved from apes.

yousername wrote: »

chameleons change colour to match their surroundings.

Some do.

Jev/N

Magnus wrote: »

No-one ever said "Play it again Sam" in Casablanca.

No-one ever actually said "Beam me up Scotty" in Star Trek either

This may have been mentioned already but didn't have the chance to read 14 pages

yousername

but we didn't evolve from monkeys, we share a common ape ancestor.

komodosp

Being vegetarian saves the rainforests. I'm sick and tired of hearing that shít. Especially from hippie backpackers.

I think the idea is that not eating meat reduces the rainforest that has to be cut down for grazing land for steak / pork...

mmmmwah wrote: »

hate how commonly 'disabled person' is used, as if that's who the person is, it should be person with a disability!!grrr!:mad:

Agree with you... I don't understand why "disabled" is considered more pollite than "handicapped" when calling someone disabled implies they are good for nothing, whereas calling them handicapped implies they just suffer one drawback...

lee_arama

Quint wrote: »

Mixing your drinks makes you more drunk.

Well yes and no really. It's not about mixing drinks, it's about the chemicals in different types, plus personal aversion to certain flavours etc etc.

Anyway - many bad sessions are down to a poor chemical reaction from when you mix it up.

And to whomever said it - there's no evidence to suggest people ever thought the world was flat, in fact there's evidence to suggest they knew it was curved. Just don't have it to hand - but read through it during a history module some years back.

Fuhrer

dlofnep wrote: »

True. We evolved from apes.

Nope

lee_arama

Jev/N wrote: »

No-one ever actually said "Beam me up Scotty" in Star Trek either

This may have been mentioned already but didn't have the chance to read 14 pages

Might have been mentioned alright - but AFAIK they did in fact use the line...though it may have been in one of the later movies or the Relics episode from TNG.

dlofnep

Fuhrer wrote: »

Nope

Yes.

Fuhrer

dlofnep wrote: »

Yes.

Nope


Apes and humans evolved from a common ancestor, apes didnt just one day go "You know what, this is pretty good here, lets stop improving"

dlofnep

Fuhrer wrote: »

Nope


Apes and humans evolved from a common ancestor, apes didnt just one day go "You know what, this is pretty good here, lets stop improving"

But aren't humans apes? I think it would be more accurate to say that humans evolved as an ape.

Fuhrer

dlofnep wrote: »

But aren't humans apes? I think it would be more accurate to say that humans evolved as an ape.

Yeah, I guess.

me_right_one

lee_arama wrote: »

And to whomever said it - there's no evidence to suggest people ever thought the world was flat, in fact there's evidence to suggest they knew it was curved. Just don't have it to hand - but read through it during a history module some years back.

Newgrange!