Crazy Urban Myths/Superstitions You've Heard

useful_contacts · 05-04-2009 06:54PM

http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/60694/

nitrogen · 06-04-2009 03:57AM

Thoie wrote: »

Homeopathy.

Homeopathy being included in this book, 13 Things That Don't Make Sense: The Most Intriguing Scientific Mysteries of Our Time. Obviously written by a journalist.

ART6 · 06-04-2009 06:55AM

My ma's favourite superstitions were:

If you cut the web of skin between your thumb and forefinger you will get lockjaw.

If you get wet in the rain you must take a mustard bath or you'll catch a cold.

When you open an egg you must crush the shell otherwise witches will use it as a boat to chase sailors.

I spent quite a lot of my childhood sitting in a mustard bath waiting for lockjaw to strike while protecting my model boat from witches.

seanybiker · 06-04-2009 07:13AM

swallowing chewing/bubble gum makes yer belly stick to yer back. Obviously not true. My belly seems to be trying to get further away from me back.

astrofool · 06-04-2009 07:39AM

amp test

Gaspode · 06-04-2009 07:46AM

Getting wet in the rain will give you a cold.
Getting very wet in the rain will give you 'de flu.
Getting very very wet in the rain will give you pneumonia.

Das Kitty · 06-04-2009 10:47AM

Gaspode wrote: »

Getting wet in the rain will give you a cold.
Getting very wet in the rain will give you 'de flu.
Getting very very wet in the rain will give you pneumonia.

Sitting down in the wet will give you a kidney infection.

We sure do have a lot of superstitions about the wet, wonder why?

One that a feck lot of people still believe is that shaving your legs makes the hair grow back thicker. No, just blunter, therefore appearing a bit thicker.

AnonoBoy · 06-04-2009 10:53AM

ART6 wrote: »

My ma's favourite superstitions were:

If you cut the web of skin between your thumb and forefinger you will get lockjaw.

If you get wet in the rain you must take a mustard bath or you'll catch a cold.

When you open an egg you must crush the shell otherwise witches will use it as a boat to chase sailors.

I spent quite a lot of my childhood sitting in a mustard bath waiting for lockjaw to strike while protecting my model boat from witches.

And when did social services come and take you away from your obviously mental mother?

Zadkiel · 06-04-2009 10:55AM

My Exes granny told her dyeing her hair would give her a brain tumour.
Oh and sitting on a wall will give you Piles. :rolleyes:

One from the country, if you have a wart run a snail over it then impale the snail on a blackthorn bush and as the snail shrivels away so will the wart....bless em they're simple folk in Tipperary

oh one more, letting a cow lick your baldspot will make the hair grow back lol:D

homerun_homer · 06-04-2009 11:04AM

Get yer missus to jump backwards 7 times after unprotected sex to prevent pregnancy fact fans.

Zapho · 06-04-2009 11:12AM

Sneezing with your eyes open will make them pop out........It doesn't! I've tried it. Now I can do it all the time. I'm hoping to make a show out of it, take it on the road.

galah · 06-04-2009 11:24AM

about the candle and the sailor dying - this is a very wide-spread belief in Northern Germany as well - and the explanation I heard for it was that way back, people along the coast put candles in the windows so the sailors would find their home - if you take the candle away from the window, the sailor wouldn't find home, and die.

Then again, way back, I don't think they had cigarettes...

Zillah · 06-04-2009 11:32AM

Gaspode wrote: »

Getting wet in the rain will give you a cold.
Getting very wet in the rain will give you 'de flu.
Getting very very wet in the rain will give you pneumonia.

Being exposed to temperature extremes weakens the immune system, so yes, you're far more likely to catch a cold/flu/pneumonia if you get drenched.

homerun_homer · 06-04-2009 11:34AM

Zapho wrote: »

Sneezing with your eyes open will make them pop out........It doesn't! I've tried it. Now I can do it all the time. I'm hoping to make a show out of it, take it on the road.

That remind me of another one - sneezing 7 times in a row will make you come. I have hay fever and can state that alas it's not true.

I'm seeing a trend in the number 7 here - don't believe anything in which this number is involved.

liah · 06-04-2009 11:34AM

Zillah wrote: »

Being exposed to temperature extremes weakens the immune system, so yes, you're far more likely to catch a cold/flu/pneumonia if you get drenched.

Didn't Mythbusters subject some kid to borderline child abuse by making him stand out in the cold in a t-shirt for hours to prove that one wrong?

Das Kitty · 06-04-2009 11:35AM

Zillah wrote: »

Being exposed to temperature extremes weakens the immune system, so yes, you're far more likely to catch a cold/flu/pneumonia if you get drenched.

But it won't actually give you any of these ailments.

Another good rain related one is that berries will have worms in them after the rain.

amacachi · 06-04-2009 11:49AM

liah wrote: »

Didn't Mythbusters subject some kid to borderline child abuse by making him stand out in the cold in a t-shirt for hours to prove that one wrong?

Ooh, Mythbusters did an experiment involving a single child on a single occasion, I'd say they got some nice stats out of that.

Zillah · 06-04-2009 12:26PM

liah wrote: »

Didn't Mythbusters subject some kid to borderline child abuse by making him stand out in the cold in a t-shirt for hours to prove that one wrong?

Mythbusters is entertainment, their methodology is ludicrously sloppy by scientific standards. By their methods I could prove that walking into traffic can't get you killed because my test subject was lucky enough to miss the cars.

Das Kitty wrote: »

But it won't actually give you any of these ailments.

Not directly, no. But we encounter bacteria and viruses every day, and fight them off all the time. We only get sick when one gets a foothold. Get drenched in the rain on a cold day, immune system takes a kick to the balls and you get infected by a cold you'd have otherwise defeated in round 1.

So, practically speaking, getting caught out in the rain can cause you to get a cold.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar · 06-04-2009 12:31PM

i'm pretty sure that was penn and tellers bullshit, not mythbusters

cowlove · 06-04-2009 12:32PM

abouttobebanned wrote: »

My missus told me this one as a true story...just like hundreds of missuses all over europe have done the same at some point.

Her friend's friend was over on holidays some place in europe and hooked up with this guy...long story short she comes home, finds a rash on her face...(lazily copies and pastes for the rest)

A few days later she gets a call from the doc sayn she has to go in, he cant tell her on the phone. When she gets there he says she needs to wait til the police get there before he can tell her, So she waits and when they arrive she's told she's got this disease that can only be caught from being 'intimate' with a corpse.

Anyway the police ask if there is anyone she's been with rrecently that might be that way inclined... (notice how nothing is asked about her being the necrophile, or any further inspection of her is needed), she pulls out the card, police raid the guy's place and find two bodies.

I do remember saying to my girlfriend...there's no way that's true. I swear, she says...haha

omg I was told this story as a true story too! So its not true??? lol

Milky Moo · 06-04-2009 12:33PM

According to a friend if you give a friend a pair of gloves it is bad luck and will cause a figt between ye two...also butterflies in the house extremely unlucky..she seriously freaks out whenever you she sees them

liah · 06-04-2009 12:37PM

Captain Mords Spiced Bum wrote: »

i'm pretty sure that was penn and tellers bullshit, not mythbusters

Could've been, I love both shows, wouldn't surprise me if I got them mixed up.

ART6 · 06-04-2009 01:31PM

AnonoBoy wrote: »

And when did social services come and take you away from your obviously mental mother?

I came from a family like that. They had a great store of superstitions that they only half believed but that they would state with very earnest expressions. One of my favourites was that bats are sticky and would get in your hair and be difficult to remove. Hence my father and uncle chasing around the house wearing hats while trying to evict a bat.

Saint_Mel · 06-04-2009 01:37PM

If you buy a wallet for yourself its bad luck and you'll be poor for the rest of your life! Apparently!

I remember once I was buying a new wallet and my gf went on about it being bad luck so she took the wallet and bought it for me ...
She then asked me for the money after she had paid for it as it would only have been unlucky for me to pay for it directly!

Daft cow!

Milky Moo · 06-04-2009 01:38PM

ART6 wrote: »

My ma's favourite superstitions were:

If you cut the web of skin between your thumb and forefinger you will get lockjaw.

If you get wet in the rain you must take a mustard bath or you'll catch a cold.

When you open an egg you must crush the shell otherwise witches will use it as a boat to chase sailors.

I spent quite a lot of my childhood sitting in a mustard bath waiting for lockjaw to strike while protecting my model boat from witches.

I have been laughing at that for a good 5minutes,are you serious???

Blazer · 06-04-2009 02:24PM

Paddy Samurai wrote: »

Apparently some of the native tribes of south america believe that if you sleep with a venomous snake in your jocks in increases your sexual potency.
Has anyone tried this?.

I have tried this with several snakes and it's very true.
Luckily the venomous snakes were terrified of the large snake in my jocks and behaved themselves for the night.
In the morning all the women of the tribe had sex with me.
So I can safely say that this is not an urban legend.

Although I have heard the car keys one from my old lady who swore to me that her brother did it in front of her.
Had to laugh as I explained to her that she was only about 5 feet from the car when she was clicking the remote in the earpiece..did she not fcukin cop it?

ART6 · 06-04-2009 02:58PM

Milky Moo wrote: »

I have been laughing at that for a good 5minutes,are you serious???

Absolutely! As an ex-sailor I would never leave an eggshell uncrushed. I am not at all superstitious, but well....you never know....:D

Blitzkrieger · 06-04-2009 07:07PM

Milky Moo wrote: »

if you give a friend a pair of gloves it is bad luck and will cause a figt between ye two...

Boxing gloves?

Captain Slow IRL · 06-04-2009 08:59PM

Don't put new shoes (or any footwear) on a table

My mum'd flip if you came into the kitchen and went for the table with your new bag!

Ann22 · 06-04-2009 09:45PM

I too heard the one about the worms in the Slimfast:o among many others. My mother had loads of ridiculous ones like...
Don't stand on your head!!! It'll sink into your body:eek:!!!
:eek:!!!
Don't sit on a cold wall!! You'll get a kidney infection!Manys the Winter I was made wear two pairs of knickers to keep my little bum warm:o
Then when I was pregnant she told me not to put my arms up over my head in case the cord was wrapped around the baby's neck:(....and when the child was born she told me not to stand behind him and attract his attention when he was lying down in case his eyes rolled back into his head:rolleyes:

Then the creepy ones... If a picture fell off the wall for no apparent reason, someone was going to pop their clogs...don't know if it had to be the individual in the photo...
Then the death knocks:eek: at the door..when there was no one there when we answered it meant someone was on their way out...think it was particularly bad if it happened when someone was expected home at that time.

Crazy Urban Myths/Superstitions You've Heard

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