Common misconceptions universally accepted

dlofnep

Was just reading a racism thread on here, and I noticed the Lauren Hill "I'd rather have black children starve, than white people buy my album" comment. I've read and heard this a million times over, so I looked into it a while back and found out that it was completely inaccurate. The comment wasn't challenged at all, because it's become universally accepted. It just goes to show how little we question certain things when we should.

What other misconceptions are universally accepted?

AnonoBoy

dlofnep wrote: »

What other misconceptions are universally accepted?

Jim Corr is mental.

He's actually a very clued-in and astute political commentator.

walshb

That the world is flat? Oh no, that was disproved!:D

TobyZiegler

Pretty much every random thing I've ever known has been proven wrong by QI! Great programme.

m@cc@

TobyZiegler wrote: »

Pretty much every random thing I've ever known has been proven wrong by QI! Great programme.

Including the below post.

walshb wrote: »

That the world is flat? Oh no, that was disproved!:D

No one ever thought the world was flat.

me_right_one

Apparantely the Neil Armstrong "One small step..." speech is wrong!?! He's supposed to have said "thats one small step for A man.....", but people just say "for man"

That_Guy

m@cc@ wrote: »

No one ever thought the world was flat.

The lads back in time did until Copernicus showed up and kicked ass and disproved those mutha's!!!

me_right_one

That Dublin is the true capital of Ireland. Its actually Tara, Co.Meath

dlofnep

m@cc@ wrote: »

No one ever thought the world was flat.

http://www.theflatearthsociety.org/

me_right_one

I wonder is the one about Tommy Hilfiger telling Oprah Winfrey that he hopes no black people buy his clothes true?

indough

m@cc@ wrote: »

No one ever thought the world was flat.

yes they did

the myth is that it was the generally accepted belief

biko

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

luckylucky

m@cc@ wrote: »

Including the below post.



No one ever thought the world was flat.

In the history that I studied, pre-Columbus europe pretty much did think it was flat. Unless you're saying we've all been fed some massive lie?

I.S.T.

dlofnep wrote: »

What other misconceptions are universally accepted?

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran saying he wanted to wipe Israel off the face of the earth.

markok84

toothpaste doesn't actually get out those sort of stains

Agamemnon

No-one ever said "Beam me up, Scotty" in Star Trek.

dlofnep

IrishSpeedTraps wrote: »

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran saying he wanted to wipe Israel off the face of the earth.

True. The transcripts stated that he wanted Zionism (an ideological belief) wiped from the page of time.

Fratton Fred

GAP (As in GAP Clothing) does not stand for Gay and Proud as is commonly believed.

It was named after the generation gap.

m@cc@

luckylucky wrote: »

In the history that I studied, pre-Columbus europe pretty much did think it was flat. Unless you're saying we've all been fed some massive lie?

Fraid not. You can blame the Christians for ponying that myth.

AnonoBoy

Fratton Fred wrote: »

GAP (As in GAP Clothing) does not stand for Gay and Proud as is commonly believed.

That's the first time I've ever heard that. Ever.

Húrin

That_Guy wrote: »

The lads back in time did until Copernicus showed up and kicked ass and disproved those mutha's!!!

No, the ideas that most people in medieval Europe thought it was flat is a myth perpetrated by the Victorians. The world was demonstrated to be round by both the Indians and the Greeks over 2000 years ago.

oeb

blah blah 10% of your brain blah cliché blah organic foods blah alternative therapy blah

dlofnep

Agamemnon wrote: »

No-one ever said "Beam me up, Scotty" in Star Trek.

Interesting!

Wazdakka

The lamp is a lie

dyl10

walshb wrote: »

That the world is flat? Oh no, that was disproved!:D

What are you talking about?
The world is flat...

walshb

m@cc@ wrote: »

No one ever thought the world was flat.

Really?

Euro_Kraut

De Valera never used the phrase 'comley maidens dancing at the crossroads'. It is widely misquoted from his 1943 St Patrick's Day speech.

He mentions 'happy maidens' not comley and does not call upon them the dance.

http://www.rte.ie/laweb/ll/ll_t09b.html

.. The Ireland that we dreamed of would be the home of a people who valued material wealth only as a basis for right living, of a people who, satisfied with frugal comfort, devoted their leisure to the things of the spirit – a land whose countryside would be bright with cosy homesteads, whose fields and villages would be joyous with the sounds of industry, with the romping of sturdy children, the contest of athletic youths and the laughter of happy maidens, whose firesides would be forums for the wisdom of serene old age. The home, in short, of a people living the life that God desires that men should live. . . ."

dyl10

Those immigrants aren't stealin' er jabs!

Fratton Fred

AnonoBoy wrote: »

That's the first time I've ever heard that. Ever.

ignorance is bliss;)

m@cc@

walshb wrote: »

Really?

Well, I'm sure someone did/does but not as many as you would think.

NedTermo

Agamemnon wrote: »

No-one ever said "Beam me up, Scotty" in Star Trek.

Robbed my one.

Steoob

A common misconception is what people believe the definition of 'ignorance' to be. Its almost totally accepted now to mean the same as 'arrogant'. It REALLY gets on my tits.

Fratton Fred

Limbo

AnonoBoy

Fratton Fred wrote: »

ignorance is bliss;)

That doesn't apply here. If it was a commonly held belief then surely I'd have heard it somewhere at some stage over my life, even if I didn't believe it.

You might as well have said "When in Rome."

luckylucky

m@cc@ wrote: »

Fraid not. You can blame the Christians for ponying that myth.

Yeah I know they ponyed (not quite sure what that means :P) it but the fact that they did a lot of people believed it, no?

Húrin wrote: »

No, the ideas that most people in medieval Europe thought it was flat is a myth perpetrated by the Victorians. The world was demonstrated to be round by both the Indians and the Greeks over 2000 years ago.

Yeah I knew the Greeks (didn't know about the Indians) had proved the world was a sphere but that doesn't mean the ignorant Catholic church of the early medieval period didn't completely ignore that or not understand it.

Other commonly held myths are 'That the Catholic Church has always been a friend to Ireland'.
The Catholic Church actually supported king Billy as they feared the power of the French King at the time.
The Catholic Church's first English pope granted kingship of Ireland to the king of England as Ireland's christians at that time were regarded as too much outside of the jurisdiction of Rome.

That Catholic priests were always not allowed to marry. They were - some Pope changed it way back to stop nepotism in the church, i.e. being a priest used to be considered a great job so priests used their influence to get their sons in the family trade - some Pope decided to put a stop to it by forbidding them to marry.

I often get told I'm a lucky so and so for living in Portugal with all those tanned good looking Portuguese women. The reality is that Portuguese women in general are very plain tbh.

NedTermo

Shaving does not cause hair to grow back thicker or coarser or darker.
This belief is due to the fact that hair that has never been cut has a tapered end, whereas, after cutting, there is no taper.
Thus, it appears thicker, and feels coarser due to the sharper, unworn edges.
Hair can also appear darker after it grows back because hair that has never been cut is often lighter due to sun exposure.

Naos

You eat 8 spiders per year in your sleep.

The amount of times I hear this one is astounding.

Earthhorse

dlofnep wrote: »

Was just reading a racism thread on here, and I noticed the Lauren Hill "I'd rather have black children starve, than white people buy my album" comment. I've read and heard this a million times over, so I looked into it a while back and found out that it was completely inaccurate. The comment wasn't challenged at all, because it's become universally accepted. It just goes to show how little we question certain things when we should.

What other misconceptions are universally accepted?

Similarly, the story regarding Mariah Carey claiming to be envious of starving kids because she'd like to be that skinnny. Complete myth. Most outlandish stories that we hear about celebreties are.

Snopes is a great website for debunking lots of this stuff.

Wazdakka

Jesus.
God.
Heaven.
Tony Danza.

None of them really exist

Fratton Fred

AnonoBoy wrote: »

That doesn't apply here. If it was a commonly held belief then surely I'd have heard it somewhere at some stage over my life, even if I didn't believe it.

You might as well have said "When in Rome."

OK, it is a widely held belief outside of Ireland, where GAP is not, as yet, very common. http://www.blurtit.com/q828466.html

Quazzie

Common misconceptions universally accepted

Phasers is a guy!

Quazzie

Fratton Fred wrote: »

OK, it is a widely held belief outside of Ireland, where GAP is not, as yet, very common. http://www.blurtit.com/q828466.html

I think someone just said you looked Gay and Proud and you assumed it was because you were wearing a GAP top at the time. It might be time to ask yourself some serious questions Fred.

LordSutch

I remember in my yoof being told categorically, that Irish people were the most ethnically pure race in Europe, that red hair & freckles meat that you were indeed of pure Irish/Celtic descent! and that the Beatles were in fact all Irish

Admittedly, all three 'facts' have a little bit of truth in them, just a little ...........

Cool Mo D

Vitamin supplements are good for you.

In reality, they are a poor substitute for healthy eating, as vitamins are better absorbed from food rather than in pill form. And if you are getting all your required vitamins from your diet, taking vitamin pills will have no positive impact on your health, and taking very large doses may actually be harmful.

Also, taking extra vitamin C does nothing for you, excess vitamin C just gets pissed straight out into the jacks.

Also, there is not a shread of evidence that getting plenty of antioxidants in your diet helps your health. Antioxidants play an important role is your cells, but you don't get them there by eating them!

There's a whole load of similar mumbo jumbo about diet out there.

dlofnep

Wazdakka wrote: »

Jesus.
God.
Heaven.
Tony Danza.

None of them really exist

Lay off Danza!

dlofnep

Cool Mo D wrote: »

Vitamin supplements are good for you.

In reality, they are a poor substitute for healthy eating, as vitamins are better absorbed from food rather than in pill form. And if you are getting all your required vitamins from your diet, taking vitamin pills will have no positive impact on your health, and taking very large doses may actually be harmful.

Also, taking extra vitamin C does nothing for you, excess vitamin C just gets pissed straight out into the jacks.

Also, there is not a shread of evidence that getting plenty of antioxidants in your diet helps your health. Antioxidants play an important role is your cells, but you don't get them there by eating them!

There's a whole load of similar mumbo jumbo about diet out there.

Was actually thinking about this very issue on the way into college today.

Magpie!

That the Catholic church ever gave a **** whether the earth was round or not.

The issue for the medieval church was whether the sun revolved around the earth (coz this is where we live and god made us in his image and so everthing revolves around us and blah blah blah) or whether the earth revolves around the sun.

It's the latter in case you were wondering.

AnonoBoy

Fratton Fred wrote: »

OK, it is a widely held belief outside of Ireland, where GAP is not, as yet, very common. http://www.blurtit.com/q828466.html

I lived in the US for a year. Never heard it there either.

Futurism

Luke, I am your father.

Euro_Kraut

NedTermo wrote: »

Shaving does not cause hair to grow back thicker or coarser or darker.
This belief is due to the fact that hair that has never been cut has a tapered end, whereas, after cutting, there is no taper.
Thus, it appears thicker, and feels coarser due to the sharper, unworn edges.
Hair can also appear darker after it grows back because hair that has never been cut is often lighter due to sun exposure.

Hold on. That proves that cutting or shaving hair makes it darker.

asdasd

Yeah I knew the Greeks (didn't know about the Indians) had proved the world was a sphere but that doesn't mean the ignorant Catholic church of the early medieval period didn't completely ignore that or not understand it.

The Myth is that the Catholic church progogated the idea that the Earth was flat. Thats a protestant myth which comes from England after the reformation, and is "commonly" believed to this day. The Catholic clergy knew their Romans, and Greeks for the obvious reason - they could read Latin ( and the Greeks had been translated). Later protestants would have less of an understanding of the Latin world, and more of the vernacular.

Ptolemy. Look it up.