You can’t trust everything you hear. But people sometimes talk with such confidence that it’s hard not to believe them. Not that they’re necessarily trying to mislead anyone—although, in certain cases, they might be—but most of us simply don’t have the time to double-check every claim we come across. And that’s exactly why some myths keep circulating for years even after they’re debunked. Recently, Reddit user Quiet-Grief asked everyone on the platform to share false “facts” that many still repeat as if they’re common knowledge. The answers that came in highlight just how slippery the “truth” can be.
Vaccines cause autism!
Sleepy-Kodiak-Bear:
It’s wild how if you trace back the origins of the movement, it was created by a British charlatan who wanted to sell a vaccine competitor and was exposed for blatantly lying in his studies.
Yet for some reason these types just believe him, based on vibes, I guess.
That freedom of speech means you can say whatever you want anytime, anywhere. Whenever someone says that they know their rights, it’s a red flag that they don’t. People should read.
MSG is unhealthy. It actually is less unhealthy than salt, and the prejudice comes from racism against Chinese restaurants.
“Bottom of the totem pole” is a term that is often used to describe something of low value, importance, or seniority. That isn’t actually how the icons on totem poles are arranged. Generally, the MOST important images are placed on the bottom, as foundational icons.
That there is an alpha in a wolf pack. The original author of the study for this debunked it himself years later after doing more research.
I think the most dangerous wrong “fact” is that you need to wait for someone to be missing for 48 hours before you can submit a missing person’s report. That is **not** true, and *especially* for minors! You can submit a report when your punctual friend is 5 minutes late for brunch. And the *second* you suspect a child is in trouble, you file a report! .
“We only use 10% of our brains.” Apparently that’s not true at all …where did that myth even come from?
oppernaR:
It’s like saying you’re only using 10% of your car if you’re not stepping on every pedal, opening and closing all the windows and doors and using every light, windshield wiper and indicator at once.
Daddy long legs is the most poisonous spider but it’s fangs just can’t penetrate human skin which is why it seems harmless. First of all, it would be venomous, not poisonous. Second of all, they’re not spiders, they’re harvestmen. Thirdly, that’s just incorrect.
“Survival of the fittest” has something to do with strength. Wrong, it’s survival of the most adaptive.
Don’t go swimming for 30 minutes after you eat.
DrunkenMcSlurpee:
It’s a nice way of saying “Give Mommy a minute to clean up after just feeding you”
“you can’t use soap to wash an iron skillet pan”
Apparently that was when lye was in soap. Modern day soap is fine.
(Still don’t soak your pan and always season it after washing).
You need to drink 8 glasses of water every day. There is no support for that. Your body doesn’t care if the water comes from a liquid or food, and a soda, liquor, coffee, or ice cream all have the same water. The amount each person needs varies with h the person and with day-to-day activities.
That being in the cold (esp with wet hair) will make you sick… when its actually just that more people are indoors sharing germs in close proximity during winter.
Kids getting a “sugar high” after eating sugar. It’s not real. It doesn’t happen.
alasw0eisme:
It’s more complicated than that. If you’ve been fasting, sugar will first make you more alert because you’re finally getting glucose. If you eat a lot, then your blood pressure will drop because of digestion and you’ll feel tired.
That the lifespan of humans is much, much longer now than in the distant past.
The *mean* lifespan of humans is now longer than in the past because so many fewer of us die in infancy. But hundreds or even thousands of years ago, if you made it past early childhood, you were NEARLY as likely to live to 70- or 80-something as you are today.
People tend to think that since the “average” in say, Biblical times, was something like 40 (give or take), that most people died around 40 years old. In reality, most people died either before their first birthday, or in their 70s. We largely eliminated the infant mortality rate, thus raising the average, but the “lifespan” of a human is only a little longer than it has been for centuries.
“Looks like Frankenstein”
What they actually mean is Frankenstein’s monster.
This isn’t a “fact” but something that is regularly said incorrectly.
Cops don’t have to tell you that they are cops, especially when undercover. They only have to tell you when they arrest you.
Your beard grows back thicker after you shave.
Lemonface:
The tips of each individual hair often do grow back thicker (for a time) after shaving. The density of hair/number of follicles producing hair doesn’t change, though
Israel is defending itself. Wrong they have been ethnically cleansing Palestinians off their ancestral lands for 100 years.
“Other countries pay the tariffs”.
Opposite_Bag_7434:
This is a generalization at best. A tariff applies to a country of origin typically, and can apply to certain goods. Who pays can vary, sometimes it is the exporter and sometimes it is the importer. But it is not “the country” that pays in either case
That your brain isn’t fully developed until age 25. Your brain continues developing over the course of your entire life. 25 is the estimate for the prefrontal cortex, but the age range varies and can be extended up to 30+ for people with autism or ADHD. 25 is just another arbitrary number assigned be-all, end-all meaning.
Bears hibernate. They do not enter into true hibernation but a deep sleep. They do wake up in the winter to feed and poo.
Less and less now fortunately, but the idea that “according to science, bumblebees can’t fly”. Sure, if you treat the wings like rigid airplane wings the surface is too small, but they, you know, MOVE their wings.
“That’s the definition of insanity”. Drives me crazy when people finish this quote. No, no it’s not.
That everyone has a different “learning style”.
Children may have a way they prefer to learn, and that’s great and they should be allowed to explore that. But studies show they don’t actually perform any better in tests when being taught according to their reported learning style.
Top three:
* The US Civil War was over States Rights
* Water goes down drains clockwise/counterclockwise depending on which side of the Equator you’re on and that’s due to Coriolis Effect
* The Mexican/American War was over US Citizens being mistreated
That last one is currently an important one, because the reality is US Citizens were:
* The illegal immigrants
* Refused to assimilate (never learned Spanish)
* Refused to follow local laws (Slavery was already illegal in Mexico).
Stores use the money you donate at the register to get a tax break when they donate it to the charity.
I work in a hospital and people with masters degrees truly believe full moon = increase in hospitalizations.
I don’t know if its a fact but people will often say “innocent until proven guilty” to deflect situations where someone was accused of a horrific crime. That phrase is meant for the judicial system. In terms of public opinion or your personal opinion, it doesn’t have to be that way.
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