I know we're a culture full of over the top whiners.
We love to go on and on about all the things that bother us.
And all of the life impediments that stand in the way of our happiness.
But we need to dial it down a notch.
There is a difference between actual bodily harm and an inconvenience.
Redditorseesnawsnappywanted to mull over what aspects of life make us feel like actual pain but maybe we're exaggerating. They asked:
"What isn't torture but feels like it?"
I hated waiting tables. You have no idea the actual torture, ok not actual, but misery one must endure.
Dial Up
Spongebob Squarepants Internet GIFGiphy"Slow internet."
sev45day
"Slow internet : pretty salty"
"Connected but no internet : a n g r y"
Out of the Way!
"Traffic when you’re already late."
EdibleTurds
"Being stuck in traffic, and having a poop locked and loaded in the chamber. Stupid drivers wrecking all the time and having me prairie doggin' for an extra hour."
pineappledaddy
"Worst part for me is I don't have to poop until Im stuck in the car i get the urge before I leave and I try to go and it doesn't happen but when I'm the car without a bathroom within 50 miles it's like I've taken a laxative it's so terrible."
bknox1789
Extensions...
"Food delivery being over the estimated time."
leswhinin
"Or when the time keeps getting extended further and further and further and you have a 6 AM flight the next morning and then you check and it turns out the restaurant closed 2.5 hours ago but Doordash still says that a Dasher was waiting for an order and you have to give up and have sleep for dinner."
THROWRA302376
Midday Blues
"Having a 230 appointment the whole day is ruined."
LikelyGeoduck85
"I had one of those today! It was the only appt available this week, and fell right in the middle of an 8 hour shift. So I left and took my cat to the vet, brought her home, and went back to work. Honestly, not nearly as bad as if it was scheduled on an off day. Lucky to have a boss that understands pet needs, too."
verycoolfarts
If I hear that song again... I can't even think about it.
Swollen Glands
Sore Throat Radang GIF by K Health | Digital Primary CareGiphy"I caught strep for the first time in my early twenties when working at a daycare/preschool, and it actually was torture. My throat was so swollen it felt like I was swallowing glass and every time I tried to swallow I couldn't really get all my saliva to go down so I was pretty sure I was just going to drown in my own spit."
Timely-Tea3099
It's Lost
"When you lose 5g and it kicks you back down to 4 and it won’t load a webpage even though 2 years ago it would’ve had it up in 2 seconds."
EggsAndBeerKegs
"Long story short with physics, it’s frequency vs power. Then providers think they need to upgrade some parts but not others. There’s a reason, but it’s a stupid reason."
hoosier268
"This makes me furious. How in the hell is having only 4g as slow as when we didn't have 4g at all years ago? Ridiculous."
FainOnFire
MOVE IT!!
"Being on one of those slow-moving people movers and stuck behind someone who is just standing there instead of walking."
bassistmuzikman
"I yelled 'get out of the way' this morning to a guy that was walking slow when a car was behind him and I need to get to where the car was coming from."
coolcrushkilla
Eternity
"Waiting at the doctor's office. (USA). They have the audacity to charge you a fee for being late and calling it a 'no-show' but damned if I've ever been to a 2pm appointment that actually began earlier than 2:30-2:45."
sexapotamus
"45 minutes is ok, in France we don't pay for doctors but it's possible to wait 2 or 3h after the original time of appointment."
Rabanaaash
"I remember having regular appointments for physical therapy that never started on time. The magazines in the waiting room were crap, so I started bringing a really long novel with me."
Annihilated_Matter
Forever
Comedy Central Advertising GIF by South ParkGiphy"Watching 2 unskippable 30 second ads, it's only a minute but it feels like an eternity."
Formal_Activity5040
Well there are worse things in life. We do whine a lot.
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I think it's safe to say this current generation of kids today are a bit more sophisticated and savvy. Well, when they're not eating tide pods.
They certainly seem less gullible to information being fed to them that is suspicious or blatantly false. So why are we still trying to run with the same old tricks
We have to evaluate what basic life lessons and aspects of education really need to fall away, like the use of cassette tapes and CDs.
If it's about control, believe me, the kids have it.
RedditorNecessary-Spinach182wanted to discuss the topics that may need to be retired from the curriculum after all this time, by asking:
What BS is still being taught to children?
I fell for so much as a kid. It was easy for me though. I wasn't so much a gullible child, as I was riddled with guilt due to being taught in a Catholic school. Need I say more?
Until "W"
lights alphabet GIFGiphy"In Denmark, the ABC song consists of 28 letters because we didn't used to count W for some reason."
"However, now we obviously do count the W but the song was never updated and many adults thinks me an idiot when i say there are 29 letters in our alphabet. It truly pisses me off." ~ LeMolle
Bad Truth
"Im not gonna hurt you, tell me the truth." ~ maxaton5
"In general, stop teaching "You will not be in trouble if you tell me the truth" if you are going to punish them."
"It's teaching them it's more important to not get caught, that your word means nothing, and to lie anyway as you will earn the punishment." ~ CrazyCoKids
Dukes Up!
"That if you are being bullied the two best solutions are:"
"- Tell your teacher."
"- Sit down with the bully and explain how hurtful their words are." ~ cpdf98
"The only solution that worked for me was fighting with the guy and winning. And I just did that after bearing different stupid things for almost 10 years, even bites, breaking my clothes and even breaking my arm once."
"Just because I was told "you are bigger, you shouldn't fight with other kids." ~ EmuChance4523
The Start
"It doesn't matter who started it."
"Such bull. It absolutely matters who started it. If you punish a child for arguing/fighting over something they didn't start, the child will be confused and rightly so."
"It goes against everything we tell children about fairness and rule of law." ~ Tuvasbien
Colors
Shining Stephen King GIFGiphy"My 5th-grade teacher taught us that our blood was blue until exposed to oxygen and that's why our veins looked blue. 10 year old me called bull and got detention."
"I had spent a lot of time in the hospital at that point in my life and had seen my blood drawn enough times to know that was crap." ~ Caity26
I never got that blood lesson. I always tune out when blood is involved though. And I think the truth should be told now... there is no good or proper way to deal with bullies.
Whatever Jessica!
Getting Ready Episode 2 GIF by The OfficeGiphy"That cracking their knuckles will destroy their hands. Like, just freaking say it annoys you, Jessica. Ask them to stop, it's not that hard. Stop feeding them bull." ~ tropicalzhu
Show me the Receipts!
"Your school record will follow you your entire life."
"My record from Mount Lebanon didn't make it to Venetia school. Venetia record didn't make it to McMurray, only a few miles away."
"Entering college, nobody knew anything about the schools I'd attended." ~ snarlyelder
Keep it Real
"When they don't teach children how to handle death and grief but they instead lie to said child to spare the pain that they should learn to understand so they can handle more in the future."
"Sesame Street did it and Big Bird was devastated but he learned to cope and move on stronger, essentially what I'm saying is, parents if your child pet dies and the kid is devastated don't lie."
"Tell them the truth and help them cope, and help them understand and comprehend why, so when you the parent may die, the child is more equipped to handle grief and not fall apart like I did when my mother died at age 12." ~ cmchris61
For the Eyes!
"Carrots help you see in the dark. Saw it on a kids' show." ~ Purplociraptor
"I read somewhere that this was a misinformation campaign created during WWII in England to help confuse the Germans about what the British could always "see" their planes. (They couldn't - they had good intelligence and didn't want the Germans to know.)" ~ ink_stained
I knew that knuckle "truth" was a lie. I'm cracking them now. And adults are a mess. There is no way out of that one. Just do the best you can with each passing year.
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People Explain Which Things Their Parents Warned Them About That Were Blown Way Out Of Proportion
Parents and adults are so dramatic. And they have the audacity to say kids are a handful. How many things have we been warned away from due to unforeseen possible dangers?
Don't do that. Don't touch that. Don't go there. That person is shady. The list seems endless.
Then you grow up and start experiencing all the do's and do not's and you realize, every adult was either lying or too dramatic to live.
Like take a chill pill. This was the concern? Let's see who can relate.
Redditoru/Marshalljoewanted to discuss all the things that aren't as bad as they seem, by asking:
What is something that you were warned about when you were younger that you now feel was exaggerated?
I hate Geometry. I always said I never needed Geometry. It was a waste of time. They said I'll use it everyday, it's imperative. Yeah... no. I knew I was right. But I was so nervous about it. Thanks guys.
It's all in Pencil
"Your permanent record. I'm 55, and nobody has ever asked me about the time I was sent to the principal's office when I was 16."
Danger
"Drug dealers. I thought people would force that drugs down my throat untill I was a broke addict. I have been offered it a few times in high school but funny enough they were all very wholesome interactions. My favorite was a guy who I had never spoken to, who had just learned I was chronically ill and he said that if I ever wanted to try anything he would give it to me for free."
"And would help me to do it safely since he knew I didn't do drugs. It was just a very pure moment and I will never forget that look of kindness and concern in his eyes. I've since been around many, many drug dealers (I think everyone in the Netherlands has) and have never been forced, tempted or manipulated to do drugs."
Yuck
"Cannibalism. Was a huge concern in late elementary to early middle school days. It was highly unlikely we'd ever crash in the Andes or that our wagon train would get stuck in the mountains in winter, but for some reason all the kids in my school were concerned about it. Should we eat someone? Could we actually do it if we had to? Who should we eat first? The fat kid will keep, but we don't want the muscular guy to lose too much weight. We were pretty messed up, I'm now realizing."
Easy Lies
"I'm 35 and I am about 90% sure I could just lie about having a bachelor's degree. Literally nobody has ever asked to see my diploma or thesis or anything. By this point in my life it's just assumed you have one if you say you do, especially since I went to a really small college most people have never heard of. They'd never check that unless I was claiming a graduate degree maybe."
Astray...
Let Me Go Love GIF by 3 Doors DownGiphy"Mom warned me to "avoid any girl who wanted to stick her tongue in my mouth ('French kiss') because it would lead me astray."
What better way to be lead astray than a lovely french kiss? Oh la la. And that permanent record scam I caught onto early in life. Although with the internet and social media, that is coming to fruition.
Movie Lies
hey arnold nicksplat GIFGiphy"Apart from infamous quicksand, I thought it would be a bigger problem being stuck in the alps and having to drink alcohol from a Saint Bernard's necklace."
Don't Swallow!
"Swallowing chewing gum."
"When I was 5, I did that many times and ended up with terrible constipation. I had to have X-rays for the doctors to check out what was going on. Our neighbor was a nurse and helped my parents give me an enema."
Flames...
"My school made me believe that I would be set on fire frequently. It has obviously not happened yet."
- hmm-mm-m
"My 50-year-old dad actually got set on fire not too long ago and he said his first reaction was to stop drop and roll like he heard in grade school and that it worked. So it may not happen very often but someday you may be thankful."
- aaronis1
"It doesn't help when you are covered in a flammable, self-oxygenating liquid. Ask me how I know..."
Good job, Mom!
"My parents both smoked before having kids, and my mom raised me on stories about how the first time she smoked a cigarette, she coughed so badly that she threw up. It made staying away from smoking cigarettes pretty easy, because I didn't want to puke!"
"Once I was in college I brought up the story to her and she blinked like an owl caught in the sunlight. "Wait, you believed me?" She said. "I was just trying to get you to not smoke. If smoking made me vomit, why do you think I smoked for 15 years?" Good job, Mom!"
All Hours
i hate everything lol GIFGiphy"My mom was obsessed with the idea that all bad sh*t only happened after midnight so that was my iron clad curfew. Guess what Mom? A ton of bad stuff has happened to me in broad daylight."
I love the night, always will. You learn the day is just as dangerous once you start watching DATELINE NBC type shows. Thanks for trying adults. Now relax a bit.
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Sometimes its in the delivery of the syntax. Or sometimes its just the words. When we hear certain old adages or news posts we tend to believe it. The truth of the matter is is that the truth is only told half of the time... if that! We have been sold so many falsehoods through life it is difficult to keep up sometimes. "I could've sworn that was true. It sounds like it." We need to have higher standards and get to fact checking.
Redditor u/JimTehHedgehog wanted to discuss facts about facts and fiction by asking what we've believed....
By Inches....
"If the earth moved just 10 inches, then we would all be dead." Parakeet63
It varies by like 2 million miles. Inches? Ha! Disposedofhero
By a Hair....
GiphyHair grows back stronger after being razored off. fake_applause
I was told this for so long. A 12 year old has the sense to see that the stubble that occurs after shaving just feels and looks more coarse because of the blunt ends. And I was taught this by every female role model like it was the gospel truth. Fantastic-Mrs-Fox
Gumballs....
"Swallowing the gum will make it stick to the stomach" Paul-Stefan
My most embarrassing life story involves me getting a gumball machine for Christmas when I was 6 or 7, and essentially eating the entire machine worth of gumballs in a single day, leading to a rockhard, butt-busting solid gum turd that scarred me emotionally for years. Swallow that one piece and live your best life though y'all.
Edit: thanks for the platinum for sharing my childhood cautionary tale, I feel so redeemed after 30 years of shame haha. meghankerry
Stunted.
Caffeine can stunt your growth.
Caffeine doesn't stunt your growth! It's been scientifically proven that an average dose of caffeine has no affect on your height. Caffeine does not affect growth hormones unless it is in absurd amounts. Like 35 cups of straight caffeine, not 2 cups of coffee and a Mountain Dew.
Edit: Heck this blew up! Also I don't have citations, but I did a school project on this topic. Thanks for the award :). TitaniumGhostMaster
Oink.
GiphyNot a fact. However, "sweating like a pig" is a phrase often used, and seldom do pigs sweat. They're always rolling around in the mud to keep cool. penguin-jesus
Eat Up.
You eat 8 spiders per year while sleeping or whatever. OldPepper12
"average person eats 8 spiders a year" factoid actually just statistical error. average person eats 0 spiders per year. Spiders Georg, who lives in cave & eats over 10,000 each day, is an outlier and should not have been counted. HandLion
Popped.
That popping/crunching joints on your hands will give you arthritis. It's not true. KiokoMisaki
It's the synovial fluid being moved around the joint and displacing gas bubbles.
Which is why you can't pop the same knuckle twice in a row very easily. You have to wait for the gas to move back into the joint to be able to displace it again. Littlebrin
Mad is Mad.
'If you tell me, I won't get mad." Thatlamereddituser
"I'm not mad; I'm just disappointed"
They're also mad. SeedlessGrapes42
I've been in both situations.
- Finding out a random friend stole a measly $10 from me in college. Not mad, just disappointed that he would risk the friendship over something so petty.
- Finding out that my group of closest friends all decided together to start a D&D campaign without anyone mentioning it to me or asking if I wanted to join. Going so far as apparently specifically telling everyone not to let me know they were excluding me. Not mad, just disappointed... actually no I was so legitimately upset that I couldn't sleep even 12 hours after I found out. Namika
Hence, sham-poo.
Roman people would use bird poop to dye their hair (true). The birds used to produce the poop were actually somewhat expensive to keep, it wasn't just random chickens. It got so popular that opportunistic people would mix together things that looked like the bird poop to sell, and ended up using fats (for texture and consistency) and lye (for color). This counterfeit poop ended up being more popular in the long run thanks to it's cleaning effects. Hence, sham-poo. Reverse_Waterfall
I See You.
Giphy"Eating carrots improves your eyesight."
This nugget of false wisdom originates with WWII Allied propaganda and its efforts to conceal a technology from the Nazis.
One of the ways the British defended against bombing raids was by holding blackouts to make it harder for incoming planes to find their targets.
At the same time the Allies were curiously good at shooting down German planes despite the blackouts. This needed a cover story because it's (incoming pun warning) blindingly obvious that small mobile aircraft are slightly harder targets at than large stationary factories and cities.
Hence the explanation that defensive gunners were supplied with a diet high in vitamin A to promote good night vision. Hence carrots.
It's true that vitamin A deficiency can contribute to vision loss. The public garbled this into a notion that excess vitamin A intake imparts super-vision. Actually what adequate Vitamin A mostly does is prevent the cornea from excessive dryness (which can be one cause of clouded vision).
The myth about carrots persisted in popular culture long after radar stopped being a classified technology.
Source:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/a-wwii-propaganda-campaign-popularized-the-myth-that-carrots-help-you-see-in-the-dark-28812484/doublestitch
Yes Officer.
Giphy"If you tell me the truth you won't get in trouble"
-A cop, to 16 year old me. wednesdaythecat
The 2....
The US 2 dollar bill is no longer printed for circulation and as such has been hoarded by collectors. Because it's been hoarded, its extremely valuable.
2 dollar bills are still being printed, though none will be printed in 2020 because there is enough supply of them to meet what little demand there is. Since they are hoarded by collectors, and money collectors are really the only people who want MULTIPLE 2 dollar bills, there is almost no extra value in them.
Basically, anyone who wants 2 dollar bills has a stockpile of them already and anyone who wants one and doesn't have one can easily get one from a collector or even your local bank. Since no extra value exists in them over their 2 dollar face value, many hoarders are willing to part with a bill or two. cabavion92
NASA Budgets....
NASA spent millions of dollars on a pen that could work in space, while the Russians just used a pencil.
They didn't spend the money developing the pen (Fisher did, and then approached NASA). novayamodel
Also they wanted a pen stead of a pencil so there was less chance of graphite breaking off and getting into the electronics. Selfaware-potato
REALITY: CO....
"Carbon Monoxide is heavier than air, so put your detectors close to the floor. The first people to die of CO poisoning are the ones lying down."
REALITY: CO is about the same density as air (in fact it is actually slightly lighter than air), so it doesn't matter where you put your detectors. This myth likely started because CO fatalities are most likely to occur while people are sleeping because they are not aware of the symptoms of poisoning (ie dizziness, nausea, etc) vs. those who are awake. goodluck_canuck
She Real!!!
Giphy"My girlfriend goes to another school." DefinetlyARealPerson
But my high school boyfriend really did go to a different school! Fortunately he came around to my school enough that people saw him, plus my friends knew him. He was hot too. shinygreensuit
You're Blanked!
Blanks are harmless. Semideleted
The gun works this way: the propellant gas propels whatever's in front of it at high velocity. So instead of sending a small slug of lead into your skull, the blank sends a small slug of your skull bone into your skull. sharfpang
Report Now!
Always wait 24 hours before reporting a missing person. Pojinator89
After 24 hours the missing person's survival chances drop dramatically. hydrogen_bromide
Fake Eyes.
Your eyes don't grow (this is fake). They do actually grow but they grow very slowly (like REALLY slowly)
Edit: (found this out from my eye doctor or whatever you call them) apparently not wearing your glasses won't make your eyes worse and wearing them also won't make your eyes better. Numbnipples4u
in case of war.....
On the US interstate system it was designed so that at least one mile in every 5 miles was straight so that it could be used as a runway by the military in case of war. This was done to appease certain politicians that opposed the massive spending on the interstate project. diiejso
Bye Bye Birdie....
GiphyIf a baby bird falls out of a tree, touching it will make it smell human and cause the mum to abandon it. Not true. ridgeydidged
The problem is that some birds and most rabbits just aren't great parents. It might not be because of smell or any one thing, but doesn't take a whole lot to spook a mother rabbit or bird away from their nest long enough to kill the babies. It's a quantity vs quality issue. Ragidandy