There's an endless supply of knowledge in the world, and we're bound to get some of it wrong.
But it sure is annoying when a person continues to believe false knowledge after it's been disproven.
Already annoyed, Redditor Aarunascut asked:
"What's an annoying myth that people still cling to?"
Hobbies, Who?
"That having hobbies as an adult is only worth it if it brings in money. No, I love my meaningless and expensive hobbies, even if they don't bring in any income."
- Sneezy_baby
Joy Is Worthy
"I've been interrogated about why I'm a trained swordfighter."
"Because it's fun, you dolt!"
"I'm not going to try to rationalize about how it's an effective way to stay in shape or how sword fighting trains skills used in practical self-defense, or how studying the manuals is an intellectually-stimulating academic pursuit."
"I'm just an adult who likes playing with swords."
- Drach88
History Hidden Under Paint
"Ancient Greek and Roman sculpture and architecture being pure white marble."
"They are now. That's because art dealers long, long ago washed the paint off."
- Needydadthrowaway
Is MSG Really So Bad?
"My grandmother saw me adding MSG to a curry and the look on her face was like I was pouring rat poison into the pot."
"Meanwhile, she has basically shaved her diet down to only food with very high natural MSG content. Miso soup with kelp seasoned with soy sauce is her go-to meal when she doesn't want to think about it, her backup is a soup made from dried fish, tomatoes, gochujang, and kimchi."
"Inconsistent, I tell you."
- dudemanguy301
Scientific Fact or Idiom?
"The saying that, 'Lightning NEVER strikes twice in the same place.'"
- Back2Bach
Wait an Hour to Swim after Eating
"I was on a swim team as a kid, and if I ate and swam too close together, I most definitely got abdominal cramps."
"I always attributed it to the intensity of swimming because when this happened, this was with full-on swimming (either competing or training), and properly swimming uses basically every skeletal muscle you have."
"Eating and hopping in the pool for a float or to screw around with friends never gave me trouble."
- bigalfry
When Life Gives You Lemons
"Don’t make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back! Get mad!"
"I don’t want your d**n lemons, what the h**l am I supposed to do with these?"
"Demand to see life’s manager! Make life rue the day it thought it could give Cave Johnson lemons! Do you know who I am? I’m the man who’s gonna burn your house down! With the lemons! I’m gonna get my engineers to invent a combustible lemon that burns your house down!"
- BismarkUMD
Buns Bunny vs. the Optometrist
"That carrots give you good eyesight."
"But have you ever seen a rabbit with glasses?? No?? It works! (sarcastic comment)"
- TimBambantiki
Alpha Males
"The alpha theory for wolves, people still believe it even though the person who made the theory took it back. The ‘alpha’ of wolves is actually just the pack’s parents, and the pack is usually made up of their offspring."
"But this is a useful myth. Because the people who continue to espouse it and live their life by 'I'm an alpha' ideology gives a demonstrable reason to avoid them."
- MalkavianPrinceofJC
10% of Our Brain
"I hate this one. Our brain is a massive, fuel-guzzling organ that's full of folds and wrinkles to increase its size. To make an organ that big and then only use 10% is stupid."
- PM_;EOttoVonBismarck
Missing Persons
"That you need to wait 24 hours to file a missing person’s report."
"Yeah, in fact, it's the exact opposite, the first 24 hours are the most important."
- Aesk19
Define "Undercover"
"An undercover cop has to tell you they're a cop if you ask them."
- No_Instance_1851
Dietary Needs
"My grandma told me not to cross my legs because the baby wouldn't have room. I told her the baby was making me uncomfortable and I was going to move into whatever position I needed and that is what is best for both of us."
"My sister was even more annoying. She thought she had better medical knowledge because of nursing school, but she really didn't."
"We were at a friend's wedding and I ordered my steak medium well (you aren't supposed to have it medium) and it came medium. The risk is super low. I decided that sending it back to the kitchen would make it more likely to have an issue than eating it as is."
"She said something. I am diabetic. I didn't eat the wedding cake, but I had a chocolate-covered strawberry. A single chocolate-covered strawberry. She was asking if I really should be eating that."
"Yes. I should. The less than 20g of carbs were within my limits, and I was moving around all day and I needed the sugar!"
"To be fair, my family isn't in my life anymore because they are abusive and toxic people. So many pregnancy myths are about control. Pregnant women already have such a loss of control and agency. It is so dehumanizing."
"S**tty people use it to erode the confidence of first-time parents. They want to seem wise and relied on others for advice. They want you to think they know more than you and get you to trust them over yourself."
- Viperbunny
What Free Lifetime Pass?
"If you give birth in Disney World, YOU DO NOT GET A FREE LIFETIME PASS."
- mrkrabs445
Natural Births
"I have issues with the unassisted birth crowd."
"They say, 'Your body was made for this. Women gave birth for thousands of years without hospitals.'"
"Yeah, and the mortality rates for both birthing parents and babies were way higher than it is now. They also typically had midwives and doulas with them, not this unassisted bulls**t."
- NerfRepellingBoobs
The world is constantly overflowing with information, and we're bound to get some of it wrong some of the time.
But pieces of information that are repeatedly misinterpreted, as shown here, can be wildly concerning.
Professionals Share Their Best 'It Doesn't Actually Work Like That Though' Experiences
A lot of people seem to have a lot of assumptions about the way the world works, and a lot of us don't have any experience to back up those assumptions.
Whether it's assuming that there absolutely must be another box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch in the back of the store that they can have if they can only convince the poor teenager stocking shelves, or that a photo editor will be able to magically make your blurry, pixellated photo look amazing, there's a lot of things people seem to think are true about different fields that just aren't.
Redditor Enguzelharf asked:
"What's your profession's myth that you regularly need to explain 'it doesn't work like that' to people?"
Stock
"I work in a hardware store and apparently people think we have a huge underground storage big enough to hide every product in existence."
"No, I can't just go and fetch a part for your 20-year-old fireplace or power tool from the backroom."
- Mjarf88
"Also- an extension cord with two sets of male ends isn’t needed for Christmas light installation. No, you didn’t but one last year. Yes, I know this. I worked here last year. We didn’t have them then either. There is a use for those cords but it’s not Christmas lights."
- pherring
"Retail. If an employee tells you they're sold out of that hot sale item. They're sold out. They're not hoarding them in the backroom, because f**k you. They know they're sold out, because you're the 10th person to ask about it, in the last 20 minutes."
- RagingHolly
Pain Meds
"Your terminally ill grandmother isn't 'becoming addicted' to her pain medication. She's dying in as much comfort and with as much dignity as we can provide."
- Aggressivecleaning
"As an add-on to this, the pain medication isn't going to kill them faster."
- fiducia42
"Honestly, I needed someone to remind me of this when we were at the morphine phase with my mom. They explain how they’ll stop all treatment and make her comfortable with the morphine, and somehow it just felt like we’d be killing her. The doctor took her time to explain that was not what was happening. I am a relatively smart person but in this situation I just really needed to hear this."
- Scullyxmulder1013
Antibiotics
"Antibiotics don't work on viral diseases."
- The_Max_V
Conservation Of Energy
"As an engineer, I have to explain a lot of time that the law of energy and mass conservation can't be broken."
- Bobraie
"Are you telling me that my childhood invention of a solar-powered car with a big lamp on it pointing at the solar panels *wouldn't* be able to run forever? I don't believe you.
- JayGold
"One time the HVAC went out in my office and my boss brought in a portable air conditioner. I asked where we were going to vent the hot air, and he was like 'What heat? It's an A/C, it just makes cold.' It took 20 minutes on a whiteboard to explain that you can't 'make cold,' you're just transferring the heat somewhere else."
- KickFacemouth
Accounting
"When someone finds out you're an accountant 90% of the time they will say "great, so you can help with my taxes haha" . There are loads of accountants who may never see taxes in their day-to-day and have minimal knowledge from their certification only."
- dahliafluffy
"So much this, and no I’m not busy in April because it’s tax season, it’s because the quarter just ended."
- jaaaaagggggg
Video Editing
"Video production. Your only options in the edit are what the camera captured."
- JhymnMusic
"Dude this. I have clients sometimes ask me to add slow motion to certain shots. 'Make it look slick and smooth.'"
"Well, you shot everything at 24fps so, no. It’s gonna look like sh*t."
- try_by
"'Just fix it in post' I will end you."
- DefinitelynotDanger
Grants
"There aren’t just buckets of grant money available for your wacky idea. You have to have a track record, an organization, a plan and a budget. It’s highly competitive."
- Soobobaloula
"I’m a professional grant writer too. The number of times I have to explain that the 'airport grant' cannot be used to replace East Main Street is too damn high."
- PrideofPicktown
"I tried to explain this to an interim administrator at the school where I worked. I had asked to meet and discuss ideas for grant projects, as writing grants had previously been part of my job. Wouldn’t accept that I couldn’t just say 'it’s for a school' and that would be that."
- Sheepeys
scrooge mcduck 80s GIFGiphyArboriculture
"Putting an angled back cut when felling a tree against the lean does absolutely nothing and will result in a tree falling on your house. Just pay us to do the job"
- spjnr
"Learned this the hard way when my landlord came over to take down a tree in the back yard by lassoing it with a rope tied to a water skiing handle and cutting a notch into the tree with a chainsaw. Turns out trees are heavy, who knew? Granted it was his house but my family living in it. We moved into our own place a little later and I’ve hired arborists ever since."
- Top_Chef
"Yep. Every good redneck knows to pull the tree down with a buddy's pickup."
"Preferably a buddy you don't like with a pickup that's not worth much."
- imdatingaMk46
Ordering In A Bar
"I work in a bar. People frequently ask for drinks to be “extra strong”, but when I explain that they can just order a double, but we can’t add extra alcohol to their drink for free, they look at me like I’m speaking a language they’ve never heard before."
- Fabulous_Piccolo_178
"For a strong drink you either have to tip very well every time you are in, or be friends with the bartender outside of work."
- Idrinktears92
"Pretty much yeah. But if I’m not behind the bar, I can’t ask whoever’s bartending to f**k up their inventory by just giving away liquor—it’s like people don’t understand that we keep track of how much is in each bottle and when the sales reports don’t match the inventory, it’s a problem. Like if you work retail and somebody asks if they can just add an extra item to their purchase without ringing it up or paying for it you’re going to look at them like they’re insane."
- Fabulous_Piccolo_178
Photo Editing
"Photo editing. It's amazing how many people think they can give me a tiny, blurry, digital image of the back of their daughter sitting on a park bench, with uneven lighting in the shade, and think I can magically and quickly turn that into a banner of her standing next to the Eiffel Tower, smiling in the sun, facing the camera. Neither Photoshop nor I have any idea what your daughter's face looks like. I can't just 'turn her around'. I literally have to work with exactly what you are seeing in the photo you hand me or email me. Now if you give me several photos, some containing her face, some with her standing, etc., then yes, I can do some quite magical things."
- nollaf126
"ENHANCE"
- whateverathrowaway00
Super Troopers Reaction GIF by Searchlight PicturesGiphyThe moral of the story is: if someone who is an expert in a field tells you that something is a certain way, it's probably best to believe them.
How do we keep spreading obvious lies?
There is some misinformation that has been passed through generations.
And I'm not just talking about Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.
There is dangerous nonsense being spewed out there.
Time to get some things straight. RedditorBlugged_Bunnywanted to hear about the lies we need to watch out for so we can shut them down. They asked:
"What misinfromation seems to never die?"
"Everything happens for a reason."
Stop playing me...
What they said...
ben franklin GIFGiphy"Half of the quotes attributed to Gandhi, Dr Seuss, Oscar Wilde and Ben Franklin."
ehsteve23
“Half of the quotes attributed to Gandhi, Dr Seuss, Oscar Wilde and Ben Franklin."
"-Ben Franklin"
Da_JuiiCeMann
"the hard way"
"That if you shave any hair on your body it grows back thicker and darker."
psychedellie
"I learnt this 'the hard way.' I'm a guy with not so thick beard, my father (who is medic) always told me to shave often so my beard would get thicker. After years and years and years trying, one day I started suspecting this was false. A quick google search confirmed, to my disappointment. So now I simply don't shave at all anymore."
6RatasOnMy6
More than Once...
"Lightning never strikes twice in the same place. In fact it does - and with great regularity. Thus, the need for lighting rods in some lightning-prone locations."
waqasnaseem07
"Learned this at a young age- we had a tree on the farm I grew up on that had been hit multiple times by lightning in the years I was there. It was pretty tore-up looking, but still alive. Damn thing was right outside the rec room in the old house though, and I was in that room right by the window when it happened twice. Knocked me on my a** both times."
LoopyMercutio
Flushed
"That you can detox/cleanse your body with certain drinks or pills."
yvonv
"You DO need detox though, but in the form of a healthy, rich and diverse diet containing vegetables and fruit. And some happen to be more effective at essentially detoxing and healing your body than others such as blueberries, avocado, asparagus, all kinds of cruciferous plants, and so on."
"Any diet should contain those regularly. Even processed extracts or industrially created shelf stable crap from those often doesn't have the health benefits of just eating raw broccoli because the healthy stuff in it is heat sensitive. Boiled broccoli is still very healthy but doesn't come close to raw especially the green bits."
kek337
Seriously?
Long Legs Snl GIF by Saturday Night LiveGiphy"Grand Daddy Long Legs are the most poisonous spider on the planet but their fangs are too small to pierce skin… ugh."
Kangabolic
I believe ANYTHING involving spiders. No matter what!
Harvest
Cell Division Mind Blown GIF by Massive ScienceGiphy"That Stem cells come primarily from aborted babies.They don't, they are harvested from bone marrow today."
Moosen_Burger
Several Things
"1- That bulls get angered by the colour red- they are color blind so it really makes no difference. It's the waving of the cape that gets to them."
"2- Bats are blind- this simply isn't true either. Bats have almost as good eyesight as humans and some larger bats have eyesight almost 3 X as good as that of a human."
"3- Nails and hair of a person continue to grow after death- the skin retracts as it becomes dehydrated after death. The nails and hair do not grow, the just appear longer."
waqasnaseem07
the only ingredient in the dish...
"That MSG is bad for you. It's literally a naturally occurring amino acid in certain green plant life that utilized photosynthesis, with normal salt used as a binding agent. The myth came from a single person writing to a newspaper back in the 70's (I believe) where he ended up with a headache after visiting a Chinese restaurant, and the only ingredient in the dish he had that he didn't recognize was monosodium glutamate."
"And because people are stupid and it sounds scary, he blamed it on that, and it led to a bunch of people reporting similar anecdotal stories that led to the myth of it being bad for you. There have been dozens of studies confirming that it's perfectly safe and doesn't cause headaches or any other known ailments."
Tonsai
Usage...
"We only use 10% of our brains."
bunnies_and_birdies
"That is or was a very common misreading of an article from a popular weekly magazine in the 1960s, Life or Look. The article was based on a survey of psychologists and the point was that people only use 10% of their capabilities, not their brain. This article led to the Human Potential Movement in the 60s and 70s, with things like Werner Ernhard's est program."
moxie-maniac
Crack
Getting Ready Episode 2 GIF by The OfficeGiphy"That cracking your knuckles gives you arthritis."
littlephrogboyo
"Cracked my knuckles as I read this and it was extra satisfying."
Ocelot-of-karma
Did we get all that? Stop repeating nonsense.
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Cute and cuddly goes a long way when it comes to human opinions on our fellow fauna.
But the animals that prey on the cuter critters or are a bit bitey or less than lovely never fare as well in the court of public opinion.
While some animals are as vicious as their reputation claims—looking at you honey badger—others are simply misunderstood.
Redditor MrBonelessPizza24 asked:
"What animals have a bad reputation they don’t deserve?"
Vultures
"At least in my area of the US, the buzzards [turkey vultures] clean up the trash and dead animals on the roads. Yes, they are not pretty to look at but they do the job barely anyone wants to do."
- Cheetodude625
"Fun fact about vultures. In India because cows are revered they would euthanize old or sick ones with a special chemical as it was deemed the most humane way to do it. However despite having an almost steel trap of a stomach this chemical was also killing the vultures."
"The vultures would usually eat the dead cattle when they were decomposing. As a result decomposing cows were no longer being consumed and were beginning to spread sickness to the people around them."
"The Indian government had to make a change to the way cows were euthanized and as a result the vulture population bounced back and sickness due to proximity of rotting cow corpses went down."
"Vultures are very important to the ecosystem, but are usually treated badly because of their primary purpose within it. They shouldn't be, they provide an integral piece of it."
- Ghonaherpasiphilaids
"Himalayan cultures have to assist the scavenger birds by cutting up their dead and feeding it to the scavenger birds."
"Where they are above the frost line nothing really decomposes. It's also much too cold for burial."
"I'm sure they appreciate the birds, as they'd have died of disease without their assistance."
- PolarBare333
GiphyOviraptor
"It's extinct, but Oviraptor."
"Back in the day the first one found was a well preserved specimen lying in a clutch of eggs."
"Not much was known about oviraptor eggs at the time but these seemed to be from a much larger species, so it was thought that the critter died trying to get a free meal, so the paleontologist gave it the name 'Egg theif'."
"Years later, a really well preserved clutch of eggs was found, with perfect baby Oviraptor skeletons inside."
"The original specimen was a mother that died trying to protect its eggs, not trying to eat them. But because of paleontologys' 'first come, first served' rules in regards to naming things it will be forever known as a thief."
- Froskr
GiphyRavens
"Ravens."
"People think they're evil just because sometimes they're scavengers, and they were known to pick at bodies when public executions were still a thing."
"Because of that they're forever the symbol of death and many people think they're evil."
- BroskiWind
"Plus, they are pretty smart."
‐ The_Sound_of_Slants
GiphySharks
"Sharks."
"Humans taste disgusting apparently and sharks prefer something with blubber like seals or whales. Sharks have very very poor eyesight so they often mistake surfers for seals (imagine someone laying down on a surf board, it looks like a seal from below)."
"They aren’t entirely sure what humans are and sometimes they’ll do a test nibble to check. Then will go away once they realize that it’s not a seal."
"Unfortunately their test nibbles aren’t very gentle but also aren’t fatal as long as no major arteries were hit."
"You’re more likely to be killed by a cow than a shark."
- CapaxInfini
GiphyMOO
"Most cows will not really hesitate to walk up to a human which could lead to a dangerous situation. A shark on the other hand?"
"Most sharks will quickly disappear into the depths the second they see a human. Hammerhead sharks, in particular, want absolutely nothing to do with us and will bolt on sight."
"Unless you're splashing around at the surface of the water, the chances of actually getting attacked by a shark unprovoked are super low. Cows seem more likely to attack unprovoked."
‐ Pixel131211
Bats
"Bats. They eat more insects in one night than a spider will in a month. And they're rarely aggressive."
"Bats aren't harmless. They are a carrier of rabies, which is deadly to humans and animals alike. You should definitely be *wary of them."
"They are wild animals, and though they aren't usually confrontational, that doesn't make them friendly, either. All I ask is if they are not bothering you, leave them alone."
"If they are, then please, do something about it. I don't want anyone to feel like they are obligated to allow bats to nest in their chimney or attic."
"Bats belong in the wild, not in your house."
- Independent_Sea_836
GiphySeagulls
"Gulls are actually really expressive and very social, so they're fun to watch."
"Mature gulls in flight are quite beautiful over the ocean."
"The reason they go after people's food is because people feed them."
- olivi_yeah
"I’ll admit that I am one of the feeder people. When I’m fishing, I give some gulls (and other shorebirds) some of the bait."
"They love me and tend to keep the families and other fishermen and fisherwomen far enough away from me to satisfy my hate of socialization."
- Drulock
Giphy(o)Possums
"[North American] Possums. They are very disease resistant."
"They are unlikely to carry rabies, because their body temperature is too low for the rabies virus to thrive."
- Automatic_Judge7910
"They also eat ticks!"
- Laurasaur20
GiphyBlack Cats
"Black cats."
"They are even more adorable than the other cats and I don't understand why they have become the most known symbol of bad luck."
- SpacePickle95
"We've had 3. Each one was as awesome as the next."
"They still have different personalities, but black cats seem to have bolder personalities."
- normaldeadpool
GiphyBees
"Honey bees. People are terrified but the last thing a honeybee wants to do is sting you."
"They just want to work. They are gentle creatures with personality and moods."
- thickener
"Most people can’t tell the difference between bees and wasps and assume bees will behave like wasps."
- ReallySmallWeenus
"We are so large compared to bees that they actually only see us as environmental markers. When they see us, they see a mountain, not a giant."
"They might sting your hand if they mistake it for an adversary, but they don’t care about you."
"They evolved to recognize other insects as predators. You are too big to register as living."
- Crazed_waffle_party
GiphyMosquitoes
"Mosquitoes."
"Just kidding—f'k mosquitoes."
- coobreeze6
"Came here to see if anyone would defend mosquitoes."
"I would have then assumed that "person" was in fact a sentient mosquito. And never went outside again."
- snowman226
"Mosquitos have a vital role in the ecosystem. They are the food of some animals like frogs and dragonflies."
"They are vegetarian most of the time; they eat nectars. They only bite when they are pregnant; they need the protein in blood for the eggs."
"BUT, mosquitos also have the most number of humans killed. They are the carrier of many diseases like malaria and dengue fever."
- Background-Lunch698
"Apparently only 6% of mosquito species feed on humans, and only half of that actually carries deadly diseases."
- NotGod_DavidBowie
My Team
"Bats. Anything that eats mosquitoes is on my team. Unfortunately in my part of the country they’ve been nearly wiped out by white-nose syndrome. https://www.usgs.gov/news/national-news-release/white-nose-syndrome-killed-over-90-three-north-american-bat-species"
silviaz*itch
"Bats are my favorite animal and it breaks my heart that they're always the scapegoat. Rabies? Bats. SARS? Bats. COVID? Bats. They're very unlikely to pass on rabies, despite what that rabies copy pasta might have you think, because they die quickly from it."
an_ineffable_plan
WOOF!
"Wolves... they are vital to ecosystems and if you leave them alone they will do the same, if you save its life it'll remember years later, and it's tragic they have such a huge negative stigma against them."
Many_Rule_9280
"I love wolves! I remember seeing one on a hike with my family down by a pond, it was a beautiful sight. Wolves really need more appreciation."
bunnies_can_fly
Set Them Free
"Greyhounds. People breed them and keep them in concrete cages and abuse them and the only interactions they get is being made to chase a fluffy thing to activate their prey drive to win their owners money. And people wonder why they're nervous dogs who chase anything resembling a bunny, including cats and small dogs. Source: I fostered rescued racing dogs."
its_jaz_tho
Genius
"Foxes. Even in children's fairy tales, we were shown that foxes are cunning and greedy. However, in life they are like dogs with the habits of a cat and make cute sounds. Although I may be wrong."
ZaneElrick
"Not wrong, they have many vocalizations and can be fairly tame (rescued or captive foxes) wild foxes are notoriously shy by not gunna bother people. The only cons are they are high risk for rabies and thier pee smells so bad that people who work with them have an impaired social life. But they are still stinkin' cute"
SoccerGamerGuy7
The Scourge
"Hyenas."
IfAwardDeleteAccount
"Just to throw examples out there, hyenas are often depicted as scavengers who scrounge the scraps from the mighty lions. In reality, hyenas are the most successful predators in Africa and lions steal their kills."
"They're also considered to be the most socially complex carnivores in the world and they help to stop the spread of disease by eating every part of their kills. Vultures (another group with a bad rap) are also great at stopping disease from spreading."
BadgerSituation
The Lion King Lol GIFGiphyNot a Pest
"Spiders, they're just doing their thing being good people and eating the true pests."
COVID-69420bbq
"Man, I love having me a spiderbro. So far, I've had at least one in each place I've lived. It's nice knowing I got one looking out for me, keeping my place gnat/fly free. I don't understand what people don't understand about a mutually beneficial relationship. It's like borrowing some friction from a stranger, nothing wrong with it."
asdaaaaaaaa
Oink
"Pigs. Any farm animal, but pigs and cows don’t deserve being mocked and tortured. Pigs are highly intelligent animals, some outperforming 3 year old toddlers. 'Pig' is used as an insult to men/ cops, but it’s a really gross comparison because they’re smart, sweet, and just wanna decorate their little area with flowers. Be nice to all animals please and at least learn about who you’re eating."
Oliviasharp2000
All life on Earth evolved into a niche in the food chain.
While the extinction of one species might not topple the ecosystem, it does have an impact.
The Most Ridiculous Things Someone Said With A Totally Straight Face
Reddit user ButterflyOverkill asked: 'What's the most ridiculous thing you've heard someone say that they were 100% serious about?'
We've all heard someone say something totally inaccurate and thought to ourselves, "What?"
But the really troubling incidences are when the person speaking clearly believes what they're saying and they make the misinformed comment with a totally straight face.
Redditor ButterflyOverkill asked:
Swimming with Tsunamis
"My brother, against all laws of known physics, is absolutely certain that if he was ever in a tsunami he could just 'swim under it.'"
"We've both been in the ocean plenty of times, surfed a bit, and have definitely had our share of waves wreck our sh*t, but he's still certain he could do it if he got the timing right."
- Magic_Man_Boobs
Accent-Based Geography
"The Caribbean coast is off the coast of England because they have British accents in 'Pirates of The Caribbean.'"
"This man was in the military and had no knowledge of geography."
- Aware_Statement_205
"Man, the Death Star must have been built in England, too."
- Faust_8
The Earth is Flat
"My co-worker. We were all having a conversation. I don't remember what we were talking about, but I said something to the extent of, 'Crazy, it's like someone thinking the earth is flat.'"
"His response was, 'Well, it is.'"
"My other co-worker and I looked at each other, confused."
"Our Flat-Earth co-worker continued explaining why the earth is flat. He was saying it like he was stating facts."
"We're engineers for crying out loud. You paid too much money for your glasses and degree to see things this way!"
- Boyblack
"One of my good friends I had once respected went down this route. He effectively said because he hadn't seen the earth from space, he doesn't believe it's round. He believes nothing he hasn't seen himself."
"I proceeded to show him the red bull guy literally land on Earth from space, and it was round, but he still didn't believe it because it wasn't him."
"He also couldn't explain why nobody had ever fallen off the edge of our flat earth since if it is flat; it clearly has to end somewhere. He just said, 'I don't know. I just know it isn't round.'"
"I thought I would lose my f**king mind."
- QuaintHeadspace
"Has he seen his BRAIN?"
- dpet_77
That's not how this works
"My cousin was not the sharpest tool in the shed. He was convinced he could have unprotected sex with any woman because his current girlfriend was pregnant, so there was no risk he could get another girl pregnant…"
- joeyboii23
Drive to Hawaii
"A nurse I used to work with asked why we can't drive to Hawaii. She was absolutely serious and I wasn't surprised when she didn't last beyond her training period."
- Veritaserum25
Hawaii's Neighbor, Alaska
"I was asked, 'Why is Alaska so cold but Hawaii is warm when they're right next to each other?' because on US maps, they're always both in a little cutaway box down by Mexico."
- Msktb
Misunderstood Roundabouts
"Putting in a roundabout was stupid because now they had to stop four times instead of the one time if they had just left it as a four-way-stop."
- SaraSmashley
"We recently got a few in my town. People treat them like stop signs and come to a (somewhat) complete stop before entering."
"If it’s clear, I just breeze through without stopping like you’re supposed to. I’ve had passengers tell me I ran the stop sign. It’s a yield sign."
- caseyjosephine
The Caribbean Moon
"That when we were in the Caribbean we were seeing a different moon. Their moon."
- robkat22
"I’m living in the Caribbean and went out to look at the moon after reading this. It’s such a clever duplicate, I never would have known."
- inconsistencyItself
No Accountability
"My ex-husband was a horrible driver. Wrecked everything he ever owned and then some, but he somehow thought he was an excellent driver."
"We were riding through a town with a four-lane main road. He started to change lanes oblivious to the car that was located exactly where he was headed. I told him to stay in his lane, and fortunately, he did."
"He said, 100 percent seriously, that if he'd changed lanes and crashed into the car that was already there, it would have been their fault because they didn't honk their horn to warn him."
- sirdigbykittencaesar
"This reminds me of an old joke:"
"A man is driving to work when his phone starts ringing. It's his wife."
"She says, 'Be careful darling, the news has just said there's a maniac driving the wrong way down the road.'"
"The man replies, 'Not just one maniac, f**king hundreds of them!'"
- Mackem101
The Sun and the Moon
"'Why do they call one side of the Sun the Moon?'"
"This 30-year-old legitimately thought the moon was just the other side of the sun."
- JoisChaoticWhatever
Seatbelt Safety
"'I never wear a seatbelt.'"
"And why the h**l not?"
"'Because if I am in a wreck, there’s no way I’d be thrown to safety.'"
- BreatheMy
"I had a friend with a similar theory. She didn’t wear them because she had heard stories of people wearing seatbelts ending up with serious head injuries in car accidents."
"She honestly couldn’t grasp what the results would be without them."
- ghjkl098
Scary Orb in the Sky
"Former 911 dispatcher here. I had a guy call once freaking out about the white orb thing in the sky."
"The moon. He was very worried."
"I made him promise not to drive or leave his house. I told him to call back if he felt sick, but we never heard from him again."
"I wonder if there’s a dude out there who remembers that time he got [baked] and called 911 because of the moon."
- Here4TheShinyThings
Bluetooth Shower Head
"She was very serious that she wanted a useable hand-held shower head without a hose because the hose was 'ugly.'"
"I asked if she meant an overhead or a wall-mounted shower head because those didn’t require a hose."
"Nope. She wanted the water to flow from the wall into a handheld shower head without a hose."
"I tried to tell her that wasn’t possible and ended up sending her to a different home improvement store."
- Lone_Ronin_
"She wanted the wireless version."
- thatvixenivy
Those Darn 5G Headaches
"My wife’s grandmother was complaining once how her phone’s 5G was giving her headaches and asked my wife to turn off the 5G."
"My wife works with phones and was easily able to tell her grandmother that her phone wasn’t even capable of 5G."
"Her grandmother didn’t like that answer and later took her phone into her carrier to only be told the same thing."
- croyalbird13
Trapped in "The Oregon Trail"
"I'm 43 now but used to do a fair bit of traveling in my younger days, up until I was about 30. I always came back home for Thanksgiving and Christmas."
"Anyway, I had hitch-hiked back into town and was walking to my Grandma's house where I'd be staying, carrying my Alice pack."
"A girl got to talking with me on my way, and it came up that I'd just got back from Oregon."
"Dead-faced confused, she was like, 'They have towns out there, like cities and stuff?'"
"She genuinely believed it was still like the Oregon Trail days... except this was in 2005, lol (laughing out loud)."
- lightsaber_lobotomy
"People on travel forums sometimes ask if the roads in Arizona are paved, especially the road to the Grand Canyon."
"I always want to reply, 'No. You need to rent a covered wagon.'"
- mesembryanthemum
We've all been misinformed about something at some point, but these accounts were very surprising.
It's tough decide if these instances would be worth talking about, to help the person know better next time, or if it's just better to smile and nod.