Redditor gaudiergash wanted to warn everyone about all the simple things that threaten our lives on the daily, so they asked:
"What are some everyday things that kill people because most don't know about it?"
Danger is all around.
Be alert!
Don't Forget
Warning Sign GIFGiphy"Carbon Monoxide is something everyone knows about but everyone also seems to forget about."
bottomless-bs
"Knew a girl from school, she and her family were all killed from carbon monoxide poisoning while staying at a cabin on New Year's weekend 2017. Her husband and two young kids. I still think about them going to bed, never to awaken."
hookersince06
Reach the Brain
"Poor dental hygiene and gum infections hit the brain fairly quickly and can be fatal before you even knew something was happening. So brush your teeth and talk to a dentist, most will try to work with you on the money side if you don't have insurance. If not try contacting a dental school near you, they are often looking for test subjects, I mean patients to work on for training."
SomeRandomUser00
"True stuff... this just killed my cousin."
FLAMES
"I know of a few things, all fire-related..."
"1. Pinched electrical wires - having, for example, a table leg or something on top of a wire creates a hot spot that can eventually start a fire."
"2. Toasters under cabinets - if you have a toaster on your countertop, and have cabinets mounted above that countertop, leaving the toaster directly under the cabinets while in use is also a fire hazard. be sure to pull it out from beneath the cabinets before use."
"3. Not sure if this one is still unknown by most people, but I'll add it just in case - water does not put out a grease fire, it makes it worse because the grease/oil is less dense and floats on top of the water and continues to burn, so pouring water on a grease fire is likely to just spread the grease and fire around. baking soda, a lid/cover of some kind, or of course a fire extinguisher will all smother the fire without spreading it around."
designer_sheets
In Defense
"Stress. Stress is a state when your body feels threatened and produces a hormone to defend yourself, which will typically boost your muscle and reduce to minimum other functions, like digestion, your kidneys, and overall all organs that aren't involved in fighting off a bear."
"If you're always stressed (Chronic stress), you will damage your organs. All of them. At once. Chronic stress is a poison, you must avoid it."
"Note that 'normal, episodic' stress like you're taking an exam today or you have 13 missed calls from mom isn't going to kill you. Well, not the stress at least."
Dahns
Drink Up
Season 7 Nbc GIF by The OfficeGiphy"Once read about someone who died when they had the flu - they were medicating with over-the-counter cold and flu medicine and drinking multiple cups of lemsip, one after the other, not realizing lemsip also contained painkillers. they died of an overdose."
StrikeOk9626
I never knew the flu was so dangerous until COVID.
It only takes a sneeze.
The BIG Bullet!
Driving Action Movie GIF by James Bond 007Giphy"People are not nearly careful enough driving vehicles. you are operating a 2,000lb bullet, please stop texting and pay attention."
BigMoney5594
No Bleach
"Mixing cleaning supplies. Cleaners are usually dangerous chemicals, mixing certain chemicals can create dangerous gases. One of the common cleaner mistakes people make is dish soap and bleach, a lot of dish soaps have ammonia in them, and you don’t want to be around the gas that ammonia and chlorine make. Also, don’t clean your kitty litter with bleach, use chlorine-free disinfectants instead. Cat pee naturally has ammonia in it and can cause a reaction too."
SegaNaLeqa
Too High
"High blood pressure."
Ultimatelee
"High BP also presents as just a headache for some. I had preeclampsia and after the baby was born I kept getting these headaches, to be honest, they weren't that painful but I felt foggy and just, off. Come to find out my BP was so high I needed 3 rounds of magnesium to bring it back to normal."
deckpumps_n_deldos
Small Evils
"Bites from the wrong flea/mosquito/tick have been decimating mankind since forever."
Midas_Artflower
"If your tick bite gets a bullseye shape around it, go to the doctor, possible Lyme disease."
"If your spider bite gets raised and white, go to the doctor, possible necrotic lesions from recluse."
"Don't live in fear of these things and squash everything with crawly legs. Do some research (tons of bug info online free from many universities, tons of insect/spider/etc subreddits), and be smart. Wear tall socks in long grass and check yourself and your pets."
BirdsLikeSka
Red Puke
season 9 berries GIFGiphy"Elderberries are poisonous until you boil them. My mom works at a school where a teacher lets some kids eat them because she didn’t know they were poisonous. Red puke everywhere. I also had a friend post a picture on Facebook of her son eating them."
CoffeeCactus92
Why are berries so dangerous?
I love them. Darn it!
"What’s an obvious sign someone’s American?"
It's All In The Greeting.
"In Salzburg I went to grab something from the drug store."
"As I was checking out I said hello to the cashier (thinking there was very little difference between how I said it and how Austrians say it)."
"She immediately started speaking to me in English and I asked her how she knew I spoke English."
"She deadpan stared me in the eye and goes 'hellloooo'."
"I just about died laughing since I'm a very stereotypical friendly American that says hello exactly like that."
"One of my favorite memories from that trip."- Ted_Dance_Son
"‘Hey, how are ya?'."- vorifo2709·
"Che Strano"!
"An Italian told me that Americans walk confidently in the wrong direction."- MagazineOk6401
kevin hart running GIF by ADWEEKGiphyCan't Deny This One...
"They want ice in their water."- gianna_in_hell_as·
Just A Turn Of Phrase
"'How's your day going?;" or 'how are you doing?' in completely random circumstances."- KanyeWest_Official
Captain America Lol GIF by mtvSometimes They Do Actually Put Their Money Where Their Mouth Is
"I worked as a cashier in a touristic place in Paris."
" I always recognized Americans because they were kinda friendly to me and they always left tips."- Aterakel
Asking Questions They Don't Want The Answer To
"Retail worker here, not living in the US."
"I can generally spot an American because they greet me with 'hey how are you?"
"And since I usually have the standard 'tired from life' retail worker expression at first I thought they were mocking me so I didn't know how to react."
"Took me a while to realize they weren't really expecting an answer lmao"
"Mind you, might just be my personal experience but it's happened too many times for it to be a coincidence."- 8Eriade8
"When I lived in Spain, the barista at Starbucks immediately knew I was American because how polite I was."
"I asked him how he knew I was American and he told me, 'In Spain, we don’t usually respond with ‘Good, and you.’ Americans are so polite whereas Spaniards will just say ‘Give me my coffee'."
"So, I stopped responding nicely and baristas wouldn’t speak to me in English anymore."
"Culture clash!"
"I just want to clarify and say that my story only really applies to a niche people in Spain."
"This does not represent the whole country."
"Just a few rude bad apples."
"For the most part, people in the country are nice and people in the city too."
"The barista was simply remarking on Americans and our penchant to be overly polite."
"Customer service have to deal with a lot of rude and unkind people, same in America."- Agitated-Coyote768
Adventure Time Coffee GIF by hoppipGiphyWhat Are You Smiling At?...
"The gentle grins you give to strangers if you make eye contact with them as you pass by, at least in the Midwest."
"Was not well received in Germany."- Vkazioa
...And What Are You Looking At?
"Eye contact."
"Maybe a smile and a 'how’s it goin?'"- A_Man_Who_Writes
Keep Your Distance
"How much personal space they give themselves."
"Americans like at LEAST an arm's length."- Zonerdrone
Get Away No GIF by Kathryn DeanGiphy"When You're Not Strong, I'll Be Your Friend..."
"According to the cia- when training to be a spy- you have to unlearn how to lean."
"Americans tend to lean on things when standing still."- chonesmcskidds
It's All About The Volume
"To quote a Latvian woman I met at a hostel: you hear them coming like the thunder."
"More often than not, if they’re talking and laughing louder than everyone else, they’re American."- MCRN_Lopez
The Truth Behind The Grin
"One American I've met was a bit stereotypical in some regards."
"He was on a biking tour from Sweden to Palestine, had an unusual beard, huge white teeth, was extremely friendly and a bit loud, and he literally carried a bucket of peanut butter with him because he said that was the most efficient way to carry energy for his travel."
"I was an intern at a software company that just got bought by a huge American company (Warner I think) and one time some executives were visiting, walked through our office complimenting all the developers loudly and then disappeared again."
"My general impression of Americans I've met in person is that it's difficult to see what you guys really think and feel, because you seem to hide it behind a layer of aggressive cheerfulness."
"So when I see someone radiating that, I expect them to be from the US."- Netcob
Snl Smile GIF by Saturday Night LiveGiphyOf course, not everyone is ashamed of being an American, and will make no trouble hiding it.
Then again, even if they did, they most likely wouldn't have been able to fool anybody...
'What is the most obvious lie you have ever been told?"
Be careful what you lend others...
"My first watch was an omega and I saved up on high school to get it."
"One of my good friends back then asked to wear it for 1 period and would give it back at lunch."
"He begged and begged so as a high school kid I gave in or couldn’t keep saying no I guess, weak on me, obviously."
"Well, he smashed it, apparently smashed the glass to test it, gave it back and said it was a fake and that’s why the glass cracked and said he didn’t do it and it just fell apart."
"A**hole became a medical doctor and is now involved in politics and holds state office."
"I’m still pissed about the watch he never admitted he broke cuz he was salty and jealous."
"D*ckhead then, d*ckhead now."- sunset117
There's an easy, if disgusting, way to see if that's true!
“'I did not feed your dog any human food'."
"my mom, while my dog pukes and sh*ts all over my house."- Hambushed
Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth
"When a co-worker told my own story back to me as his own."
"Twice."- lurkity_mclurkington
No Way What GIF by NBAGiphyIt's Not The Way You Sound, But What You Have To Say...
"I speak French, though I’m losing it from lack of use."
"But one of my college guy friends started dating a girl 'from France'.”
'He was all excited because she could talk to me in her native language and I could help translate. So he brought her to a party at my sorority house and introduced us.
"I greeted her in French with a very simple, “bonjour, bienvenue, comment ça va” which is just hi, welcome, how are you."
"Blank stare and red face in response."
"She then said, in what I thought was a kind of strange accent, that she’s sorry, she didn’t understand me. "
"I looked at the guy and said 'I thought you told me she was French?' Because maybe she was of a different nationality and he was confused."
"He looked at her and she just turned and left."
"He followed then returned a bit later and said he had caught up to her and she started screaming at him in perfect Midwestern accented English that he was a jerk for setting her up to look like a fool."
"He had genuinely been excited that he could introduce her to someone she could talk to so he was blown away by her accusations and then angry that she lied."
"She apparently felt faking an accent would make her more appealing or something."
"I would see her around on campus after that but she avoided me like the plague."
"TBH, I felt bad for her, but if you’re going to fake it, at least pick a country with a language you can speak."- LaLionneEcossaise
Happy French GIF by Lillee JeanGiphySometimes, All You Can Do Is Laugh
"When I was a kid, the internet wasn't a thing so, my friends were whoever happened to live in the neighborhood."
"One kid was a well known liar and exaggerator. We were maybe 14 years old at this time.'
"This kid could play guitar and was always talking himself up about it and talking about 'his band'."
"He actually could play, but 'his band' did not exist."
"One day, I called him at his house, from my house. I don't remember what it was about, but a few minutes into the conversation, told me, 'by the way, I'm in Florida with my band', just out of the blue."
"This was before even pagers were a common thing."
'I called him.'
"At his house."
"I just said something like , 'uh huh. Ok'."and ended the conversation."
"I then proceeded to tell all the other kids in the neighborhood."- Knight_Owls
No One Who Did This Would Actually Promote It!
"In the early 90’s I was at work making $5/hour, and a co-worker looked me straight in the eye and said he had bought a surface to air missile from China and kept it stored at him mom's house in a different city."
"Wtf dude?"
"That’s not even close to believable."- AbeLincolnsBallsack
missile GIF by RivenordGiphyActions Have Consequences...
"When I was a public defender my dipsh*t client called up his victim from the jail phone the night before his trial."
"He said kill repeatedly in an attempt to intimidate her."
"When I was telling him how stupid this, was his excuse was that he was watching Kill Bill and someone changed the channel on the cell block communal TV. "
"That dumba** is now doing 28 years in prison."- Monkey-Tamer
Peloton
"My friend told me that getting a Peloton changed her life. I looked up her workout stats & she had used it 4 times in 5 months of owning it. Her husband fared a little better with using it 9 times."
"Don't know why this annoyed me so much." - natasha_c
Not The Workout He Was Expecting
"Reminds me of my ex wife. Joined a gym, got all the gear for it: shirt, lanyard, water bottle, hat. Everything. She was always telling people she went to the gym, and she would tell me she was at the gym while I was at work. I decided to join the gym and went down to sign up. They told me I could add to my wife's plan and I'd save the enrollment fee. She pulled up the account, and she had attended 3 times in about six months span, and canceled the membership. The silver lining was me finding out that was one of her excuses for cheating on me." - evanjw90
Miraculous
"Used to have a friend that spewed BS all the time. Told me her bio parents, who live together, were divorced and seeing other people, and also that she had 25 siblings. Brought it up to her mom one time, which was an interesting conversation. She also told us she had cancer, and then a week later it was miraculously cured." - thursdayplurbonym
Human Weapon
"A childhood friend and I met up for coffee one day after not meeting for a few years. He casually "let it slip" that ever since he earned a black belt, he has had to register with the state as a "human weapon". -Readordie5
Let Me Check The Books
"As a tax accountant, I'm told lies about how much money people actually made all the time during tax season."
"My favorite was a guy telling me he's broke because he only makes $35,000/year in NYC so my (very reasonable) fee is too much for him. He says this after he asks me if he can deduct the new BMW 5 series he just bought his son all cash."
-reusethisname
We've all found ourselves in situations where we feel we have no choice but to lie.
However, if we really have to struggle to come up with a bogus story that no one will believe, then it's probably smarter and easier to do something which requires considerably less effort.
Tell the truth!
"What’s the biggest red flag you ignored?"
Distorted Monogamy
"He hadn't actually told his ex they were broken up, just that they needed to 'take a break'."
"I should have taken a break too at that point."-bowlbettertalk
Always Be Honest, No Matter How Much It Hurts
'The biggest red flag I ignored was the one I was waving in my own face every time I chose to lie about or omit something to avoid hurting my wife’s feelings or to avoid an argument instead of just being transparent and forthcoming and figuring out our problems."
"Happy spouse happy life is a big fat lie people."
"You’re going to hurt your best friend real bad if you keep it up."- SilentCondor
Your Own Opinion Matters More Than Anyone Elses
"His friends had to convince me to stay with him after I was hospitalized for 3 days, miscarriage that turned into an hemorrhage, and he didn’t visit once."- sad_ducky_duck
The Odds Were Not In His Favor
"When my now, thankfully, ex-boyfriend told me his psychologist was concerned about him dating but he thought we would 'beat the odds' and 'be a success story'."- necropant
psychiatrist psychoanalyst GIFGiphyWell, Something Certainly Went Up In Flames...
"He showed up with one black garbage bag of his belongings, but said it was cause his place burnt down."
"Our place must have burnt down as well, cause he left with a black garbage bag of his belongings, a little over a year later!"- qweerbisam
Lies, Lies Lies!
"Sometimes the drama she had with other people didn't make sense.'
"Like I'd ask 'what did they say?' and she would generalize in a vague way."
"One time I doubled down and asked 'literally what exact words were said' and she started crying because she was so upset."
"Turns out she invented drama, including faking phone calls, emails, text messages."
"She couldn't give me exact words because there were no exact words."
"She was just a f*cking sociopath."- EastSideTilly
It Takes Two
"When conversations and meet-ups are always initiated by you and never by them."
"One sided relationships suck."- h1d1nn
How I Met Your Mother Drink GIF by LaffGiphyNo One Deserves To Be Sloppy Seconds
"Meeting me late evening/at night mostly in the car driving around or places like Mcdonalds and subway."
"I thought he is just busy, apparently he just didn't want anybody to see us together as he was meeting someone else who was better looking in 'appropriate' hours and places."
"After that I learned to ignore everyone who proposes first dates at 10.30. 'driving around and hanging out'."- german1sta
One Only Hopes They Got That In Writing
"When they promised me 'transferable skills' that would 'pay off in the workforce'."- lemontreelemur
No! No! No!
“'People always ask why I’m dating you because of how you look'."
"He broke me down so bad I’m still picking myself back up years later."- itstimetobeatbpd
Oh No Reaction GIF by Ka-powGiphyAs Jane Austen taught us in Pride and Prejudice, first impressions can often be misleading.
There is, however, a sizable difference between someone being grumpy at a country ball, and someone who builds themselves up by taking you down.
As a result, it's always wise to trust our instincts, and allow ourselves to be proven wrong, rather than endlessly waiting to be proven right until it's too late.
"What's a hygiene tip that you think is underused and you wish more people knew?"
Clearer Lenses And Skin
"For those with glasses, wipe them down at the end of every day; at least every part that touches your face."
"Your facial skin will start to clear up all over."- JetxJaguar_
It Deserves The Same Attention
"Brush your tongue! It will significantly reduce bad breath."- randommillenialguy
Doesn't Need To Be The Fancy Stuff
"If you can afford tickets to the venue you can afford deodorant."- wiyoh94875
katy perry deodorant GIFGiphyWhy You Should Test It On Your Wrist...
"Not every scent is compatible with every body."
"The bottle may say eau de cologne but on you it turns into eau de durian."- YourBrianOnDrugs
Be Sure To Get Every Crevice...
"Clean your piercings."
"Stank builds up in those holes!"- pupperama
"Wash your belly button in the shower."
"Wash between your cheeks and the rim of your B-hole in the shower."
"Wash behind your ears."
"Not in that order."- _Goose_
homer simpson singing GIFYour Dentist Isn't Lying..
"Floss."
"It makes your breath smell better, saves you pain and money at the dentist and reduces your risk of losing your teeth when you’re older."
"My in-laws have dentures and it sucks."
"Implants are better but very expensive."
"I made excuses not to floss for years."
"One day I realized that that’s all they were: excuses."
"Now I floss every day without fail."
" I also scrape my tongue with a stainless steel tongue scraper."- TheManInTheShack
... And Maybe After?...
"Wash your hands before sex."- wiyoh94875
Sick Black And White GIF by Fleischer StudiosGiphySome might call those who worry too much about their hygiene neurotic or obsessive.
However, if being neurotic means always having impeccable breath, smooth, glistening skin, and a sweet natural odor, maybe we might all consider being a little neurotic every now and then...