Buckle up , besties , because we ’re about to get wind a affair or two .
If you’ve ever spent literally even five minutes on the internet, you know exactly how easy it is for false information to spread. C’mon, we’ve all been guilty of reading something and perhaps not fact-checking it as closely as we should be before telling someone else, right?
Whether they’ve spread via the interwebs or from generation to generation via word of mouth, there are tonssss of “facts” people go their whole lives believing even though they’re actually 1000% false. And some of them become so widely spread and accepted, they become myths or urban legends themselves. Well, recently redditoru/N615JBasked, “What urban legend needs to die?” Here are 14 of the most popular, commonly believed ones, and the truth behind them:
1.“The ‘fact’ that youeat spiders in your sleepis fake.”
— u / sam_my_friend
According toFOX8 WGHP , the myth originated from a phoney facts article by Lisa Birgit Holst . As it turns out , the articleandthe author were phoney , and the whole affair was an movement by Snopes to highlight how easy it is to overspread misinformation online . Still , people often cite the simulated article as the source for this " fact . "
2.“That you cantarget fat losson a particular place on your body, like tummy fat. Fat doesn’t know where it lives.”
— u / catsdelicacy
" I ’ve been abstract for about 10 long time now . Anytime I listen someone say something about ' target fat departure , ' I just say , ' If you could target fat deprivation , there ’d be a muckle of fat guy with six coterie . ' "
— u / CaptainHazama
When you work on out , your fat isbroken down into glycerine and free fatty acidsfor your consistency to utilize as fuel . In turn , these enter your bloodstream . This fat can come from anywhere in your body , so working out one specific domain does n’t mean that is where the fat you are break down is coming from when you exercise . Our bodies are unable to target fat like this because it must be broken down before being used as fuel , and the way fat cells are stored in our bodies ( as triglycerides ) is n’t available by our muscles as is . you’re able to read more about thishere .
3.“Ostriches do not bury their heads in the sand if they’re afraid of something! It’s one of my biggest animal myth pet peeves.”
— atomic number 92 / otusasio451
What ’s in reality going on is that ostrich employ holes in the dirt as nests for their eggs . When the great unwashed " see " ostriches burying their heads in the sand , what they’reactually seeingis them prod a gob or turning their ballock .
4.“That you need to wait 24 hours to report someone as missing. This is a myth — you can, and SHOULD, report someoneas missing as soon as they go missing.”
— uranium / OaklandLandlord
" My occupation is to respond 911 telephone call . If you believe someone has gone missing or something bad has pass to them — even in the last five minutes — tell us . If you give us some proof of concern , we ’re run to commit you help flop away . "
— u / nayaya
" We had a full - blown chopper search last week at a lake near my house because a kid went missing for about 10 minutes . They found him toy at a penny-pinching playground about half an time of day after . But the police printing press guy said that the female parent did the right thing , especially since the kid pass leave out so close to a lake . “—u / Wrongkalonka
When it comes to finding drop people , the first 48 hoursare peculiarly crucial . There isno required waitress periodto report someone as miss .
5.“That you can’t get STDs from oral sex.You absolutely can!One of the clinics I work at is a free sexual health clinic. Too many women are in there for mouth/throat/other digestive problems stemming from unprotected oral sex and various STDs.”
— u / chewedgummiebears
you’re able to check more about ithere .
6.“That vaginasget ‘loose’from having sex. It’s wild that there are really men out here that believe this!”
— uracil / Nervous - Translator76
" I hump that it ’s implied that they ’re loose if they ’ve had sexual practice with a pile of different men . But if it ’s the same guy over and over it does n’t get loose ? How does that make sensory faculty ? "
— u / RadioactiveWalrus
OB / GYN Lauren Averbuch , MD explain the common misconception toRefinery 29 , saying , “ What I ’d like others to empathise is that the vagina is composed of multiple brawniness that delimit the pelvic flooring … These muscles can tighten and make relaxed depending on the condition . During stimulation , the muscles unlax . The easiness of muscles can make the vagina more or less accommodating . "
7.“That you can safely live in the Bermuda triangle. I live in Bermuda. The triangle issmack dab in the middle of hurricane territory,so ships and planes back in the day (that didn’t have weather mapping) would get spanked by them frequently. It’s so irritating when you’re trying to introduce yourself, saying, ‘I’m from Bermuda’ and the response is ‘LiKe ThE tRiAnGle oMg hOw diD YoU sUrViVe?'”
" Many a hurricane go by through the ' triangle ' every single year . Go back a duet hundred days and I ’m sure you ’d think that traveling through there was ‘ doomed ’ when realistically it was just a stupid time of year to locomote that way . "
— u / WinnerInfamous
grant to theNational Ocean Service , the region is particularly difficult for ships to pilot due not only to spartan and frequent storm ( most tropic storm or hurricanes in the Atlantic head through this region ) , but also shallow waters from legion island and promptly deepen weather condition due to the Gulf Stream . It ’s also believed to be an domain where compasses can show to " lawful north " rather than " magnetic north , " make up pilotage even more difficult .
8.“Detoxing treatments. NO Sharon, ‘harmful chemicals’ are not just going to ooze out of your face and feet if you use those masks. That’s not how the human body works at all!”
— u / DoubleFishes
accord to several nutritionist that spoke toHuffPost , " The soundbox is naturally design to be able to pass waste matter textile such as toxins , chemical , and old hormone in decree to preclude an accrual of potentially toxic and harmful byproducts build up in our systems . " Another explicate , " Our eubstance do not really need to be ' detox . ' This is because they already do a very upright problem of this course – chiefly through the action of the liver , kidney , lung , and gastrointestinal piece of land . "
9.“That it’s super illegal to turn on the light inside your car while driving at night.”
— uranium / Both - Invite-8857
accord to Sgt . Brian Pennings of the California Highway Patrol , it isnot , in fact illegal . you may probably thank your parents for perpetuate this myth after babe - you try turning the inside Christ Within on one too many times on a foresighted car drive .
10.“That doctors will let you die if you are a registered organ donor tosteal your organs.”
— u / Clarence_Bow
" My stepson actually believe this and also believed that the same was true for EMS force that worked on ambulances . I actually nonplus into an argument with him about it because I thought that was the stupidest affair ever , as if the medical officer are pulling out your wallet to watch your conferrer status before they start dole out first aid . Once I pointed that out he started to reconsider the ridiculousness of the theory , but I ’m pretty certain he still believes that it ’s genuine once you get to the infirmary . "
— u / GingerAphrodite
On theUnited connection for Organ Sharing ’s website , they clarify this misconception , explaining , " If you are sick or injured and admitted to the hospital , the number one precedency is to store your life . Organ donation can only be considered after death has been declare by a physician . "
11.“That people only use 10% of their brain.”
— u / Freeagnt
This , of class , is not true . It ’s potential that at some times , like when we ’re resting , we may only be using a small part of our Einstein , perhaps around 10 % . However , accord to Johns Hopkins School of Medicine neurologist Barry Gordon , most of our psyche is active almost all the clock time , and we habituate most every part of our brains .
12.“The idea that there arepeople in your neighborhoodjust waiting for the chance to poison your kids by giving them unwrapped Halloween candy.”
— u / gcm6664
" This just supports the Stranger Danger schtick . While that is important and bad things can happen in your own neighborhood , it actually would n’t have helped inthe one genuine timekids were poison via Halloween confect . In that case , it was n’t a random person poisoning candy for a kick — it was a Fatherhood who was essay to kill his kid for the indemnity money . "
— u / ShiftingSpectrum
you could read about the genuine - life " Candyman " casehere .
13.“That touching baby birds will cause their mothers to reject them because they smell like human.They absolutely will not. Don’t go messing with babies for kicks, but touching a baby bird or its nest won’t prevent its mother from returning. If you aren’t sure and an animal is injured, call a wildlife rehabilitator so you’re not putting fledglings where they don’t belong.”
— u / Competitive - Ad-9662
In reality , most boo ca n’t smell out very well and shuttle parent have an " innate drive to parent their brood " according towildlife biologist Elizabeth Manning . She recommend that , in most cases , you should leave child bird and nests alone , as their mother is belike nearby and look for you to give . But in the pillow slip of an accident or emergency , your human scent wo n’t actually result in a mother abandoning her chicks .
14.And finally, “That it’s a felony offense to rip the tag off of your mattress. It is ONLY illegal for stores and manufacturers to rip the tags off of new mattresses for sale.However, once you buy it, feel free to rip that annoying tag off.”
— u / Extreme_Today_984
" Back in the ' LXXX the tag only stated , ' DO NOT REMOVE THIS TAG UNDER PENALTY OF LAW ' and every single ' 80s kid was terrified of doing this . I think it was in the late ' 90s that they finally added some linguistic process that clarified that the end client could dispatch the tag . "
— u / danixdefcon5
Here ’s a picayune back story : In the yesteryear , manufacturers and trafficker were n’t required to list what mattresses were made of . So to save money , manufacturing business sometimes fill mattress — including ones that were antecedently used in hospitals — with thing like stalk or dirty reprocess material that may themselves comprise harmful bacteria or bedbugs . When the politics began requiring manufacturer to list these things on the mattress itself , they ’d follow , but seller would rip the tags off before being shown to customers because it meant theytechnicallywere following the rules . Thus , the " Do Not dispatch by Penalty of Law " tag was created . you may read more about thishere .
mention : Submissions have been blue-pencil for length and/or lucidity .
