We’ve all been there—confidently repeating something we “know” to be true, only to discover we’ve been wrong the whole time. From health advice passed down through generations to so-called legal facts we picked up from TV shows, misinformation has a funny way of becoming accepted wisdom. Remember being told to wait 24 hours before reporting someone missing? Pure fiction. Or that giving cats a saucer of milk is a kindness? Actually harmful to our feline friends.
These well-intentioned but incorrect beliefs spread from person to person until they become unquestioned “facts.” In this age of information overload, separating truth from fiction has never been more important. Let’s set the record straight on thirty common misconceptions that somehow became accepted as gospel truth in our modern world.
#1
You don’t have OCD because you like things organized or clean. OCD is horrible and debilitating and it’s a lot less fun than feeling “satisfied” when things are organized.
Image source: adognamedgoose
#2
You can file a missing persons report as soon as the person goes missing. No need to wait 24 hrs or whatever.
Image source: CaptainKangaroo_Pimp
#3
Giving a cat milk is a very bad idea. Most cats are lactose intolerant and giving them milk will cause stomach problems.
Image source: Rasheedgames
#4
That to be sick you have to look sick. There are a lot of people with chronic illness that don’t need to deal with scepticism along with their symptoms.
Image source: Sola_Solace
#5
That being poor means you didn’t try hard enough to be successful. Success can be measured in ways other than wealth.
Image source: Vadavim
#6
I was barred from participating in a school swimming race because I ate some chocolate beforehand and a teacher caught me. She said I would get a cramp and die and I had to wait 20 minutes. Even 8 year old me knew it was complete twaddle.
Image source: reddit.com
#7
Touching a baby bird is not going to cause it’s mother to abandon it.
An old wives tale designed to stopped kids messing with young chicks has now caused a generation of people to pass on this old belief without ever being corrected.
Yes, if you see a baby bird on the ground chances are it’s mother kicked it out to teach it to fly or something, but if you need to cut the grass/ mow the lawn you can lift it and put it back in it’s nest, it’s mother isn’t going to abandon it just because you touched it. That’s like thinking a human mother would abandon a baby because a cat rubbed it’s butt on it.
Image source: Toraden
#8
That gender somehow dictates what you can and can’t do. Only boys can play with trucks and only girls can play with dolls? […] Let a kid be a kid and play with whatever they want. It’s c**p like this that leads to adults feeling like gender can dictate job opportunities. Women can do just as well in science based fields as a man. And in some cases, even better.
Image source: k_princess
#9
Despite what people think Albert Einstein never failed math. The confusion likely comes from the grading system, but has been used for a long time to give people hope.
When he was shown a clipping from Ripley’s Believe It or Not where that myth originated, he responded, “I never failed in mathematics. Before I was 15 I had mastered differential and integral calculus”.
Image source: -eDgAR-, Oren Jack Turner, Princeton, N.J.
#10
i doubt anyone on reddit is young enough to still believe this shit but god knows i did for the longest time. turning on the light in the backseat of the car while your parents are driving is NOT illegal. my mom lied to me for my entire life and it literally took me looking like an idiot in someone else’s car to figure out i had been scammed.
Image source: reddit.com
#11
That hair that is shaved/trimmed will grow back thicker and longer. It won’t and doesn’t. It’s an illusion created by everything being neatly cut to the same length, giving it an effect of more volume.
Image source: Okarine
#12
The myth: Napoleon was really short.
The truth: He was actually average height, or even a little bit above average height.
How did it come about?: The archaic French measurement used stated he was around 5’3, when in actuality that translates to about 5’7 in today’s measurements, which was average for the time.
Image source: ulanderdennis, Horace Vernet
#13
That few people lived past their 30s in the middle ages or some other ancient era.
This misconception arises because of an automatic and incorrect assumption people make when they hear the statistic ‘the average life expectancy was 35 in the middle ages’.
In reality there have always been lots of people who live to 70+ years old in all societies. The difference was that in the middle ages there were many childhood diseases that caused a much higher childhood mortality rate which skews the numbers much lower. If you survived childhood there was a very good chance you would make it into your 60s+.
Image source: sutkusman
#14
Because it happens to be cold today, there is no global warming.
I loved Colberts response to this on one of his episodes of The Colbert Report. He was like: “global warming does not exist because it’s snowing today. Just like how world hunger doesn’t exist because I’m not hungry right now”.
Image source: inardtickler, stonefacelongschlong
#15
Freedom of speech, People seem to think that freedom of speech means that they can say anything they like and not face any consequences from employers or people who think they’re a******s.
Image source: sami2503
#16
Marie Antoinette’s famous “let them eat cake” or “let them eat brioche”. She literally never said it. She was 9 at the time and it was entirely made up.
Image source: oamnoj
#17
Flushable wipes aren’t flushable. Toilet paper breaks down easy in water, but you ever seen a baby wipe rip up? Those things just end up clogging pipes and ruining the sewers. Hell, New York (Sorry, LONDON. My bad.)found a huge mass of those things (along with a bunch of other junk) the size of a bus in the sewers thanks to those wipes.
Image source: Prof_Alchem
#18
That going in an ambulance to the ER will get you seen faster. It won’t. Unless you are actively dying, you do not suddenly get put on a higher priority list. Stop calling 911 for b******t. Thanks. Signed, An EMT.
Image source: AutumnUnderFire
#19
That jellyfish are electric. They’re not. They sting you with nematocysts which stick in your skin and inject some toxins — THAT’S what stings. You’re not getting shocked you’re getting MICROSCOPICALLY STABBED.
Image source: voidmountain
#20
I work as a ride operator at Disneyland, and please just let me say this. THE PURPLE TEACUP DOESN’T SPIN ANY FASTER THAN THE REST OF THEM PLEASE STOP GETTING INTO FIGHTS OVER IT
EDIT: I would also like to say that people throwing up on that ride is actually not common at all, I have personally never seen it happen in my 3 years of working there.
Image source: ValWondergroove
#21
I haven’t met too many people who believe this (I do live in New England though) but nobody was burned at the stake during the Salem witch trials. 19 people were h**g, and one man was pressed to d***h, but nobody was burned.
Image source: Jyacoba
#22
Fresh fruits and vegetables are necessary to eat healthy.
Frozen can even be superior and canned produce saved countless lives over the years. Fresh produce is also responsible for the largest share of produce food waste because it has higher appearance standards and shorter shelf lifes.
Image source: reddit.com
#23
I really hate the myth that the emergency oxygen masks on airplanes make you high, or docile so you don’t panic during a crash. That’s almost the exact opposite effect. If airlines really wanted their passengers to be docile they would just let them have hypoxia. Now that will make you calm.
Image source: Cessno
#24
That acne is a result of dirt/poor hygiene. If ‘washing my face’ could cure my acne, I think I would have figured that out a loooong time ago.
Image source: sheeku
#25
Eating fat doesn’t make you fat, what really does it is eating more calories than what you use.
Image source: reddit.com
#26
Chemicals are bad for you.
Edit: clarity, I’m not against being all natural. People just need to understand what they put in their bodies and avoid generalities.
As someone in the chemical industry, this. When I say “food-grade chemicals” people look at me like what?!?!?! Chemicals in food?!?!?
Yes. For example, Sodium Bicarbonate (baking soda) is actually a chemical and it’s in mostly all of your baked goodies. You’re eating a chemical.
Image source: synalchemist, DiscipleofGrohl
#27
That the great wall of china is visible from space. How stupid is that shit, its like 30ft wide, dumbest myth ever. I even mentioned it in a science class in middle school and the teacher shut me down with, “Have YOU been to space?” I was so p****d, what a dumb as f**k argument. Have YOU seen an atom???? […]
Image source: Genlsis
#28
When you have an IV cannula inserted, a needle is used to insert the cannula but then the NEEDLE IS REMOVED and you’re left with a tiny thin plastic (?) tube in the vein.
I think 50% of my patients don’t realise there’s not a needle in their arm for hours/days on end.
Image source: rebothy
#29
“The human eye can’t see more than 30fps” That’s not even how your eye works!
Image source: Mckeag343
#30
That anything bad that happens is the presidents fault and no one else’s.
Image source: TheOnlyomgepicness
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