A lot of what we think of as "common occurrences" most likely come through word of mouth.
Stories told from a friend of a friend who knew someone who has a guy who set them up with this extremely rare piece of jewelry that's totally authentic.
Until you find out it's not.
Reddit user, BroodyBatman, wanted to know what's rarer than we might have given it credit for when they asked:
"What’s something very rare that people think is very common?"
Going with the "word of mouth" idea, anecdotal stories, as well as "it happened to them so it could happen to you" type stories can be detrimental to your life, especially if you spend all day thinking it might happen to you.
No, no one is going to sue you for parking in their space.
Every Jewel Trade Everywhere Show Are Liars!
"Turquoise!"
"I'm beginning study to be a jewelsmith and apparently most of the turquoise on the planet has already been mined and used."
"What we use today is a stone called howlite that can visually imitate it."
"If it's real it's likely hand-mined from the few small mines remaining that have some left."
"Real turquoise is very expensive as a result."- Phantasmai
"Yep, same goes for real jade too. The real stuff is expensive and hard to find."
"Most cheap “jade” is aventurine, glass, resin, serpentine or some other kind of stone."
"A lot of jade is also injected with resin and dyed to get the clear, pale-green effect."
"I wanted to buy a jade bangle and did a ton of research and found that the real ones cost at least a few grand with the nice ones being tens of thousands, if not more."
"Also, pretty much all 'jade' facial rollers are not real jade, most are either glass, resin or serpentine, which they like to call 'Xiuyan Jade' because it is found in jade mines but isn’t real jade."- Urban_mist
You're Not Suing For What You Think You're Suing For
"Multimillion dollar personal inconvenience lawsuits."
"You’re not suing McD for millions because your fries were cold."- JK_NC
"And, many times, these lawsuits that are “personal inconvenience” are actually intense lawsuits disguised as inconvenience by the company."
"One example of this is the woman who sued McDonald’s for her coffee being too hot, which seems like an inconvenience, until you realize the coffee was so hot it burned her down to the bone."- imonlyjoiningforthis
Don't Do It For The Fame. Do It Because You Like It.
"Making it big on Youtube/Twitch"- Legenberry817
"Yeah that one guy you watch who “only” has 100-200 viewers on twitch is actually in the top 1% or something lmao it’s crazy"- michael_am
Medical marvels are just that, marvels.
They're rare occurrences that shouldn't be taken as an absolute certainty when you go visit a doctor.
"Anecdotal" does not equal "regularly happens to everyone."
If You Need It, It's Going To Be Rough
"Receiving CPR and surviving with good quality of life."- HelloKidney
"One of my good friends had sudden cardiac arrest due to V-fib."
"Was completely healthy and normal and suddenly dropped dead."
"CPR saved her life and she is back to normal, albeit with a defibrillator now implanted in her chest."
"I think this is the best case scenario."- libertarianlove
Movies Have You Thinking The Wrong Thing
"Photosensitive epilepsy."
"Only 3% of all epileptics are triggered by flashing lights, but it’s what most people think of when you mention seizures."-SPRINT_MON
"Not all seizures are the kind where you fall down and flop around."
"My brother has severe epilepsy, and most of his seizures are just like he's really spaced out."- NeedsMoreTuba
Not As Loud As You Might Think
"Tourette syndrome."
"Well Tourette is not that uncommon, but the swearing is the most extreme form and it's very uncommon"- chinchenping
""I've only met one person I know for sure was diagnosed with it."
"It was in middle school and also somewhat conveniently around the time Tourettes Guy was popular on YouTube, so that's the only reason I was aware Tourettes was a thing."
"However she just squeaked every few minutes, and after sitting behind her for a week or two I didn't even notice anymore."
"Thankfully she didn't get teased at all for it, and honestly my ADHD restless legs were probably a bigger distraction for anyone seated near us."- workplacetemp
Our parents mean well, right?
Some of us grew up doing what they told us, avoiding dangers because the television told them there was danger to be avoided.
However, as the internet and peering through the veil of falsehood has shown us, there's no danger there.
Only lies.
And candy.
Let's Get Together, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah
"It seem having two loving parents that treated you right is rare when you speak to people"- YellowStar012
"When I was in University my step mom turned sour and began showing post-partum depression, what ever it’s called, and bi-polar disorder. Ruined the entire family."
"When I complained about fighting at home all my friends looked at me and said it was super normal for them."
"Blew me away how many of my friends I’ve known for years had parents constantly fighting and bickering."
"Granted my father raised my brother and I for a while by himself."- JJHookg
Oh No! They Slipped A Fully Loaded Glock Into My Kid's Candy!
"Intentionally tainted Halloween candy"
". Remember growing up some kids couldn't trick or treat because their parents feared psychos who poisoned the candy or slipped razor blades into the tootsie rolls or whatever?"
"Yeah, as far as I can determine it's a myth and never happens."
"If it did, think about how easy it would be to trace and capture said person."- Marxbrosburner
Stranger/More-Likely-Person-You-Know Danger!
"Child abductions by strangers."
"Growing up in the 80s we were taught that if you were by yourself you were liable to be snatched up by a stranger."
"The reality is most abductions are by people the child knows."
"Stranger abductions make the news and often end tragically, but they’re relatively rare."- AndShesNotEvenPretty
That Stuff Was Supposed To Be Everywhere
"As a kid who grew up in the 80’s - quicksand."- 81PBNJ
"Grew up in the 90s and same!"
"But then I was hired at my current job and quicksand was actually included in my hazard training."
"It turns out there is actually some quicksand at some of my jobsites."
"All those hours of cartoons have prepared me for this!"- butterpuppo
So Sad, But So True...
"COMMON SENSE!"- UPGRADE007
Level Your Expectations
"When a celebrity tells you to just follow your dreams as if it will actually happen if they work hard and believe."- saltyredditbae
Won't Stop People From Looking For It
"Wuv. Twue wuv."- the13Guat
"Real love."
"Like I’m not gonna cheat I just want my partner love."- ghhvyjiiijgv
More Like The American Nightmare
"The American Dream."
"It's a shame Americans are brought up to think if you just work hard, all your work will be for a purpose."
"That purpose is uncle Sam and to barely pay you enough to force you to always come back."
"Uncle Sam is the biggest drug dealer."- Chronodro
"The ability to afford to live in solidarity."- Burssia
Someone Else's Reality
"Dreaming about the lives of others without being yourself in the dream."
"I have very vivid dreams and some of them have been full on life stories of people I've never met, but when I ask about other people's experiences I've only met one other person so far who dreams of the lives of other people."
"It's so strange."- novaboros
Pick A Hand, Any Hand!
"I’m not ambidextrous, but whenever I bring that word up people seem to think it’s pretty common."- bagpipesfart
They've Got To Be Out There Somewhere
"A good person that likes you for who you are."- NoBueno07
"A solid group of people/friends you’ve known for years."- SoberSeldom
Obviously, keep your eyes up because there are real dangers out there.
However, don't fall for propaganda meant to make you fear something that has such a low likelihood of happening that getting struck by lightning feels more likely.
@RandyRRQuaid/X
@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social
