People Share Widely Accepted 'Facts' That Are Completely Untrue

They Know Who You Are

"Goldfish have a 3-second memory."

Mythbusters proved this to be very wrong- their memory spans months!

adrielle226

While we're talking about goldfish: it's a misconception that they have a short lifespan. A healthy goldfish will generally outlive a healthy dog. It's just that people keep them in lethal conditions.

Omniscient_Snail_Sam

Taxes Are Messed Up

Earning slightly less in order to remain in a lower bracket actually means you pay less taxes overall.

It's a graduated system, it just means the extra money you didn't earn doesn't get taxed at that higher rate.

ExtraAntipodean

IT's not like it's actually taught in schools. Most people get a crash course at thier first job. Which means how to fill out a w-2 is often explain by a fast food/retail ast. manager or manager who's explanation probably came in a similar fashion a few years or depending on turn over a few months before. Assuming you went to an office job first, chances aren't much better. HR people aren't really the most informative in many cases. They have a quick listen once because I'm not saying it again spiel.

tdasnowman

Hortense, Eat Your Heart Out

Ostriches don't stick their heads in the sand.

40CakesBad

It was an ancient Roman author who started it.

314159265358979326

A Fledgling Learns By Mistakes

That if you handle a baby bird, the mother will smell your scent in its feathers and stop feeding it. That is an old myth and not at all true. If you come across a baby bird that has fallen out of its nest, it is perfectly okay to pick it up and place it back in the nest. If you come across a fledgling that is on the ground, though, leave it be because it is learning how to fly and its parents are more than likely close by. The way you can tell the difference is by size, feathers, and movement. Baby birds are small, don't have a lot of feathers, and will just sit still, while fledglings are slightly bigger, have all their feathers, and can hop around.

prairiemountainzen

Keratine Had Nothing To Do With It

Carrots are good for your eyesight - the British Air Force made this up during World War Two because they did not want the general public to know about the new radar system. They just said that the pilots ate carrots and that's what helped them see at night.

jjrruan

MYOB

All allergies/intolerances have crazy reactions. People all have different degrees of reactions and different symptoms and even these can vary within a person due to stress, age, and levels of whatever they ate.

I have Celiac disease and the number of people who try to backseat doctor me and police my eating is insane. Not only are there different amounts and qualities of gluten in different foods, some being within the PPM recommended by actual medical organizations, different people have different degrees of reactions to everything.

And to all those saying I'm damaging my body if I eat any gluten, well you're doing the same whenever you eat sugar or drink alcohol or too much caffeine or smoke or fail to get in exercise during a week or fail to put sunscreen on.

Nillabeans

Water Water Water Water Water

The idea that everyone has to drink 8 glass of water a day, and only pure water counts. No, everyone has different hydration requirements. The human body can extract water from coffee, tea, and soup just fine. Drink when you feel thirsty and you'll be fine.

Annie_Benlen

A Pore Explanation

That washing your face with hot water opens the skin pores and cold water closes the pores, it's a misconception

MalunaWaterloo

The truth, as I understand it, is that pores can't open and close because they would each need To be controlled by tiny muscles to do so, but they aren't.

However, like many oils sebum gets thinner when warmer which may cause it to be removed more easily from the skin, and that might be why some people feel like their skin is cleaner or their pores less visible after cleaning with warm water or steaming. It could also just be a sort of placebo effect because people are primed to believe it.

moonfizzlego

Blame It On The Alcohol

That the alcohol culture in the US is horrible because we can't drink until we're 21.

In reality, countries like in Europe (which has a lax alcohol culture regarding teen consumption) has some of the highest rates of alcohol deaths in the world. 1 in 5 Europeans 15 and older report heavy alcoholic drinking (5 or more drinks in one sitting) at least once a week.

black_and_shredded

Straight People Talking About Gay Rights

How the slippery slope logical fallacy works.

Most of the time on Reddit at least, people use the term completely wrong. Most recent example, I said something about being okay with sterilization of anyone who definitely shouldn't have kids. (We all know people that shouldnt be allowed to breed)

Immediate response "that's a slippery slope because who decides who shouldn't have kids and it will end up being used to wipe out certain races"

That's not how the term slippery slope works. The assumption that it would suddenly be used to block certain races from having kids is the slippery slope. My statement itself isn't a slippery slope because that's not how it works.

Technical definition "When a relatively insignificant first event is suggested to lead to a more significant event, which in turn leads to a more significant event, and so on, until some ultimate, significant event is reached, where the connection of each event is not only unwarranted but with each step it becomes more and more improbable. Many events are usually present in this fallacy, but only two are actually required -- usually connected by "the next thing you know...""

Hunterofshadows