Know anyone who has fallen for an urban myth?

[woodtattoos]

A colleague and I spent most of yesterday roaring with laughter when someone else we work with told us about how the milkshakes you get in fast food restaurants are actually 75% chicken fat and have no dairy content at all...

Anyone else got any good stories about people believing the silliest things?

Si.

[JBJB]

I quite often tell people that it's an outrage that the Oxford English Dictionary have removed the word "gullible" fom the dictionary.

[beadsbydesign]

I quite often tell people that it's an outrage that the Oxford English Dictionary have removed the word "gullible" fom the dictionary.


Have they?:o

[Poppy4lee]

I quite often tell people that it's an outrage that the Oxford English Dictionary have removed the word "gullible" fom the dictionary.

Have they?:o

Oh no! now what do we call all those poor, unfortunate, gullible people :confused:

[SNOWF1975]

i woce sent someone to the sports shop to get me a muff diving kit. he he

[beadsbydesign]

i woce sent someone to the sports shop to get me a muff diving kit. he he


and ...........

ROTFL

[Seahorse]

A colleague and I spent most of yesterday roaring with laughter when someone else we work with told us about how the milkshakes you get in fast food restaurants are actually 75% chicken fat and have no dairy content at all...

Anyone else got any good stories about people believing the silliest things?

Si.


I was told a few years back that the lumpy bits in the milk shake were lard.
I have avoided them ever since.

So its not true then?

[purplesparkle]

This was on the news today..

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7522952.stm

Sounds like it SHOULD be an urban myth!

[Jo Lovejoy]

I'm told I'm one of the most gullible people around, although I prefer to think of myself as trustworthy and honest (why would they lie to me?) :) - My children, especially my 18 year old come home from work and tell me another big wopper, but they sound so plausible they must be true.

I have a book called 'The Pedants Revolt' by Andrea Barham that is full of urban myths and is a facinating read, if you manage to read it I guarantee you'll be gob smacked by all the things you were so sure were true!

Here are a couple of examples of things we believe to be true but are not:

Ostriches bury their head in the sand!
White marks on the nails show a lack of calcium! :o

Jo x

[silvermaid]

Someone I know is a vegetarian and so her family has to be as well. She told her children that as they had not eaten meat for years that if they eat meat now it would poison them. The daughter was really worried in case her little brother ate meat by mistake and died.

Melanie

[JBJB]

Someone I know is a vegetarian and so her family has to be as well. She told her children that as they had not eaten meat for years that if they eat meat now it would poison them. The daughter was really worried in case her little brother ate meat by mistake and died.

Melanie

:o
That's a bit cruel!

I love watching Mythbusters (http://www.discoverychannel.co.uk/web/mythbusters/)on some of the satelite channels.
The whole premise of the show is to put myths to the test, scientifically proving or "busting" them.

Here's some they've done that I can remember off the top of my head

Yawning is contagious - plausible
You can teach an old dog new tricks - confirmed
You can survive falling in a lift if you jump at the last minute - busted
Can a lit match ignite petrol - busted
Can yodelling start an avalanche - plausible
Are elephants "afraid" of mice - confirmed

It's a brilliant show!

[SNOWF1975]

This was on the news today..

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7522952.stm

Sounds like it SHOULD be an urban myth!

OMG thats so funny!!! I have a funny name Jillian Raitt. If you take the first initial and the surname im really Gyrate (as in gyrate your hips!) ha ha. Even worse, my mums name is Irene so she now Irate! ha ha

[mummycupcake]

Years ago I was having salad and my (now ex) husband said he wondered why iceberg lettuce was more expensive then regular lettuce. I told him it was because it was very difficult to pick them from under the icebergs and only specialist divers could do it. :mf:

[Babushka]

A colleague and I spent most of yesterday roaring with laughter when someone else we work with told us about how the milkshakes you get in fast food restaurants are actually 75% chicken fat and have no dairy content at all...



True or not, I don't think I'd ever be able to have a milkshake ever again now. Every time I'd want to order a milkshake, I'll remember this.

Maybe I should start telling myself that chocolate is also made of 90% chicken fat!

[Pink Giraffe]

That's the beauty of urban myths - it doesn't matter how odd they might sound, we just can't help believing it might be true.

I don't think I want any milkshakes again now either - but then, I did always think they tasted a bit pants anyway.

I heard a funny one today though. My youngest came home and said that her older brother had told her that if you feed rice to pigeons their head blows off.

PS - If you swallow chewing gum it gets wrapped around your heart.:sleep:

[lauralou1601]

OMG thats so funny!!! I have a funny name Jillian Raitt. If you take the first initial and the surname im really Gyrate (as in gyrate your hips!) ha ha. Even worse, my mums name is Irene so she now Irate! ha ha

The man who first replyed to the story on the bbc website has the best name ever! I wish I had an unusual name, every time I go out, someone shouts Laura! and about 20 people turn around and say what?

[Critchley]

The man who first replyed to the story on the bbc website has the best name ever! I wish I had an unusual name, every time I go out, someone shouts Laura! and about 20 people turn around and say what?
You want to try being called Carol Ann!!!
Bye the way, there is a ring of toadstools under our hedge does that mean we have fairies at the bottom of the garden.

[lauralou1601]

yes deffinetly! Does anyone remember the childrens TV show poddington peas? The theme tune went 'down in the bottom of the garden, among the birds and the bees, theres lives a lot of little people, they're called the poddington peas!' and me and my little sister used to spend hours for looking for them. One day, my mum put a few peas at the bottom of the garden, and the next thing we ran in the house crying. She sed whats up? We said we found the poddington peas and they're dead! They wernt moving like the ones on the telly did you see!

[Critchley]

Oh sad. Mind you, your excuse of being a child is a valid one. I can't claim that. Ha Ha. Maybe I'm in my dotage instead.
NO COMMENTS THANKYOU

[doodles of Tadley]

At 14 I had a Saturday job and was told by a supervisor to go the hardware store to buy some elbow grease. I took 56p with me.

[urbtaf]

Oh no! now what do we call all those poor, unfortunate, gullible people :confused:
crafters???

[lauralou1601]

lol they tried to do that to me on my work experience, but I was not fooled! I did however, on my first day in the hospital, get sent to the next ward for a long stand. I said yeah yeah whatever, and the HCA sed no no its manual handling equipment, so i went to the next ward and asked the other student, and we did stand there for a long time, trying to work out what it was!

[urbtaf]

As a 16 year old I worked at a glass works, when the foreman sent me for a glass hammer,(having been prewarned) I returned 2 hours later saying I couldent find one (I had a nap in the store room) he called me a naughty word but never tried it on again!

[lauralou1601]

hehe thats the best way to deal with it! Ill try that next time!

[beadsbydesign]

[quote=Pink Giraffe;107164]

I heard a funny one today though. My youngest came home and said that her older brother had told her that if you feed rice to pigeons their head blows off.


Blame the school: one of the curriculum treasures now a days is the fact that you learn about aflotoxins in mouldy bird food and rice.
Kids just tend to pick up on certain aspects.
birds can definatly eat rice coz they do at mine!
PS - If you swallow chewing gum it gets wrapped around your heart.:sleep:
and if you eat apple pips they turn into trees!

[lauralou1601]

MY heart must be in serious trouble then coz I always swallow chewing gum! Im usually talking then choke on it or something.

Id like to say though, that it is anatomically impossible for that to happen. It may get stuck in your digestive system somewhere but deffinetly not your heart!

[Critchley]

As a child I was always told that chewing gum cheated your stomach because it thought food was on the way but never arrived so you got ulsers. I don't think its true??????

[lauralou1601]

yeah thats a bit true. When you chew your stomach releases acid, but I dont think anyones ever got an ulcer from it. I think maybe it stops making acid when no food gets there or something like that.

[Rudi]

As a child I was always told that chewing gum cheated your stomach because it thought food was on the way but never arrived so you got ulsers. I don't think its true??????

Yes this one is true!
It causes acid irritation in your stomach which is the main cause of stomach ulcers!
Very rare and unlikely to happen but it is possible if your constantly chewing on an empty stomach!
Also the one about pigeons head blowing up if they eat rice is partly true! It can burst there stomachs because the rice expands in there stomach, same with pasta but obviously not explosive!!!
Anyway, there you go!
:D
rudi

[Pink Giraffe]

Yeah, I had heard that rice can be bad for some animals because of the way it swells, but the way my kids told the story it was as if they'd stuck dynamite up its bottom!

Has anyone seen the website called 'I used to believe'? I can't post links yet, but if you google it you will find it. It's full of things people 'used to believe'. My favourite is;

"Once when I was watching TV I heard the word "virgin."
So I asked my mom what it meant. She paused and then replied ...
"a very smart girl. I believed her until i was 12."
By Taryn.

Disclaimer: Neither me, nor my children, have ever stuck dynamite up a birds bottom and do not wish to be seen as condoning such behaviour.

[SNOWF1975]

Yeah, I had heard that rice can be bad for some animals because of the way it swells, but the way my kids told the story it was as if they'd stuck dynamite up its bottom!

Has anyone seen the website called 'I used to believe'? I can't post links yet, but if you google it you will find it. It's full of things people 'used to believe'. My favourite is;

"Once when I was watching TV I heard the word "virgin."
So I asked my mom what it meant. She paused and then replied ...
"a very smart girl. I believed her until i was 12."
By Taryn.

Disclaimer: Neither me, nor my children, have ever stuck dynamite up a birds bottom and do not wish to be seen as condoning such behaviour.

That reminds me ......

My wee brother once asked my dad what a lesbian was. He told him that it was a Social Worker !!!!!! ha ha ha ha

[sillyoldbear]

A friend of mine told her children that when the music plays on the ice cream van it means that there isn't any left!!

[Critchley]

A friend of mine told her children that when the music plays on the ice cream van it means that there isn't any left!!
Now thats got to be my favourite.

[LadyLora]

someone once told me that the mcdonalds milkshakes had mashed potato in them to make them thicker- didnt realise it was just me that was the thick one at the time :eek:

[auntynet]

That reminds me ......

My wee brother once asked my dad what a lesbian was. He told him that it was a Social Worker !!!!!! ha ha ha ha

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y238/ladygothic/thOMGSoFunny.gif

Thats not strictly true - I worked as an admin worker for social workers for 9 years and in all that time there was only ever 1 lesbian in the team. :D

And as for the icecream van - that's the sort of thing Urbtaf used to tell his kids!

[beadsbydesign]

For years I told Eden that ice cream vans was a musical van and the man was just showing off so we should go inside when it came!

[Pink Giraffe]

For years I told Eden that ice cream vans was a musical van and the man was just showing off so we should go inside when it came!

I love that - naughty ice cream man showing off. Come on kids, lets go inside so we can't see him. Brilliant!

My Mum used to tell me that my bedtime was when the street light outside our house came on.

This was great in the summer time with the long light evenings, but come winter I was going to bed at about 4pm! My parents must have thought they had it great until I realised it got darker at different times of the day throughout the year.

[SNOWF1975]

For years I told Eden that ice cream vans was a musical van and the man was just showing off so we should go inside when it came!

aw that has to be my favourite!!!! ha ha ha

[woodtattoos]

Blimey this thread went crazy while I was away! Some great stories here.

Si.

[Critchley]

Been away Si? Now which part of the seaside have you been dipping your big toe? Tell us more.