This question is kind of unanswerable. People don’t really hold misconceptions that they know to be misconceptions.
this post was submitted on 14 Jan 2024
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"what's a fact that you don't know?"
The system time on any arbitrary computer.
It's possible, especially when it comes to things like luck or illusion. Most people know that magic isn't real, but some still tend to fall back on magic as an explanation for a really good illusion.
There is a fine line between holding two beliefs that are in direct contradiction and understanding that something you want to be true is something that you also understand is a misconception, is my point.
Who think of illusions they cant explain as actual magic? That would be pretty sad.
There is a term for things like that: "mental gymnastics"
People can naturally hold conflicting ideas or sometimes feel the need to believe things they know aren't true. It's extremely important for people to become more self-aware in that regard as it is something that can be exploited by religions, politicians, cults or scam artists.
Everyone is vulnerable to it, to different degrees. Even in the privacy of our own thoughts, most of us have tried to convince ourselves of something that wasn't true, regardless of any facts we have seen. It's just human nature.
It's not exactly a misconception that I've ever really held, but I absolutely hate the lazy writing trope in TV/film where hitting someone over the head and knocking them out is used so commonly and casually and there are never any repercussions.
In reality, if you get hit on the head hard enough that you lose consciousness for any length of time, you're almost certainly going to suffer very serious brain damage. If you wake up at all - yes, it's quite possible you'd die from this - then you're going to have a major concussion, a huge headache, and probably a fracture in your skull and your brain will be swelling up inside your skull. It's a VERY serious injury, and yet it's just played off as this casual thing on TV and I think it's incredibly dangerous how casually it's depicted.
I also hate the use of this lazy plot device. Up to my later teenage years I did hold this misconception and I'd say a lot of children nowadays probably do as well.
I think the problem for me now as an adult is that the misconception is subconscious. Tv/film typically treats all wounds as black and white - you either die from them or its a full recovery at some point. They don't address the many different awful and lingering residual effects that can happen. I'm so conditioned by this Hollywood effect that when I hear news of an event involving an accident or act of violence my mind downplays anything where no one dies. Six people get into an accident on the highway resulting in serious injury? Oh well no one died, so they're "fine."
This is what bothers me too, like physical trauma is supposed to leave no trace once the doctor says your fine or whatever. My husband has vestibular dysfunction after a couple nasty concussions and it can seriously impact his ability to even get out of bed and makes him vomit a lot, and that's a pretty mild post concussion ailment.
Legend of Zelda taught me I can be on the brink of death with half a heart left, but if I drink some milk or touch a fairy's butt I'll be good as new.
Also Castlevania taught me it's okay to eat a roast chicken discovered on the dusty floor after breaking an ancient stone wall.
Don't let me start with the plumber with his colorful mushrooms and flowers who step (or even jump!) on different animals for fun.
Same thing with breaking a glass over someone's head. They tested it out on Mythbusters and using a full beer bottle is like hitting someone with a baseball bat, using an empty bottle isn't as brutal, but still really damaging.
My granddad died because he slipped on some ice on the way to work one day, and bumped his head. It happened before I was born, but knowing this always reminded me how serious head injuries can be
That sucks. It's also apparently how Bob Saget died.
Heh, yeah I've been playing one of the Batman games (Arkham Origins) and the hero "knocks out" every single enemy with either a chokehold or a blow to the head. I sigh and think "Yep, Batman doesn't kill 🙄" whenever he walks away from a pile of 18 unconscious henchmen all with grievous and urgent injuries.
My favourite, definitely not a kill in Arkham City is hit someone in the back off the head with the fores of a small car and send them falling of a 8 story building. They totally survived and made a full recovery.
I used to believe that those defibrillators used by doctors were to restart a heart
That myth is still pushed by many TV shows to this day, unfortunately. I believe that most public emergency defibrillators work automatically, so that is nice.
Yup, defibrillators are for arythmia, and work by stopping the heart for a moment to let the heart restart itself and get back into rhythm.
TIL and no, I never watched that much ER episodes.
BF players: yeah, they are good for gunshots, knife stabs, if blown up by mines, run over by a jeep or pulverized by a sabot round. And agains lethal falls.
"Griff, why in the hell would you give someone CPR for a bullet wound in the head!? That doesn't make a lick of sense."
"You're welcome, Sir."
Almost all dinosaur-centric film/TV of the 90s-2000s imply (or state outright) that the dinosaurs are now extinct. As a result, this remains a deeply held and ubiquitously perpetuated misconception. Paleontologists have suspected since the 70s, and known for sure since at least the 2000s, that the avian theropod dinosaurs survived and became modern-day birds. Therefore, birds are dinosaurs. Wikipedia is pretty clear on this.
Another related misconception is that the pterodactyl is a dinosaur. In fact, it is a pterosaur which is a separate clade from the dinosaurs. Unlike the dinosaurs, the pterosaurs really are extinct. When science videos refer to “the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs” they should really say “pterosaurs” instead, it would be more educational on multiple levels.
A lot more than the pterosaurs died out though. Most archosaurs, including the sauropods and the non-avian theropods, are gone. The ichthyosaurs and the majority of ancient crocodilians went extinct too (not dinosaurs, but related). So it's kind of odd to mention pterosaurs but not those others.
Also Dimetrodon is not a dinosaur
This is just nitpicking. Aktually a chicken is a dinosaur.
The best kind of picking!!
Jokes aside though, where do you draw the line between calling out a misconception, and nitpicking?
I think the question of the extinction of an entire clade of animals is a reasonably significant misconception, personally.
Anyone who has seen a shoebill stork knows that dinosaurs didn’t die.
I think more people need to see this video (by Clint's Reptiles). It taught me more about the dinosaur extinction (and why some dinosaurs survived!) in 12 minutes than I learned in 12 years of primary school.
.... Til that dinosaurs aren't extinct.
Well, in terms of species (could create fertile offspring), modern day birds are not dinosaurs.
However, we animals which are the same species as they were millions of years ago.
I used to think orange juice and milk etc should be kept in a jug in the fridge for some reason.
I didn't know it was because they couldn't show packaging on TV.
You don't keep your milk in a fridge?
I think this person transfers their milk and orange juice into jugs in the fridge.
Orange juice was probably in jugs because it's being made from concentrate in a can. Milk at least in Canada in certain provinces is sold in bags which go into a jug.
Oh
Milk in the US uses a different pasteurization technique the most of the rest of the world, so we need to keep it refrigerated while other places don't until it's opened.
KInda stupid question, innit? If I still have it, I don't think it's a misconception. You'd have to tell me.
But then, anyone can make a mistake. Doesn't make you a bad person. I make mistakes every day. I shouldn't have said stupid, I should said... whatever they call it now. Meathead?
That quicksand is everywhere. And if you find a pyramid with crystals in it, leave them be.
Or that quicksand is actually, well, quick.
Thanks, Princess Bride. 👍
That I still have? If I still have any, it's because I don't know any different to be able to say I have any. 🤷🏻♂️
I'm sure there's a few; I just can't say for certain what they are.
That the police is there to help.
In childrens Cartoons, cops are often depicted as "friendly helpers", fair, reasonable, compassionate and competent.
Sweet Lifegiver, was that illusion shattered.
One day that article I memorised about how to survive in quicksand is going to save my life.
That supermarket juice is healthy for you.
It is an aphrodisiac, but not a very strong one. Various types of nuts can be more benefitial to the libido than chocolate is... or a combo of them, yeah, that can also work I guess.
If I could just list out my misconceptions I’d be a god