What is a "fact" you overheard someone saying that you knew to be completely untrue?
It can be tough trying to decide to be "that guy/girl" to step in and correct somebody when you know they are wrong. Has anybody overheard any blatantly false facts?
by
ionredlineracer
asked 4 months ago
Putting aside all political and religious "misquotes", my favorite is: It's not mine, I'm holding it for a friend.
Maybe not the "fact" you were looking for but when we all hear it, we no what it means.
"I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Ms. Monica Lewinski..."
Think back to scientific method. A fact was something that can be proved or disproved. I just run with that definition.
"If you keep trying you will get a bag of crap"
That toilets naturally run counter-clockwise south of the Equator.
I sent them this:
http://www.mentalfloss.com/trivia/questions/q-do-toilets-in-australia-really-flush-counter-clockwise/
If I hear anything that I KNOW is untrue that is damaging to anyone or anything, I try to politely say that I believe that is not so because . . .. . - or at bare minimum, say something not confrontational but to the effect that that is not as I personally have heard it or know about it, etc. I think if one remains silent in the presence of a blatant untruth that is destructive to reputation, etc., it is very much the same thing as aiding and abetting the untruth. How would you feel if it were you or a relative or your company or product?
@capguncowboy: I've actually received bags of crap on 2 separate occasions!
@ionredlineracer: Maybe before everyone got wind that there was good stuff in them...
Every single political (or pseudo-political) post ever on Facebook.
"Very reliable!"
- A Yugo car salesman, 1986.
Ha!! Perfect example (I think -- and sorry if I offend anyone). I'm at the grocery store, and a woman was talking to her teenage daughter and said, "everyone has it so wrong. Obama has actually saved this country more money than how they are saying he's spending it." This was overheard by at least 4 other people including the cashier, we were all looking at each other, and you could see that anxious look that everyone wanted to say something. A kind and VERY polite gentleman asked to pass in front of me, he grabbed a Newsweek and a Time magazine, opened both to a specific page and said, "ma'am, here are 2 reputable news magazines that have the current figures of what you were talking about. It is important to empower our youth with facts and allow them the freedom to decide how they feel. And it's our responsibility as grown-up to make sure they have access to those facts, so they don't become embarrassed by their peers, you know, her friends." ...(cont'd)
(cont'd)...The daughter looked at her mom and said, "He's the government teacher at school." The two of them said noting, finished their transaction and left the store.
I kinda felt like I was on a candid camera show to see what reaction we would have to that kind of situation. I couldn't help but have a pleased smile on my face after he spoke.
The idea that if some people are rich, there's somehow less money for the rest of us, because they got rich by "taking our money." This drives me crazy, but I can't exactly sit people down and give them an education in basic economics. Some people simply refuse to believe that money/value/wealth can be created (or destroyed) without taking it from someone else. (Not that all wealth is created ethically, of course. And not everyone who "accumulates wealth" did so by being an entrepreneur. Someone who got rich as a slum lord probably didn't create "new wealth" at all.)
The other one is: "We can't cancel that project! We've already invested too much money in it!" Another economic term people refuse to understand : sunk cost.
The water on the Atlantic side of the Panama canal is 60 ft higher than on the Pacific side.
I have one... when people tell me: "you're such a nice guy"
That there are facts in politics. Everything we hear is so distorted by one side or another that it's almost impossible to discern any truth other than what we want to hear.
@mellielou: Thank you for sharing this story! You totally made my day! :)
"6 inches."
At Best Buy from a sales rep: Monster HDMI cables have a much better quality picture then the ones that are cheaper.
My old boss used to tell me that Corned Beef comes from completely corn fed beef. I knew he was wrong, but usually he was trashed when telling that story, so why blow up his spot.
Let me see if I can tactfully phase this...an acquaintance replied when asked why she had not yet gone into her back yard garden to harvest some ripe produce replied in hushed tones "well, I'm on my period."
"Oh, you're having too much discomfort to get out and about?"
"Um, well, no..."
"No? Is something wrong?"
"Why, you know a woman who is having her period can't go out in a garden. It will kill the asparagus!"
I damned near died from laughter upon realizing this educated woman (and an educator herself) was stone cold serious.
"You only use 10% of your brain..."
Well, you might but the rest of us are firing on all cylinders.
i saw a post that said 'the pcv valve is always on a valve cover' in response to a post that said otherwise on a particular truck engine. the pcv valve on a 2.5 liter ford ranger 4 cyl engine is located on the block and is used in conjunction with an oil separator (unlike the rest of the engines in the whole world).
never say never.
@caffeine_dude: + 1 million
Cops have to meet a quota and you're more likely to get pulled at the end of the month... we don't, or at least no departments I know of.
The Electoral College is for our own good.
@jeremytheindian: One of my teachers, a former officer, always told us, "It's illegal for police to have a quota system... but how do you grade a cop? By the number of tickets for each month!"
I'm pretty sure if you had 0 tickets for a month, your superior would be asking what is going on (if not worse).
Most posts I see about religious holidays and traditions and where they come from. I only correct them if they are especially obnoxious.
Any post regarding how a news network's bias makes the 100% right or wrong.
A lot of nutrition facts are really, really, really off-base. But people now treat nutrition like religion - no matter what you eat or think you should eat, someone else thinks their "facts" are more relevant.
Amost every story a guy tells about having a threesome....although that's not really a "fact", but it came to mind.
Go to Gamestop. 90% of what comes out of the employee's mouths applies here.
@jeremytheindian: I'm really interested to hear your input of my earlier comment...
That I'm a yapyap.
an employee at Target was trying to sell this couple an iPad 2 while they were asking about the Kindle. He told them that the Kindle only allowed Whispernet and could not put books on it that were saved to the computer.
I chimed in and notified the couple that he was an idiot and that since they only wanted a "tablet" to read books, to get the Kindle on Amazon.com so they didn't have to pay tax and so that they could utilize Amazon customer support which is on a whole different level from Target customer support/horrid return policy.
"size doesn't matter"
* goes and cries in corner
@jsoko: True... but if you had zero tickets after few days it would mean you just weren't paying attention. It's just a fact (haha get it?) that you will see a traffic violation or an expired tag or an out of insurance plate or something during your shift.
Also most LEO shifts are rotating and not set on a beginning of month to end of month schedule. If you look at my comment I said it's false that you're more likely to get pulled at the end of the month due to a quota system. But I still stand on the fact (I did it again) that quotas are almost never used, even if a few lazy cops need to find a few traffic offenses before they go home, so it looks like they've been doing something.
"organic produce tastes so much better!"
BS. watch penn & teller's episode of Bull*hit about this one. They went to a farmer's market and set up a booth, they cut a single banana in half, and labeled one half organic, and the other "non-organic", then asked people who swore that organic was so much tastier which tasted better, they all said the "organic" tasted better. IR WAS THE SAME BANANA! Several other tests, like placing a real organic fruit next to a real non-organic fruit and doing a blind taste test not only showed that it was 50/50 which would taste better, but the "organic-only" folks actually selected the non-organic as better tasting more often.
That if the Earth was a mile closer or farther from the sun we'd either burn to death or freeze to death. Just completely ignoring the fact the Earth has an elliptical orbit.
@jeremytheindian: Haha, I totally understand. Thanks!
Nearly anything that comes out of our governor's mouth.
@kamikazeken: It's strange that people that shop organic couldn't tell the difference. They must have gone out of their way to select ugly non-organic fruit, because IME, organic fruit is easily differentiated because it's not as nicely shaped or colored as non-organic. Where was this Farmer's Market where they were selling bananas? I didn't think bananas were grown in the US. I do feel that locally grown food (and there's not a lot of it as I live in the desert) does taste much better than the produce that's shipped in, as it gets more time to ripen in the sun rather than being picked and shipped green. But it is still uglier than commercially grown produce.
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