Things you're amazed aren't more widely known/ common misconceptions perpetuated by popular culture etc

[wangernum]

This isn't about how the young people at work don't know what the capital of Spain is, or that the petrol indicator on the car dashboard tells you what side your petrol cap is on, etc. More things that you didn't know at one point, but having learned about it (or more likely - experienced it yourself) can't see why it isn't more widely known.

My examples:
Diagnosing of gallstones. My GP failed to diagnose my dreadful gallstone pain, in the end (after suffering for years) I asked a forum like this about my symptoms and loads of people said it's probably gallstones. I went to a different GP and said 'I think it could be gallstones' and it was - got the gallbladder removed and not had a problem since.
Anyway, since then I realise the symptoms are fairly obvious (I know it's hard to describe pain but from my own experience I know what sort of questions to ask) yet there are always threads on here about how gallstones didn't get suggested by a doctor/got missed, a friend of mine also had similar experience just not knowing what this indescribable pain was. How on earth do doctors not know to suggest/check for gallstones? It seems really common?

Other misconceptions:
Waters going just before you're about to give birth (most people who've had children probably know this isn't accurate! My waters had to be broken when I was in labour!) This still happens on TV all the time!

Schizophrenia = multiple personality disorder. It's not.

Breastfeeding - so much I had no idea about! How painful it can be to start with. That babies need feeding all the time! I did an NCT breastfeeding class and I still felt that it was based on a lot of assumed knowledge (that I didn't have!). Even calling formula feeding 'bottle-feeding' but it not actually being about feeding from a bottle but the fact it's formula not breastmilk.

Colic - that it's a medical problem or indigestion, reflux etc. It's hard to tell from a lot of the stuff that's written about it but it just means lots of unexplained crying (usually at certain times etc, well it was in my experience). I actually found that 'purple crying' was a better explanation: purplecrying.info/what-is-the-period-of-purple-crying.php

Bit more obscure but d-mer.org/ - D-MER - very specific feeling of sadness when breastfeeding. I wish I'd known about this with my first baby!

Another example might be anyone that still thinks 'common-law wife' is a thing. Although I don't see many people using that phrase apart from to point out it's not a thing (legally etc)!

Embarrassed to say I knew nothing about female ejaculation until I experienced it. As most women I have discussed this with have assumed I am talking about orgasm I reckon many women are as ignorant as I was.

They covered female ejaculation on a Sex and The City episode that's the only reason I know about it

That standing orders and direct debits are two totally different things.

Both times my waters have broken Hollywood style. I remember being told in NCT classes that it was relatively rare yet it happened to all bar one of us.

One that keeps cropping up here - it is not in fact illegal to open post that has come to your address addressed to someone else - for one it's no longer in the postal service once its gone through your letterbox, and secondly its only illegal to interfere with post with the intention of it being to someone's detriment.

Opening letters from bailiffs etc is merely sensible!

It's not "over and out" when you sign off a radio call, they are contradictory statements.

"Over" is for when you have finished your bit of the message and are waiting for a response. "Out" is for when you've finished completely and you don't expect a response.

TV characters always say "over and out", to the point that I wonder if radio protocol in the UK is actually different from the international standard?

Being referred to a community mental health team does not automatically mean you will be allocated a CPN or social worker "for support."

That a vehicle can legally be resold entire after you have consigned it to scrap, having completed and signed all the relevant forms (and paid the fee).

Breastfeeding - so much I had no idea about! How painful it can be to start with. That babies need feeding all the time! I did an NCT breastfeeding class and I still felt that it was based on a lot of assumed knowledge (that I didn't have!). Even calling formula feeding 'bottle-feeding' but it not actually being about feeding from a bottle but the fact it's formula not breastmilk.

Not for everyone. I found the opposite - Breastfeeding was easy as pie for me and DS slept through straight away. Still BF now at 2.5. When pregnant I was constantly put off BF because of all the horror stories etc and how painful it 'is'

I would have preferred a heads up from my midwife that BF isn't always a walk in the park.
My friend who found it a breeze really couldn't understand why I was struggling.

There are no moles in Ireland.
(I mean the little underground animals. Not the things on your skin.)

Spidey66 and that goes for all manner of referrals, eg CAMHS but other things too. Referrals can be turned down or answered with “Here’s a good website...”. Whether this is a good idea is quite another matter!!!

Mine are: that vicars only work on Sundays/ that teachers stop working when the kids leave for the day/term.

Spidey66

Being referred to a community mental health team does not automatically mean you will be allocated a CPN or social worker "for support."

And to add to this... having a diagnosis of a mental health condition doesn't mean you'll get a referral to anyone. Be that the community mental health team or a support worker, cpn or otherwise. I'm sick of people telling me to ask my cpn for information regarding whatever. I don't have one. I'm lucky if I see the same GP from one month to the next ffs.

That you have to be unable to walk or in a wheelchair [etc] to use a disabled toilet. I am pleased to see that some supermarkets add "not every disability is visible". If someone asks me why I tend to invent something "messy"

I object to the term "accessible toilet" as an inaccessible one is not much use! I suppose that should go in Pedants' corner!

@wangernum

Sicario did St Patrick do for them whilst he was dealing with the snakes ?

That all plant based remedies are non-toxic and can’t harm you.

Nope. Aspirin originates from willow bark, digoxin from the foxglove, some chemotherapies from palm tree bark. To name just a few.

Maybe this is true but I’m assuming that in America when you have a baby all your mates don’t go to the hospital with you and hand around for two days while you give birth as per Friends, the Big Bang Theory, Knocked Up etc.

Hang*

Speaking of which Alexa, "chemotherapy" means cancer treatment.

Coca Cola didn't invent the modern depiction of Santa Claus.

www.snopes.com/fact-check/the-claus-that-refreshes/

That you can can have a panic attack without a trigger.
Likewise anxiety exists in most cases for no particular 'reason'.

That standing orders and direct debits are two totally different things.

Well they are. With a direct debit the receiving institution sets up the order and issues the instruction to take the money. With a standing order the account holder sets up the order and issues the instruction for the money to be paid.

@BeyondFlubeInclusionaryRF '*Deaf people cannot hear a thing, and blind people cannot see a thing.

Actually both are spectrums, hence why HI/VI are used more now*'

I told my DH 'blind' doesn't mean kcan't see anything' and he wouldn't believe me. I had a boyfriend who was registered blind, went to a school for the blind (in the 70s/80s) and he's always been a keen photographer!