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)!

No, you can definitely use your marriage cert and not a deed poll.

But yes, I'm not at all recommending anyone go around calling themselves Princess SnuggleMuffin and demanding their bank open an account for them under that name. Just pointing out that the legal issue is to do with intent to defraud, not some separate rule about names.

All you do if you change your name is to demonstrate it's already the name you're known by, which is the working definition of a legal name in the UK, as I understand it.

The idea that we lose insert majority percentage here of body heat through our heads is a myth - we lose no more heat per square centimetre of scalp than any other part of our bodies.*

This is only true if you're wearing a hat (or if you're totally naked)

There is no such thing as "full fat" coke. Yet people say this. They mean "full sugar" but they don't think the difference matters. WTF do they think that?

I agree with PPs who said mostly people say full-fat coke as a joke. On the same basis DH will also offer me full fat or no fat coffee, meaning proper decaffeinated and full fat or not fat beer being alcoholic or not.

@SarahAndQuack

This is only true if you're taking your husbands surname, not "any name you like" as you said

Oh, sure.

I don't think I am making a very useful point here! It's only on my mind because I recently changed my name by deed poll, and it was (for various reasons) an almighty pain in the arse, and so I ended up pretty good at responding patiently to multiple people 'no, this is legal. Yes, really. No, I didn't get married. Yes, I have printed off the bit from the .gov site explaining it. No, I do understand why you would think it wasn't legal ...'

I think I am still traumatised!

@plushplush

This is only true if you're wearing a hat (or if you're totally naked)

Well, yes, obviously a covered square centimetre of body will lose less heat than a covered square centimetre of head. But that's not how the myth is generally used, is it?

The myth generally states that we lose a higher proportion of heat through our heads than other parts of our bodies, given the same level of insulation through clothing. Often 'explained' by having more blood vessels close to the surface, or little fat on the scalp. The implication being that it's more important to insulate the head with a hat than to insulate other parts of the body. Which isn't true.

That germs do NOT spontaneously generate out of nowhere.
That if you kill the germs you kill them, they don't emerge again like zombies the moment they stop cooking

"After cooking the gammon at 200 degrees for 60 minutes, I left it out for 12 hours, admittedly in a covered dish, but now it MUST be crawling with salmonella, E. Coli, camphylobacter & parasites and other nasties, right?" goes many a MN thread. Posters insisting these germs will always pop up out of the air or even just reanimate out of the cooked meat itself. It's like they never learnt germ theory at all.

@Iklboo- you don't defibrillate someone in Atrial fibrillation - VT or VF are the shockable rhythms!

Myths about OCD infuriate me. That all sufferers are obsessed with cleaning and lining things up symmetrically and it’s all quite amusing.
DD1’s bedroom is horrifically filthy but things can’t be moved or taken away to be cleaned until a certain period of time has elapsed or else the consequences will be dire. Or so the voices in her head tell her - pretty much 24 hours a day. It’s a vile illness with no respite. But still the jokes about cleaning persist.

I recently had a chat with a guy who insisted his wife, on a raw vegan diet, didn't get periods because "her diet's so pure, there's nothing to come out".

Jesus Christ. Poor woman is starved to the point her periods stop and arsehole is proud of it —missed point of thread—

What I wish more people knew/thought about

Most of UK social security spending goes to pensioners and children, not unemployed adults

Drivers kill about 4 people a day in the UK

That gay people have at some stage (or will do) ‘come out’ to their parents/families.

That people who commit violent crimes and have a diagnosis of Personality Disorder have experienced ill treatment of some kind as a child which has led them to them being disturbed.

That the (derogatory) term ‘chav’ stands for Council House And Violence.

Not true, PlushPlush. There's no such thing as a legal name under English law and you don't have to change it by deed poll. It's just a convenient way of saying you have changed it. It's literally just writing down your new name on a piece of paper. But you can use any name you like, so long as it's not for deception.

You do not have to follow a legal process to start using a new name. - gov.uk

Not sure if it's been said already but a lot of people seem to think godparents automatically have legal rights to their godchildren should the parents die or have the children removed etc.

If your blood test is outside the reference range, that does not mean there is a problem.

95% of well people will have a blood test result within the reference range. Which means that 5% of well people will have one outside of the reference range.

As well as ill people.

It also depends on the population you belong to and how the reference range was determined.

pmj.bmj.com/content/94/1117/613

That gay people have at some stage (or will do) ‘come out’ to their parents/families

Good one. Also:

• that gay people (especially gay men) are all physically of having sex with the opposite sex. If they've had sex with the opposite sex, they're bisexual.
• that 'coming out' happens once and then you're done. Therefore, gay people who witter on about being gay are just attention-seeking. Everyone who needs to know already knows, usually by telepathy.

But you can use any name you like, so long as it's not for deception.

It is a right arse, though, to be entirely fair.

Most of UK social security spending goes to pensioners and children, not unemployed adults

Hell - a lot of UK spending goes on interest payments. If people really knew where their tax went (and where it didn't go), I think they'd be surprised. We could certainly build a lot more hospitals........

@eyestightshut - yes I noted that earlier. I mixed up my chambers

Yes! It annoys me so much about Schizophrenia. Very damaging and unfair on people who have experienced the illness. I hate that it has such negative stigma because of the media. It actually means that people are unable to recognise the signs as they are looking for the wrong symptoms.

Colic! Just a way for doctors to fob you off when they can’t be bothered to find out what is wrong with your baby. My friend said to me ‘oh my baby has a bit of colic. She hasn’t been crying though’. Umm no, you don’t get a bit of colic it’s literally crying hysterically for hours.

That sleeping through the night for babies is a thing and night wakings must be ‘fixed’. All part of a formula feeding culture. If your baby sleeps that’s great but it’s healthy and normal if they don’t.

All part of a formula feeding culture.

Formula-fed babies wake up too, though. It's a myth that formula invariably makes babies sleep through.

Yeah the OCD thing annoys me as well. Obsessions and compulsions are separate things both playing their part.

Everyone has a little bit of autism! FUCK OFF no they don’t!!!!

Formula-fed babies wake up too, though. It's a myth that formula invariably makes babies sleep through

I disagree, I think this is something that is quite well researched. Formula takes longer and is more difficult to digest, they may take in a higher volume of milk and there’s the breastfeeding for comfort factor. All the formula fed babies I know slept through quite early- although would be awake for longer periods if they did wake.

@Lojoh That link also says that you "need a ‘deed poll’ to apply for or to change official documents like your passport or driving licence."

So basically you can use whatever name you like as long as don't plan on using it to get a passport, driving licence, bank account or mortgage

Here’s one along a different topic: have you seen all the footage and printed pics of koalas being given water from drink bottles by firefighters during the horrific Aussie bushfires? The image has actually been synonymous with natural disasters here for a decade or so. It’s a moving and heartbreaking image, which is why it’s become so popular. Also poignant due to people knowing that koalas usually steer clear of humans (grumpy bums that they are), so must be in desperate straights to accept water.

Shame no one seems to know that koalas can’t safely drink with their heads up, they need to lap water from the ground (or usually leaves). Most koalas given drink from bottles will die soon after from complications of water going into their lungs (pneumonia, effectively). Even most aussies living in rural areas don’t know this fact.

Why we can’t just put this on the nightly news once and for all, I’ll never know.