things the masses of people seem to believe that aren't true.

[shortroundd]

I am not talking about conspiracies here that can't be proven with a bit of digging but more false stuff that seems to stick in the minds of the general population as truths.

1. All/majority of lotto winners go broke after 5 years. I have seen this touted out a lot yet there is no known source of it as no such research exists. There is the handful of bad stories that are circulated but this is only a minority out of 1000s of big winners worldwide. Infact, I recall the tabloids doing a feature with winners to celebrate Camelot's 20th anniversary or so and many winners had said their lives were better.

1. Marriage means all assets are split 50/50. Another huge misconception.

1. Prenups will protect 1 in divorce- again I think 2 and 3 come from people watching tv shows and movies that use this as factual when it's not.

1. Elvis sings 'Lonely this Christmas.'

1. The capital of Brazil is Rio.

@underneaththeash

Veganism is good for you. It’s not. Reducing amino acid variety, calcium (and therefore D absorption, B12 and iron really is not good.

Health authorities around the world disagree with you. You can get all amino acids from vegan foods and the food highest in calcium is vegan - it’s not dairy, it’s sesame seeds.

Olivia Newton John us Australian. She was born in Cambridge but emigrated young and has dual nationality

it still makes her English, she even said herself in that famous quote she's not Mrs goody 2 shoes from oz but from England. She's English but became an Australian citizen. Also getting dual citizenship is easy, I am born and bred in my country but if I go to USA tomoro in my 30s and marry a yank and stay there I can get dual citizenship. It doesn't make me American thoough.

@SnackSizeRaisin

If you work part time it's better to work Mondays because you get more time off than a part timer who doesn't work Mondays

This one drives me nuts! I can't understand how people don't realise you will use more leave allowance if you have to take more days off!

When I was part time, I made sure that Monday & Friday were my days off to maximise my leave. I'd still get most of the bank holidays off and my holiday allowance was intact.

When you look at an atlas of the countries of the world, it is not to scale.

Africa as a land mass could easily contain Russia, China and a host of other countries.

North and South America is not in proportion either

You're correct that Mel Gibson isn't. He does have dual American and Irish citizenship

Why would he have Irish citizenship? He emigrated to oz at 12.

That 'those foreigners came over here taking OUR jobs and OUR benefits" - NO!!!!

Darth Vader never said ' Luke, I am your father '

That is true. I work part time and have a Monday off, my DH works part time and has a Tuesday off. We work at the same place with the exact same terms and conditions and I get more hours of annual leave than he does. Our 'base rate' of annual leave is the same, but I get a public holiday adjustment on top which is what makes the difference (because most public holidays are on a Monday).

@mistermagpie - but you both still get the same number of days off. On a week where there is a Monday bank holiday, he works one less day than you (assuming you work the same number of days). So you have hours for that day added to your leave, so that you can have the time off that he has already had at another time to equal you up - not to give you more. You will both work exactly the same number of hours over the year - but not working a Monday means that you get more choice in when you take a few of them (because they are added to your leave rather than taken on a set Bank Holiday day).

@DrSophia

As I understand it re post/mail it's the intention behind opening it. I've opened mail in order to obtain the return address/reference number. Sometimes simply placing it back into the post box with 'return to sender' isn't enough.

Speaking from experience, when the previous occupant has left the country owing around £20k of various debts, you more or less have to open mail so you can write to debt collectors and explain the situation - or risk having several bailiffs around. Writing ‘return to sender’ doesn’t work! And in such circs it’s not illegal to open someone else’s mail.,

@FilthyforFirth

That Clapham junction is in Clapham. I used to have this argument all the time when I lived there! It is not, it is in Battersea.

Well that's just annoying.

Going back to honeybees, it's true drones are stingless but they do leave the hive regularly - it's the queen who only leaves the hive to swarm or on her mating flight when in her first few weeks of life. They don't forage but gather in drone congregation areas and wait in the hope that a virgin queen will come past. Though it's unclear why they wish to mate given that ejaculation makes their bodies explode...

That you will be seen quicker in A&E if you arrive by ambulance.

On the subject of veganism this one is slightly niche but I've seen it a few times.
"Cats can't be vegan because they need taurine which comes from meat"
There are reasons why vegan diets are problematic for cats, but that's not one of them - you can knock taurine up from scratch in a lab and most of the taurine eaten by UK pet cats will be lab made and vegan.

That when driving past a row of parked cars, the driver on the opposites side of road to the parked cars automatically has right of way. - They don't (do I need a diagram?)

That lottery transactions need to be separate or need to be cash. - You can buy your lottery at the in the same transaction as your milk and can use your credit card

That jeans are warm clothing. - they aren't.

@mrsm43s

That is true. I work part time and have a Monday off, my DH works part time and has a Tuesday off. We work at the same place with the exact same terms and conditions and I get more hours of annual leave than he does. Our 'base rate' of annual leave is the same, but I get a public holiday adjustment on top which is what makes the difference (because most public holidays are on a Monday).

@mistermagpie - but you both still get the same number of days off. On a week where there is a Monday bank holiday, he works one less day than you (assuming you work the same number of days). So you have hours for that day added to your leave, so that you can have the time off that he has already had at another time to equal you up - not to give you more. You will both work exactly the same number of hours over the year - but not working a Monday means that you get more choice in when you take a few of them (because they are added to your leave rather than taken on a set Bank Holiday day).

Well yes, I suppose technically you are probably right, (we don't actually work the same number of days so I'd have to work it out, but it sounds right to me!) but it doesn't feel like that in practice.

In practice it feels like I 'get' the bank holiday because I'm not at work and then get the day back as well!

@shortroundd

You're correct that Mel Gibson isn't. He does have dual American and Irish citizenship

Why would he have Irish citizenship? He emigrated to oz at 12.

His mother was born in Ireland.

That Clapham junction is in Clapham. I used to have this argument all the time when I lived there! It is not, it is in Battersea

London geography 'facts' are embarrassing, so many people think East London areas like Romford, Barking, Ilford etc are in Essex when infact they belong to London boroughs, have Met police and were handed over from Essex in the mid 60s.

That it's Chester draws

Drives me totally insane.

it's chest of DRAWERS DRAWERS DRAWERS

Another big falsehood is that Daniel Day Lewis is Irish although I think people believe this as he did a good few Irish movies.

Not quite. If they float to the surface, they are no longer fresh enough to eat.

Why not? The taste and safety are unaffected. The only thing that is different is the size of the air pocket inside. You don't eat the air pocket anyway.
Are you someone who throws out out of date potatoes?

@mistermagpie

That is true. I work part time and have a Monday off, my DH works part time and has a Tuesday off. We work at the same place with the exact same terms and conditions and I get more hours of annual leave than he does. Our 'base rate' of annual leave is the same, but I get a public holiday adjustment on top which is what makes the difference (because most public holidays are on a Monday).

Your workplace has this wrong. Your DH should have more free leave than you as there are more bank holidays on a Monday than Tuesday.

2021 for instance.. Five bank holidays were on Monday, two were Friday and one was Tuesday.

Let's say you have the minimum holiday entitlement (5.6 weeks) and you both work 20 hours a week. You would both be entitled to 112 hours holiday. 35 of your hours would need to be used on bank holidays, only 15 of your OH's would. That would leave you with 77 hours to take as you wish and your OH would have 97.

If everything is entirely equal and you are left with more hours of your choice than your OH then they are doing it wrong.

[quote HunterHearstHelmsley]@mistermagpie

That is true. I work part time and have a Monday off, my DH works part time and has a Tuesday off. We work at the same place with the exact same terms and conditions and I get more hours of annual leave than he does. Our 'base rate' of annual leave is the same, but I get a public holiday adjustment on top which is what makes the difference (because most public holidays are on a Monday).

Your workplace has this wrong. Your DH should have more free leave than you as there are more bank holidays on a Monday than Tuesday.

2021 for instance.. Five bank holidays were on Monday, two were Friday and one was Tuesday.

Let's say you have the minimum holiday entitlement (5.6 weeks) and you both work 20 hours a week. You would both be entitled to 112 hours holiday. 35 of your hours would need to be used on bank holidays, only 15 of your OH's would. That would leave you with 77 hours to take as you wish and your OH would have 97.

If everything is entirely equal and you are left with more hours of your choice than your OH then they are doing it wrong.[/quote]
Just realised I misread and the other half is the one that works Monday. Wish I hadn't wasted so much time working that out haha.

@shortroundd

Another big falsehood is that Daniel Day Lewis is Irish although I think people believe this as he did a good few Irish movies.

Not a 'big falsehood' - he has held an Irish passport since 1993.

He was born in Britain, of course.

He regards himself as British and Irish

@veevee04

That medical professionals slap DNARS on to kill off the elderly and its like the TV where if you shock someone they will magically come back to life. CPR is massively invasive cracked ribs , punctured lungs , drilling into the bone to get access to administer drugs , hypoxic brain injuries and very low success rates especially in the elderly and fragile. DNAR does not mean mean not to treat you can still be given antibiotics and pain relief it means if you die they will not attempt you bring you back because there's no hope . The public should be educated instead of believing what they see on the TV

hallelujah yes this!....except well.....my late husband got a DNAR put on his records and we never knew about it until he was told that his exisiting local dialysis unit couldn't have him back because he was DNAR. We said well that's simple just take it off the record and who put it on there in the first place? Lovely consultant lady, when summoned, said it should never have been put on and she would pursue it....Its like the LPC. Originally it was designed to give patients and relis agency over what treatments they wanted and did not....it did get misused, although not as much as the newspapers and others made out but it was a good and useful piece of work.

*Not a 'big falsehood' - he has held an Irish passport since 1993.

He was born in Britain, of course.

He regards himself as British and Irish*

born,bred and educated in England doesn't make you Irish.