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.

That veganism isn't absolutely and unequivocally correct.

then where do you draw the line?

He's an Irish citizen - there's no need to draw a line! It's perfectly clear!!

Somewhat topically - that Jews can't experience racism/Jews aren't a race. It is and they do.

@SnackSizeRaisin

You can tell if an egg is off by seeing if it floats

You can though? The older an egg becomes it has more air in it..

If calorie controlled diets and exercised actually worked… there would be NO diet industry

they do work, it's just that sticking to them is the hard part the industry leaves out but having said that it may not be 'impossible' as people believe. It can very much depend on the individual-some people have no interest in food and are wired to eat less, not crave etc. Appetites differ.

@Pastnowfuture

That social workers can remove children from their parents.

What do you mean? Social workers are the ones who make the reports that lead to child removal orders from social services. I think this is nitpicky. Are you talking about the physical removal? Which I think is done by police... and social workers?

@UnaOfStormhold

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...

Men will do anything for a shag.

[quote unstitching]@EarringsandLipstick

If calorie controlled diets and exercised actually worked… there would be NO diet industry.[/quote]
They work, all right.

People struggle to follow them, though. Which is partly human nature, as it's not always easy, and partly individual physiological make-up for some of those who are obese, and who will ultimately not be able to rectify their weight, at a certain point, purely via diet & exercise.

@OneTC

That lottery transactions need to be separate or need to be cash.

I didn't think that many people thought that, just they understand that retailers don't want to lose money selling them

It also saves you from dealing with people that steal cards just so they can buy scratchies below the chip and pin limit

I was a kiosk cashier for a big famous supermarket for 8 years.

Many people don't realise and doing lots of separate transactions is a pain in the arse, especially when it's busy.

I don't think the average minimum wage cashier gives a hoot if the multimillion pound business makes a loss or not.

Only using cash for lottery isn't going to stop someone using your card for lottery if they have stolen your card. Cashiers don't know what cards are stolen.

@shortroundd

*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.

His father was Irish.

Being born in a stable doesn’t make you a horse!
Half of his parentage was Irish
Where you are educated has nothing to do with your nationality.

I don't think the average minimum wage cashier gives a hoot if the multimillion pound business makes a loss or not.

I've never seen a major supermarket refuse a card for any transaction or any value. This is something I've only ever seen in small shops

That eating humble potatoes is bad for you.

They are really an amazing food source, cheap, rich in vitamins & minerals and they fill you up!

That Watford Gap, where people like to say the North of England ends and the South begins (or vice versa depending on your point of view) is in Watford in Hertfordshire.

It's a village in Northamptonshire (and anyway, what about the Midlands?)

@shortroundd

That medieval people must have been really smelly with bad teeth

the bad teeth part was true, tooth decay was even pretty bad worldwide for a good part of the 20th century before fluoride etc was discovered. If you look at actors/actresses on tv in the 70s/80s even many of them had bad teeth. Many people in their 70s and up today have false teeth.

Unfortunately, however, 'medieval' isn't actually the period that comes just before the twentieth century.

People did a fair bit of damage to their teeth with rough food, but tooth decay isn't super common because the standard diet wasn't very sugary. That all comes later.

@Sorka

Common law marriage is legally recognised in England so you have the same rights if you split up as on divorce.

Erm no!

I think that's true in Scotland

No, it isn’t.

Out of interest, why do you think this?

While we're on that subject, it's part of your T&C's with the provider that as a merchant that you can't refuse card transactions based on value or add a charge

@IVflytrap

That Watford Gap, where people like to say the North of England ends and the South begins (or vice versa depending on your point of view) is in Watford in Hertfordshire.

It's a village in Northamptonshire (and anyway, what about the Midlands?)

Ooh which village?

OP, marital assets are split 50/50 in many places such as Scotland

It is rooted in Celtic tradition but the current iteration if not what the Celtic tradition would recognise

Every halloween thing we do comes from the Celtic tradition. The only thing they wouldn't recognise is the plastic.

That you can't drive until 6 weeks after a c-section

It was my doctor who told me this one. Claimed it was an insurance thing. I asked my insurance company who laughed.

That tourists from non EU countries can use the NHS.

They can. They just might be charged for it.

That it is illegal to open someone else's post if its delivered to your address.

It can be.

I really thought it was illegal to drive in flip-flops?

Again, it can be.

It does mine as she's not used to it. Unless she's putting it on, but why would she and how would she know to?

Google "confirmation bias"

The £40 limit doesn’t matter until the cut off point as you only get charged morning if delivery.

Yes but then you might set the order with a bag of potatoes then you might update the wrong order then you might end up paying a tenner for a bag of potatoes. Not that it happened to me ......😂

People did a fair bit of damage to their teeth with rough food, but tooth decay isn't super common because the standard diet wasn't very sugary. That all comes later.

That’s really interesting and makes a lot of sense. Can you recommend any good books for a complete novice to medieval history? It’s a time period I’d like to explore but keep procrastinating because I don’t know where to start.

(Sorry for going off topic.)

WTAF - a member of my family has chronic lime disease and I can tell you it causes neurological damage if left untreated and is NOT PLEASANT!

People did a fair bit of damage to their teeth with rough food, but tooth decay isn't super common because the standard diet wasn't very sugary. That all comes later

but regardless even with a non sugar diet teeth will rot without adequate care. Life expectancy then was much lower as was infant mortality so I assume this is why records for bad teeth might be lower.

@shortroundd

People did a fair bit of damage to their teeth with rough food, but tooth decay isn't super common because the standard diet wasn't very sugary. That all comes later

but regardless even with a non sugar diet teeth will rot without adequate care. Life expectancy then was much lower as was infant mortality so I assume this is why records for bad teeth might be lower.

Life expectancy wasn't enormously lower when you correct for infant mortality (this is another myth, the 'people all died in their 40s and when you were 30 you were old - actually, if you made it to 40 you might well make it to 60 or 70, and people in their early twenties were not always considered full-fledged adults).

If you look at skulls in graveyard sites, you can see that while there are instances of tooth damage, many people had perfectly decent teeth. They knew to clean them, for starters.

[quote KarenTheGammonRemoaner]That small anecdotal study on behaviour does not refuse the fact that "refined sugars and carbohydrates enter the bloodstream quickly. Therefore, they cause rapid changes in blood sugar levels. This may make a child become more active." Also, "sugar" colloquially refers to chemical compounds which have been shown to be linked to hyperactivity. ("E-numbers")

You can read about that in this article here.

Also, empirically, I felt change in my own body on consumption of certain sweets and the "sugar" or sugar-like substance within those caused that, time and again.
medlineplus.gov/ency/article/002426.htm#:~:text=Refined%20sugars%20and%20carbohydrates%20enter,between%20artificial%20colorings%20and%20hyperactivity.[/quote]
Erm, its not a "small anecdotal study" - it's peer reviewed meta analysis, supported by the medical community, published in the BMJ.

Anyway, I won't continue to discuss with you, as it appears that you will continue to believe you are right, even when presented with scientific studies and clear evidence that you are wrong and just trotting out a disproved "Old Wives Tale".