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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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

999 replies

shortroundd · 02/02/2022 19:44

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.
OP posts:
Thread gallery
5
GruffaloSolja · 03/02/2022 00:13

That Mozart wrote Twinkle Twinkle little star when he was 5 years old

DePfeffoff · 03/02/2022 00:13

That you can't claim for damages if you've been injured in an accident due to someone else's fault unless you can show actual financial loss. It's absolute nonsense, it's the norm in such cases to receive damages for pain, suffering and inconvenience.

anine · 03/02/2022 00:14

One that always pops up on MN is that EBay has 'lots of hidden costs'! It doesn't! It's perfectly transparent about its final value fees.

DePfeffoff · 03/02/2022 00:14

That you mustn't go to A&E unless you're on the brink of death and your limbs are about to fall off.

Monopolyiscrap · 03/02/2022 00:18

Anyone can go to A and E. But if you go for things that are not relevant you will wait hours and hours. And if it is something inappropriate e.g. second opinion, you may not get anyone to give you this anyway.

Pumpkinstace · 03/02/2022 00:21

@OneTC

Oh and now I've really misread your post 😂🤦
Was that to me?

I'm so confused right now Confused

I'm not drunk, I promise Halo

Stylemyhairplease · 03/02/2022 00:24

That a second job is always taxed at 40%, regardless of income from either or both jobs

Lockdownbear · 03/02/2022 00:32

@midsomermurderess

Like the 8 glasses of water a day, the 10k steps is also a random figure, no real foundation to that specific number.
The 8 glasses always makes me laugh - how big is the glass?

We were watching telly "the lady can spin enough wool in a day to make a quarter of a medium sized carpet" what ? How big is a medium sized carpet.

SquirrelG · 03/02/2022 00:35

Act of God is a thing in insurance policies

It is in some parts of the world.

EarringsandLipstick · 03/02/2022 00:36

Carbohydrates, when eaten to excess, CAN and DO make you fat.

Well, yes!

Anything eaten to excess will make you fat!

It's a completely different statement to 'carbs make you fat'.

ShowOfHands · 03/02/2022 00:38

That ambivalent means you have no feelings about something.

That they know what flu is ie they've assumed it's a terribly debilitating illness in the majority of the population.

marpelier · 03/02/2022 00:45

AUstralia definitely has common law marriages but we call them "de facto", and they confer all the same rights as a "marriage" after 2 years of living together - well in my state anyway, there are some variations. I'm surprised it is not recognised in other countries TBH. 10 years living together and a child or two shows a lot more committed relationship than a 1 year marriage for example.
With regards to Lyme disease, this is a very contentious issue in Australia, most doctors do not believe that the tick that causes the disease in the Northern hemisphere is actually in the country. A few do though. We do have a shedload of ticks in some areas though - particularly the northern beaches of Sydney. I lived there until recently and several of my sons friends developed MMA . Which is even weirder when you think about it. ( can't eat red meat as become allergic after tick bite).
The post about "another thing coming" What is up with that? Half of people say another "think" and half say another "thing".
Last one is a US one and the idea that "like I could care less" is an insult.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 03/02/2022 00:50

Fascinating (if sometimes confusing!) thread.

I agree that some of these are just arguing about semantics, though. Yes, what is commonly known as 'road tax' may not be technically called that officially, but as it's a tax which has to be paid (or applied for/registered, even if the cost is £0) in order to be allowed to use your vehicle on the public roads, it's not really something to be dismissed as woeful ignorance. There was a time when all official documents would have referred to 'motor vehicles', but now even the DVLA uses the informal 'car' in most places.

Unemployment benefits were never officially called 'the dole', but at one time, it was a universally-understood (if possibly not very kind) informal term for the concept of receiving benefits instead of earnings from a job.

Also, as PP said, whilst social workers don't personally 'take' your children from you, they will often be responsible for raising the alarm on concerning cases, which may result in your children being taken from you. Yes, this will be ordered by a court, but the members of the court won't be the ones initially visiting your house and spotting the red flags.

You may as well quibble if somebody is described as 'dying from falling off a steep cliff', just because it's the landing which will actually kill them. People still talk about the old castles that were 'built by King/Queen X', even though they had poor/common people who actually did all of the building work.

midsomermurderess · 03/02/2022 00:50

People in the UK are given the freedom to enter or not to enter formal relationships from which legal consequences/rights emanate, and to not have the state impose one on you. I can see both sides, but don't present it as if we are somehow backwards.

Hawkins001 · 03/02/2022 00:52

Reading with intrigue

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 03/02/2022 00:54

The 8 glasses always makes me laugh - how big is the glass?

We were watching telly "the lady can spin enough wool in a day to make a quarter of a medium sized carpet" what ? How big is a medium sized carpet.

Reminds me of the episode of The Simpsons where Lisa's class went on a boring school visit to the cardboard box factory. Their guide proudly boasted that all of their boxes contained a percentage of recycled materials and then, when Lisa asked her the question that probably no other child ever asked: What percentage? - she protested "Zero is a percentage!" Grin

ThumbWitchesAbroad · 03/02/2022 00:55

@EarringsandLipstick - well yes - but then a simplistic statement like "carbs make you fat" invites an equally simplistic and erroneous response like "no they don't".

Over-simplification is the problem here.

Also I don't believe an excess of fruit would make you fat - you'd probably lose weight from the runs first! Grin

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 03/02/2022 01:02

People in the UK are given the freedom to enter or not to enter formal relationships from which legal consequences/rights emanate, and to not have the state impose one on you. I can see both sides, but don't present it as if we are somehow backwards.

Exactly this. Marriage involves a number of responsibilities and obligations and thus has to be a conscious choice. Nobody should ever end up married by default (i.e. forced to marry). Plenty of people in long-term committed relationships have made the deliberate decision not to marry - for any of a number of reasons - and to deny them this right to remain legally unmarried is an absolute disgrace. For those who do want all of the official recognition, privileges, obligations, rights and responsibilities of marriage.... well, there's always marriage available to them and a willing partner....

SquirrelG · 03/02/2022 01:05

AUstralia definitely has common law marriages but we call them "de facto", and they confer all the same rights as a "marriage" after 2 years of living together - well in my state anyway, there are some variations. I'm surprised it is not recognised in other countries TBH. 10 years living together and a child or two shows a lot more committed relationship than a 1 year marriage for example.

It's the same in NZ also.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 03/02/2022 01:08

I've encountered a few people who've been convinced that a bus is always more environmentally-friendly than a car, just by virtue of its being a bus.

Even if it's an old diesel double-decker with only one passenger (I exclude the driver, as s/he doesn't want/need to make the journey for their own benefit) versus a new electric compact 'city' car carrying four people to their required destination.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 03/02/2022 01:17

It's the same in NZ also.

That's astonishing, really. If you asked people to name some countries where they thought forced marriage might be legal, I bet they'd all name developing countries known for poor human rights records - and none of them would ever dream of saying Aus or NZ.

I really don't see how they can possibly confer only the rights of marriage without also the obligations. Anyway, asserting some rights of marriage will ultimately be directly to the advantage of one spouse and to the disadvantage of the other - like with any contract.

marpelier · 03/02/2022 01:36

@midsomermurderess

People in the UK are given the freedom to enter or not to enter formal relationships from which legal consequences/rights emanate, and to not have the state impose one on you. I can see both sides, but don't present it as if we are somehow backwards.
That wasn't my intention. Just surprise as they are standard here.
Graphista · 03/02/2022 01:38

and a legally formed common law marriage

Thinking there may be a discrepancy in what brits mean by a common law marriage and USA meaning

You say "legally formed" which I think means some kind of ceremony or documentation?

In uk people it's usually used to mean simply people who live together who are in a romantic relationship

after 2 years of living together

And if the couple split or one party dies around the 2 year mark and there's a dispute whether it's a common law marriage or not how is this determined? This is the problem of a common law marriage particularly when it ends who says whether is was one or not and when it started/ended when there are no witnesses and no proof of the date?

I also agree that it should be a conscious choice to be married not a default one.

Cohabitation is better for some than marriage

marpelier · 03/02/2022 01:38

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll

It's the same in NZ also.

That's astonishing, really. If you asked people to name some countries where they thought forced marriage might be legal, I bet they'd all name developing countries known for poor human rights records - and none of them would ever dream of saying Aus or NZ.

I really don't see how they can possibly confer only the rights of marriage without also the obligations. Anyway, asserting some rights of marriage will ultimately be directly to the advantage of one spouse and to the disadvantage of the other - like with any contract.

It does have all the obligations. Legally they are the same. Confused . No difference. I may not have explained myself well.
WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 03/02/2022 02:22

Sorry, marpelier - that came across as though I was getting at you personally; it really wasn't my intention at all to shoot the messenger!

It just really annoys me when some people want to pick and choose to have the automatic legal right to the 'nice' bits of marriage, because they 'effectively are married'; but also wilfully reject any parts of marriage that they don't like on the grounds that they aren't married....

As well as, of course, people who have NOT made the decision to marry (or indeed have made the decision NOT to marry) to end up forced into it anyway.