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.

Their willy falls off and they die @DrSbaitso

@Larryyourwaiter

I have a friend who is a GP and patients come in and ask to be sent to rehab because they’ve seen it on tv and see celebs. They don’t understand it’s not really an option for the general public.

It's not? It is in NZ

That if you just started going to the gym and put on weight, it's because 'muscle weighs more than fat'.

While what people really mean has been discussed above, this is still probably incorrect. Even if you are a man and actually go to the gym to build muscle and lift as heavy as possible, you can expect to gain a pound or 2 per month. If you have been to a couple of easy aerobics or yoga classes and put on 5 pounds in a week, it's not muscle growth.

@Rogue1001MNer

That the tories are capable of running a country

That labour has l;aways left the country solvent after their terms in office.

That if you drink your breastmilk will become so alcoholic that you'd baby will be poisoned and turned into a lush.

While exercise is generally good for you and helps you sleep well and lose weight, I don't think some people realise that if you do too much, particularly if you body is already stressed, it can increase cortisol levels and have the opposite effect, causing insomnia and self-medication with food.

So if you are stressed and sleepless already, you might be better going for a brisk walk and doing some restorative yoga than some HIIT or running.

@ElftonWednesday

Their willy falls off and they die *@DrSbaitso*

I wonder if there's a way of DNA mixing bees with sexually incontinent politicians.

[quote SmorgasBorb]@DropYourSword they are legal tender but a retailer can refuse any form of payment they choose. It's not the law that legal tender has to be accepted as payment. Hence when retailers stopped accepting cash (legal tender) over lockdowns no one was prosecuted!
Stamps are legal tender but your local pub can tell you to do one when you go to pay for your egg and chips with a pile of first class stamps. [/quote]
Yes, retailers can choose which forms of payment they will or won't accept. So, a retailer could insist they would only accept Bitcoin payment, or Pokémon cards.
But, the Bank of England has specified on their website this screenshot.
It blew my mind!!

@CounsellorTroi

Jean Charles de Menezes was challenged by police and ran away. He was not, and he did not.

Debatable, depending on what your point of view is and on what you want to 'prove'.

That Ofsted ratings are a good way to judge schools.

Up until fairly recently, 'outstanding' schools weren't inspected routinely again. How does this make any sense? After it was decided this was ridiculous they announced it would take up to 8 years to inspect all schools currently rated outstanding

Ofsted also used to fleece me of over 100 quid a year to give me a code just so I could accept childcare vouchers as a nanny. They done bugger all for that money... no inspections, nothing. Yet so many parents think they have a good nanny as they're 'Ofsted registered'.

@chocolateisavegetable

That Holland is a country

Oh God, the trouble we used to have at the pub quiz where one quiz master refused to accept the Netherlands when his answer sheet said Holland.

Jean Charles de Menezes jumped the ticket barrier.

This is now such a big part of the accepted narrative when it turns out that it was an eye witness and what they actually saw was the police (or similar) doing this.

I have to remember the Holland thing all the time so I don’t offend the people I work with - I’m sure when I was little we were taught that in school, but it’s just wrong so we can’t have been!

Oh God, the trouble we used to have at the pub quiz where one quiz master refused to accept the Netherlands when his answer sheet said Holland.

Once at a quiz at an RSL in Sydney the quiz master wouldn't accept my answer until I pronounced it RODDIN (Rodin)

Civil servants seem to be convinced that wfh is forever

That a "silver bullet" would cure cancer, eradicate poverty, solve the climate crisis etc.

No, silver bullets are for killing werewolves, for anything else you need a "magic" bullet.

@shortroundd

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.

This might be true but Ilford and Romford do not have London postcodes, theirs start IG and RM respectively. Additionally, Romford phone numbers start 01708 while greater London numbers have the 020 prefix, hence the confusion.

I grew up with an IG postcode and it was most certainly in Essex, in fact, there was a 'Welcome to Essex, twinned with Mantes le Ville' sign not 0.2 of a mile from our driveway! We had an 020, well, a 0181 prefix, again sign another of being part of the London telephone exchange.

While exercise is generally good for you and helps you sleep well and lose weight, I don't think some people realise that if you do too much, particularly if you body is already stressed, it can increase cortisol levels and have the opposite effect, causing insomnia and self-medication with food.

Exercise also makes you more susceptible to illness by lowering your immune response temporarily

@Staffy1

That it makes any difference which party is running the country.

I seem to recall a quote along the lines of 'You can vote for whoever you want but the Government always wins'

That men are generally just big toddlers and can't be expected to figure out anything house or child related. If your DH will not feed your child dinner or won't get their wet swim clothes out of the bag then it's your fault for not giving them lists and detailed instructions.

@EarringsandLipstick

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'.

This, I lost 5 stone a few years back, I ate bread every day,also ate rice, potatoes, pasta etc all in moderation, without my carbs I probably would have starved to death

@OneTC

While exercise is generally good for you and helps you sleep well and lose weight, I don't think some people realise that if you do too much, particularly if you body is already stressed, it can increase cortisol levels and have the opposite effect, causing insomnia and self-medication with food.

Exercise also makes you more susceptible to illness by lowering your immune response temporarily

This is all a problem with overtraining, surely? I made that mistake years ago and all the associated rookie errors too (seeing my muscle tone fade and thinking I needed to step it up, thinking only superfit people and professional athletes could overtrain etc). Been fine since I learned what was going on and how to handle it.

[quote squashedalmondcroissant]@BlondeDogLady I wish I'd known that a few years ago when I was forced to repay a debt that my ex accrued in his sole name, even though we had split when they started to recover the money. They said essentially that because he had no money I had to pay it instead because we were married 😡

@WiddlinDiddlin yes exactly. Dogs are 'colour blind' in that they can't see or distinguish all colours but a lot of people seem to think they can't see colour at all and only see in greyscale. Not true 😁[/quote]
How many years ago are we talking? Had you guaranteed his loan? Are you in the UK?

@Puffalicious

That Hitler was a librarian- so many people have told me this- he was, in fact, a newspaper cartoonist.

Wasn't he painter?

@Puffalicious

See, I thought Manchester was much bigger!

There's Manchester and Greater Manchester, that's where any confusion occurs. GM was created in the early 70s when a lot of Lancashire was dumped into GM, my father would never drop Lancashire from his address and the residents of some very desirable areas were very unhappy!