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.

Brexit was a good idea.
I got my country back.
The EU made a law about straight bananas.
What it said in the side of the Brexit bus was true.

@Footgoose

That being pregnant and having babies leaches the calcium out of your teeth.

That used to be a very common thing in my late mother's day, apparently when a woman became pregnant she would have all her teeth removed and have falsies!

That the Channel Tunnel is built through the sea seems to quite a commonly held belief.

Adele wrote 'Make you feel my love'

@Redannie118

Worker bees in a hive are all female. Drones are male and do not leave the hive and are stingless.

I thought this was the case and Wikipedia confirms that worker bees are female.

@Maerchentante

That there is no speed limit on the German Autobahn

There are stretches where there is no speed limit, but they are getting fewer every year.

Even where there is no limit, in the event of an accident the insurance companies would take excessive speed into account.

@Seraphina1993 I think it's because of the manufacturing process isn't it. Like oats - oats don't contain gluten but not all oats are gluten free due to the manufacturing process.

I’ve just finished reading the Olive Farm series set in France . Set in the eighties and nineties, she details the French driving around drunk on a consistent basis. Laws were brought in to control drink driving and then people began to change their ways.

That a thin bit of cloth can stop a virus.

@OneTC

This is all a problem with overtraining, surely?

👍 Basically yes

I see people in my sport frequently train to exhaustion, to the point they physically can't do another rep, or another lap but have fully bought into the idea that because it's exercise it must be good for you

We've had so many stories of very fit people doing badly with Covid. I don't know if it's really a thing or if it's just that doctors like to report about them to remind the rest of us that it's not just the vulnerable who can end up in hospital.

Personally, I would not want to live in a country which did not distinguish between marriage and living together.

Personally, I would not want to live in a country which did not distinguish between marriage and living together.

I am the higher earner in my relationship by quite a lot. I chose to marry my DH and accept that we are financially a unit. That was a choice that I willingly made when we decided that we wanted to start a family.

If something happened to DH and I became single again, then I can conceive that there might be a time when I might want to share my life with someone else, but I would not want to become financially enmeshed in the same way. On the contrary, I would want to protect my assets for myself and for my dd.

In a country where common law marriage is a thing, I guess that means that I would be consigned to living on my own forever. I would rather be able to make that choice for myself. Any prospective partner could equally make their own choice about whether they were happy to move in and share lives on an informal basis or whether they would only consider the marriage route.

There are legal options to protect those who want that protection. Why force it on those who don't?

You’re just thinking about yourself in this though. Nearly all countries that have protection for cohabitants allow opt-out agreements so if it meant that much to you, you could ask your partner to sign one of those. The idea that a woman who has to compromise her career to look after children while her partner merrily gets promotion on promotion should just live with the huge injustice because of ‘choices’ is 🤔
We all know that marriage isn’t always a joint choice. Once kids come along, the ball is usually in the court of the financially stronger partners (usually a man) and even if the other partner really wants to get married for the protection, they can’t do anything about it. You’re a rarity being the higher earner so maybe think of others besides yourself and how they would benefit from a change in the law. I saw one post on relationships where a poor woman was being made homeless with her disabled DS because her cocklodging DP, father of the DS, wanted her out. He’d not lifted a finger to care for the child whereas the woman had totally given up work. She’d be entitled to nothing beyond child support. Fair? Nope.

@daimbarsatemydogsbone

I’m always surprised by how many MNers think employers still provide highly detailed, personalised references and would have no qualms about slating you to future employers if you took the piss with long lunches in your notice period. The reality is you’ll be lucky to get ‘I can confirm Joe Bloggs was employed in the position of Turd Polisher from January 2019 to January 2022’ from most firms.

^This x100000000 so many threads saying "be careful you don't get a bad reference" etc - really out of date advice and pointless.

But it's also not true that nobody gets a proper reference any more (small places still do them). I've also witnessed someone giving a mixed reference over the phone so you can definitely be honest in a reference.

Religion

2. That Edinburgh is east of Bristol. Its actually further west. The BBC perpetuate this with the weather maps
LOOK I have coped with learning about sober French children and defibrillators not being magic and sugar not being bad after all (yay! Have a biscuit, DD) and… well tbh I’m still confused about the bees, but you can’t just go around moving Edinburgh, it’s not sporting.

I eat it. I love it. But it’s not good for you. Read Genius Foods by Max Lugavere

@Scotland32

I eat it. I love it. But it’s not good for you. Read Genius Foods by Max Lugavere

Now we need to know what you eat 😀

@DrSbaitso

Itwas a uk size 16 back in Marilyn's day.

Was it?

A UK 14 was a modern 10. I sold stuff to Kerry Taylor auctions. Bought 1969 as a 14. Measured now as a 10. And an American 16 which is quoted for Marilyn is a UK 12 (still is). Size 8 didn't exist when I was young (well it did, but it was called something else).

@Sorka

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

No you don’t!

That it's only worth putting any measures into place if they can "stop" a virus rather than reduce chances of transmission.

Virtually no single practical measure would completely "stop" a virus from transmitting. But lots of people either don't understand the complexities of "risk", or pretend they don't.

People believe that sex is a spectrum & that you can change sex (consistency optional). Both are wrong.

@The6thSanta

Defibrillators can be used to ‘restart’ a heart that’s stopped, but not an AED which is the usually type we see. Normally need lots of drugs to help that happen and it would only work to ‘reset’ the pacemaker, no way to re start a dead heart.

It is actually possible to restart an asystolic heart (one that's completely stopped), however, it is very unusual. You're right that shocking will not help but continuing with CPR and giving adrenaline may work

@FatOaf

Been told by a doctor to give up caffeine twice. I do have it now.

It's in the NICE guidelines on managing hypertension, so doctors say it pretty much automatically to patients being treated for high blood pressure/cardiovascular risk.

It was for two different things and not hypertension.

@Agrudge

Not all men a perverts

Only the hardcore MNers believe such nonsense.

You’re a rarity being the higher earner so maybe think of others besides yourself and how they would benefit from a change in the law.

Instead of changing the law, I would rather that women were encouraged not to give up their earning power or to at least get married before doing so.

You speak as if women end up in these situations without having had any choice in the matter, but they have presumably chosen to have sex, go ahead with pregnancies, have children, quit work or reduce hours etc. All I'm saying is that, perhaps before doing that, they should take some steps to protect themselves legally and financially.

What is the point of marriage in countries where common law partnerships have the same legal status? What is wrong with it being an active choice?

@2X4B523P

That a thin bit of cloth can stop a virus.

How true