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35 Persistent Myths That Need to Be Retired Pronto

These myths are getting a gold watch and a thanks for their years of service

35 Persistent Myths That Need to Be Retired Pronto

March 24, 2024

We were a little annoyed with these myths at first. Parading around as facts, they had us believing that they were true! But we’re partly to blame here too. We all perpetuated their falsehood by blindly believing and spreading them without doing our own research first. Well, that all ends today! We combed through every would-be fact out there and chucked each one in the “True” or “False” bins. And today we’re dumping the “False” bin down this list.

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35

Fortune cookies aren't Chinese Fortune cookies actually come from Japan, not China, and they' re not common in China at all. atient, if you niverse will S. CRACKED — Source

34

OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE Outback Steakhouse is as Australian as apple pie None of the people who started the restaurant had ever even been to Australia. They just wanted to make a place that served American food with an Aussie twist. CRACKED — Source

33

You can't trust American wasabi A lot of the wasabi you get outside of Japan isn't the real deal. It's usually just a mix of horseradish, mustard, and food coloring. CRACKED — Source

32

Yam is more of a nickname in America Lots of people in the U.S. think sweet potatoes are yams, but that's because the government labeled the orange-colored sweet potatoes as yams to tell them apart from lighter-colored ones. Real yams are native to tropical areas, and can be over five feet tall. CRACKED — Source

31

CRACKED A spot of tea is more than just tea People in the U.S. often think that spot of tea means literally just having tea, but it's actually a phrase used in the UK to describe having tea with food. — Source

30

Spaghetti and meatballs aren' 't all that Italian Spaghetti and meatballs is a dish that was created by Italian immigrants in the U.S. It's an Americanized version of the Italian dish polpette, and it's not something you'd find in Italy. CRACKED — Source

29

MYTH: ALCOHOL WARMS YOU UP. MICHTERS US-D AMERICAN WHISKEY GRACKED.COM FACT: ALCOHOL only MAKES YOU FeeL WARMER. Which may be all you care about, if you're just worried about getting a little chilly. But if you're really worried about freezing, feeling warmer means more blood rushing to your skin, which actually makes you lose heat faster. — Source

28

MYTH: HAVE A NIGHTCAP TO HELP YOU SLeeP. GRACKED.COM FACT: TO HELP YOU SLeeP in TERROR. A late-night drink helps you falls asleep. But for the second half of the night, you'll sleep less well than you would have otherwise. And you'll have a higher chance of nightmares. — Source

27

MYTH: wine GeTS BeTTeR WITH AGe. CRACKED COM FACT: MOST wines Don't. Forget saving wine for years for a special occasion. Most wines (except for very expensive ones, sold to people who know what they're buying) are best when you buy them and then gradually drop in quality over time. — Source

26

MYTH: THROW UP, GeT THAT Booze OUT OF YOUR SYSTEM. CRACKED.COM FACT: NOPE. TOO LATE. Your body instinctively vomits when poisoned. But that does no good with alcohol, which you absorb too quickly. At best, throwing up stops you from absorbing the very last alcohol that you sipped just seconds ago. It might make you feel better, though. You feel less nauseous right after you throw up. — Source

25

CRACKED.COM MYTH: Betsy Ross created the first American flag There's no evidence to suggest this, aside from her grandson's account. Historians have confirmed that she made flags for the Pennsylvania State Navy Board. — Source

24

CRACKED.COM MYTH: The Supreme Court has always had nine justices The number of justices is set by Congress. At its founding, the Supreme Court only had six members. To help cement anti-slavery, Abraham Lincoln helped to add a tenth seat. In the 1930s, Franklin D. Roosevelt even proposed raising the number to 15. — Source

23

CRACKED.COM MYTH: The Pilgrims definitely landed on Plymouth Rock It wasn't until 121 years after William Bradford & Co. set foot on land that there's any mention of the granite. A son of a Pilgrim told of its signification, but the only surviving firsthand accounts make no mention of it. — Source

22

CRACKED.COM MYTH: The Founding Fathers were Christians. No matter who you include as a Founding Father, not all of them were Christian. Deism (which prioritizes human experience and rationality over religious dogma and texts) had a huge influence during their time. — Source

21

CRACKED.COM MYTH: Cowboys are uniquely American The original cowboys were Mexican cattlemen, known as vaqueros, who predate America cowboys. They taught future American cowboys how to do everything that's now considered classic cowboy, and eventually one in three cowboys were Mexican vaqueros. — Source

20

CRACKED Your heart is on your-left side. It's a myth that the heart is on the left side of the chest. Actually, the heart is in the middle of the chest, but it's slightly tilted to the left. — Source

19

CRACKED Lactic acid makes your muscles-sore after a workout. Lactic acid build-up is actually a natural defense mechanism. The soreness is caused by damage to the muscle cells and an increase in the release of different metabolites into the tissue around the muscle cells. — Source

18

CRACKED Milk is good for your bones. It's a myth that drinking milk can stop you from getting bone fractures or osteoporosis. In fact, if you drink a lot of dairy products when you're a teenager, you might be more likely to get bone fractures when you're older. — Source

17

CRACKED Shaved hair grows back thicker. Shaving doesn't change the color, thickness, or how fast the hair grows. It might feel a bit coarser or stubbly when it starts to grow back, which can make it seem darker or thicker, but it's not actually changing. — Source

16

CRACKED Sugar makes you-hyper. It's been a long-held belief that eating too much sugar can make kids hyperactive, but science has found no clear proof of this. That said, it's possible sugar can still affect behavior in other ways, like changing how certain brain chemicals are made. — Source

15

Taste receptors are neatly grouped. We often think that the taste receptors for salty, sweet, bitter and sour are only located in certain parts of the tongue, but that's not true. Actually, these receptors are spread out all over the tongue. CRACKED — Source

14

Urine is sterile. It's a myth that pee is totally clean. In reality, even healthy people have some bacteria in their urine. CRACKED — Source

13

ALARMS DON'T GO OFF IN A COCKPIT FOR EVERY EMERGENCY. It's already hard enough to save the day without an air horn blaring in your ear. Most conditions that require the pilot's attention will simply trigger a voice warning. CRACKED.COM — Source

12

Being a cop isn't all about police work. POLICE While not as exciting as chasing perps, a lot of a police officer's job is to fill papers with words. For many cops, paperwork can take up to three hours of their shift or more. CRACKED.COM — Source

11

Most people with Tourette's syndrome don't curse. Well, maybe they do, but just like everyone else, not because of the Tourette's. The syndrome is characterized by tics, such as blinking, twitching, or clearing your throat. Only about 10% show coprolalia (saying inappropriate stuff without meaning to). CRACKED.COM — Source

10

The FBI won't just swoop in and take over. F9 SPECIAL AGENT DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE SERVICE LIGHT Tust APPEAR wanke SPECIAL Tel A - THE center to مشيقة e NT Smug feds won't walk all over the enraged cops, telling them it's their case now. They can't-police forces are not subordinate to the FBI. What they do is pool their resources with local law enforcement to work together in the case. CRACKED.COM — Source

9

Profiling isn't all that useful, actually. Are profilers super-psychologists who can get into the criminal's mind without even meeting them? Hardly - research shows that law enforcement profilers are only slightly better at it than untrained randos. CRACKED.COM — Source

8

PROSECUTORS AREN'T USUALLY UNDERDOGS. Scrappy prosecutors taking on rich sleazes with hotshot lawyers are the exception, not the rule. Up to 90% of defendants can't afford their own lawyers, and must rely on overworked, underfunded public defenders, who don't have the resources of prosecutors. CRACKED.COM — Source

7

No, cops aren't required to tell you they're cops. It's entrapment if they don't reveal they're police officers when you ask! you hear- but that's BS. It's only entrapment if they actively push you to commit a crime, not if they pinky swear that they're totally not cops and you'll get away with it. CRACKED.COM — Source

6

STARTING AN AIRCRAFT ISN'T AS SIMPLE AS FLIPPING A FEW SWITCHES. Before you can get airborne, you have to go through a list of checks and steps, which can be several pages long. If you need to make a quick getaway, maybe consider a car? CRACKED.COM — Source

5

CRACKED.COM Chalk outlines were never a police tool. 3 Outlining a body doesn't help with the investigation-when it was done at all, it was just to give the press something to photograph that wasn't the actual body. Today it's just not done anymore. — Source

4

The Rorschach test is not a reliable diagnostic tool. The test's validity has been severely questioned since the 1960s. Also, it requires that the patient knows nothing about the inkblots - good luck with that when anyone can look up anything on the internet. CRACKED.COM — Source

3

MOST CRIMINAL TRIALS AREN'T ABOUT VIOLENT CRIMES. Very rarely does TV show a trial for anything less than a robbery or a murder, but less than 5% of arrests are for violent crimes. Most proceedings stem from undramatic, minor violations, like outstanding fines or disorderly conduct. CRACKED.COM — Source

2

CRACKED.COM IT'S REALLY NOT A GOOD IDEA TO TAKE OFF YOUR M MASK IN A FIGHTER JET. Fighter jets aren't pressurized like airliners are, and on top of that, high-G maneuvers can make it hard to breathe - so pilots need their oxygen masks on to, you know, not pass out and die. — Source

1

CRACKED.COM Most psychopaths aren't murderers. About one out of 100 people show psychopathic traits - we'd be in big trouble if they were all Patrick Bateman. They can be impulsive, manipulative, and callous, but swinging axes is not a common thing they do. — Source

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