Popular misconceptions about your area(s) of expertise...

[Ryotknife]

As an engineer, people think that I can fix anything and everything regardless of the expertise actually needed for the problem at hand.

 

[bl4ckh4wk64]

As an engineer, people think that I can fix anything and everything regardless of the expertise actually needed for the problem at hand.

... but what did you go to engineering school for if you can't do that?

 

[Little Woodsman]

Cosmetics sales...that's a new one on me, where I live it's mostly supplements & dietary aids.
But the other misconceptions about us are hair-pullingly bad as well, the worst of course is
the idea that we're all really prostitutes...ewwwww....

That, and/ or we are all lesbians...

Well, I've certainly never had anyone think that I'm a lesbian....though many people do
seem to think that male MT's must be either gay or sexual predators.

 

[Little Woodsman]

People who think J.K. Rowling invented the Phoenix.
I kid you not.

I have a great interest in myths and legends - like many people, I guess. More specifically, demonology and judo-christian lore (Key of Solomon, Paradise Lost, Divina Comedia, etc.). Of course, once you get in that territory, you come across some Aleister Crowley stuff as well.

And just in general, I don't have a problem when people use names of demons for their own character (Amon, Azazel, Asteroth are some of the more popular ones), just because "they sound cool". However, I do get annoyed when people learn about some mythical entity in a book and then assume the writer is responsible for its creation - even more so if they start altering the mythos surrounding it.

I'm not even sure if this pet peeve is against the writer or the reader.

Aaaagh, this reminded me that a few years ago I met a young woman who thought that fairies (as in
all fey beings--pixies, trolls, sprites, boggarts etc....) were invented by DISNEY! I pointed out
to her that at the very least she should be aware that A Midsummer Night's Dream featured fairies,
and Shakespeare was around *slightly* before Disney......
She just stared at me blankly.....

 

[Atmos Duality]

Meteorologist Misconceptions:

That we all work on or with TV stations.

And that we can use the magic of Radar/Satellite/Computers to predict the weather more than a week in advance, accurate to within a few miles of any given location.

(Oh, thanks Weather Channel. Thanks for perpetuating this idiocy with a 30 day forecast. A forecast you might as well have created with Tarot Cards and an Ouija Board. Fucking model-jockeys...)

Or how we all love disastrous storms and weather....actually, that one is pretty accurate, though not absolutely true.
I've noticed ALL of my fellow meteorologist-types are touched with some (however great/small) sort of madness or quirk.