What are the worst misconceptions you know of?

[jonny bhoy]

That the highest break in a game of snooker is actually 155 and not 147, which most people tend to think.

 

[omicron1]

Inb4 "religion, nyuk nyuk nyuk"

...

That everyone who does not agree with (insert subject's beliefs here) is lacking in mental capacity, brainwashed, or ignorant.

Hmm...I sense a #chan browser here ;D

You sense, but you are mistaken. I have no affiliation with chans, 4 or Jackie.

 

[vrbtny]

All English people love tea and crumpets, and won't consume anything else.....

When i forced my brother to drink some tea, he spat it right back out. And the crumpets?..... let's not go there.

 

[stone0042]

That anyone that plays football is a musclebound oaf who can't string together more than three words, and that they sleep around with all the cheerleaders.

 

[Ghostkai]

That people who play any MMO instantly have no life...

 

[Dr Snakeman]

You'd be surprised how prevalent the belief that the heart is located in the left side of your chest is. It's right under the sternum, but when people get shot in the heart in movies, where is the wound? Exactly.

It's ridiculous, but at least there's Dexter and his anatomically-correct murders.

 

[moretimethansense]

All English people love tea and crumpets, and won't consume anything else.....

When i forced my brother to drink some tea, he spat it right back out. And the crumpets?..... let's not go there.

I am as close as you can get to the British stereotype as far as food is concerned

Tea - Love it, milk four sugars please!
Crumpets - With plenty of butter
Scones - yep again
Fry ups - I'm not allowed, but I do love them
Indian food - we just wouldn't be British if we didn't nick other cultures' foods
Chinese food - see above
Bacon Butties - yes, but this ones hardly limted to us
Black pudding - I hate the idea but love the taste
And after all that I'll pop down to the local chippie and have a fish supper with a cumberland sausage and a fried egg on top!

And yet appearence and personality wise I'm about as far from the stereotype as it is possible to be.

 

[Zantos]

The one that really bugs me is that anyone studying physics must be an atheist, or analogously physics disproves the existence of higher power. I mean, it might just be because i have my masters classes to go, but I don't see anything of the sort yet. And who is this athe bloke anyway?

 

[Frozen Donkey Wheel2]

Every time someone finds out where I live(small village outside of Albuquerque, New Mexico) they ask me if I own a horse. Not EVERYONE here owns a horse.

[small][sub]Only like two-thirds of us.[/sub][/small]

 

[moretimethansense]

You'd be surprised how prevalent the belief that the heart is located in the left side of your chest is. It's right under the sternum, but when people get shot in the heart in movies, where is the wound? Exactly.

It's ridiculous, but at least there's Dexter and his anatomically-correct murders.

To be fair it does poke out to the left side a bit
http://www.getbodysmart.com/ap/circulatorysystem/heart/anatomy/location/tutorial.html
so they're not totally wrong, mostly wrong but not totally.

 

[Joshimodo]

That automotive mechanics are all high school drop-outs and are fairly un-educated.

Sorry, but to reveal the truth: the amount of knowledge good automotive technicians hold in their head is easily on par with the knowledge doctors have. It's just a different field. I'm college trained here, and have spent countless hours after work at advanced training courses and have taken advanced, non-curicular classes at college.

Go ahead, let a doctor explain the intricacies of the heart or brain and how they work on such organs . . . if you don't mind my explaining to you the intricacies of the modern automatic transmission and what kinds of clearances one needs between internal components based on application . . .

There's an irritating misconception - That doctors hold a vast amount of knowledge. They have a basis of general medical knowledge, then a specification - And most non-surgeon doctors actually have to look everything up anyway. I know more doctors and surgeons than most people, and they're all bloody like it.

When people think that Jesus was white. So stupid.

That drives me nuts.

 

[Cain_Zeros]

That abusive relationships are all physical, or that long-distance relationships can't be abusive.

Also that women can't or don't abuse men.

 

[Ih8pkmn]

That Napoleon was a midget. He was 5' 7", which is hardly a shrimp.

I'm only an inch taller than Napoleon, and am a bit taller than a good deal of kids in my class. And my history teacher actually believed this last year; I corrected him, and this question ended up on a test:

Napoleon's height was:
A.Below average
B.Average or above average

True Story.

OT:"you only use 10 percent of your brain!"
...actually, I kind of believe this one, considering how dumb the people who parrot it are.

These are common around my backwater highschool:
"All gamers and nerds are virgins and will never have girlfriends".
and
"You can only get a girl if you have muscles the size of melons or play sports".
and
"If you haven't had sex by the time you're 16, you'll be a virgin for life".
Seriously. This is why I don't hang out with people of my age group in this town. They all were getting testosterone shots on the day brains were being passed out.

 

[Quazimofo]

That all Pedophiles are Child Molesters.

Protip: A typical heterosexual male is more likely to molest than a Pedo.

[sub]No, seriously.[/sub]

You're talking about two different things there. "Heterosexual" refers to which sex you like, and pedophilia is a psychiatric disorder. It's like saying teenagers play more videogames than black people.

Misconceptions...misconceptions...oh, way too many to name. I hate all misconceptions.

Not quite...
But, we really shouldn't get into an argument about it here.

well just look at how he said it, typical heterosexual male tends to mean no abnormalities which includes no mental disorders, so his statement does make sense. if i missed something send me a message and let the argument end here please.

OT: as for me, probably that all black people like rap, have baggy pants, wear their baseball hats sideways etc. and by imitating them, somehow makes you (a white kid) cool or better than other people. and also that all white kids try this since i know quite a few exceptions and am one
(along with every other goddamn stereotype about black people, its just annoying, especially since i went to a private catholic grade school i was the closest thing to a black kid because of my dad and so i had to put up with everyone assuming i had inherited the stereotypes) (and im serious there are literally 5 black students in the whole 600+ student school and less than a dozen or so of all other ethnic groups)

 

[x434343]

All whites and all Republicans are racist, sexist, homophobic, and such.

 

[badgersprite]

That all brown people are Arabs. FFS, there's Indians, Bangladeshis, Sri Lankans, etc.

You have no idea how much shit people give me in airports just cause I'm brown.

Also that all Arabs are Muslims. I think the biggest Muslim country in the world is actually Indonesia, and a good proportion of Lebanese people I know are Christian, not to mention that many countries people think of or constantly refer to as being in the Middle-East aren't in the Middle East. Afghanistan? Not part of the Middle East. It's Central Asia...

 

[silentsentinel]

We only use ten percent of our brains, and if we unlock the other 90% we can become super-smart gods.

I want to go up to people who believe that and kick them in the face. With a boot.

 

[vrbtny]

All English people love tea and crumpets, and won't consume anything else.....

When i forced my brother to drink some tea, he spat it right back out. And the crumpets?..... let's not go there.

I am as close as you can get to the British stereotype as far as food is concerned

Tea - Love it, milk four sugars please!
Crumpets - With plenty of butter
Scones - yep again
Fry ups - I'm not allowed, but I do love them
Indian food - we just wouldn't be British if we didn't nick other cultures' foods
Chinese food - see above
Bacon Butties - yes, but this ones hardly limted to us
Black pudding - I hate the idea but love the taste
And after all that I'll pop down to the local chippie and have a fish supper with a cumberland sausage and a fried egg on top!

And yet appearence and personality wise I'm about as far from the stereotype as it is possible to be.

Oh yeah, me too. Bacon butties = Heaven, in sandwich form. I have totally your opinion on Black pudding too.

I'm pretty much like you -- as deep down in the stereotype as psychically possible(And Proud of it) Also I play cricket - Hah, can you get any more stereotyped?

 

[crudus]

OT:"you only use 10 percent of your brain!"
...actually, I kind of believe this one, considering how dumb the people who parrot it are.

Just at rest you are using about 15% of your brain. Beyond that your sense are going off like crazy.

That people who play any MMO instantly have no life...

I know many people who play and who are married, play with their significant other, and met their significant other playing WoW and DDO.

We only use ten percent of our brains, and if we unlock the other 90% we can become super-smart gods.

an aneurysm or hyperthermia quickly followed by death is much more likely. That also assumes that our brain is solely for the purpose of cognitive functions.