We’re all lied to now and then. When we were children, we were told that Santa Claus would be squeezing down our chimney on Christmas Eve to leave us a present for the morning. The truth was that it was actually our dad who had hastily wrapped that piece of chocolate – at the last minute of course. Good old dad!
But as we get older, you’d think that we’d be able to separate fact from fiction. As well as Santa Claus not actually existing, you would have thought that by now we would have sounded out all the most popular facts that are actually lies.
The truth is, though, that we haven’t, and there are in fact still a wealth of “facts” out there that aren’t facts at all. Through misinformation, we’ve come to believe numerous “truths” that are actually total myths. So let’s take a look at these 10 surprising lies that most of us accept as facts. The world will never seem the same ever again!
Eating And Swimming Will Make You Drown
This is something my mom told me when I was a kid and it terrified me. It certainly stopped me from eating a burger before getting in the pool!
The theory is that eating will cause our muscles to cramp if we get into the pool straight afterwards. But this is totally untrue. After all, since when did food give us muscle cramps?!
The theory continued that our muscles would cramp so much that we would drown.
Um, just no. Incorrect. Untrue!
Goldfish Have A Memory of Three Seconds
For one reason or another, we were always told that goldfish were actually a bit dim and could only memorise events for 3 seconds. We were tricked into feeling sorry for the poor little blighters, assuming that they lived in a weird bubble where they’re pretty much reborn every few seconds.
The truth, though, is very different and it turns out that we haven’t been giving these golden fish enough credit! Rather than forgetting everything after 3 seconds, they can remember things for up to five months! Well, well! Rather than being absent minded, goldfish know exactly what’s going on.
Alcohol Kills Your Brain Cells
Perhaps it was some spoilsport that claimed alcohol killed our brain cells and made us ever more dimmer. Who knows? The truth is very different, though, and it turns out that this “fact” that is meant to make us feel guilty for drinking so much is actually untrue.
So the next time you hit the town and decide not to have a second glass of wine in case you lose your mind forever, remember that moderate drinking is perfectly fine and that even rampant drinking doesn’t kill any brain cells. Cheers!
We Use Only 10% Of Our Brain
This is a “fun” fact that people love to wheel out at a dinner party, as though it makes them appear intelligent to be talking about their brain.
Their claim that we use only 10% of our brains is totally untrue. Instead, we use 100% of it.
Oh, the irony of making such a wild claim while trying to appear intelligent!
Yup, you may use only 10% of your brain, dear.
People try to tell us that we would literally go insane if we could access 100% of our brains. Perhaps these people would go insane, but I use 100% of my brain all the time, thank you very much!
The thing is, that we probably don’t use 100% of our true potential and our capacities.
The Colour Red Make Bulls Angry
Matadors have managed to convince themselves that red makes a bull angry, and they’ve even managed to convince the rest of us of this untruth.
But bulls are actually dichromatic, which basically means that they’re colour-blind. It doesn’t matter whether you put a red, blue, white or even German flag in front of them, a bull won’t feel any differently.
And, yes, if you tease them with the flag they will charge you.
Lightning Never Strikes Twice
Lightning is a form of extreme weather that can be super scary to witness or stand near. The small crumb of comfort we’re offered is that at least it never strikes the same place twice. Unfortunately, we’re about to take away that sole crumb of comfort by stating the fact that itdoes strike the same place twice. Sorry!
There is absolutely no reason, meteorological or geographical, why lightning cannot strike twice. But it’s become such a statement of truth that it’s pretty much become a figure of speech, and many of us often use it when referring to an unusual event.
Bats Are Blind
Like the phrase “lightning never strikes twice”, the phrase “blind as a bat” has made its way into popular culture, and many of us use it without giving it a second thought. The phrase has even made us believe that bats are actually blind. Only they’re not.
There are 1,100 species of bats flying around, and each one of them can see. Okay they can’t see amazingly, but they manage to fly around and hunt without great difficulty. Go bats!
Your Tongue Has Different Sections That Taste Different Things
Back in 1901, some guy wrote a scientific paper that claimed our tongue was divided up into several sections, each of which offered a different taste.
The back of our tongue is for bitter tastes, the front is for sweet, while the sides are for sour and salty tastes.
This is a myth that needs to be banished forever! The truth is that your tongue tastes everything the same. It doesn’t matter where you shuffle your food around on your red muscle – everything will taste the same. So start enjoying your food!
Alcohol Warms Us Up
We all fear going out on the town during the harsh wintry months. But it’s okay because a glass of wine will soon warm us up! Yay!
But hold on a second. This is a myth.
Alcohol might appear to keep us warm by thinning the blood, but this is just a false impression. The reality is that we actually lose heat!!
Nicotine Causes Cancer
Guess what, smokers? Nicotine doesn’t cause cancer!
Before you get too excited, though, you should probably know that it is the tar and chemicals that cause the Big C.
Nicotine just makes smoking addictive. Sorry. (And anyway, we don’t recommend smoking.)
Stay healthy!
