r/GenX • u/Apprehensive-Bug1191 • Mar 14 '26
Question For Genx What do they mean, nonsense?!
I'm a hard-core Gen Xer and believed #4 chewing gum in my stomach, I was frequently told I'd get arthritis for cracking my knuckles, we all heard #9 although I'm from Chicago so they said Sears Tower, I believed #10 and #14 too. I swallowed enough watermelon seeds to know there aren't any watermelons growing in my stomach.
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u/freisbill Mar 25 '26
These are all true, except the gene simmons one-everyone knows it was a horse tongue...
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u/Fulghn ♫ feeling it since 1966 Mar 23 '26
I made this face a lot as a kid. It stuck that way ever since
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u/Simmyphila Mar 20 '26
Swallowing gum sticks to your appendix. Can’t swim for an hour after eating or you’ll get cramps.
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u/Humble-Mycologist484 Mar 19 '26
Step on a Crack, break your mother's back
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u/Humble-Mycologist484 Mar 19 '26
Cats stealing a sleeping baby's breath
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u/One_Purple_3242 Mar 19 '26
I have a picture of me as an infant, sleeping in my crib with a cat sleeping with me (1969.) I guess my mother didn’t believe that one. 😂
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u/Healthy_Elk8661 Mar 19 '26
Yeah…the Richard Simmons one is new to me. Could have gone on a few more years without seeing that one!
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u/Fulghn ♫ feeling it since 1966 Mar 23 '26
Richard Simmons is the one who perpetuated the myth that fat makes you fat. He was obviously paid off by Big Sugar and Big High-Fructose Corn Syrup.
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u/WendySteeplechase Mar 23 '26
I heard he increased the length of his tongue through practice and patience with stretching exercises...
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u/Healthy_Elk8661 Mar 23 '26
I’m sure it here were a lot of women willing to be his workout partner. 😇
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u/coffee_riot_148 Mar 19 '26
Gene Simmons from Kiss, not everyone's favorite fitness icon, Richard Simmons.
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u/SteveEmarshall429 Mar 18 '26
One of the weirdest ones my grandma used to tell us when as kids is if you bite your fingernails you will have a belly full of them it was terrifying to think about
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u/sane-asylum Mar 18 '26
2, 3, and 6 no. The rest of them for sure. Heck I thought the interior light thing was illegal until probably 10 years ago and I’ve driving since ‘86
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u/taraky97 Mar 17 '26
I'm still not 100 percent number 12 isn't real. My mom was pretty serious about it 😂
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u/Jolly_Line Mar 17 '26
Car full of teenagers and we were absolutely pulled over for this. But maybe the cop was just being a dick / feigning reasons to stop us
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u/No-Upstairs9564 Mar 17 '26
Some of those were handed down from the Baby Boomers, Thank you very much
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u/claudiousmax Mar 16 '26
Earwigs wil crawl into your ears while you sleep and lay eggs.
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u/TheLazyAssHole Mar 17 '26
An earwig will absolutely crawl into your ear, I don’t know about laying eggs, but the one that crawled into my ear sound like it was chewing on something
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u/someguythatiknow Older Than Dirt Mar 16 '26
I believed the “your eyes will stick that way if you cross them for too long” one for an embarrassingly long time.
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u/Alive-Course4454 Mar 16 '26
“You’re not always going to have a calculator..” umm. Yes tf I will. Everyone literally carries a little pocket computer around everywhere they go
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Mar 16 '26
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u/AffectionatePie8588 Mar 17 '26
Its because of Pitfall...
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u/Puppiessssss Hose Water Survivor Mar 16 '26
Eat your carrots so you can see in the dark.
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u/VCSabertooth257 Mar 17 '26
Actual World War 1 propaganda. The Germans asked how our pilots saw so well. We said we eat a lot of Carrots. Eventually it made its way to the dark through natural methods.
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u/BugImmediate7835 Mar 16 '26
Playing with fire will make you pee your bed.
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u/Vast-Wrangler5579 Mar 17 '26
You must have shown the signs of a budding arsonist, because I’ve definitely never heard that one! 😂
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u/BugImmediate7835 Mar 17 '26
Lol, you might be right. I did burn down our hay barn when I was five.
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u/Dgskydive Mar 16 '26
If you work hard you'll make it in life. That was a lie.
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u/dwightnight Mar 16 '26
You must wait EXACTLY 30 mins to swim after eating or you'll cramp up and drown.
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u/LeaveMyMonkeyAlone Mar 16 '26
If you keep doing that you'll go blind.....I'll only do it until I need glasses.
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u/TitoBandito5 Mar 16 '26
Rod Stewart needed his stomach pumped…
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u/Free_Negotiation4026 Hose Water Survivor Mar 16 '26
We also had to worry about spontaneously combusting.
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u/tokenbaldguy Mar 16 '26
Many years ago, my friend and I stopped at a gas station to pick up some beer. Being polite, we asked how the attendant was doing. He replies, "Well man, about 7 years ago I swallowed some LSD that was wrapped in bubble gum and I'm expecting that to kick in any time."
We live in Florida. Surprised?
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u/ITSAmeKIMb Mar 16 '26
Someone overheard me explaining to a child that the sky is blue because it reflects off the ocean. I am almost 40.
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u/Cold_Animal1356 Mar 16 '26
We were also told that their black & white cows gave white milk & the brown cows gave chocolate milk. Also the cows in the country mountains had shorter legs on one side so they didn't roll down the mountain.
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u/HURTBOTPEGASUS9 Hose Water Survivor Mar 16 '26
Big dinosaur have a hind brain.
Albert Einstein was bad at math in his youth.
Boomer china is valuable.
Satanic panic in general.
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u/Free_Negotiation4026 Hose Water Survivor Mar 16 '26
You failed to mention the ever present dangers of quicksand
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u/SteveEmarshall429 Mar 15 '26
Sit to close to the tv you will go blind! Supposedly same with microwave
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u/LeaveMyMonkeyAlone Mar 16 '26
If you keep doing that you'll go blind.....I'll only do it until I need glasses.
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u/NuncErgoFacite Mar 15 '26
Touching a baby bird will cause the mother burden to throw it out if the next
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u/Ok_Manufacturer7134 Mar 15 '26
Stepping on a rusty nail will give you lockjaw.
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u/lighthouser41 Mar 15 '26
If you haven't had a tetanus shot, yes.
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u/No1Czarnian Mar 16 '26
Tetanus actually lives in feaces
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u/lighthouser41 Mar 16 '26
And who’s to say there was no feces on that nail. I’ll take the tetanus shot to be safe.
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u/Spicy6Chord Mar 15 '26
Make sure to cut up all the plastic soda can holders so birds don’t suffocate.
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u/ChubbyStoner42 Mar 15 '26
The acid rain one was actually true. The EPA and took measures to mitigate it. Similar to the hole in the ozone layer
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u/Serenewendy Mar 16 '26
This is true. A few days ago I was remembering my childhood being gritty and just then realized that it was air pollution.
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u/EvilTwinCities Mar 15 '26
Never heard the Gene Simmons one, and I was born in 1975 with older brothers.
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u/Conscious_Ad_35 Mar 16 '26
I heard he had an operation to cut a muscle so it could extend further.
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u/No-Life-2059 Mar 15 '26
4 --7 -8 -9 -11 -12 -14
15.... I stepped on a crack and my mother's back was still fine...🫠
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u/Comfortable_Sea634 Mar 15 '26
If you burn yourself, put butter on it
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u/Ruby__Ruby_Roo Mar 15 '26
Bee stings: mom pulls some tobacco out of her cigarette, spits on it, applies to the sting.
Nicotine though I think is good for bee stings.
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u/OtherThumbs Mar 15 '26
We always put a paste made of baking soda on it to draw out the venom and the stinger. It seemed to work. You still had a sore spot because there was a hole, but it wasn't a raised bump.
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u/Intrepid_Practice956 Older Generation X Mar 15 '26
We had a teacher at my elementary school do that. Had to bum a cigarette first from one of the randos in the park first because he didnt smoke.
I heard all of these except the one about Gene Simmons, but we all thought something was odd there. Iirc we didnt BELIEVE any of them past about the age of five or 6. (Well maybe a couple)
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u/ThinkySushi Mar 15 '26
Wait...12 isn't true? I still don't let my kids turn on the interior cab light when we drive...
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u/Ruby__Ruby_Roo Mar 15 '26
I don’t know if its illegal but it makes it so the driver can’t see as well.
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u/Beetlebug12 Mar 15 '26
My mother told me that one because I'd forget to turn it back off when we got back home and it would run the battery down overnight
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u/Lonely_Apricot_9441 Mar 15 '26
There was no Internet and I learned all 14 of these in the ‘70s 😆😝
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u/m_0_n_K_3_y Mar 15 '26
I literally have arthritis from cracking my knuckles
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u/Conscious_Ad_35 Mar 16 '26
I cracked my knuckles so often they won't crack anymore. No arthritis though.
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u/Shardik884 Mar 15 '26
No you don’t, unless you found someway to do it that was damaging the joint every time you did it. The popping sounds are just gas escaping fluid in the joint. The Pop is harmless.
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u/OtherThumbs Mar 15 '26
Hi. Worked in healthcare forever and I have systemic osteoarthritis. Backing you up, here! It's not from popping anything. There are parts of me that have never popped that started getting arthritis long before I ever got arthritis in my hands. I've never even popped my CMC joint (base of the thumb near the wrist) and it's absolute junk on both hands due to arthritis. Some people just get arthritis. Some people are super lucky like me, and get arthritis like its their damned job (my feet are becoming deformed from it, and there isn't much I can do; and my spine is fighting a battle against time to remain mobile, but it's aggressively chewing up its discs and parts of its own bones. For the record, I've never cracked my back or my feet).
If this person's physio thinks they have arthritis from cracking your knuckles, go find an educated person to help. YIKES! Does this physio also think homeopathy is a legitimate medical practice?
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u/m_0_n_K_3_y Mar 15 '26
Its mainly in the thumbs .. I was told by my physiotherapist that its from cracking them .. so i believe him
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u/Toffeemanstan Older Than Dirt Mar 15 '26
Id be looking at other physios then, its been disproven for a long time.
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u/Educational_Tap_4704 Mar 15 '26
These "truths" go back way before Gen X. I'm the last of the boomers and these were old then.
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u/k_rock48 Mar 15 '26
Sitting too close to the TV will make you blind.
Can’t swim after eating for 30 mins or you will get a stomach ache and drown.
Marilyn Manson was the kid on Wonder Years.
You will get hemorrhoids if you sit on the cold cement.
If you don’t wear a coat you will catch a cold.
There will be quicksand, and it will suck you in.
Don’t feed them after midnight.
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u/Spiritual-Road2784 Mar 16 '26
As a child, I ate a whole bunch of noodles for lunch, ignored the warning, and went swimming before the half hour was up.
I hit top Olympic speed swimming away from them after I barfed them up on top of the water in the public city pool.
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u/Axle13 Mar 15 '26
The tv one is based on reality, early tv's could emit xrays, some tv brand in the 60's was recalled because of it.
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u/3_dots Mar 15 '26
Yes but we know the last one isn't a myth. DO NOT FEED THEN AFTER MIDNIGHT!
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u/NamesAreForSuckers67 Mar 15 '26
Definitely and also don’t get them wet and no BRIGHT LIGHTS! BRIGHT LIGHTS!
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u/mondain Hose Water Survivor Mar 15 '26
The problem, when you realize it, is that every "time" is after midnight; even 23:59:59.
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u/3_dots Mar 17 '26
It's like when someone says something is minutes away. Yeah everything is minutes away. It's just a matter of how many.
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u/Intrepid_Practice956 Older Generation X Mar 15 '26
A version of the cement/hemorrhoids thing I heard was that you might get a UTI from sitting on the cold floor.
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u/AlissonHarlan Mar 15 '26
- You'll be offered drugs when coming back from school
- marilyn manson remove his ribs to perform bj on himself
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u/Murdy2020 Mar 15 '26
They pumped Rod Stewart's stomach and got a quart of semen.
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u/Free_Researcher2618 Mar 15 '26
Surely, some of us still firmly believe some of these. Although, I don't think anyone ever really believed the watermelon seed one... except maybe chucky from that one rugrats episode.
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u/Intrepid_Practice956 Older Generation X Mar 15 '26
Not me, but I definitely knew people who believed the watermelon seed and swallowing gum ones. Also I knew people (ahem, GRANDMOTHERS) who may have known they weren't true but still tried to convince us they were.
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u/jarofgoodness Mar 15 '26
Half of this stuff is true.
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u/The_Mother_ Mar 15 '26
I hope you're being sarcastic because none of it is true
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u/FakeAorta Mar 15 '26
The first one is sort of true. When you come back inside after being very cold and the room is warm, your pores are open wider to gain back the heat into your body and it's easier to catch a cold from someone sick or contaminated surfaces. If you are alone you are most likely fine. But in a classroom around a lot of people or kids you do have an increased chance compared to staying in the room.
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u/jarofgoodness Mar 15 '26
Well what does it mean if you eat ice? Now I'm questioning everything.
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u/imhere_4_beer Mar 15 '26
Craving ice can be an indicator of low iron / anemia, if that’s what you mean ?
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u/lighthouser41 Mar 15 '26
My friend craved ice when she needed a hysterectomy from bleeding so much. This is true.
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u/jarofgoodness Mar 15 '26
Are you two sure you're Gen X? It was said to meaN YOU'RE A NYMPHOMANIAC. Damn caps lockl! Sometimes I just want to throw my keyboard against the wall and cal it a day.
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u/The_Mother_ Mar 15 '26
If you eat ice you get hydrated in a slower way than just drinking water. Otherwise I don't understand your question. Was there an old wives tale or urban myth about eating ice?
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u/lighthouser41 Mar 15 '26
Back in the old days, a doctor where I worked would not let his cardiac patients have ice water for some reason.
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u/jarofgoodness Mar 15 '26
Yes, they used to say in the 90's it meant you are a nympho. I try to make a funny on here and everyone comes back all serious talking like Spock.
Oh well. I guess I'll just stick my head in the toaster oven and hit the switch.
Goodbye cruel world. No one ever understood a god damn thing I ever said.
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u/The_Mother_ Mar 15 '26
I've never heard that saying before. Maybe it is region specific? The only thing about ice that I heard back in the daynwas people saying that chewing it was bad for your teeth 🤷
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u/jarofgoodness Mar 15 '26
I like that crushed ice you get at the gas station soda machine. I can eat that shit all day long.
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u/ClayMitchellCapital Mar 15 '26
😂😂😂 Put it on top brown only. I don’t want to miss you.
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u/jarofgoodness Mar 15 '26
That would just burn my hair way then I'd look like Piccard from Star Trek Next Generation.
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u/Moonchildbeast Mar 15 '26
I think the penny from Empire State Building is true. Anything dropped from the top would be lethal to someone on the ground if they were unlucky enough to be right there at impact.
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u/Shardik884 Mar 15 '26
Nope. This was actually one of the first Mythbusters myths. Penny has a fairly low terminal velocity. Meaning it can only accelerate so much. Doesn’t matter if you are the Empire State Building or one half as tall. Penny only makes it to 60 or 70mph which is enough to bruise you.. maybe.
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u/Moonchildbeast Mar 15 '26
That makes sense. Still, I wouldn’t want to be in its path on the ground!
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u/vbe123 Mar 15 '26
Terminal velocity aside, the Empire State Building gets more narrow as it goes up. So a penny thrown from the top does not make it all the way to the ground. People still gleefully attempt murder every day.
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u/Axle13 Mar 15 '26
Could ricochet off and still blind somebody staring up at the tower. =-)
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u/lighthouser41 Mar 15 '26
Fall in their gaping open mouth as they look up at the building? Making them choke.
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u/krs1000red Mar 15 '26
I am not a smarty pants from ‘theydidthemath’ but am familiar with this myth from the Seattle Space Needle. Basically the shape and low mass of a penny means it has a very low speed terminal velocity. I have heard the impact would approximate a bee sting or small rock hitting you.
Basically would not feel good but not likely to even break the skin unless hits a very thin skin area.
I argued for years it would be deadly until I was shown the error of my ways.
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u/Shamanjoe Mar 15 '26
Pretty sure Mythbusters did this one and busted it. The rest are all true though.
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u/a245sbravo Mar 15 '26
Its true about the worms
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u/Shardik884 Mar 15 '26
A worm, if done correctly, can survive being cut “in half”. They have a tail and that tail can be severed and the front end containing the head can survive and regrow a tail. The tail end that was cut off is dead.
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u/AthenasAzure18 Mar 15 '26
We will also run into quicksand And we may just catch on fire. Stop drop and roll!
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u/juiceguy Mar 15 '26
I'll never understand the blue blood myth. I realize that anatomical models used red and blue colors to designate oxygenated and deoxygenated blood, but this was just a visual metaphor. Have any of these people ever gotten a cut? Have you ever seen a movie where someone bled blue?
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u/Shardik884 Mar 15 '26
It’s not because of anatomical models, this stems from kids seeing their veins, which through your skin appear blue
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u/Shamanjoe Mar 15 '26
Umm, have you never heard of the show Blue Bloods? Gosh! 😜
Seriously though, I think it’s just a misunderstanding of the way blood is oxygenated. Sometimes your veins do look blue, so why wouldn’t it track that since red blood has been oxygenated, the blood that sometimes looks blue in your veins is unoxygenated?
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u/Free_Researcher2618 Mar 15 '26
Obviously, if you could see it outside the body it was already exposed to oxygen.
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u/Dark_Marmot Mar 15 '26
There's a high risk of dying from quicksand out in the world.
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u/Intrepid_Practice956 Older Generation X Mar 15 '26
My brother, Fred (fake name) thought the serious lack of quicksand in our experience meant that quicksand was a myth. He and my husband went camping in Nothern Alaska and Otis, my husband, had to pull Fred out of a patch of quicksand (river bottom).
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u/Sassacatty Mar 15 '26
I literally have always believed all of these other than the Gene Simmons cow tongue and the spider eggs.
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u/TeaVinylGod Mar 15 '26
Because Science!
Science is always right until it's wrong!
That's why I blindly trust Science!
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u/fauxshoyall Mar 15 '26
I worked in the garden today and told myself #14 in case I hurt anyone in the dirt.
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u/LivermushEater Mar 15 '26
My parents told me cops would think you're drunk if you had the interior car light on. I still kind of get squeamish if it's on for more than a couple of seconds.
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u/NeverEverMaybe0_0 Older Than Dirt Mar 15 '26
I just want it off so I can see out better when I'm driving.
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u/Itchy_Lawyer_2756 Mar 15 '26
No one ever told me it was illegal, but my dad was adamant that the window glare would get us all killed!
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u/No_Bluebird2891 Mar 14 '26
Don't think i know about the Bubble Yum spider eggs. I've heard all the others.
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u/runnergirl3333 Mar 15 '26
And pop rocks killed Mikey. But I’m pretty much on board with these things anyway. Belief doesn’t have to be rational. :)
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u/[deleted] Mar 26 '26
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