We all believe things that aren’t true.
Some of my pet misconceptions involve consistently describing six-foot men as being “about my height” and truly believing that I can wear low-rise pants without mooning all creation. Wrong every time.
Even this dude wasn't "about my height"
Thank kevins that Wikipedia has a list of common misconceptions, handily categorized, to help us re-educate ourselves. History, food, astronomy, physics, religion… supremely nifty stuff. Why not take a look?
What are your misconceptions? What would you add to Wikipedia’s list?
“There is no evidence that Vikings wore horns on their helmets.” Say it ain’t so! At least there is ample evidence that Flavor Flavs wore horns on their helmets, otherwise I might be doubly distraught.
I personally suffer from the misconception that fairies will come and do the dishes while I’m at work, and that picking at scabs or zits will somehow not make them worse. And that having an iron supplement in my bathroom and ignoring/forgetting about it is basically the same as actually taking it.
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i seem to think people are “my size” if I can look into their eyes. Even if one or the other of us is stooping.
I had a misconception that I was brighter than most people, which died a slow death as a decade of college classes including but not limited to French, Italian, Sanskrit, Hebrew, Yiddish and American Sign Language proved me incapable of actually learning more than a single semester’s worth of a foreign language. Turns out I’m more witty and sarcastic than actually gifted IQ-wise, which helpeth me not a whit in language classes.
I had a misconception that our whole neighborhood was as happy as the three households on the block I knew best. That was a pretty illuson that recently cracked.
It took me years of diets to realize losing vast amounts of weight would not make me look like a fashion model. I am 5’4″ and have a sturdy little peasant body inclined to be somewhat busty. Losing vast amounts of weight makes me look like a busty little peasant in a tatie famine. Am now learning to embrace the look of curvyn healthiness. (darn.)
And the illusions continue to dissolve…daily.
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I am about two-thirds of the way through the modern history list, and I feel like I no longer know which way is up and which is down. I’m pretty sure I learned a lot of those incorrect “facts” in school, too. Oy vey.
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I call bullshit! Sleeping in a room with an electric fan running is totally fatal.
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Mia – Ooh, we seem to be misconception twins, which looks worse in print than I expected— I too do horrible things to my face, and expect the Evening Primrose oil sitting in my fridge to atone for it.
mum – Ah, so many lovely illusions! Curious to hear about your neighborhood… I often expect that getting a haircut will somehow magically make me look like the hair model. Good tidings from one sturdy peasant to another.
Caitlin – Oh, I know! So many of those things were said directly to my face!
Autumn – I DARE YOU TO TRY IT. THAT’S RIGHT.
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