# A duck's quack doesn't echo, and other weird shit people believe **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 5, 2016, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-ducks-quack-doesnt-echo-and-other-weird-shit-people-believe/756553 "2016-06-05T09:44:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-ducks-quack-doesnt-echo-and-other-weird-shit-people-believe/756553/41 "2016-06-06T14:37:25Z")
“Enough’s enough” ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-ducks-quack-doesnt-echo-and-other-weird-shit-people-believe/756553/42 "2016-06-06T14:47:52Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > I was at a party with a person that I really like and respect, and she asserted the “fact” that Mr. Rogers always wears sweaters because he has arms covered in tattoos which he got while being a sniper in the military. What total BS! They’re gang tats. ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-ducks-quack-doesnt-echo-and-other-weird-shit-people-believe/756553/43 "2016-06-06T14:49:05Z")
I know people who still think that A.D. means after death. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-ducks-quack-doesnt-echo-and-other-weird-shit-people-believe/756553/44 "2016-06-06T14:58:09Z")
> [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](#): > > I know people who still think that A.D. means after death. Well, it’s inconsistent that B.C. is English and A.D. is Latin. It would be much less confusing it they were both done in Latin. ---
**Author:** ![excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e8c25b/32.png) [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/excavating_for_a_mind)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-ducks-quack-doesnt-echo-and-other-weird-shit-people-believe/756553/45 "2016-06-06T15:03:40Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > A friend who insists: “Beer before liquor, never been sicker; liquor before beer, you’re in the clear.” > > In reality she gets pretty fucked up regardless of order. I had always heard it as “Beer before whiskey, mighty risky; whiskey before beer, never fear”, and always thought it referred to the likelihood you would end the night praying to the porcelain god, so to speak. I heard it many times in my early 20s and had come to the reason that, if you’re drunk because you drank beer all night, switching to whiskey is just going to send you barfing as your body is going to want to reject the alcohol. OTOH, if your drunk from whiskey and switch to beer, your body isn’t going to recognize the beer as beings as much of a threat. Physiologically, it probably doesn’t make sense, but that’s what I made of it. As I have aged, I have either learned not to puke from drinking too much, or just learned not to drink too much, I am not sure which. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-ducks-quack-doesnt-echo-and-other-weird-shit-people-believe/756553/46 "2016-06-06T15:35:46Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > jtur88 writes: > > \> Most people believe Hawaii is just naturally a part of the USA. But Hawaiians of > \> Japanese ancestry still outnumber Hawaiians of American ancestry. > > I’m not sure what you mean here, but the racial/ethnic breakdown of the population of the state of Hawaii (I assume as of the 2010 census) is as follows: > > Non-Hispanic White, 22.7% > Non-Hispanic Black, 1.5% > Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% > Non-Hispanic Asian, 37.7% > Non-Hispanic Pacific Islander (including Native Hawaiian), 9.4% > Hispanic of any race, 8.9% > Non-Hispanic mixture of Asian and Pacific Islander, 9.4% > Other, 10.2% > > (I just quote the statistics. I don’t make up the groups. I quoted the statistics from one website. Others may differ.) > > So if you’re trying to say that the population of the state is mostly still descendants (mostly Asians and Pacific Islanders) of the people who were there before it became a territory of the U.S., as opposed to the descendants of those who arrived from elsewhere after it became a territory, I’m not sure this is true or not. Besides those Hawaiians who consider themselves to be of Japanese ancestry, other Asian and Pacific Islander ancestries which are significant percentages of the state’s population include Filipino, Chinese, Samoan, and Korean. At what point did each of these groups arrive there? I don’t know. Do you? No, I don’t know. But the gross total for all groups that could be of American/European descent (including Other) tops out at 43.5%, so I do know that it would be difficult to make the point that “most” Hawaiians are of “American” ancestral origin. Without “other”, its only 1/3. Which was my point in questioning America’s “natural” claim to the islands. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-ducks-quack-doesnt-echo-and-other-weird-shit-people-believe/756553/47 "2016-06-06T15:40:05Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > While this is incorrect, it is hardly “weird.” You can understand why people would believe an immaculate conception was the Immaculate Conception. > > I remember this coming up as an answer at a trivia competition (the answer, for anyone who doesn’t know, is that the Virgin Mary’s birth was the result of the Immaculate Conception.) People were FURIOUS. We had born, raised and educated Catholics screaming that the answer could not possibly be true. It is just so verbally deceiving. Wow, I was raised Catholic and went to Catholic school and I totally thought it was about Jesus’ conception. So did God teleport Jesus into Mary’s womb, or was he conceived the old fashioned way or what? I figured it was ghost sex or something. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-ducks-quack-doesnt-echo-and-other-weird-shit-people-believe/756553/48 "2016-06-06T16:06:03Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > Wow, I was raised Catholic and went to Catholic school and I totally thought it was about Jesus’ conception. So did God teleport Jesus into Mary’s womb, or was he conceived the old fashioned way or what? I figured it was ghost sex or something. The Immaculate Conception refers to the fact that Mary was conceived without original sin. She was still conceived the old fashioned way that every other human being is conceived and had a human father. But her soul was spared the stain of original sin. Jesus was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, without a human father. This is referred to as the Virgin Birth. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-ducks-quack-doesnt-echo-and-other-weird-shit-people-believe/756553/49 "2016-06-06T17:24:28Z")
The word “virgin” in many languages and cultures is widely regarded as synonymous with “unmarried”, somewhat like the inexact meaning of “maiden”… Even in America, in modern English, back in the 60’s, there was a tampon whose advertising said “Even unmarried women can use them”. So it is quite possible that the only intent of what was described as a “virgin birth” was to indicate that the parents were not formally married. Wishful thinking took it from there. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-ducks-quack-doesnt-echo-and-other-weird-shit-people-believe/756553/50 "2016-06-06T19:32:14Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > I was at a party with a person that I really like and respect, and she asserted the “fact” that Mr. Rogers always wears sweaters because he has arms covered in tattoos which he got while being a sniper in the military. > > I knew she was wrong but I was aghast that this particular person would be the type of person to repeat such outrageous claims. I actually believed her for a second. Unfortunately (?) I didn’t have a smart phone at the time so I couldn’t be like “LOOK, SNOPES SAYS IT’S FALSE!” so I just kind of let it go for the moment, looked it up when I got home, and quietly felt bad about it ever since. You couldn’t have pointed out that he would change into the sweater on camera? (Revealing a long-sleeved dress shirt.) ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-ducks-quack-doesnt-echo-and-other-weird-shit-people-believe/756553/51 "2016-06-06T21:06:38Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > The word “virgin” in many languages and cultures is widely regarded as synonymous with “unmarried”, somewhat like the inexact meaning of “maiden”… > > Even in America, in modern English, back in the 60’s, there was a tampon whose advertising said “Even unmarried women can use them”. > > So it is quite possible that the only intent of what was described as a “virgin birth” was to indicate that the parents were not formally married. Wishful thinking took it from there. The word “unmarried” in many languages and culturs is widely regarded as synonymous with “virgin”, somewhat like the inexact meaing of m"maiden" (cf “maiden over”, “alas maiden no more”) So it is quite possible that the only intent of what was described as an “maiden” was to indicate that the woman had never had sex. Wishful thinking took it from there. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-ducks-quack-doesnt-echo-and-other-weird-shit-people-believe/756553/52 "2016-06-06T21:39:35Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Most people believe Hawaii is just naturally a part of the USA. But Hawaiians of Japanese ancestry still outnumber Hawaiians of American ancestry. It came to be American because American interests brutally overthrew a peaceful democratic monarchy. . _sigh_ this again. No. Hawaii was getting along pretty well. Yes, there were quite a few “white men” in leadership positions, but many of them, like Lorrin A. Thurston, had been born there. In fact\* his parents\* were born in the Islands. A Constitution was in place that gave these men votes, limited the Monarchy and etc. Queen Liliuokalani decided unilaterally to abrogate that Constitution, and bring back a Absolute Monarchy, complete with no votes or rights for anyone white (even if they had been born there, which is \*pretty damn racist), \*the Taboo system, and even all land belonging to the Crown. Pretty much, no one supported her. So when Thurston and the Committee of Safety (mostly men who were born in the islands) marched on the capital and overthru the deranged Monarch, no one lifted a hand to stop them, (except one policeman who was shot.) The Palace Guards surrendered without even a show of resistance. American marines _were_ landed to protect the peace but took no part in the coup. They never fired a shot, did not occupy the Palace, etc. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-ducks-quack-doesnt-echo-and-other-weird-shit-people-believe/756553/53 "2016-06-06T21:48:15Z")
Her Monarchy was not in any way shape or form “democratic” and the overthrow was hardly “brutal”, with but a single casualty. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-ducks-quack-doesnt-echo-and-other-weird-shit-people-believe/756553/54 "2016-06-06T23:41:50Z")
Like most people I learned about the circulation of blood at school with a diagram similar to [this one](http://png.clipart.me/graphics/previews/103/blood-circulation_103103639.jpg). For many years I thought that blood in the veins actually \*is \*blue. If I look at my wrists I can see blue blood vessels under the skin. Lots of people still have this belief. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-ducks-quack-doesnt-echo-and-other-weird-shit-people-believe/756553/55 "2016-06-06T23:54:32Z")
I heard a strange one the other day. If you drink milk after eating fish, you’ll die! The fellows who told me this said it was a common belief among older people when they were young. They are in their 60s and 70s and live in south Georgia. My elementary school teachers told us the reason for locks on the Panama canal was so the Atlantic and Pacific wouldn’t drain into each other, causing mass flooding and catastrophes in general. ---
**Author:** ![Taco\_the\_cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@Taco\_the\_cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taco_the_cat)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-ducks-quack-doesnt-echo-and-other-weird-shit-people-believe/756553/56 "2016-06-07T18:50:08Z")
Eating a lot of sugar gives a person diabetes. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-ducks-quack-doesnt-echo-and-other-weird-shit-people-believe/756553/57 "2016-06-07T19:02:34Z")
> [@Taco\_the\_cat](#): > > Eating a lot of sugar gives a person diabetes. _Sorta._ \*One \*of the main causes of Type 2 is obesity, which (at least in theUSA) is often linked to excess sugars intake. [http://www.webmd.boots.com/diabetes/type-2-diabetes-guide/type-2-diabetes-symptoms-causes](http://www.webmd.boots.com/diabetes/type-2-diabetes-guide/type-2-diabetes-symptoms-causes) ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-ducks-quack-doesnt-echo-and-other-weird-shit-people-believe/756553/58 "2016-06-07T23:20:32Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > Also, any other weird thing people believe. I like to think of these as false facts. I know we’ve done it before. [Indeed, we just did (albeit from the other direction).](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=791524) ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-ducks-quack-doesnt-echo-and-other-weird-shit-people-believe/756553/59 "2016-06-08T02:07:26Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > _sigh_ this again. > > No. Hawaii was getting along pretty well. Yes, there were quite a few “white men” in leadership positions, but many of them, like Lorrin A. Thurston, had been born there. In fact\* his parents\* were born in the Islands. A Constitution was in place that gave these men votes, limited the Monarchy and etc. > > Queen Liliuokalani decided unilaterally to abrogate that Constitution, and bring back a Absolute Monarchy, complete with no votes or rights for anyone white (even if they had been born there, which is \*pretty damn racist), \*the Taboo system, and even all land belonging to the Crown. > > Pretty much, no one supported her. So when Thurston and the Committee of Safety (mostly men who were born in the islands) marched on the capital and overthru the deranged Monarch, no one lifted a hand to stop them, (except one policeman who was shot.) The Palace Guards surrendered without even a show of resistance. > > American marines _were_ landed to protect the peace but took no part in the coup. They never fired a shot, did not occupy the Palace, etc. > [@DrDeth](#): > > Her Monarchy was not in any way shape or form “democratic” and the overthrow was hardly “brutal”, with but a single casualty. I see you learned nothing [from my previous post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=18905734&postcount=53). ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-ducks-quack-doesnt-echo-and-other-weird-shit-people-believe/756553/60 "2016-06-08T02:22:58Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > Wow, I was raised Catholic and went to Catholic school and I totally thought it was about Jesus’ conception. So did God teleport Jesus into Mary’s womb, or was he conceived the old fashioned way or what? I figured it was ghost sex or something. Same here. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-ducks-quack-doesnt-echo-and-other-weird-shit-people-believe/756553.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-ducks-quack-doesnt-echo-and-other-weird-shit-people-believe/756553.md?page=4)