# Another "Common Knowledge or Fascinating Anecdotes... that unfortunately aren't true" Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 11, 2009, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-common-knowledge-or-fascinating-anecdotes-that-unfortunately-arent-true-thread/517225 "2009-11-11T20:24:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-common-knowledge-or-fascinating-anecdotes-that-unfortunately-arent-true-thread/517225/41 "2009-11-12T14:29:14Z")
I’ve had a few people tell me that Ann Rule only got the contract to write “The Stranger Beside Me” because she knew Ted Bundy. Actually, she got the contract to write the book BEFORE Bundy was even a suspect (and ain’t that a kick in the teeth). ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-common-knowledge-or-fascinating-anecdotes-that-unfortunately-arent-true-thread/517225/42 "2009-11-12T14:44:36Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Really? > > The author of the quote is… kinda well known around here. The thing is, it’s an urban legend whether or not it has a bit of truth at its core, because the number of words changes arbitrarily and even people who should know better hardly ever do the proper research (our esteemed columnist excepted.) Furthermore, the implication is that Eskimo language has _so many more_ words for snow than English. Snow, sleet, powder, hail, ice, igloo, glacier, blizzard, drift, I can think of just off the top of my head as examples of seemingly unrelated words for frozen water in different states. (The other premise of the argument I agree with, however. Having more words for something does indeed influence ones perception of the world to a degree. It’s just that the other premise, namely that Eskimos have many more words for snow than we do, is not true.) ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-common-knowledge-or-fascinating-anecdotes-that-unfortunately-arent-true-thread/517225/43 "2009-11-12T14:53:46Z")
Right. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-common-knowledge-or-fascinating-anecdotes-that-unfortunately-arent-true-thread/517225/44 "2009-11-12T15:10:13Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > 1. It is also _not_ true that Harvard students must pass a swimming test before graduation due to the the death of George and Harry Widener. ([snopes](http://www.snopes.com/college/admin/swimtest.asp)) But, Princeton students have to pass the swimming test because of that woman whose son drowned in Lake Carnegie, right? :smack: (I had no idea how much bunk I had heard in college till I discovered snopes.) ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-common-knowledge-or-fascinating-anecdotes-that-unfortunately-arent-true-thread/517225/45 "2009-11-12T16:02:09Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Furthermore, the implication is that Eskimo language has _so many more_ words for snow than English. Rather sketchier is the idea that there is one ‘Eskimo’ language. ---
**Author:** ![Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4bbf92/32.png) [@Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heart_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-common-knowledge-or-fascinating-anecdotes-that-unfortunately-arent-true-thread/517225/46 "2009-11-12T16:10:01Z")
> [@RandMcnally](#): > > Here is a [PDF which details an experiment](http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=5&ved=0CBYQFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.biolbull.org%2Fcgi%2Freprint%2F144%2F1%2F107.pdf&ei=UBr8SvaQD5PgtgPk4qWEAQ&usg=AFQjCNE9sBnQO4xDDNxunsP1DVbL9lPiCQ&sig2=6DP14yyGZXgmJCych8sMeg) that says that new bee recruits find food most by odors. You’re right; this guy’s evidence indicated that odor trails are the mechanism being used to find flowers, rather than the waggle dance. But there’s also a lot of evidence to the contrary, much of it very current. Since every study I’ve seen besides this one seems to support the significance of the waggle dance, I’m inclined to follow the majority opinion. I’m not saying the majority is right just because it’s the majority. I’m always open to hearing new evidence on anything, and this study certainly makes me more skeptical about this particular claim, but I don’t think it trumps the results of all the others. And thanks to this discussion, I’ll be heading to the library this weekend to indulge my newfound obsession with bees. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-common-knowledge-or-fascinating-anecdotes-that-unfortunately-arent-true-thread/517225/47 "2009-11-12T16:55:41Z")
> [@Mach Tuck](#): > > The Skylab 3 astronauts did not “go on strike” and refuse to work until the ground controllers eased up on them … The way they explain it, the issue was more that the ground controllers didn’t allot enough time for the new crew to acclimate, and instead expected them to pretty much pick up where the previous crew left off. But there was no “strike”. They just had a series of conversations with the controllers, explained what they needed, and got it. No big conflict or acrimony. Slight nitpick – that was [the Skylab 4 crew](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylab_4). ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Violaceous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Miss\_Violaceous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Violaceous)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-common-knowledge-or-fascinating-anecdotes-that-unfortunately-arent-true-thread/517225/48 "2009-11-12T17:13:57Z")
Daddy longlegs are extremely poisonous/the most poisonous spider, but their fangs are too small to puncture human skin. Just think about it… a daddy longlegs never hurt any human, but someone spent untold thousands of dollars to get a bunch of them and milk them just to see how poisonous they were? Okay sure. But I get mocked at work (by genuinely SMART) people for challenging this notion, because they saw it “on the discovery channel or animal planet or something like that!” I had another fun time once challenging the legend about the “don’t flash your lights at people driving around with their lights on/off, because gang members will stop and shoot you as part of an initiation.” I tried to argue it for a while (this time with geniunely NOT SMART people) and gave up when someone said “NO, it’s true, it happened to MY COUSIN!” _dramatic and weighty emotional pause_ Meanwhile, I’m thinking to myself, “if your cousin got killed by gang members, how do you know that they flashed their lights at the other car?” ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-common-knowledge-or-fascinating-anecdotes-that-unfortunately-arent-true-thread/517225/49 "2009-11-12T17:14:10Z")
Lemmings don’t really jump off cliffs to commit mass suicide. They sometimes might swim across bodies of water when migrating and drown, but they don’t seek out cliffs and jump off of them as a means of population control. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-common-knowledge-or-fascinating-anecdotes-that-unfortunately-arent-true-thread/517225/50 "2009-11-12T17:20:39Z")
> [@Miss\_Violaceous](#): > > Daddy longlegs are extremely poisonous/the most poisonous spider, but their fangs are too small to puncture human skin. > > Just think about it… a daddy longlegs never hurt any human, but someone spent untold thousands of dollars to get a bunch of them and milk them just to see how poisonous they were? Okay sure. > > But I get mocked at work (by genuinely SMART) people for challenging this notion, because they saw it “on the discovery channel or animal planet or something like that!” I know you’re right about it but your reasoning seems off. Isn’t that what scientists do? Study animals for all kind of reasons? ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Violaceous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Miss\_Violaceous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Violaceous)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-common-knowledge-or-fascinating-anecdotes-that-unfortunately-arent-true-thread/517225/51 "2009-11-12T17:36:13Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > I know you’re right about it but your reasoning seems off. Isn’t that what scientists do? Study animals for all kind of reasons? Well, that’s the reason that you can whip out when you aren’t conveniently carrying any proof in your pocket. But while scientists study animals for all kinds of reasons, they don’t study everything about every animal for no reason at all. It’s not impossible that we’d have knowledge of such a thing if it were true, but it seems unlikely unless the information were stumbled-upon. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-common-knowledge-or-fascinating-anecdotes-that-unfortunately-arent-true-thread/517225/52 "2009-11-12T17:48:31Z")
> [@Miss\_Violaceous](#): > > Well, that’s the reason that you can whip out when you aren’t conveniently carrying any proof in your pocket. But while scientists study animals for all kinds of reasons, they don’t study everything about every animal for no reason at all. It’s not impossible that we’d have knowledge of such a thing if it were true, but it seems unlikely unless the information were stumbled-upon. Actually, analyzing, typing, and identifying the various factors in various venoms is a very useful field of study. I don’t know of any medicines that come from spider venom, specifically, but several snake venoms have been the source for medicines, treating a number of conditions. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Violaceous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Miss\_Violaceous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Violaceous)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-common-knowledge-or-fascinating-anecdotes-that-unfortunately-arent-true-thread/517225/53 "2009-11-12T17:51:48Z")
> [@OtakuLoki](#): > > Actually, analyzing, typing, and identifying the various factors in various venoms is a very useful field of study. I don’t know of any medicines that come from spider venom, specifically, but several snake venoms have been the source for medicines, treating a number of conditions. Will you buy, “I was being a smartass?” 😃 It’s also possible that the previously referenced emotional individual’s cousin really was nearly killed by gang members and survived to give a compelling and well-documented account to the police of flashing their headlights at a car with no lights on, then being run off the road by that same car and shot at by guys flashing gang signs and wearing distinct colors. But… no. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-common-knowledge-or-fascinating-anecdotes-that-unfortunately-arent-true-thread/517225/54 "2009-11-12T17:53:49Z")
I once posted on a thread here that Washington grew marijuana and someone was quick to inform me that he grew hemp for the fiber. Which of course led to further research on my part. I can’t find my original cites, but entries from GW’s diary seem to indicate that he was cultivating for medicinal properties as well. The [closest](http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Did_george_washington_grow_weed_in_his_garden) I can get to my original work. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-common-knowledge-or-fascinating-anecdotes-that-unfortunately-arent-true-thread/517225/55 "2009-11-12T17:56:30Z")
> [@OtakuLoki](#): > > Actually, analyzing, typing, and identifying the various factors in various venoms is a very useful field of study. I don’t know of any medicines that come from spider venom, specifically, but several snake venoms have been the source for medicines, treating a number of conditions. Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. Scientists study so many animals and there are so many specialized fields of things to study when it comes to animals that it would actually surprise me if there wasn’t at some point some biologist whose life was dedicated to the venom of the daddy long legs. It might horrify me 'cause ew horrid creature, but surprise me, no. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-common-knowledge-or-fascinating-anecdotes-that-unfortunately-arent-true-thread/517225/56 "2009-11-12T17:58:58Z")
And another I encountered recently. Current research indicates that lactic acid is a fuel source for muscles rather than a product of overexertion and fatigue. A good [layman article](http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/16/health/nutrition/16run.html). Google will render more technical resources for the interested. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-common-knowledge-or-fascinating-anecdotes-that-unfortunately-arent-true-thread/517225/57 "2009-11-12T18:04:06Z")
My favorite is the story that Cathrine the Great, Empress of Russia, died - crushed to death under a horse she was having sex with. Sadly, not true in the least (nasty bit of propaganda circulated by her enemies after her death, that caught on - my history teacher believed it). ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Violaceous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Miss\_Violaceous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Violaceous)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-common-knowledge-or-fascinating-anecdotes-that-unfortunately-arent-true-thread/517225/58 "2009-11-12T18:06:33Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > And another I encountered recently. > > Current research indicates that lactic acid is a fuel source for muscles rather than a product of overexertion and fatigue. > > A good [layman article](http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/16/health/nutrition/16run.html). Google will render more technical resources for the interested. Now that is fascinating! Thanks for sharing. ---
**Author:** ![Umbriel2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/4af34b/32.png) [@Umbriel2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Umbriel2)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-common-knowledge-or-fascinating-anecdotes-that-unfortunately-arent-true-thread/517225/59 "2009-11-12T18:07:35Z")
> [@RandMcnally](#): > > Here is a [PDF which details an experiment](http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=5&ved=0CBYQFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.biolbull.org%2Fcgi%2Freprint%2F144%2F1%2F107.pdf&ei=UBr8SvaQD5PgtgPk4qWEAQ&usg=AFQjCNE9sBnQO4xDDNxunsP1DVbL9lPiCQ&sig2=6DP14yyGZXgmJCych8sMeg) that says that new bee recruits find food most by odors. I didn’t even know they were hiring! ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Violaceous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Miss\_Violaceous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Violaceous)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-common-knowledge-or-fascinating-anecdotes-that-unfortunately-arent-true-thread/517225/60 "2009-11-12T18:09:16Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. Scientists study so many animals and there are so many specialized fields of things to study when it comes to animals that it would actually surprise me if there wasn’t at some point some biologist whose life was dedicated to the venom of the daddy long legs. It might horrify me 'cause ew horrid creature, but surprise me, no. OK, I’m being misunderstood. I didn’t reason my way into the idea that the daddy long legs thing was false because it’s impossible it would have ever been studied. It’s not impossible. I found out the same way you probably did. I was just snarking. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-common-knowledge-or-fascinating-anecdotes-that-unfortunately-arent-true-thread/517225.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-common-knowledge-or-fascinating-anecdotes-that-unfortunately-arent-true-thread/517225.md?page=4)