# Common Misconceptions Many Reasonably Intelligent People Have and Your Corrections **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 9, 2011, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-many-reasonably-intelligent-people-have-and-your-corrections/581226 "2011-05-09T02:24:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![enomaj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@enomaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enomaj)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-many-reasonably-intelligent-people-have-and-your-corrections/581226/21 "2011-05-09T09:12:05Z")
> [@CitizenPained](#): > > …Abraham Lincoln loved black people and wanted to free them from slavery so much that he went to war. :o > > …JFK was a huge-o civil rights liberal. :dubious: But my grandma had a picture of JFK right next to MLK Jr.😕 ---
**Author:** ![Otara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a88e4f/32.png) [@Otara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otara)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-many-reasonably-intelligent-people-have-and-your-corrections/581226/22 "2011-05-09T09:43:45Z")
> **[List of common misconceptions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_misconceptions)** > > Each entry on this list of common misconceptions is worded as a correction; the misconceptions themselves are implied rather than stated. These entries are concise summaries of the main subject articles, which can be consulted for more detail. > A common misconception is a viewpoint or factoid that is often accepted as true but which is actually false. They generally arise from conventional wisdom (such as old wives' tales), stereotypes, superstitions, fallacies, a misunderstanding of science, ... This any use? Otara ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-many-reasonably-intelligent-people-have-and-your-corrections/581226/23 "2011-05-09T09:43:54Z")
The tax deduction thing always pisses me off. Having to explain to otherwise reasonably intelligent people that their “$1,000 a month tax deduction” due to their mortgage means; _You paid a bank $1,000 in interest so that you wouldn’t have to pay $300 in taxes on that money. You’re out $700 and you only made a BANK richer. Congratulations on your big victory. :rolleyes:_ “Or best offer” doesn’t legally obligate anyone to take your offer of $1 against the possibility that they don’t get any other offers. I got threatened with a lawsuit once when I tried to sell a computer, by some smirking motherfucker who seemed to think I HAD to give him the computer for a buck. I called his bluff. But since the I have seen other people either try a similar tactic, or try to advise other people that it is THE LAW that they have to take your low-ball offer. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-many-reasonably-intelligent-people-have-and-your-corrections/581226/24 "2011-05-09T10:24:41Z")
We did not evolve from monkeys. Both believers and deniers of evolution think this. This is wrong. It is especially wrong when someone tries to debunk evolution by saying, “If we evolved from monkeys, why are there still monkeys?” That statement is wrong for more than one reason. Monkeys and humans evolved from a common ancestor. And just because a species evolves from a common ancestor does not mean that this ancestor ups and dissolves once another species evolves away from it. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-many-reasonably-intelligent-people-have-and-your-corrections/581226/25 "2011-05-09T11:40:35Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > A lot of people seem to think that the indexes in the backs of books are somehow automatically generated via computer. > > Actually they are composed by professional indexers (like me!), most of whom do this on a freelance basis. > > Edit: This may be esoteric enough to be DQ’ed by the OP’s rules, but I’ve run into enough people who think this that I thought I’d mention it. Sometimes they’re generated by the author (raises hand). I did mine by getting a set of index cards (Hey! Truth in advertising!) and going through the galleys page by page. I suspect by publisher wouldn’t have sprung for a professional indexer. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-many-reasonably-intelligent-people-have-and-your-corrections/581226/26 "2011-05-09T11:55:02Z")
Twenty years in the military entitles you to full retirement! Sure, if \*\*full \*\*retirement means \*\*half \*\*your pay. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-many-reasonably-intelligent-people-have-and-your-corrections/581226/27 "2011-05-09T12:05:24Z")
I fight my entire family on this one: Running ceiling fans will cool down the room, _even if you are not in that room_. WRONG. The truth is that it makes you _feel_ cooler, because of your skin and evaporation. The degree point does not change. But however I argue the case, their circular logic leads them back to “If fans, then cooler”. ---
**Author:** ![classyladyhp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5ac83/32.png) [@classyladyhp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/classyladyhp)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-many-reasonably-intelligent-people-have-and-your-corrections/581226/28 "2011-05-09T12:08:07Z")
> [@what\_do\_I\_type\_here](#): > > “If you only make minimum payments on your credit card, you’ll never pay off the balance.” > > My parents think this way, and If the following is common knowledge, then please ignore me. The statment is only true if the minimum payment is equal to or lower than the finance charge. However, by law, the minimum payment is always higher than the interest being charged, which means that even if you only made minimum payments, you will eventually reduce your balance to $0. > > It’s still a terrible idea, because doing this will maximize the amount of interest you pay in the end. But it will eventually pay down your balance. Actually it is almost true. It could take 20 yeas ot pay it off. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-many-reasonably-intelligent-people-have-and-your-corrections/581226/29 "2011-05-09T13:00:37Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Sometimes they’re generated by the author (raises hand). I did mine by getting a set of index cards (Hey! Truth in advertising!) and going through the galleys page by page. I suspect by publisher wouldn’t have sprung for a professional indexer. Ouch. I did an index-card index once as part of my professional training and it was _excruciating_. You are far from the only author who has found himself writing his own index, though. Usually for cost considerations, as you say. ---
**Author:** ![Double\_Foolscap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@Double\_Foolscap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Double_Foolscap)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-many-reasonably-intelligent-people-have-and-your-corrections/581226/30 "2011-05-09T13:10:50Z")
> [@WotNot](#): > > Hadrian’s Wall does not mark the border between England and Scotland, nor has it ever done so. I got hit by that this weekend - my girlfriend suggested going on holiday there, but I said that if we were going to drive all the way to Scotland, we might as well go a little bit further and stay in Edinburgh :smack: ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-many-reasonably-intelligent-people-have-and-your-corrections/581226/31 "2011-05-09T13:18:57Z")
1. The idea, as marketed by companies like Naked Juice and Smoothie King, that certain things in your diet can “boost your immune system”. In fact, they’ve had to stop making that specific claim in recent years because the FDA has gone after them for making untrue claims in their advertising. Instead, they’ll offer a generic “boost” without saying what exactly they’re boosting. [In fact such claims mean nothing at all](http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4227). 2. The claim that the Catholic Church suppressed science and technology throughout the Middle Ages is utterly untrue. There was technological progress in many areas during the Middle Ages: agriculture, cloth-making, carts and transportation, breeding of animals and plants, ship-building, clock-making, lens-making, and many others. The Church actively supported progress on many fronts and many of the inventors and scientists of the era were clergymen. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-many-reasonably-intelligent-people-have-and-your-corrections/581226/32 "2011-05-09T13:29:29Z")
> [@sh1bu1](#): > > That seasons are caused by how close the earth is to the sun. For some reason, a lot of people also think that [gravity is caused by the spinning of the earth](http://io9.com/#!5767977/louis-leterrier-finally-gets-green-light-to-direct-the-worlds-silliest-disaster-movie-earths-gravity-stops-working). I have never understood how this could make any sense to anybody, it never has for me even as a kid, though I didn’t know the actual facts at that time either. In case any of you are one of those people, gravity is caused by mass, and has nothing at all to do with rotation. ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-many-reasonably-intelligent-people-have-and-your-corrections/581226/33 "2011-05-09T13:31:03Z")
> [@what\_do\_I\_type\_here](#): > > “If you only make minimum payments on your credit card, you’ll never pay off the balance.” > > My parents think this way, and If the following is common knowledge, then please ignore me. The statment is only true if the minimum payment is equal to or lower than the finance charge. However, by law, the minimum payment is always higher than the interest being charged, which means that even if you only made minimum payments, you will eventually reduce your balance to $0. > > It’s still a terrible idea, because doing this will maximize the amount of interest you pay in the end. But it will eventually pay down your balance. It’s now law in Canada that they need to print rather prominently on the bill exactly how long it would take to pay off your credit card assuming you always pay only the minimum payment and never add additional charges to the card. It only became law late last year so I am still amused by reading the boxes. They range from 10-30 years. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-many-reasonably-intelligent-people-have-and-your-corrections/581226/34 "2011-05-09T13:43:56Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > For some reason, a lot of people also think that [gravity is caused by the spinning of the earth](http://io9.com/#!5767977/louis-leterrier-finally-gets-green-light-to-direct-the-worlds-silliest-disaster-movie-earths-gravity-stops-working). I have never understood how this could make any sense to anybody, it never has for me even as a kid, though I didn’t know the actual facts at that time either. Gravity is another huge source of misconceptions. A significant percentage of people if not most of them believe that there is no gravity in space and that is why astronauts in earth orbit are weightless. That simply isn’t true. There is almost as much gravity in earth orbit as there is on the ground. Gravity is what ties the moon to the earth after all and it is much farther away. Astronauts float in space because they are in constant free-fall at the same rate as the space vehicle like going down a steep hill on a roll coaster. ---
**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:** [May 9, 2011, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-many-reasonably-intelligent-people-have-and-your-corrections/581226/35 "2011-05-09T14:14:44Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > I got threatened with a lawsuit once when I tried to sell a computer, by some smirking motherfucker who seemed to think I HAD to give him the computer for a buck. I called his bluff. But since the I have seen other people either try a similar tactic, or try to advise other people that it is THE LAW that they have to take your low-ball offer. When my house was on the market (since sold, yay!) I listed it for a price I would accept. She told interested buyers the price was “firm”. I told my real estate agent I would take more, but not a cent less. A couple wanted to buy the house, and made an offer. My agent asked me if I wanted to accept, decline, or make a counter offer. They had offered 5% less than my asking price. I counter offered 5% _more_ than the asking price (being a smartass). They threatened a lawsuit saying I wasn’t bargaining in good faith. Thing is, I wasn’t bargaining. ---
**Author:** ![ReticulatingSplines](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@ReticulatingSplines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReticulatingSplines)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-many-reasonably-intelligent-people-have-and-your-corrections/581226/36 "2011-05-09T14:38:33Z")
I can’t stand this pervasive belief that you only use 10% of your brain. If you really only use 10% of your brain, you are severely brain-damaged. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-many-reasonably-intelligent-people-have-and-your-corrections/581226/37 "2011-05-09T14:54:04Z")
> [@campp](#): > > I fight my entire family on this one: Running ceiling fans will cool down the room, _even if you are not in that room_. WRONG. > > The truth is that it makes you _feel_ cooler, because of your skin and evaporation. The degree point does not change. But however I argue the case, their circular logic leads them back to “If fans, then cooler”. If anything they’ll make the air slightly warmer due to radiated heat from the fan motor and air friction. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-many-reasonably-intelligent-people-have-and-your-corrections/581226/38 "2011-05-09T14:57:04Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > A lot of people seem to think that the indexes in the backs of books are somehow automatically generated via computer. > > Actually they are composed by professional indexers (like me!), most of whom do this on a freelance basis. Blatant hijack alert! I thought it was a mixture: a human decides what to index and a computer does the rest. After all, that’s the easiest way to keep the indices consistent when the work is published in a different form. Isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Sateryn76](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Sateryn76](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sateryn76)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-many-reasonably-intelligent-people-have-and-your-corrections/581226/39 "2011-05-09T14:59:09Z")
That all stable and happy marriages are strictly monogamous, because that is the only way to keep things happy and on an even keel. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-many-reasonably-intelligent-people-have-and-your-corrections/581226/40 "2011-05-09T15:03:15Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > For some reason, a lot of people also think that [gravity is caused by the spinning of the earth](http://io9.com/#!5767977/louis-leterrier-finally-gets-green-light-to-direct-the-worlds-silliest-disaster-movie-earths-gravity-stops-working). I have never understood how this could make any sense to anybody, it never has for me even as a kid, though I didn’t know the actual facts at that time either. > > In case any of you are one of those people, gravity is caused by mass, and has nothing at all to do with rotation. You’d think the spinning would tend to throw us off! But there is the idea of creating “gravity” in space by centrifugal rotation of spaceships or stations. Of course then the people are walking around on the inside. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-many-reasonably-intelligent-people-have-and-your-corrections/581226.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-many-reasonably-intelligent-people-have-and-your-corrections/581226.md?page=3)