# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-many-reasonably-intelligent-people-have-and-your-corrections/581226/81 "2011-05-09T20:30:40Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > Except a landlord can’t deduct interest from a mortgage on rental properties, only from interest on their home mortgage. That rule only applies to passive real estate investors. If your landlord is in the business of owning properties and leasing them out, then mortgage interest is considered a deductible business expense. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-many-reasonably-intelligent-people-have-and-your-corrections/581226/82 "2011-05-09T20:33:08Z")
We’ve all heard the popular misconception that Galileo was excommunicated because he taught that the Earth revolved around the Sun. [That simply isn’t true.](http://www.bethinking.org/science-christianity/advanced/conflict-myths-galileo-galilei.htm) He wasn’t censured by the Catholic Church, but not because of his heliocentric beliefs. Rather, Galileo was an abrasive man, and he managed to present his teachings in a manner that ridiculed and deeply offended Pope Urban VIII. Also, while he was condemned by the church, he was never excommunicated. ---
**Author:** ![Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamaika_a_jamaikaiake)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-many-reasonably-intelligent-people-have-and-your-corrections/581226/83 "2011-05-09T21:21:54Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > But we did not evolve from the sort of “monkeys” we see in the world today. Those species have had _just as much time to evolve_ since the split as we have. The same is true about languages and dialects. For example, it’s only sort of true that American English evolved from British English. More precisely, Modern American and Modern British both evolved\* from 18th Century British. \*With lots of crossing over along the way, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Furious\_Marmot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dfb087/32.png) [@Furious\_Marmot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Furious_Marmot)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-many-reasonably-intelligent-people-have-and-your-corrections/581226/84 "2011-05-09T21:26:28Z")
There is no such thing as the “stomach flu” or a “24 hour bug”. The former might be food poisoning, or something else entirely; the latter is probably a hangover which keeps you from coming in to the office. While we’re at it, the flu is not a bad cold. The common cold is to influenza as a trout is to a small shark. It probably won’t kill you, but it will lay you out for a week or two. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-many-reasonably-intelligent-people-have-and-your-corrections/581226/85 "2011-05-09T21:35:20Z")
Alan Turing did not invent the computer. He had very little to do with constructing computing hardware, outside of his ACE machine, which was never completed after funding was cut. The Enlightenment was not a Scottish movement. Many of my Scottish friends seem to be under the impression that the “Scottish Enlightenment” implies that it was, and is not referring to the Enlightenment as it happened in Scotland. In actual fact, the movement happened more or less simultaneously across the whole of the Western World. Further, I’m not sure why there’s such an obsession with the Scottish Enlightenment. You hear that phrase an order of magnitude more than you do English Enlightenment, or French Enlightenment, for instance. The United Kingdom has a constitution. Its constituent nations have had a constitution for millennia. Further, the United Kingdom also has a “higher law” constitution exactly the same as in the United States. The _obiter dicta_ of Jackson v. AG makes it clear that the courts recognise that some principles are so fundamental that they will simply refuse to enforce any law that contravenes them. ---
**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, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-many-reasonably-intelligent-people-have-and-your-corrections/581226/86 "2011-05-09T21:50:39Z")
> [@Bytegeist](#): > > Well, given that you _have_ a mortgage, you’re going to be paying that interest anyway. It’s nice then that you get to deduct the interest (plus any property taxes) from your taxable income. True enough, but I’ve had this discussion with people who seemed to think that paying down their mortgage with won or inherited money would be a Bad Thing because it would decrease their tax deduction. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-many-reasonably-intelligent-people-have-and-your-corrections/581226/87 "2011-05-09T21:53:11Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > True enough, but I’ve had this discussion with people who seemed to think that paying down their mortgage with won or inherited money would be a Bad Thing because it would decrease their tax deduction. This goes along with people that think that businesses like to spend money on travel and entertainment because they get a tax deduction for them. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-many-reasonably-intelligent-people-have-and-your-corrections/581226/88 "2011-05-09T22:17:11Z")
> [@Nawth\_Chucka](#): > > Twenty years in the military entitles you to full retirement! Sure, if \*\*full \*\*retirement means \*\*half \*\*your pay. I’ve never known “full retirement” to mean retiring on the same money you got while you worked. “Full retirement” is distinguished from partial or early retirement. This usually applies to people who started working at a job later than usual, so they have fewer years in. Or people retiring earlier than planned for medical or other reasons. Most retirement pensions are for less than full pay. E.g., mine will be for less than a third of my pay (and after a lot more than twenty years). The federal Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) did allow for as much as 80% of pay, but you had to work a long time, usually about forty years. It’s being phased out in favor of the less generous Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), which I’m under. The military of course has work conditions tougher than most civilian jobs, so you can argue that military pensions should be higher. (Although being able to retire after as little as twenty years is supposed to address this). But the misconception here is that “full retirement” means “retiring on full pay”. The only ones who get those kind of sweetheart deals are congressmen and CEOs. There may also be some lucrative union pensions that I’m unfamiliar with. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-many-reasonably-intelligent-people-have-and-your-corrections/581226/89 "2011-05-09T22:19:33Z")
> [@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. Thanks, those indexes are more important than many people understand. Someone once said that a non-fiction book without an index is worthless, and more and more I understand what he meant. Yet there are an amazing number of them out there. ---
**Author:** ![mcgato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-many-reasonably-intelligent-people-have-and-your-corrections/581226/90 "2011-05-09T22:27:38Z")
> [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](#): > > Alan Turing did not invent the computer. He had very little to do with constructing computing hardware, outside of his ACE machine, which was never completed after funding was cut. Neither did [John von Neumann](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_von_Neumann), but a lot of intro computer science texts seem to think so. The credit in the US is probably best given to [John Mauchly](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Mauchly) and [J. Presper Eckert](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Presper_Eckert). I haven’t read enough about the recent declassification of the history of Bletchley Park to speak to what was happening in England. ---
**Author:** ![Trepa\_Mayfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-many-reasonably-intelligent-people-have-and-your-corrections/581226/91 "2011-05-09T22:30:22Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > Pollution does not always mean toxic substances. Dirt (sediments) is a pollutant. And nutrients aren’t good in your local waterways. Yes, fish need nutrients just like the rest of us, but they don’t need help from humans to get them. Mitigating excess nitrogen and phosphorus in streams, rivers, and lakes is actually more problematic and expensive than fixing “toxic pollutant” problems. To add on to this, one of the most common types of pollution isn’t even a contaminant at all, but a state change–heat. Heat Pollution is an issue because most underwater organisms are specifically suited for a range of heat, and shifting the water makes the higher end things grow and the lower end things die en masse–like transforming a savannah into a rainforest by putting up an artificial rain machine. Interestingly, heat pollution is the most common type of pollution produced by nuclear power plants. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-many-reasonably-intelligent-people-have-and-your-corrections/581226/92 "2011-05-09T22:34:33Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > Also, while point dischargers (e.g., industrial factories and sewage treatment plants) are not always blameless innocents, they are not the biggest culprit of poor water quality. Agriculture and John and Jane Q. Public are, because in most jurisdictions, there’s no legal enforcement to make sure they comply with the Clean Water Act. Chemlawn and TrueGreen and the like should be banned. You reminded me of another one. Often people think that storm water runoff is treated at a plant, just like sanitary sewer water is. Well, in some cases there _is_ a combined rainwater/sanitary sewer system, but in most cases they are two separate systems, and the storm water is discharged to streams, rivers, lakes, or oceans. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-many-reasonably-intelligent-people-have-and-your-corrections/581226/93 "2011-05-09T22:57:22Z")
> [@ReticulatingSplines](#): > > This reminds me of another one - it really bugs me when someone describes a shy or quiet person as “antisocial.” Antisocial doesn’t mean “That guy doesn’t like to talk to people.” It means “That guy doesn’t give a shit that you’re in your house while he starts burning it down.” According to the OED, “antisocial” has meant “Opposed to sociality, averse to society or companionship” since at least the 1790s. Their earliest citation for “antisocial personality disorder” is from the 1960s, and the OED does not recognize “antisocial” on its own as meaning “antisocial personality disorder”. This is not to say that the term is _never_ used in this way, but people who do so are going against both common usage and proper clinical terminology. It is true that “antisocial” is not exactly the same thing as “shy”, though. An antisocial person doesn’t want to interact with others socially, while a shy person might want to do so very much but hold back because they are nervous or afraid of rejection. FWIW the OED also cites “depressed” as having the meaning “Brought low, oppressed, dejected, downcast, etc.; esp. in low spirits” since at least the early 1600s. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-many-reasonably-intelligent-people-have-and-your-corrections/581226/94 "2011-05-10T00:07:13Z")
> [@JThunder](#): > > We’ve all heard the popular misconception that Galileo was excommunicated because he taught that the Earth revolved around the Sun. [That simply isn’t true.](http://www.bethinking.org/science-christianity/advanced/conflict-myths-galileo-galilei.htm) He wasn’t censured by the Catholic Church, but not because of his heliocentric beliefs. Rather, Galileo was an abrasive man, and he managed to present his teachings in a manner that ridiculed and deeply offended Pope Urban VIII. Also, while he was condemned by the church, he was never excommunicated. Galileo was [censured by the Church](http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/galileo/admonition.html) for: > [@](#): > > the said Galileo…was by the said Commissary commanded and enjoined, in the name of His Holiness the Pope and the whole Congregation of the Holy Office, to relinquish altogether the said opinion that the Sun is the center of the world and immovable and that the Earth moves; nor further to hold, teach, or defend it in any way whatsoever, verbally or in writing; otherwise proceedings would be taken against him by the Holy Office; which injunction the said Galileo acquiesced in and promised to obey. > [@](#): > > …And whereas it has also come to the knowledge of the said Congregation that the Pythagorean doctrine—which is false and altogether opposed to the Holy Scripture—of the motion of the Earth, and the immobility of the Sun, which is also taught by Nicolaus Copernicus in De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, and by Diego de Zuniga [in his book] on Job, is no[w] being spread abroad and accepted by many—as may be seen from a certain letter of a Carmelite Father, entitled Letter of the Rev. Father Paolo Antonio Foscarini, Carmelite, on the Opinion of the Pythagoreans and of Copernicus concerning the Motion of the Earth, and the Stability of the Sun, and the New Pythagorean System of the World, at Naples, Printed by Lazzaro Scoriggio, 1615: wherein the said Father attempts to show that the aforesaid doctrine of the immobility of the sun in the centre of the world, and of the Earth’s motion, is consonant with truth and is not opposed to Holy Scripture. Therefore, in order that this opinion may not insinuate itself any further to the prejudice of Catholic truth, the Holy Congregation has decreed that the said Nicolaus Copernicus, De revolutionibus orbium, and Diego de Zuniga, On Job, be suspended until they be corrected; but that the book of the Carmelite Father, Paolo Antonio Foscarini, be altogether prohibited and condemned, and that all other works likewise, in which the same is taught, be prohibited, as by this present decree it prohibits, condemns, and suspends them all respectively. Issues of politics and personality clashes certainly were involved in the Catholic Church coming to such a position, but the Church did formally proclaim heliocentrism to be an error. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-many-reasonably-intelligent-people-have-and-your-corrections/581226/95 "2011-05-10T00:15:54Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > Thanks, those indexes are more important than many people understand. Someone once said that a non-fiction book without an index is worthless, and more and more I understand what he meant. Yet there are an amazing number of them out there. You will be glad to hear the when my five-year-old last produced a “book” for me, she was careful to include an index. Bunnies, 1-3 Bunny holes, 2 Carrots, 3 ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-many-reasonably-intelligent-people-have-and-your-corrections/581226/96 "2011-05-10T00:26:30Z")
All “modern” or “abstract” art is comprised of paint splattered onto a canvas, requiring no skills whatsoever. And it can be “understood” only by the artist and other culture snobs. There are plenty of contemporary artists whose works are both “modern” and “abstract,” and require a great deal of skill. And often, there’s nothing to “understand;” sometimes a painting is just a painting. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-many-reasonably-intelligent-people-have-and-your-corrections/581226/97 "2011-05-10T01:38:55Z")
I believed until my early teens - and have since met adults who believe - that the doctrine of papal infallibility means that, according to the Roman Catholic Church, the pope is technically infallible in pretty much anything and everything he did and said. Nope - it’s a [specific doctrine](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papal_infallibility) that’s sparingly used on official matters. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-many-reasonably-intelligent-people-have-and-your-corrections/581226/98 "2011-05-10T02:00:33Z")
> [@Rodgers01](#): > > I believed until my early teens - and have since met adults who believe - that the doctrine of papal infallibility means that, according to the Roman Catholic Church, the pope is technically infallible in pretty much anything and everything he did and said. > > Nope - it’s a [specific doctrine](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papal_infallibility) that’s sparingly used on official matters. I don’t want to violate my own rule about commenting too much about matters like religion but yours is a good example. There is another Catholic misconception (pardon the pun) that I think qualifies for both non-Catholics and many Catholics alike. The Immaculate Conception has nothing to do with Mary giving birth to Jesus as a virgin. It is about Mary herself being free from hereditary sin and sin herself. The act of divine conception is known as the Annunciation from the archangel Gabriel that proclaimed she would give birth to Christ. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-many-reasonably-intelligent-people-have-and-your-corrections/581226/99 "2011-05-10T02:30:28Z")
> [@Bytegeist](#): > > Rent, of any amount, _cannot_ be deducted. Not true. If, like many self-employed individuals, you keep a home office, you can deduct a percentage of your rent (subject to many rules, of course) off your schedule C as a home office deduction. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-many-reasonably-intelligent-people-have-and-your-corrections/581226/100 "2011-05-10T02:34:28Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Not true. If, like many self-employed individuals, you keep a home office, you can deduct a percentage of your rent (subject to many rules, of course) off your schedule C as a home office deduction. You can in a few states as well. Personal rent for an apartment is deductible in Massachusetts for the state but not for the feds. Still, there is no need to get hung up on legal trivia in a thread like this. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-many-reasonably-intelligent-people-have-and-your-corrections/581226.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-many-reasonably-intelligent-people-have-and-your-corrections/581226.md?page=6)