# Common misconceptions (no pun intended). **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 3, 2007, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-no-pun-intended/428625 "2007-12-03T04:53:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-no-pun-intended/428625/41 "2007-12-03T22:56:09Z")
[QUOTE=dangermom] Well, I think if you’re not raised Catholic, it’s a very easy mistake to make. It sounds right. Anyway, mine is the use of the term “begging the question.” No one ever uses it right. Today the editorial in my newspaper used it wrong, which is just embarrassing. But probably 3 people in town noticed, because everyone always uses it wrong. [/QUOTE] My roomie and I were just griping about this. The misuse of the phrase _per se_ also annoys me to no end, particularly since it’s usually misspelled. Whenever I grade a paper with a sentence like, “I am not a typical girl per say, because I also like sports,” I want to clutch said paper to my bosom and weep. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-no-pun-intended/428625/42 "2007-12-04T01:06:22Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > Nor have I ever heard someone say it in a way that made me think they’re referencing a second clause that they just aren’t going to say. If you ask someone a question, and that person is feeling playful, he might say, “I could tell you…”, with a pretty immediately recognizable vocal pattern or nonverbal cue that tells you he’s leaving off something. Maybe he puts a little extra stess on “could”, or lets his voice trail off on “you”, or cocks an eyebrow. No one says “I could care less” this way. I didn’t say they necessarily _intend_ that, I’m just saying that’s where the phrase seems to come from, and it’s now absorbed that meaning. > [@matt\_mcl](#): > > Mary was conceived “free from sin” (immaculate) – she was simply a human being, except that she was sinless. > > The conception of Jesus, on the other hand, is termed the Incarnation, because it was the incarnation of God rather than a normal human conception. > > One was a specially modified human birth, the other was a manifestation of God. Ah, OK. This makes more sense. > [@HazelNutCoffee](#): > > The misuse of the phrase per se also annoys me to no end, particularly since it’s usually misspelled. Whenever I grade a paper with a sentence like, “I am not a typical girl per say, because I also like sports,” I want to clutch said paper to my bosom and weep. For all my ire towards prescriptivism, I’m right there with you. Generalization of meaning is irritating as hell. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-no-pun-intended/428625/43 "2007-12-04T04:13:57Z")
The pumpkins grow on trees one that came up here a while ago is another one I find amazing. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-no-pun-intended/428625/44 "2007-12-04T04:14:18Z")
Oh, here’s one: ever come across the belief that no, or very few, rivers flow north? ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-no-pun-intended/428625/45 "2007-12-04T04:26:46Z")
[QUOTE=matt\_mcl] Oh, here’s one: ever come across the belief that no, or very few, rivers flow north? [/QUOTE] Yes; these people have apparently never seen a map of Russia (or Canada). ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-no-pun-intended/428625/46 "2007-12-04T04:37:07Z")
[QUOTE=fachverwirrt] Yes; these people have apparently never seen a map of Russia (or Canada). [/QUOTE] Or, for that matter, the Nile. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-no-pun-intended/428625/47 "2007-12-04T04:56:56Z")
You know what they say about da Nile… ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-no-pun-intended/428625/48 "2007-12-04T05:23:58Z")
[QUOTE=Nic2004] “Unthaw something for dinner” [/QUOTE] “Inflammable means flammable? What a country!” - Dr. Nick Rivera. I often have to bite my lip when I hear urban legends repeated, depending on the company. Most people don’t want to hear you tell them that they are wrong in this matter, even if they happen to believe you via a snopes link. ---
**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-no-pun-intended/428625/49 "2007-12-04T06:03:15Z")
Is that really what the term “the immaculate conception” means!? Why on earth do Catholics believe that Mary was somehow born without sin? That’s as extra-biblical as the rapture. I always assumed it meant the magical conception of Jesus. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_C](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Captain\_C](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_C)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-no-pun-intended/428625/50 "2007-12-04T06:13:25Z")
/hijack Woo, welcome back VCO3. It has been a boring month in the pit without you /end hijack ---
**Author:** ![Quint](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/76d3ee/32.png) [@Quint](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quint)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-no-pun-intended/428625/51 "2007-12-04T06:41:20Z")
[QUOTE=Hostile Dialect] Whenever anyone debates over whether something “is a word” or “is not a word”, I want to put my fist through (not into, _through_) their face. Nothing else can drive me to such heights of violent anger. You could personally set my house on fire and then inaccurately diagnose me with cancer and I wouldn’t get as angry. [/QUOTE] I am not getting something here. Is there any way you can elaborate on this? I don’t understand debating “is a word” v. “is not a word”. How is this possible? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-no-pun-intended/428625/52 "2007-12-04T07:05:26Z")
You’ve never witnessed a conversation like the following?: “Yeah, I think John’s plan sounds funner than Mark’s”. " ‘Funner’? That’s not even a word!" “Huh? How can ‘funner’ not be a word?” “I mean, I don’t think it’s a word, I don’t think it’s in the dictionary or anything. People say it and all, but it’s not a real word.” “You’re being silly.” “You’re being ignorant.” Ad nauseum. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-no-pun-intended/428625/53 "2007-12-04T15:27:15Z")
[QUOTE=VCO3] Is that really what the term “the immaculate conception” means!? Why on earth do Catholics believe that Mary was somehow born without sin? That’s as extra-biblical as the rapture. [/QUOTE] “No direct or categorical and stringent proof of the dogma can be brought forward from Scripture. But the first scriptural passage which contains the promise of the redemption, mentions also the Mother of the Redeemer. The sentence against the first parents was accompanied by the Earliest Gospel (Proto-evangelium), which put enmity between the serpent and the woman: “and I will put enmity between thee and the woman and her seed; she (he) shall crush thy head and thou shalt lie in wait for her (his) heel” (Genesis 3:15).” More [here](http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07674d.htm), including Proof from Reason “There is an incongruity in the supposition that the flesh, from which the flesh of the Son of God was to be formed, should ever have belonged to one who was the slave of that arch-enemy, whose power He came on earth to destroy.” ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-no-pun-intended/428625/54 "2007-12-04T16:55:20Z")
[QUOTE=An Gadaí] The pumpkins grow on trees one that came up here a while ago is another one I find amazing. 🙂 [/QUOTE] I remember the pineapple thread (where I had my ignorance fought…pineapple plants, who knew?) But I don’t recall a pumpkin one. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-no-pun-intended/428625/55 "2007-12-04T17:11:10Z")
Another one: 20/200 is legally blind. It’s not; 20/200 in the better eye _with correction_ is legally blind. If it’s correctable, it’s just myopia. (I’m about 20/800, corrected to 20/15. That sure as heck doesn’t make me “blind”.) ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-no-pun-intended/428625/56 "2007-12-04T17:37:46Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] …I don’t expect people to necessarily know what it means, but don’t use it if you don’t… [/QUOTE] Aren’t you being a little hard on people? If they’re misusing it then they probably don’t know that they don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-no-pun-intended/428625/57 "2007-12-04T18:15:15Z")
I guess I meant that if you hear the term and have the idea that it refers to something religious and you don’t for sure know what that religious thing is, err on the side of not using it. Maybe an analgous would be “schizophrenic” which doesn’t mean split or multiple personality, even though people often use it that way. Realize it’s a psych term and be sure it means what you think it means. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-no-pun-intended/428625/58 "2007-12-04T18:37:35Z")
[QUOTE=Antinor01] I remember the pineapple thread (where I had my ignorance fought…pineapple plants, who knew?) But I don’t recall a pumpkin one. [/QUOTE] :smack: pineapples of course, pumpkins grow under water. ---
**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-no-pun-intended/428625/59 "2007-12-04T18:52:24Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] “No direct or categorical and stringent proof of the dogma can be brought forward from Scripture. But the first scriptural passage which contains the promise of the redemption, mentions also the Mother of the Redeemer. The sentence against the first parents was accompanied by the Earliest Gospel (Proto-evangelium), which put enmity between the serpent and the woman: “and I will put enmity between thee and the woman and her seed; she (he) shall crush thy head and thou shalt lie in wait for her (his) heel” (Genesis 3:15).” More [here](http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07674d.htm), including Proof from Reason “There is an incongruity in the supposition that the flesh, from which the flesh of the Son of God was to be formed, should ever have belonged to one who was the slave of that arch-enemy, whose power He came on earth to destroy.” [/QUOTE] I’m not trying to be argumentative, but _none_ of that stuff is in the Bible. I knew Catholicism involved a lot of extra-biblical stuff that was declared by councils and so on, but I didn’t realize it was so extreme! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-misconceptions-no-pun-intended/428625.md?page=2)