# Let's start silly urban legends **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 9, 2009, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-silly-urban-legends/480450 "2009-01-09T00:24:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-silly-urban-legends/480450/61 "2009-01-10T02:29:14Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > You might want to tweak that so that it refers to someone who actually ran in the 2008 election. I thought that was the point. Males’ nails actually grow twice as fast as females. The entire cosmetics industry is an attempt to cover this up, in case men grew effeminate. ---
**Author:** ![Ragiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6de8d8/32.png) [@Ragiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ragiel)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-silly-urban-legends/480450/62 "2009-01-10T04:26:07Z")
The polar bear is actually unrelated to the other North American bear species. It is really a close relative of the panda. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-silly-urban-legends/480450/63 "2009-01-10T05:00:49Z")
Americans did not speak English until 1828. The main language used was a creole based mainly on Iroquois with a strong Spanish influence. Marion Webster’s original dictionary was supposed to be for the sole use of the diplomats, but due to a clerical error, it was mistakenly distributed to the nation’s schools. ---
**Author:** ![T.Slothrop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3e96dc/32.png) [@T.Slothrop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T.Slothrop)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-silly-urban-legends/480450/64 "2009-01-10T06:18:52Z")
It is a mistaken belief that donating blood will cause one to come down with the disease AIDS. It is donating food that does this. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-silly-urban-legends/480450/65 "2009-01-10T08:28:29Z")
> [@T.Slothrop](#): > > It is a mistaken belief that donating blood will cause one to come down with the disease AIDS. It is donating food that does this. Now we’re out of the urban legends and into the silly. Anybody remember those “99 Fake Facts” threads - one about Cecil, another about Wilford Bimley, another about just whatever? Those rawked. ---
**Author:** ![Todderbob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@Todderbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Todderbob)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-silly-urban-legends/480450/66 "2009-01-10T08:41:57Z")
Chris Hansen only runs _To Catch a Predator_ as a court ordered community service. For dating a 12 year old girl online. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-silly-urban-legends/480450/67 "2009-01-10T08:53:32Z")
All laptop computers carry a chip that allows law enforcement to track them via GPS. It even has its own special little battery so that it can report in as needed even when the power is off. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-silly-urban-legends/480450/68 "2009-01-10T09:28:45Z")
What the? Did I end up on gullible.info again? _checks URL_ Nope, I’m in the right place. Excellent. Time for some of mine then! I heard that in an effort to promote recycling, credit card companies are doubling airline miles dollar for dollar with receipts showing you’ve donated to a food bank. In the April 2, 1987 Surface Transportation and Uniform Relocation Assistance Act, President Reagan originally wanted to make it mandatory to install speed governors into all vehicles, but it was successfully lobbied against by the automakers. iPhone touchscreens are actually coated with shellac, the same material coating M&Ms. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-silly-urban-legends/480450/69 "2009-01-10T10:36:28Z")
No drug yet devised by the drug companies actually cures a damn thing. They’re just formulated to give you more symptoms so you will buy more drugs. The Government knows this, but is on the take. …Wait, that’s not a new one, is it? ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-silly-urban-legends/480450/70 "2009-01-10T13:49:44Z")
JFK is a vegetable, living in a nursing home in the mid-west. He Just turned 93! The Kennedy family visits him in secret. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-silly-urban-legends/480450/71 "2009-01-10T14:43:22Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > The 1969 Moon landing was real. However, the televised footage of it was pre-recorded at a sound stage in Roswell, NM. This was done to cover a diplomatic expedition to sell Tang to the Selenites in exchange for Velcro and digital-watch technology. Believe it or not, I know one person who actually believes this. Well, not the Tang & Selenites part, but the whole “we did go to the moon, but the images are hoaxes cause \*They \*wouldn’t give out top secret information to anyone and you can’t send a real time TV signal from the Moon anyway”. On an unrelated note, did you know that technically, the European Union (formerly European Economic Community) is an illegal organisation because the United States hold a patent on that type of sovereign state federation, and furthermore the word “Union” in the context of a collection of sovereign states was copyrighted during the Civil War ? Amazing, but true. This is also why the OPEC is called that way instead of UPEC. ---
**Author:** ![chromaticity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@chromaticity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chromaticity)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-silly-urban-legends/480450/72 "2009-01-10T15:53:22Z")
Bill Gate’s success is mainly because he is the current leader of the illuminati. Steve Jobs is his successor which has obviously created a lot of problems. Scientists discovered that removing the junk DNA in humans allows us to live for ever, but are suppressing this information. They have a cat that is almost 15 years old and still looks like a kitten Intel and other chip makers deliberately slow down their processor releases just enough to keep up with Moor’s law. This gives them all some breathing space. Currently chip technology is about 20 years ahead of what we know. ---
**Author:** ![Merhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Merhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merhouse)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-silly-urban-legends/480450/73 "2009-01-10T16:01:02Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > John Gilchrist aka Mikey, best known for the Urban Legend that he died from an overdose of Pop Rocks, was the model for the popular line of [Billy Blastoff](http://www.robotnut.com/billy/)space toys. You forgot that today he’s known as Billy Mays. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-silly-urban-legends/480450/74 "2009-01-10T16:32:44Z")
> [@chromaticity](#): > > Intel and other chip makers deliberately slow down their processor releases just enough to keep up with Moor’s law. This gives them all some breathing space. Currently chip technology is about 20 years ahead of what we know. I love this one. This is hysterical, and it might actually be believed. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-silly-urban-legends/480450/75 "2009-01-10T16:44:15Z")
> [@Fish](#): > > If you put a bomb in the mailbox, the Post Office is required to deliver it before they can attempt to disarm it. This is only true if there is sufficient postage on the package. If insufficient postage is on it will be returned to sender marked. _Danger UXB_ ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-silly-urban-legends/480450/76 "2009-01-10T21:10:33Z")
I have a brother-in-law who is a conspiracy nut and would probably believe almost anything I send him - should I test a few of these on him? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-silly-urban-legends/480450/77 "2009-01-10T21:11:53Z")
Yeah! That would be hilarious. 🙂 ---
**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:** [January 10, 2009, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-silly-urban-legends/480450/78 "2009-01-10T21:25:29Z")
Faced with sharply declining circulation, print newspapers have begun experimenting with incorporating heroin in the ink they use to print their newspapers, in a special formulation that allows the drug to be absorbed through the skin and taken up into the bloodstreams of their readers. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-silly-urban-legends/480450/79 "2009-01-10T22:01:40Z")
> [@Darryl\_Lict](#): > > Swallowing semen will cause any fat normally deposited on the hips within the following 24 hours to be deposited in the breasts. Actually this is true, and all ladies should be made aware of it. ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f08c70/32.png) [@Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Brother_Walker)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2009, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-silly-urban-legends/480450/80 "2009-01-11T03:12:49Z")
A week ago, I told a friend (she is from Poland who married a friend of mine about 3 years ago and is still getting used to American culture) that every 4 years we have an election, an olympics, and a leap year all in the same year. She thanked me for telling her because she was not able to keep track of these events and when each one happened. It made it very simple for her. Points for me. Ignorance fought. Last night, while we were playing Trivial Pursuit, I told her husband, Steve (a native New Yorker, aged 35) something else. The question he had was: Where is the origin of the Arkansas River? We were playing in teams, and he and his partner were scrounging around the mental globe trying to not figure out where the river was, but trying to find out where Arkansas was (Yeah, they aren’t the brightest bulbs on the Christmas tree) so they could trace it up the country and figure it out. I told Steve it was easy. The easy way to remember Arkansas was that, on the map, it was to the right of Kansas. That’s why they call it “R” Kansas. Everybody went quite for about 2 seconds. Then Steve piped up and said, “oh, okay. That’s a good way to remember it.” Everybody turned and looked at me. I kept a straight face and said “I told you it was easy. Geography is just a matter of semantics. That’s how they named all of the states. Every state has a story. That’s why they call it North Dakota. It’s NORTH of the state of DAKOTA”. Steve believed me. Everybody else broke out in loud laughter. Steve didn’t understand. I was quite proud of myself. 😛 … It was very hard to keep a straight face for the rest of the evening. But hey, you have to commit to a joke, right? I have another one where I took a clothesline to the neck while in a wheelchair, but that will have to wait for another day, eh?) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-silly-urban-legends/480450.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-silly-urban-legends/480450.md?page=5)