# 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:** 6
**Author:** ![emmaliminal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emmaliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emmaliminal)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2009, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-silly-urban-legends/480450/101 "2009-01-12T20:37:37Z")
> [@Tool\_of\_the\_Conspiracy](#): > > The canola is a small rodent native to Canada. As a defense mechanism, it secretes oil when squeezed. Pukey smiley! I’m telling this one to my sister. ---
**Author:** ![WF\_Tomba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d9b06d/32.png) [@WF\_Tomba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WF_Tomba)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2009, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-silly-urban-legends/480450/102 "2009-01-12T20:46:17Z")
> [@Tool\_of\_the\_Conspiracy](#): > > The canola is a small rodent native to Canada. As a defense mechanism, it secretes oil when squeezed. I suppose the purpose of this defense is to make the animal more slippery and hard to get ahold of, eh? Does this mean that if you put a canola on a hot griddle it will fry itself? ---
**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 12, 2009, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-silly-urban-legends/480450/103 "2009-01-12T22:55:51Z")
> [@WF\_Tomba](#): > > It’s a myth that if you drink a gallon of milk in an hour the sun will explode. In fact it will only expand out to the orbit of Mars. > > _3 Things You Didn’t Know About France_ > > In France, a condemned man may still choose to be executed by guillotine, but only with the consent of his wife. > > The French have no word for poodle. > > The French use their left hands to masturbate. This is why you should never touch a French person with your left hand – it is considered very rude. My cousin was in a restaurant in Paris and he made the mistake of handing his credit card to the waitress with his left hand. She cursed at him, wiped her vagina with the card, and handed it back. This is true! Pssst, we did use the guillotine until 1981, when the death pen. was abolished 😉 Also, we do have a word for poodle - we don’t have one for entrepreneur though. But 26 of them for cheese, and 8 for marital infidelity. The last one is absolutely correct however. It’s in fact the cultural reason why left-handed people cannot become French citizen, nor be granted visas. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-silly-urban-legends/480450/104 "2009-01-13T00:22:49Z")
No tattoo parlor will tattoo an “X” on anyone’s forehead, lest they have to pay royalties to Charles Manson. Eleanor Roosevelt and FDR did not speak for his last two terms after she substituted a rubber crutch for one of his real ones while he gave a speech. Lou Gehrig had huge gambling debts and his illness and death were faked as the government set him up with a new identity in Brazil before the mafia killed him. The best remedy for hemorrhoids is Vicks Vapor Rub. If you sneeze in your dreams, you will wet the bed. ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-silly-urban-legends/480450/105 "2009-01-13T08:27:09Z")
> [@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. That’s actually true. The chip companies basically decided they’d follow a 2-year cycle. If they wanted to go faster, they could’ve, especially back when it was easier. Their collusion is called the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors. If we were shrinking dies as fast as technologically possible, do you really think we’d end up with a perfect 2-year rhythm? ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-silly-urban-legends/480450/106 "2009-01-19T16:21:19Z")
> [@davidw](#): > > During the Civil War, Abe Lincoln promised to give Manhattan to the British to keep them from helping the Confederacy. The deal said that the transfer would happen on the day we swore in our first black president. Since Obama is half-black, they’re only gonna get half of Manhattan. Everyone in the lower half of Manhattan at the time of inauguration will automatically become British citizens. I told this twice at work last week. Each time I told it, at least one person in the group believed it. AND THESE WERE NOT STUPID PEOPLE! I did forget about the “half” part. ---
**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 19, 2009, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-silly-urban-legends/480450/107 "2009-01-19T17:06:19Z")
Among the U.S. armed services, only the Marine Corps authorizes senior non-coms, in certain situations in wartime, to shoot their officers. ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-silly-urban-legends/480450/108 "2009-01-19T17:43:19Z")
Jeff Beck’s father was a pianist in the early jazz days. He was able to stretch his fingers to play especially difficult passages and eventually his fingers grew so long that he acquired the nickname “Big Spider.” ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-silly-urban-legends/480450/109 "2009-01-20T17:22:15Z")
Barack Obama intentionally misspoke during the oath of office, because he’s not constitutionally eligible to be president. It’s part of a backroom deal worked out where he can \*act \*as president, but he’s not actually president. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-silly-urban-legends/480450/110 "2009-01-20T17:23:29Z")
So does Manhattan still belong to the US? ---
**Author:** ![WF\_Tomba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d9b06d/32.png) [@WF\_Tomba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WF_Tomba)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-silly-urban-legends/480450/111 "2009-01-20T18:18:31Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > So does Manhattan still belong to the US? Obama’s first act in office will be to buy it back for $24 worth of beads. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-silly-urban-legends/480450/112 "2009-01-20T19:13:41Z")
The little bit of fog that forms at the top of a freshly opened soda bottle is toxic. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-silly-urban-legends/480450/113 "2009-01-20T19:31:02Z")
A man is born with the capability to have a finite number of erections. This number varies from man to man. Erections used up on morning wood or masturbating deplete the remaining number. ---
**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 22, 2009, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-silly-urban-legends/480450/114 "2009-01-22T03:15:40Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Barack Obama intentionally misspoke during the oath of office, because he’s not constitutionally eligible to be president. It’s part of a backroom deal worked out where he can \*act \*as president, but he’s not actually president. **This Just In:** Obama re-took the oath at 7:30 PM EST today (1/21/2009) in the map room of the White House.\* The only thing was that is there was no Bible present. Does that represent the separation of Church and State? Or maybe he is deliberately avoiding one step at a time until he commits an impeachable offense and cries, “oh, but I’m not really in charge. Nyaah!!!” Anyway, it still doesn’t count. You guys have voted a maverick into office. :smack: …and down the slippery slope we go. \*Does this mean we now get to call it something besides the “White House”? I’m open to suggestions. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-silly-urban-legends/480450/115 "2009-01-22T03:29:37Z")
At Chinese restaurants, item number 69 is always the most profitable and overpriced dish. That’s because they know teenagers will order it as a prank. They get so many orders for those items that it’s enough to keep them in business on its own, especially during holiday vacations when more kids are at home with nothing to do. ---
**Author:** ![bahia\_hombre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@bahia\_hombre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bahia_hombre)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-silly-urban-legends/480450/116 "2011-04-30T20:01:36Z")
> [@seodoa](#): > > In Japan there is an urban legend that eating Kentucky Fried Chicken will make one’s breasts larger. A couple years ago I was watching a show where the members of the panel had each tested various urban legends and one girl chose the KFC one. Every day and for every meal she ate KFC for something like two weeks until she was totally sick of it and couldn’t possibly eat anymore. At the end of those two weeks, they measured her chest to see if it had grown. Sure enough it was a little bigger, but, as the host said ever so delicately, “No, they’re not really bigger. You’re just fat now.” 😃 That’s funny. An acquaintance of mine was once telling me how girls are growing larger boobies due to eating chicken, because of the hormones poultry producers are using to increase the size of chicken breasts. I didn’t bother to explain to him how that it’s not quite the same type of breast tissue. (Sorry for the zombie but I was researching whether cats hunt & kill cockroaches and accidentally came upon this) ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-silly-urban-legends/480450/117 "2011-04-30T22:36:24Z")
The production of all-electric automobiles has been held up by archaic laws in a number of states dating from the beginning of the twentieth century. All-electric cars would not meet the original definitions of a “motor vehicle”, and so none of the state regulations would apply to them. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2011, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-silly-urban-legends/480450/118 "2011-05-01T02:02:17Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Barack Obama intentionally misspoke during the oath of office, because he’s not constitutionally eligible to be president. It’s part of a backroom deal worked out where he can \*act \*as president, but he’s not actually president. Even in jest, this kind of crap needs to stop! ---
**Author:** ![scamartistry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@scamartistry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scamartistry)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2011, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-silly-urban-legends/480450/119 "2011-05-01T04:26:34Z")
> [@Fish](#): > > The active ingredient in hand lotion is asbestos. That’s why you should never get it near your eyes or mouth. > > There was this one scientist on TV who confirmed that non-dairy creamer was highly addictive. > > If you eat too much chocolate, your breasts get bigger. It’s true, I heard it on the news. > > The new $50 bills have tracers in 'em so they can follow your location via satellite. OK…Jack in lost is gay and christian ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2011, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-silly-urban-legends/480450/120 "2011-05-01T04:57:20Z")
Science has discovered that we individually perceive colors totally differently from each other,but we don’t know it, and so we can agree on shared names for colors. If we were actually seeing colors through another persons eyes, they would appear to be totally different colors than what you see through your own yes. The US Navy uses its anti-submarine technology to hunt whales for sport. For more than 30 years the Federal government has been paying major universities to research the policy implications of free blowjobs for elected officials in state legislatures. The Catholic Church has decided to breed its own children specifically for sexual abuse by priests. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-silly-urban-legends/480450.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-start-silly-urban-legends/480450.md?page=7)