# Simple factual errors that drive you nuts **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 19, 2009, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-factual-errors-that-drive-you-nuts/486504 "2009-02-19T03:19:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-factual-errors-that-drive-you-nuts/486504/121 "2009-02-20T21:47:47Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I tend toward the descriptivist model myself, but few things are absolute. When a particular usage of a term is either self-contradictor or so at odds with the reality its meant to be describing, then that usage should be abandoned. Often they’re not, because of stupid people–and yes, I’m looking at you, Katie Couric! > > Or whover the NCB newscaster I heard refer to someone as Kenya as “African-American.” It may well been Campbell Brown, but I’m not about to insult HER, so Katite gets the ire. You’re probably right, and I concede that it’s a pretty extreme example. I’m more irked by an overall sense of prescriptivism in this thread and board as a whole so I purposely pointed out a blatantly logic-defying example, but I’ll give it up here. I am, however, working up a pitting over aforementioned prescriptivist activities on the board in general, to be released shortly. ---
**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:** [February 20, 2009, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-factual-errors-that-drive-you-nuts/486504/122 "2009-02-20T21:51:44Z")
> [@crazyjoe](#): > > You want reasons for why people don’t beleive that Autism is caused by vaccines? This is one of them…studies that take something people have observed time and time again, such as the effects of sugar on kids, and tell people it doesn’t happen. You might as well put out a study saying that the earth is flat. The plural of anecdote is not data. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-factual-errors-that-drive-you-nuts/486504/123 "2009-02-20T21:52:15Z")
> [@crazyjoe](#): > > Someone once pointed me to a study that said that a one year old should be able to, unassisted, drink from an open topped cup without spilling. I’ve been alive for nearly 40 years and I have NEVER seen one who could do this. I’m 26 and I can’t do that. > [@Sigmagirl](#): > > True, and your jeans are Levi’s, not Levis. Hey! You’re right! ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-factual-errors-that-drive-you-nuts/486504/124 "2009-02-20T22:19:07Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > True, and your jeans are Levi’s, not Levis. Actually, my jeans are Wranglers. ---
**Author:** ![flex727](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/258eb7/32.png) [@flex727](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flex727)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-factual-errors-that-drive-you-nuts/486504/125 "2009-02-20T23:37:38Z")
> [@cmosdes](#): > > Can you elaborate what you mean by this? I can grab hold (properly isolated, of course) of a Van de Graf generator and be just fine (10,000 volts). If I grab a current source of just a few milli-amps I’m dead, regardless of the voltage. > > High voltage, low current = no problem. > High current, regardless of voltage = big problem. It’s all about Ohm’s Law (I=V/R). It takes voltage to drive current, given a specific resistance (the human body, i.e. you). ---
**Author:** ![RAWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71e660/32.png) [@RAWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RAWDuke)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-factual-errors-that-drive-you-nuts/486504/126 "2009-02-20T23:49:47Z")
I’m going to welcome myself back to the SDMB with this one: “The U.S. Constitution is based on the 10 Commandments” A guy I work with tried this one out a couple of years ago. Yep! I really enjoyed the graven images clause. ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-factual-errors-that-drive-you-nuts/486504/127 "2009-02-21T00:05:40Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > _Affect_ is a verb. The one you’re looking for is _effect_, which is a noun (and a verb). > > Actually, me is used when you are the object of a sentence. Myself is used when you are the subject of a sentence which involves a reflexive verb. _Affect_ can be a noun, too – e.g., “absence of affect” The me/myself thing bugs the crap out of me, too. Or should I say “bugs the crap out of myself”? 😃 Of course, sometimes I do bug the crap out of myself, but that’s not the issue. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-factual-errors-that-drive-you-nuts/486504/128 "2009-02-21T00:08:05Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > For all intensive purposes, Small Pox utterly decimated the Mayan peoples. > [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](#): > > Are you complaining about the incorrect use of “decimated”, “intensive” or where the Mayas wiped out by something else? > > edit: I assume it’s the latter. Here’s one that bug the crap out of me: when referring to the people or the culture, it’s the “Maya.” Nothing more, nothing less, just “Maya.” Not “Mayan,” that refers only to their language, and not “the Mayas.” Just. Maya. ---
**Author:** ![cmosdes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@cmosdes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmosdes)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-factual-errors-that-drive-you-nuts/486504/129 "2009-02-21T00:28:01Z")
> [@flex727](#): > > It’s all about Ohm’s Law (I=V/R). It takes voltage to drive current, given a specific resistance (the human body, i.e. you). So what is the lethal voltage for a person? In order to answer that, you’ll need to know the human body resistance and the lethal level of current. Again, your just working backwards from the lethal current to find a voltage. Which brings me back to my original point. You can easily survive high voltage across your body. You cannot survive high current. Current kills. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-factual-errors-that-drive-you-nuts/486504/130 "2009-02-21T01:34:50Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > You’re probably right, and I concede that it’s a pretty extreme example. I’m more irked by an overall sense of prescriptivism in this thread and board as a whole so I purposely pointed out a blatantly logic-defying example, but I’ll give it up here. I am, however, working up a pitting over aforementioned prescriptivist activities on the board in general, to be released shortly. Actually, I agree with you. Linguistically speaking, “black” and “African American” are interchangable. If that’s how those terms are used, then that’s what those terms mean. Linguistically speaking. However, historically, socially, and politically, it’s an incredibly idiotic mistake, and should be stamped out with great prejudice. ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-factual-errors-that-drive-you-nuts/486504/131 "2009-02-21T02:01:33Z")
The idiom to “[eat like a bird](http://esl.about.com/library/glossary/bldef_401.htm)”, meaning, you hardly eat anything, is a factual error that drives me nuts. > [@](#): > > Explanation: Used when speaking about someone who needs very little food to get by, often used when criticizing someone for not eating enough. Birds eat a LOT. Anywhere [from 1/3 of](http://books.google.com/books?id=f1UlXrOFgLgC&pg=PA143&lpg=PA143&dq=how+much+do+birds+eat+relative+body+weight&source=bl&ots=T6a5dxl3SG&sig=k2MJfXutTVXKzmYujSrfzo_FCms&hl=en&ei=j12fSZXsLqCSsQPgrrjYCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result), to [3 _times_ their own body weight](http://books.google.com/books?id=Turj2PC-_c4C&pg=PA43&lpg=PA43&dq=how+much+do+birds+eat+relative+body+weight&source=bl&ots=zZtOzbPTNe&sig=cvkQhn6rR1wy_-SGS9qcDhvAXUM&hl=en&ei=bl2fSeqAK5KWsQOv-6naCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result) per day! > [@](#): > > . . . a 180-pound man would have to eat 100 pounds of meat each day to approximate the nutrient requirements of [sparrow-sized sandpipers]. . . ---
**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:** [February 21, 2009, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-factual-errors-that-drive-you-nuts/486504/132 "2009-02-21T02:09:56Z")
> [@Shayna](#): > > The idiom to “[eat like a bird](http://esl.about.com/library/glossary/bldef_401.htm)”, meaning, you hardly eat anything, is a factual error that drives me nuts. > > Birds eat a LOT. Anywhere [from 1/3 of](http://books.google.com/books?id=f1UlXrOFgLgC&pg=PA143&lpg=PA143&dq=how+much+do+birds+eat+relative+body+weight&source=bl&ots=T6a5dxl3SG&sig=k2MJfXutTVXKzmYujSrfzo_FCms&hl=en&ei=j12fSZXsLqCSsQPgrrjYCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result), to [3 _times_ their own body weight](http://books.google.com/books?id=Turj2PC-_c4C&pg=PA43&lpg=PA43&dq=how+much+do+birds+eat+relative+body+weight&source=bl&ots=zZtOzbPTNe&sig=cvkQhn6rR1wy_-SGS9qcDhvAXUM&hl=en&ei=bl2fSeqAK5KWsQOv-6naCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result) per day! But that’s still not very much. Sometimes it’s useful to examine things relative to us rather than the native environment. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-factual-errors-that-drive-you-nuts/486504/133 "2009-02-21T02:39:14Z")
> [@](#): > > So what is the lethal voltage for a person? In order to answer that, you’ll need to know the human body resistance and the lethal level of current. Again, your just working backwards from the lethal current to find a voltage. Which brings me back to my original point. You can easily survive high voltage across your body. You cannot survive high current. Current kills. And what’s the lethal current? In order to know that, you’ll need to know the human body’s resistance and the lethal level of voltage. Nope, doesn’t make any more sense that way. If you’ve got a large potential difference across a resistor, you’ll also have a large current through it, and vice-versa. You can’t say that a human would be killed by “high current at low voltage”, because there is no such thing. ---
**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:** [February 21, 2009, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-factual-errors-that-drive-you-nuts/486504/134 "2009-02-21T03:19:17Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Actually, I agree with you. Linguistically speaking, “black” and “African American” are interchangable. If that’s how those terms are used, then that’s what those terms mean. Linguistically speaking. > > However, historically, socially, and politically, it’s an incredibly idiotic mistake, and should be stamped out with great prejudice. Well said. Yes they may be interchangeable in the US, but that doesn’t stop it from being offensive to blacks who aren’t American anything. So as you say, it may be linguistically accepted but not socially acceptable outside the US. And if people use it that way when talking about non-American blacks, they’re still displaying a certain amount of ignorance and lack of political awareness. It also makes Americans look dumb and insular which reinforces the stereotypical image of Americans which is not a good thing. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-factual-errors-that-drive-you-nuts/486504/135 "2009-02-21T03:58:49Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Actually, I agree with you. Linguistically speaking, “black” and “African American” are interchangable. If that’s how those terms are used, then that’s what those terms mean. Linguistically speaking. Whenever this subject comes up, it seems to me that people badly exaggerate how often “African-American” is used to refer to people who are black but not American. Sure, this happens _sometimes_, but not _that_ often, and when it does it’s just a mistake. This does remind me of another factual error, although one that is not so blatantly an error anymore. Whenever discussion of the term “African-American” comes up, someone always seems to think it’s very clever to refer to actress Charlize Theron as an “African-American”. I can’t search at the moment, but here on the SDMB I’m sure one could find many examples of this…from well before Theron was naturalized as an American citizen. Even now it would be a non-standard use of the term to call her “African-American”, but until mid-2007 she was just South African and not any kind of American at all. ---
**Author:** ![Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-factual-errors-that-drive-you-nuts/486504/136 "2009-02-21T04:06:57Z")
That Super Bowl Sunday is the day of the most violence against women. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-factual-errors-that-drive-you-nuts/486504/137 "2009-02-21T04:28:39Z")
> [@crazyjoe](#): > > Countless? > > As a parent, I can assure you that I have performed numerous empirical studies on this, and my study results trump your countless others. So’ve I. The study is right. Sugar doesn’t make kids hyper. From the moment she was born my parents, my father in law, everyone would say if she ate anything sugary, “Well, she’s got some sugar in her, she’ll go nuts” but I’d already heard it might not be true, so for years I’ve made a point of being very careful to see if sugar was likelier to make the Small One hyper. For awhile I even wrote down my observations. She is no more or less likely to get hyper or gain noticeable amounts of energy after she eats something sugary than at any other time. People NOTICE when kids get hyper after eating something, but they don’t notice when it doesn’t happen. It’s observational bias. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-factual-errors-that-drive-you-nuts/486504/138 "2009-02-21T04:31:34Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Seeing [Lewis Hamilton](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Hamilton) referred to as an “African American” by American journalist always makes me cringe. I’ve heard Nelson Mandela referred to as an African American before. ---
**Author:** ![Vox\_Imperatoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Vox\_Imperatoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vox_Imperatoris)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-factual-errors-that-drive-you-nuts/486504/139 "2009-02-21T04:54:02Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I _knew_ somebody would say that :smack:. I don’t know what the “Alt +” thing for an e with an acute accent is. Hijack: A much easier way is to turn on your “US-International” keyboard and go from there. Go to Control Panel—Regional and Language Options—Change Keyboards, and add the US-International one. All you have to do then is press ’ and then the letter to put the accent on it, e.g. ’ and e gives é. The really cool part is that it also works with other characters; for example, " puts umlauts on vowels, like " and u gives ü; ^ does that î thing; ` does the reverse accent mark, like à; and ~ gives a tilde, like ã or ñ. You can also press Alt to type other special characters, like Alt and l for ø; a full chart is [here](http://www.starr.net/is/type/intlchart.html). And the only thing you have to do to switch between the regular and international keyboards once you add it is press Ctrl-Shift. It’s pretty cool. Valete, Vox Imperatoris ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-factual-errors-that-drive-you-nuts/486504/140 "2009-02-21T05:28:56Z")
It drives me nuts when people think that the price of something necessarily bears a relationship to the costs to produce it (as if the manufacturer just calculates its costs and then adds a percentage for profit). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-factual-errors-that-drive-you-nuts/486504.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-factual-errors-that-drive-you-nuts/486504.md?page=8)