# Stupidity you have heard **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 4, 2014, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761 "2014-08-04T05:07:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/121 "2014-08-06T16:45:28Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Why is that a stupid question? > > ETA: 😕 We thought so at the time. Could you imagine all us minimum-wage paid pet store employees wielding itty-bitty syringes to inject inch-long fish with dye. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/122 "2014-08-06T16:47:49Z")
> [@Fool\_in\_the\_Rain](#): > > Me: “I’m from Rhode Island” > > Geographically Challenged: “That’s in New York, right?” > > Me: “Grrrrrr” Of course not. It’s off the coast of New York (being, well, an island!) 😃 I was once in line at the grocery store behind a fellow who very earnestly insisted that chocolate came from the same plant as cocaine. Yeah, cacao = coca. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/123 "2014-08-06T16:54:58Z")
> [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > …Most notable was when I explained to a couple that our “Painted Glass” fish were actually injected with dye to get that neon colour and that it would eventually fade. The girlfriend said “Sooo…when it fades do we have to bring them back to get them re-injected?” > [@Leaffan](#): > > Why is that a stupid question? > > ETA: 😕 > [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > We thought so at the time. Could you imagine all us minimum-wage paid pet store employees wielding itty-bitty syringes to inject inch-long fish with dye. 😉 But… they were injected to begin with. You mean just not at the store, I’m guessing. ---
**Author:** ![yanceylebeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yanceylebeef/32/12290_2.png) [@yanceylebeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yanceylebeef)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/124 "2014-08-06T16:58:21Z")
Overheard a couple of months ago, while waiting for the pedestrian light to change: Guy on cell phone " Well, of course I weigh more now. I have an erection." I don’t even. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/125 "2014-08-06T17:15:58Z")
[QUOTE=saje] Stupid #3? She was _furious_ because she thought that now her dog was “ruined” and could never produce purebred puppies… [/QUOTE] That belief is about as old as the business of breeding dogs. The one that left me speecheless for a moment was when someone was complaining about the wind. They saw a gaggle of [windmills](http://mavensphotoblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/dwr-windmills-14.jpg) and asked why someone couldn’t turn them off. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/126 "2014-08-06T17:16:07Z")
> [@saje](#): > > Coworker long ago had a purebred dog that she had planned to breed and sell the puppies for $$$ (that’s stupid #1.) Her dog was accidentally bred by the neighbor’s mixed breed dog. (stupid #2) > > Stupid #3? She was _furious_ because she thought that now her dog was “ruined” and could never produce purebred puppies… I think the AKC actually did have a rule once that only a dog that had continually bred true to breed could have registered pedigreed puppies, so if a dog accidentally mated with a mutt, or a dog of another breed, and produced a mixed litter, she was excluded from breeding. But the AKC now uses DNA testing to verify pedigrees if the provenance is in any way questionable, or if the female dog has a “checkered” past, so the rule no longer exists. If the co-worker wants to breed just to sell pets, and not show dogs, or Labs for Seeing-Eye, or something, it probably doesn’t matter, though. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/127 "2014-08-06T17:30:05Z")
I missed the editing window, but just to add, I think people were aware that dogs did not produce the off-spring of earlier matings several litters later; the idea was that people lie. A female dog who had produced a mixed litter might not be a purebred herself, just look like one, and the owners would make the excuse that “Oh, she tangled with the neighbor’s mutt,” and cross their fingers that next time the mating with a purebred father led to a litter that could “pass.” ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/128 "2014-08-06T17:42:01Z")
> [@Lonnie](#): > > Then there was the woman who seriously thought the sign ‘deer crossing’ should be moved so the deer would cross at a different place. She had twice hit one there at that spot on the highway. > > Urban legend or no? I recall the[audio of this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CI8UPHMzZm8)on the Bob & Tom show - it appeared legit, but could have been a hoax. ---
**Author:** ![orangeapples](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7993a0/32.png) [@orangeapples](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orangeapples)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/129 "2014-08-06T17:43:06Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > That belief is about as old as the business of breeding dogs. > > The one that left me speecheless for a moment was when someone was complaining about the wind. They saw a gaggle of [windmills](http://mavensphotoblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/dwr-windmills-14.jpg) and asked why someone couldn’t turn them off. :eek: I’ve seen a lot of “I just can’t believe someone else believes that” in this thread, and at least a couple of “I’ll never admit I thought that too”, but that windmill thing brought tears to my eyes. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Lo-Slung\_Denim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f6c823/32.png) [@Lo-Slung\_Denim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lo-Slung_Denim)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/130 "2014-08-06T17:52:26Z")
Hairdresser - What kind of work do you do? Me - I work in mental health, in a psychiatric rehab unit. Hairdresser - Oh, what age are the people you work with? Me - We are registered to work with people aged 18 to 65. Hairdresser - Wow, I didn’t realise you could catch mental illness as young as 18. NOPE ---
**Author:** ![Scribble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scribble/32/3317_2.png) [@Scribble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scribble)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/131 "2014-08-06T18:12:22Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Well, more than a few gays are saying the same thing. Not all of them are excited about getting to settle down monogamously. To a LOT of gays, that sounds more like a trap than like progress. Plenty of straight people aren’t sure that marriage is such a great idea for themselves, either, for similar reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/132 "2014-08-06T18:36:53Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > But… they were injected to begin with. You mean just not at the store, I’m guessing. Yep. ---
**Author:** ![Lonnie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bc79bd/32.png) [@Lonnie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lonnie)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/133 "2014-08-06T18:38:08Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > I have mentioned on this board, that I have a disorder in one leg, caused by a vein that isn’t doing its job. A former neighbor said I should try chelation therapy. I found out that is used to remove heavy metals. This man is older than I, and should know better. The old man may not have been that stupid. Chelation IS done to remove toxic metals but a lot of people get chelation for their heart conditions and have seen improvement in their vascular system. There is some literature out there although mainstream medicine has been slow to recognize it. I talked to a diabetic man in the waiting room one day who said he had been scheduled to have his leg amputated two weeks previously. Someone suggested he try chelation first. He had had several chelation treatments and was excited to tell me that he had walked around the block that morning. I know that is only anecdotal but I have met many people who swear by it for their heart and vascular problems while I am there getting chelation for toxic metal poisoning. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/134 "2014-08-06T19:48:52Z")
This is not so much stupid as clueless. Well, maybe both, but it isn’t about a matter of fact. A local television station had one of their reporters at the airport to greet soldiers coming back from Desert Storm service. One soldier and his wife/SO are in a heavy clinch and the perky young reporter sticks the microphone in their face and asks, _“So, do you have any special plans for this evening?”_ ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/135 "2014-08-06T20:00:03Z")
> [@Lonnie](#): > > The old man may not have been that stupid. Chelation IS done to remove toxic metals but a lot of people get chelation for their heart conditions and have seen improvement in their vascular system. There is some literature out there although mainstream medicine has been slow to recognize it. Chelation is a legitimate treatment for people who have been exposed to heavy metals, but there are some woo people (and frighteningly, some chiropractors), who promote chelation as a cure-all. A lot of these people have no idea what chelation is, because they will recommend it for exposure to aluminum (which they self-diagnose on the basis of deodorants having aluminum salts, or cooking with aluminum pots), or for conditions which have absolutely nothing to do with any kind of metal poisoning, like bacterial infections. I don’t know why that guy was supposed to have his leg amputated, but while some diabetics lose legs to gangrene because they have problems with wound healing, they also lose them to vascular problems and nerve problems. It’s possible he is still going to lose the leg. It may be he had some vascular problem that was causing him pain, and the pain went away because he finally had so much nerve death he wasn’t registering the pain anymore. Who knows? People go to faith healers, toss away crutches, and run around the stage, then two weeks later collapse in worse shape than ever. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/136 "2014-08-06T20:06:20Z")
> [@Lonnie](#): > > The old man may not have been that stupid. Chelation IS done to remove toxic metals but a lot of people get chelation for their heart conditions and have seen improvement in their vascular system. There is some literature out there although mainstream medicine has been slow to recognize it. > > I talked to a diabetic man in the waiting room one day who said he had been scheduled to have his leg amputated two weeks previously. Someone suggested he try chelation first. He had had several chelation treatments and was excited to tell me that he had walked around the block that morning. I know that is only anecdotal but I have met many people who swear by it for their heart and vascular problems while I am there getting chelation for toxic metal poisoning. Be that as it may, I’ll ask my own doctor about it; he may reject it altogether. If he does, so will I. ---
**Author:** ![lorene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@lorene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorene)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/137 "2014-08-06T21:17:52Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > I forgot to add: when the subject of Muslims came up, another coworker informed us that they were planning to build a Koran at Ground Zero. I had a woman tell me that Obama was certainly NOT American; he was “from Islam.” > [@Ambivalid](#): > > “Oh I don’t lift weights, cause I dont want to get all big and bulky.” > > I’ve heard this ridiculous misinformation repeated from woman after woman after woman in just about every\* gym ive ever been in. > > \*All of them except the couple of hardcore lifting gyms I’ve worked out in. Obviously, a woman in that type of gym wouldn’t be adverse to the weights. So, I understand what your point is and no, women aren’t going to go full Rippetoe overnight like some of them seem to fear (one wonders why they think they wouldn’t be able to stop lifting if they started to dislike how they look)—and it’s worth mentioning that I do lift heavy and encourage other women to do the same—there is a caveat here. If someone has a layer of fat and builds significant muscle without ever cutting some fat, they may look bulky for a while. That doesn’t mean the answer is to not lift; quite the opposite in fact. But I did go through a phase where I felt like a fire hydrant (short and squat) when I started lifting. I wasn’t really the poster child for “Of course you won’t look too bulky!” > [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Me: I once walked down the street with Christopher Reeve. > Listener: Was that before or after his accident? > [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > That’s actually kind of a legit question, you could be walking beside him while he rolled in his wheelchair. I was going to say the same thing. When I worked with clients in wheelchairs, they or I would often suggest “let’s go for a walk.” ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/138 "2014-08-06T21:32:12Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Would a team of professional athletes in 2003 have been aware of Uday and Qusay? A team with probably 25% - 33% Latinos. I knew who they were seveveral years previous to 2003. Why does the fact that they are pro ball players–let alone Latinos–mean they wouldn’t? ---
**Author:** ![jerez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c68b51/32.png) [@jerez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jerez)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/139 "2014-08-06T21:34:35Z")
“Haven’t you seen that? With the little lamp? That’s why they call it **lamp** arascopic surgery.” ---
**Author:** ![Lonnie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bc79bd/32.png) [@Lonnie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lonnie)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761/140 "2014-08-06T21:39:11Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > Be that as it may, I’ll ask my own doctor about it; he may reject it altogether. If he does, so will I. By all means. I was not recommending any therapy and you should always get your doctor’s advice. I was just saying the man may not have been stupid but perhaps should have explained further. Some mainstream docs in the US may even be for chelation for CAD now. Here is a website about a study and its findings, both pro and con. It cautions you to always get the correct health care provider if you decide to look into it. My doc was an MD as well as an alternative care provider. [http://nccam.nih.gov/health/chelation](http://nccam.nih.gov/health/chelation) I have had 75 chelation treatments since 2006 to get rid of severe toxic metal poisoning and although I am a highly sensitive and allergic person, the results have only been good in terms of the reduction of many symptoms and I had only minor discomfort at the IV site. My numbers for the toxic metals are almost back to normal now. Unfortunately my immune system has been irreversibly damaged because I had the mercury/lead/nickel/aluminum poisoning for many years and docs ignored it when I told them my problems all started with a mercury spill more years ago than I care to admit. (Reference for mercury is 4 on challenge tests. We should all actually be zero but most people are around 4. My reading was 93 for mercury with all other metals high too. Once you get one metal, it attracts others.) I do not have vascular/heart problems and talking to the others there who feel it has helped them with that is only anecdotal. More studies are needed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidity-you-have-heard/694761.md?page=8)