Communists. They seem a lot less scary than they used to. Russians, however …
I have no doubt that the use of hallucenogenic (did I spell that right? Trying a new keyboard and it doesn’t seem to know that word) drugs can cause problems… I’ve just never seen or heard of anyone becoming genuinely and permanently schizoprenic from the use of LSD, which was something I was specifically taught in 7th grade health class… as for alla youse librul commies, well, yer a sight less scary, it turns out, than I was taught and right now a damn sight less scary than the other guys
The opposite sex? No, they still terrify me at times.
Death? No, that’s becoming more scary, not less, as I get older.
I got nothin.
And re: quicksand, reminds me of a bit from some comedian— “quicksand has turned out to be much less of a problem than I was led to believe as a child”. John Mulaney, I’m thinking.
So you’re one of those meddling kids!
But which ones? The ones with the talking dog? The talking shark? The talking car? The talking rocket ship? The talking ghost? The talking caveman? The talking werewolf? The talking schmoo? The talking Mr. T?
I’m just old enough we were once taught to “duck and cover”, although not specifically with those bizarre government films for the loop projector.
John Mulaney’s proposed movie Love At First Sight is comedy brilliance. But how many mysteries did he solve?
Heavy metal music. Parents and congresspersons were absolutely terrified of it in the 1980s.
I used to have gephyrophobia (fear of bridges) but after passing over the Bay Bridge a couple dozen times it hardly bothers me at all.
I found the proper therapy for that. I will only go to a woman dentist because I expect pain from women.
Automatic transmissions. My dad used to fill my head with nonsense about how dangerous they were. They’ll just jump right into gear and your car will run you down.
Rattlesnakes. Now, yeah, like quicksand, buzzworms are a real and serious threat. But they aren’t the hideous demonic monsters that will chase you down faster than a horse can run, etc. that (again) my papa told me.
(He believed a lot of the things debunked in the original hardback “The Straight Dope” books.)
How Deadly Is Quicksand? | Britannica.
It used to be a standard trope in action movies, although you don’t see it much these days: a patch of apparently solid ground in the jungle that, when stepped on, turns out to have the consistency of cold oatmeal. The unlucky victim starts sinking down into the muck; struggling only makes it worse. Unless there’s a vine to grab a hold of, he or she disappears without a trace (except maybe a hat floating sadly on the surface). It was a bad way to go. Quicksand was probably the number-one hazard faced by silver-screen adventurers, followed by decaying rope bridges and giant clams that could hold a diver underwater.
Nope. Quicksand—that is, sand that behaves as a liquid because it is saturated with water—can be a mucky nuisance, but it’s basically impossible to die in the way that is depicted in movies. That’s because quicksand is denser than the human body. People and animals can get stuck in it, but they don’t get sucked down to the bottom—they float on the surface. Our legs are pretty dense, so they may sink, but the torso contains the lungs, and thus is buoyant enough to stay out of trouble.
## Quicksand may not be the horrific danger we see portrayed in popular movies and television.
Whether in movies or on TV, any consumer of popular media will be familiar with tales of quicksand swallowing people and animals whole, but as is often found in movies and entertainment, the science and reality behind the fantasy don’t always add up.
In fact, studies have found it is impossible to be completely submerged in quicksand because humans are less dense than quicksand and a person would only sink to their chest before they begin to float.
But what can make quicksand deadly is its ability to trap and hold unsuspecting victims.
So, while still a clear hazzard, it is nowhere near as deadly as shown in film and TV.
Playing music backwards.
On an unrelated topic: Cranberry sauce.
I know all that stuff. The OP started with ‘quicksand’, an actual danger, and then was followed by 4 fictitious dangers. It was a bit different from the rest.
He won’t respect you in the morning.
Not sure what that’s about but it reminds me that you can easily drown in a cranberry bog because cranberry/water mixture is much less dense than water and humans will sink like a rock.
Ring around the collar turned out to be way less of a concern than I was led to believe as a kid.
This and the false danger of slipping on banana peels were mentioned back to back in the Sesame Street original Danger’s No Stranger but How Now Brown & the Moo Wave (skip to 1:40 in case the link doesn’t work).
Based on the tenuous assumption that he does now.
Abortion. Fifteen years later, no signs of breast cancer, infertility, regret, or smiting.
The threat of being engulfed by flames. Not once have I had to stop, drop, and roll.