# Things that people get Very Wrong **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 12, 2012, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-people-get-very-wrong/627958 "2012-07-12T02:18:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-people-get-very-wrong/627958/81 "2012-07-13T20:32:59Z")
I’ve mentioned my second cousin in a couple of other threads. She believes that all dogs are male and all cats are female. After they mate, the cat gives birth to a litter of puppies and kittens. She also believes that Alaska and Hawaii are right off the coast of California. Why? Because that’s the way it was on the big wall map in school. This is not a stupid kid, she’s a woman in her 50s. There aren’t enough :rolleyes:s for her. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-people-get-very-wrong/627958/82 "2012-07-13T20:41:33Z")
I always feel the need to tell people that there’s no point in leaving their fans running all day long while they aren’t home. I’m talking about just regular room or ceiling fans that just circulate the air. The feel nice when they blow on you, the help stir the cooler air up off the ground, but leaving them running for 8 or 10 hours while you’re at work isn’t going to do any good and will actually heat the house/apartment a bit since the air friction and motor generate heat. > [@panache45](#): > > [This](http://www.flickr.com/photos/42009607@N00/6600856123/in/photostream#/photos/42009607@N00/6600856123/in/photostream/lightbox/) is a t-shirt I bought in Vienna. Apparently, there are people who think Austria and Australia are the same thing, and Vienna is the capital of Australia. According to the concierge at my hotel, about once a month people arrive from the airport and ask how to get to the outback. If they want to know where they can see kangaroos, he directs them to the zoo. He said they never had this problem back when people used travel agents. That must really ruin their vacation. “We’re where?? Can we drive there from here?” ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-people-get-very-wrong/627958/83 "2012-07-13T20:45:32Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Apparently, there are people who think Austria and Australia are the same thing, and Vienna is the capital of Australia. According to the concierge at my hotel, about once a month people arrive from the airport and ask how to get to the outback. If they want to know where they can see kangaroos, he directs them to the zoo. He said they never had this problem back when people used travel agents. Do they ever direct them to [this building?](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lkbqegVqTB1qhdh6io1_1280.png) ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-people-get-very-wrong/627958/84 "2012-07-13T20:55:30Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I’ve mentioned my second cousin in a couple of other threads. > > She believes that all dogs are male and all cats are female. After they mate, the cat gives birth to a litter of puppies and kittens. She also believes that Alaska and Hawaii are right off the coast of California. Why? Because that’s the way it was on the big wall map in school. > > This is not a stupid kid, she’s a woman in her 50s. There aren’t enough :rolleyes:s for her. I know a woman, about the same age, who believes that race is solely passed on from the mother and the father’s race doesn’t matter one iota. I’m sure I mentioned her around here before. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-people-get-very-wrong/627958/85 "2012-07-13T22:58:20Z")
What, like Judaism or hemophilia or something? ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-people-get-very-wrong/627958/86 "2012-07-14T03:03:07Z")
Last winter I mentioned in passing to a 60+ year old cow-orker how nice it was that the days were getting longer and we had more light for the drive home. “Yes,” she replied. “It must be that global warming.” At an earlier job I mentioned an upcoming lunar eclipse. One secretary insisted it would be dangerous to look directly at it. She was unclear on the cause of the moon being eclipsed. “Isn’t that when the sun gets between the moon and the earth and casts a shadow?” I swear that is \*exactly \*what she said. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-people-get-very-wrong/627958/87 "2012-07-14T03:09:43Z")
> [@MLS](#): > > At an earlier job I mentioned an upcoming lunar eclipse. One secretary insisted it would be dangerous to look directly at it. She was unclear on the cause of the moon being eclipsed. “Isn’t that when the sun gets between the moon and the earth and casts a shadow?” I swear that is \*exactly \*what she said. I had an astronomy professor that told the story of someone getting a dual masters degree in geology and astronomy (and this wasn’t Springfield U either). They failed him on his final examination because he couldn’t explain an ecllipse (they made him take a few more courses so he lived). Now THAT guy shoulda known better. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-people-get-very-wrong/627958/88 "2012-07-14T03:54:30Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > What, like Judaism or hemophilia or something? No idea. Tried to get her to explain it once and got an exercise in circular reasoning. ---
**Author:** ![x1not0time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/76d3ee/32.png) [@x1not0time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x1not0time)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-people-get-very-wrong/627958/89 "2012-07-14T04:15:41Z")
That Africa is a country. That America is a democracy. That the reason white people are white is because they are part neanderthal. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-people-get-very-wrong/627958/90 "2012-07-14T04:37:37Z")
> [@Mosier](#): > > Motorcycle clubs (and gangs) call the clothing (usually a jacket) that displays their membership in the club “colors.” Displaying your colors is to announce you are a member of that group. It’s every bit as significant to them as a flag is to patriots or nationalists. > > Problems arise when two groups who don’t like each other show their colors in the same place. I can’t confirm this but I’ve heard it’s a bad idea to wear any biker clothing that has the name of a place on it. It might only have been your intent to say that you’re from California but what I heard is that wearing a place name on your “colors” means you’re claiming ownership of that territory in biker code - which will be viewed as a challenge to all other biker gangs from that area. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-people-get-very-wrong/627958/91 "2012-07-14T04:44:55Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I can’t confirm this but I’ve heard it’s a bad idea to wear any biker clothing that has the name of a place on it. > > It might only have been your intent to say that you’re from California but what I heard is that wearing a place name on your “colors” means you’re claiming ownership of that territory in biker code - which will be viewed as a challenge to all other biker gangs from that area. I would assume that’s only if it’s actual gang or MC type clothing. Even then I think it get’s into the specifics of the patch. Obviously there’s plenty of Harley Davidson Milwaukee/Sturgis/Miami etc clothing all over the place. People collect that like they (used to) collect Hard Rock t-shirts. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-people-get-very-wrong/627958/92 "2012-07-14T14:01:16Z")
> [@Batsinma\_Belfry](#): > > What have you seen exactly? > [This](http://www.air-n-water.com/product/9166d.html?utm_source=nextag&utm_medium=comparisonshopping&utm_term=Air%20King&utm_campaign=Window%20Fan&utm_content=9166) is not the type of fan I was referring to. > > I think the confusion started when I mentioned my mom’s “window fan”. You know why I called it that? Because it was in her window. > Silly me, ( and every single person I’ve ever known.) I knew that the above type existed, but when someone around here mentions a window fan, they are referring to a box fan. I’m talking about a box fan. I own 2. (Brand name Lasco. I just checked) I still have no idea what you are trying to say. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-people-get-very-wrong/627958/93 "2012-07-14T14:37:10Z")
> [@x1not0time](#): > > That Africa is a country. > > That America is a democracy. > > That the reason white people are white is because they are part neanderthal. I’m guessing these are meant to be examples of “things that are not true, but some people think they are”…but I’m not sure. If that is correct, then what did you mean by the second statement? That the US is not a _direct_ democracy, like 5th-C-BC Athens (not counting the slaves, or the women)? Or that “America” does not mean the “USA” – and that, indeed, some countries in the Americas are more democratic than others? (As of about ten years ago, though, I’m pretty sure that most people would agree that all American countries have finally reached a level we can reasonably term a “democracy”…military dicatorships are pretty much over, Mexico is settling into life after one-party rule, and indigenous peoples are rarely disenfranchised per se, though often discriminated against)…I guess Cuba would be the least arguable exception, so that would make your statement true, IF that’s what you meant to say. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-people-get-very-wrong/627958/94 "2012-07-14T15:43:35Z")
> [@corkboard](#): > > A ceiling fan circulates the air in the room by pushing air down in the center and along the floor toward the walls, which causes air closer to the walls to be pushed up, across the ceiling, and then down again. The air moving up past an open window will pull in some of the cooler air through a vacuum effect. Counter-productive if the outside air is warmer than the indoor air temp, obviously. It’s not as effective as having a fan in the window blowing exterior air in (which isn’t always desirable, as explained upthread), but it helps. Any cooling due to this effect (even under the rather special conditions where it might occur) is going to be negligible compared to the heat produced by the fan motor, and the frictional heating produced by the motion of the fan blades through the air, and the motion of the air against the walls, etc. You seem to be desperately rationalizing so as not to have to give up a long held belief, even though it is very clearly false. ---
**Author:** ![nogravity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9d8465/32.png) [@nogravity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nogravity)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-people-get-very-wrong/627958/95 "2012-07-14T17:08:28Z")
> [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > I have a faint memory of my Grade 2 teacher telling us that earwigs are so named because they try to get into your ears, and when they do they burrow into your brain and cause brain damage. That was an episode of [Night Gallery](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0660818/). ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-people-get-very-wrong/627958/96 "2012-07-14T17:40:31Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Or that “America” does not mean the “USA” In fact it does. In most of the English-speaking world, people understand the word “America” to mean “the country formally known as the United States of America.” That is how the term is used in England, in Australia, in South Africa. “America” can also, though uncommonly, mean “the New World, comprised of North and South America and their outlying islands,” but \*\*in English, words can mean more than one thing. \*\* And the truth is that this usage is far less common than the “United States” usage - indeed, I personally cannot recollect any English-speaking human being using "“America” in casual conversation to mean “the western hemisphere” or anything of the like. Usually when referring to the continents of North and South America, one would say “_the Americas_,” as distinct from “America.” ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-people-get-very-wrong/627958/97 "2012-07-15T03:46:21Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > I know a woman, about the same age, who believes that race is solely passed on from the mother and the father’s race doesn’t matter one iota. I’m sure I mentioned her around here before. What does she have to say about President Obama? [QUOTE=JKellyMap] …Or that “America” does not mean the “USA” --… [/QUOTE] My 3rd grade teacher would not stop telling us about how great it was that South Africa had just elected it’s first African-_American_ president.:rolleyes: When I pointed out that Mandela was just African, not an American she told me “not to say such things”. Back when **Star-Trek: Voyager** came out there were press articles descriving Tuvok as the first “African-American Vulcan”. ---
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-people-get-very-wrong/627958/98 "2012-07-15T06:15:50Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > I’m talking about a box fan. I own 2. (Brand name Lasco. I just checked) > > I still have no idea what you are trying to say. > [@](#): > > Originally Posted by Labrador Deceiver View Post > What are you saying here? That people don’t point their fans so that they blow out the window? Because I’ve seen it done hundreds of times. So, the hundreds of times you’ve seen it done, was in your own window?:dubious: I know that’s not what you meant. But wouldn’t it be annoying if I had taken that one little thing, and told you that you were not making sense? And then answer one of your questions in a way that makes it obvious, that I understand the question. And once again, remind you that I don’t understand? Is it so hard for you to believe, that you and I have seen different types of fan usage? Also, it’s probably been 10 years since I’ve been in a house with a box fan in the window. I think it’s great that they can be used to blow in, and out! But the old ones should have been made to accommodate that. I’m sorry if I have offended any bi-blowers with my comments. I will try bi-blowing for myself one day. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-people-get-very-wrong/627958/99 "2012-07-15T10:07:07Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > In fact it does. In most of the English-speaking world, people understand the word “America” to mean “the country formally known as the United States of America.” That is how the term is used in England, in Australia, in South Africa. > > “America” can also, though uncommonly, mean “the New World, comprised of North and South America and their outlying islands,” but \*\*in English, words can mean more than one thing. \*\* And the truth is that this usage is far less common than the “United States” usage - indeed, I personally cannot recollect any English-speaking human being using "“America” in casual conversation to mean “the western hemisphere” or anything of the like. > > Usually when referring to the continents of North and South America, one would say “_the Americas_,” as distinct from “America.” Oh, I agree with you. I was just trying to figure out what the poster was trying to convey, and I posited this as one of the options. It occurs to me that another possible meaning of “America is [not] a democracy” is some observation on the corrosive influence of money on elections, especially since the Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court. (Again, I’m not endorsing this idea myself, just trying to guess what the OP meant.) ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-people-get-very-wrong/627958/100 "2012-07-15T15:19:37Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > My 3rd grade teacher would not stop telling us about how great it was that South Africa had just elected it’s first African-_American_ president.:rolleyes … > Back when **Star-Trek: Voyager** came out there were press articles descriving Tuvok as the first “African-American Vulcan”. What would an Australian Aboriginal who emigrates to England be called, when visiting America? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-people-get-very-wrong/627958.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-people-get-very-wrong/627958.md?page=6)