# What are the Urban Legends in your profession? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 16, 2007, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-urban-legends-in-your-profession/396133 "2007-03-16T02:26:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Barrington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Barrington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barrington)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-urban-legends-in-your-profession/396133/81 "2007-03-20T16:59:17Z")
[QUOTE=BMalion] Another restaurant myth of sorts, apparently all my friends believe that every single time you make any comment or criticism about the establishment, the cook will spit in your food. I know it’s happened, but I’ve met people that seem to think it’s ubiquitous. [/QUOTE] In _Down and Out in Paris and London_, George Orwell describes his experiences working in the kitchens of various down-market restaurants. He wrote something to the effect of “all those tales you hear about cooks spitting (or worse) in your food if you’re offensive, are probably true”. Actually, after reading that book, the inclination to dine out diminishes, even if he is describing a different place and time. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-urban-legends-in-your-profession/396133/82 "2007-03-20T17:13:03Z")
[QUOTE=Barrington] In _Down and Out in Paris and London_, George Orwell describes his experiences working in the kitchens of various down-market restaurants. He wrote something to the effect of “all those tales you hear about cooks spitting (or worse) in your food if you’re offensive, are probably true”. Actually, after reading that book, the inclination to dine out diminishes, even if he is describing a different place and time. [/QUOTE] Well, it’s true that I’m only speaking anecdotally, based on 15 years as a everything from a dish washer to a chef. So I can only say that I’ve never done it nor have i seen it done nor met anyone who said they saw it or did it themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-urban-legends-in-your-profession/396133/83 "2007-03-21T03:19:25Z")
I’m a martial arts instructor - Taekwondo, specifically. One of the enduring legends is the Dim Mak - the delayed death touch. Touch someone and use your awesome mental powers, and hours later he dies in agony while you have a perfect alibi. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-urban-legends-in-your-profession/396133/84 "2007-03-21T03:49:12Z")
Medieval / Renaissance English specialist speaking: ‘Ring Around The Rosie’ does [not](http://www.snopes.com/language/literary/rosie.htm) refer to the Black Plague in any way, shape, or form. Really. I promise. ---
**Author:** ![Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spatial_Rift_47)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-urban-legends-in-your-profession/396133/85 "2007-03-21T05:08:08Z")
Physics grad student checking in. Yeah, sorry about that whole cold fusion thing. Our bad. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-urban-legends-in-your-profession/396133/86 "2007-03-21T07:01:41Z")
[QUOTE=BMalion] Well, it’s true that I’m only speaking anecdotally, based on 15 years as a everything from a dish washer to a chef. So I can only say that I’ve never done it nor have i seen it done nor met anyone who said they saw it or did it themselves. [/QUOTE] I’ve never done it either, but I always figured it can’t hurt to let people wonder … 😃 ---
**Author:** ![stucco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e56c9b/32.png) [@stucco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stucco)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-urban-legends-in-your-profession/396133/87 "2007-03-21T10:39:31Z")
I’m a biology student. We always hear about the guy who got his big expensive tree corer stuck in a tree. So he cut it down to get the corer out, and then discovered that he’d cut down the oldest tree in the world :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-urban-legends-in-your-profession/396133/88 "2007-03-21T11:57:56Z")
[QUOTE=Clothahump] I’m a martial arts instructor - Taekwondo, specifically. One of the enduring legends is the Dim Mak - the delayed death touch. Touch someone and use your awesome mental powers, and hours later he dies in agony while you have a perfect alibi. [/QUOTE] Not to mention the: “He has to register his hands as deadly weapons” UL ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-urban-legends-in-your-profession/396133/89 "2007-03-21T12:12:11Z")
Biologist here- Small research lab wants to study a particular (nonpathogenic) virus and calls high-powered research lab using that virus to get a sample. The high-power lab refuses to share a sample of the virus. The small lab requests a letter from them (this is a pre-email UL) explaining why they can’t use the virus. When the letter arrives from the hig- powered research lab, small lab cuts the letter up and mixes it with the host cell type for the virus they wanted (viruses will only grow inside a host cell and are generally picky about which cell type). Because viruses are so small, they tend to get everywhere and have covered the letter. They mix it with the right host cell and allow to grow. Poof! Small lab has their sample! This UL was even applied to the lab involved in isolating HIV. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-urban-legends-in-your-profession/396133/90 "2007-03-21T14:52:12Z")
**IvoryTowerDenizen** , I don’t doubt that the story you’ve related has gone around. But the combination of stupid and clever that the listener has to accept _at the same time_ boggles my mind. (Starts babbling incoherently - wonders if anyone will notice) ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-urban-legends-in-your-profession/396133/91 "2007-03-21T15:04:32Z")
[QUOTE=Kythereia] Medieval / Renaissance English specialist speaking: ‘Ring Around The Rosie’ does [not](http://www.snopes.com/language/literary/rosie.htm) refer to the Black Plague in any way, shape, or form. Really. I promise. [/QUOTE] But “Sing a Song of Sixpence” is \*totally \*about pirates. [Eddie Izzard] No, it isn’t. [Yes, it is.](http://67.19.222.106/humor/graphics/myths1.jpg) [No, it isn’t.](http://www.snopes.com/humor/mediagoofs/sixpence2.asp) [Yes, it is.](http://www.snopes.com/lost/sixpence.htm) [No, it isn’t.](http://www.snopes.com/lost/false.htm) [/Eddie Izzard] ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-urban-legends-in-your-profession/396133/92 "2007-03-21T15:45:48Z")
[QUOTE=OtakuLoki] **IvoryTowerDenizen** , I don’t doubt that the story you’ve related has gone around. But the combination of stupid and clever that the listener has to accept _at the same time_ boggles my mind. (Starts babbling incoherently - wonders if anyone will notice) [/QUOTE] It’s agreat story to share with first year grad students over a bottle or two of beer and see how long they believe it… 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Scruloose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@Scruloose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruloose)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-urban-legends-in-your-profession/396133/93 "2007-03-21T19:26:40Z")
[QUOTE=Clothahump] I’m a martial arts instructor - Taekwondo, specifically. One of the enduring legends is the Dim Mak - the delayed death touch. Touch someone and use your awesome mental powers, and hours later he dies in agony while you have a perfect alibi. [/QUOTE] That’s such bullshit. In fact, some guy at work tried that very move on me earlier today and I dojkj,js,jjkkkk… ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-urban-legends-in-your-profession/396133/94 "2007-03-21T20:50:29Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] But “Sing a Song of Sixpence” is \*totally \*about pirates. [Eddie Izzard] No, it isn’t. [Yes, it is.](http://67.19.222.106/humor/graphics/myths1.jpg) [No, it isn’t.](http://www.snopes.com/humor/mediagoofs/sixpence2.asp) [Yes, it is.](http://www.snopes.com/lost/sixpence.htm) [No, it isn’t.](http://www.snopes.com/lost/false.htm) [/Eddie Izzard] [/QUOTE] _snrk!_ I never understood how exactly that worked. Did random pirates just wander around the docks and taverns singing nursery rhymes and giving each other very significant looks or what? ---
**Author:** ![Can\_Handle\_the\_Truth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Can\_Handle\_the\_Truth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Can_Handle_the_Truth)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2007, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-urban-legends-in-your-profession/396133/95 "2007-03-22T01:22:43Z")
[QUOTE=stucco] I’m a biology student. We always hear about the guy who got his big expensive tree corer stuck in a tree. So he cut it down to get the corer out, and then discovered that he’d cut down the oldest tree in the world :smack: [/QUOTE] [That could be true](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prometheus_%28tree%29) ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2007, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-urban-legends-in-your-profession/396133/96 "2007-03-22T01:59:57Z")
[QUOTE=Mama Tiger] My husband’s ex-BIL got some sort of nonjudicial punishment when, as a young airman assigned to Guam, he got such a bad sunburn he had to be hospitalized. So that one’s not entirely an UL. [/QUOTE] Same with a former roommate of mine in C Company, fall of 1974, at the Defense Language Institute at the Presidio of Monterey, in California. Except she wasn’t hospitalized, just couldn’t wear certain parts of the uniform, and thus was punished. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2007, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-urban-legends-in-your-profession/396133/97 "2007-05-02T18:08:10Z")
[QUOTE=Dante] Insurance. The two that spring immediately to mind are the [list of insurance claims](http://www.snopes.com/humor/lists/insurance.asp) and the [cigars](http://www.snopes.com/crime/clever/cigarson.asp). [/QUOTE] The Cigars one is a country song by Brad Paisley, if I’m not mistaken. Not sayin’ he made it up or anything. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2007, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-urban-legends-in-your-profession/396133/98 "2007-05-02T19:59:27Z")
[QUOTE=Priceguy] I work in tech support. We don’t have urban legends. Nothing anyone could make up could ever match reality. [/QUOTE] There are new rumors about [stuff you can get for forwarding an email](http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/nothing/nothing.asp) and [viruses](http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/virus.asp) all the time. From my previous field of astronomy: The Coriolis force has something to do with which way water spins as it goes down toilets and drains. They drain in opposite directions in the northern and southern hemispheres. You can only stand an egg on end during the vernal equinox (never the autumnal equinox, for some reason) We know of some upcoming calamity (the sun is going to explode, a comet is going to hit the earth, or a [planet-dissolving dust cloud is coming to wipe out the solar system](http://www.snopes.com/science/dustcloud.asp), or some such) and there is a conspiracy among all the astronomers in the world to cover this up. Mars is going to look as big as the full moon sometime soon. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2007, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-urban-legends-in-your-profession/396133/99 "2007-05-03T00:09:33Z")
[QUOTE=Anne Neville] You can only stand an egg on end during the vernal equinox (never the autumnal equinox, for some reason) [/QUOTE] I’ve heard both equinoxes. I even remember being given some eggs to stand up on the equinox in elementary school. We were able to do it, thus “proving” that it was true. Of course, we didn’t bother to try the next day. Apparently my third-grade teacher wasn’t real big on the scientific method. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-urban-legends-in-your-profession/396133.md?page=4)