# What Urban Myths seem to hold on for years or decades even when disproven **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 12, 2026, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-urban-myths-seem-to-hold-on-for-years-or-decades-even-when-disproven/1030852 "2026-06-12T19:02:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2026, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-urban-myths-seem-to-hold-on-for-years-or-decades-even-when-disproven/1030852/21 "2026-06-12T22:21:20Z")
The best retort I heard to this was, “If someone did use 100% of their brains, you need to call an ambulance, because they’re having a grand mal seizure.” ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2026, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-urban-myths-seem-to-hold-on-for-years-or-decades-even-when-disproven/1030852/22 "2026-06-12T22:24:51Z")
Feed a cold and starve a fever (or was it the reverse). In any case, total nonsense. Eating well helps your system to recover. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2026, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-urban-myths-seem-to-hold-on-for-years-or-decades-even-when-disproven/1030852/23 "2026-06-12T22:31:04Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > The most believable myths seem to all center around personal safety, since that’s what holds the highest stakes for people, and hence the hardest to shake. The reverse of this is the belief that the McDonald’s hot coffee lawsuit was frivolous. People ignored the fact that hot liquid can horrifically maim someone for life so they could accuse the victim of a money grab. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2026, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-urban-myths-seem-to-hold-on-for-years-or-decades-even-when-disproven/1030852/24 "2026-06-12T22:43:17Z")
I started this thread a while back, just saying. > [@What's your favorite celebrity rumor (that does not involve Richard Gere or Rod Stewart)?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-celebrity-rumor-that-does-not-involve-richard-gere-or-rod-stewart/1020100): > > I have a few, but I’ll start with this one: Back in the 1980s, there was a persistent rumor that Motley Crue performed the ritual sacrifice of a live baby at one of their shows. And they got away with it in front of, what, 30,000 fans? ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2026, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-urban-myths-seem-to-hold-on-for-years-or-decades-even-when-disproven/1030852/25 "2026-06-12T22:46:14Z")
The things listed in this thread would be more accurately described as, maybe, persistent misconceptions. Urban myths are about events that (almost) never actually happened, but people repeat them as fact. Vanishing hitchhikers, choking Dobermans. LL’s post about the space pen may be the first actual urban myth in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2026, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-urban-myths-seem-to-hold-on-for-years-or-decades-even-when-disproven/1030852/26 "2026-06-12T23:19:46Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > I’m mindful of the [Kitty Genovese murder](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Kitty_Genovese) and the subsequent social reaction known as the [bystander effect](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bystander_effect). > > As the decades progressed, this situation got turned upside down. 38 people did not in fact witness the murder. And, more importantly, several people did call the NYPD. ( Yeah, that does keep coming up. > [@ricepad](#): > > MSG/Chinese Restaurant Syndrome causes headaches. Well, if you think it will, it can. And maybe there is something else a guest is allergic to. But MSG does not cause headaches. > [@Llama\_Llogophile](#): > > Can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to tell people this isn’t true. And the cost of special hammers- which were Titanium- which at that time were very expensive, and even today aint cheap a couple hundred if not more. Another one is that the Chevy Nova didnt sell South of the Border, I still hear that. Not quite a UL is the myth that kids “will go all Lord of the Flies”- based upon a fiction book. But children do not do that IRL. ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2026, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-urban-myths-seem-to-hold-on-for-years-or-decades-even-when-disproven/1030852/27 "2026-06-12T23:30:45Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Well, if you think it will, it can. If you get a headache because you think you will, it wasn’t the MSG. It’s the power of positive thinking! ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2026, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-urban-myths-seem-to-hold-on-for-years-or-decades-even-when-disproven/1030852/28 "2026-06-12T23:39:14Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > Is it? I had heard the opposite. It saved the lives of huge numbers of people, on an epidemiological level. Even if you always wore a seat belt before the law changed, you had a better chance of actually surviving a crash. The behavior of A&E departments changed to be better suited to treat the injuries inflicted on seat belt wearers (that they never got to treat before as they would be dead or have much worse injuries that needed treating first, because most people didn’t wear a seat belt) ---
**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:** [June 13, 2026, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-urban-myths-seem-to-hold-on-for-years-or-decades-even-when-disproven/1030852/29 "2026-06-13T00:08:28Z")
One that lasted for over a decade before finally going away was that “This August, Mars will look as big as the moon in the sky!”. It originated in a year when Mars was in fact unusually close to the Earth, and one of the news stories said that it would look as big as the moon when viewed through a 50x telescope (a detail that I’m not sure why anyone would bother printing, since of course you can make it look as big as you want, with enough magnification). The part that I never understood was just how those emails remained dormant for a year before resurfacing every time. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2026, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-urban-myths-seem-to-hold-on-for-years-or-decades-even-when-disproven/1030852/30 "2026-06-13T00:14:31Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > I’m mindful of the [Kitty Genovese murder](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Kitty_Genovese) and the subsequent social reaction known as the [bystander effect](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bystander_effect). I heard this just last week! ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2026, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-urban-myths-seem-to-hold-on-for-years-or-decades-even-when-disproven/1030852/31 "2026-06-13T00:48:48Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > I had heard the opposite. It saved the lives of huge numbers of people, on an epidemiological level. Yes, **seat belts save lives.** I could call up a dozen studies, but this is not the place for that argument. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2026, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-urban-myths-seem-to-hold-on-for-years-or-decades-even-when-disproven/1030852/32 "2026-06-13T00:52:19Z")
That someone found a rat or spider in their elaborate hairdo. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2026, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-urban-myths-seem-to-hold-on-for-years-or-decades-even-when-disproven/1030852/33 "2026-06-13T00:53:32Z")
> [@SuntanLotion](#): > > That someone found a rat or spider in their elaborate hairdo. A true UL, but since those hairdos are passe, I havent heard that much anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2026, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-urban-myths-seem-to-hold-on-for-years-or-decades-even-when-disproven/1030852/34 "2026-06-13T01:05:12Z")
This may be more of a misconception than what the OP intends, but to this day there are people convinced that if you earn more money, you go into a higher tax bracket and you actually lose money. Like you somehow have to game the system so that your annual income is $99,900 rather than $100,000, for tax purposes. The tax brackets are marginal, and therefore, you will always make more money by making more money. There is never a situation where it is in your interest to earn less money. You might forfeit some education FAFSA benefits by earning too much, but that is a separate topic. ---
**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:** [June 13, 2026, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-urban-myths-seem-to-hold-on-for-years-or-decades-even-when-disproven/1030852/35 "2026-06-13T01:10:00Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > The tax brackets are marginal, and therefore, you will always make more money by making more money. There is never a situation where it is in your interest to earn less money. Always true for tax brackets, but not true of government assistance programs. A lot of those apply 100% if you’re below the threshold, and 0% if you’re above the threshold. Worse, a lot of different programs use the same threshold. So if you’re just a little below that point, it really is to your benefit to stay just below it. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2026, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-urban-myths-seem-to-hold-on-for-years-or-decades-even-when-disproven/1030852/36 "2026-06-13T01:15:51Z")
If you pick up a baby bird and put it back in the nest, the mother bird will smell you and reject the baby. No, birds don’t really smell that well. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2026, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-urban-myths-seem-to-hold-on-for-years-or-decades-even-when-disproven/1030852/37 "2026-06-13T02:06:29Z")
There’s the myth that eating carrots improves your eyesight, which was based on WWII propaganda to cover up the use of airborne RADAR systems. Even though the propaganda campaign was later made public, people still think that eating carrots is good for your vision. There is also the myth that Area 51 contains UFOs, which the U.S. government actually encouraged and helped spread so obfuscate what the military base was actually used for. The government’s plan kinda backfired in that it made Area 51 too popular, but even after government officials acknowledged the misinformation campaign the myths still live on. The idea that sitting too close to a TV is bad for you has its roots in a real problem. There were some GE televisions produced in the 1960s that had a misaligned shield over their vacuum tubes that resulted in excessive X-rays being emitted from the TV, mostly at a downward angle out of the front of the TV. If you were sitting across the room you’d be fine, but back in the day, kids would often sit in front of the TV and watch cartoons, which caused them to be exposed to the high levels of X-rays. The TVs were recalled and the problem was widely publicized to make sure that folks actually took their TVs in and had them fixed. For years afterwards, everyone just “knew” that sitting too close to any TV (not just the GE models that were affected) was bad for your health. CRTs did give off X-rays, but at a low enough level that you really didn’t need to worry about it. Modern flat screen TVs and computer monitors don’t give off X-rays, but many people still think that sitting too close to a TV or computer monitor is bad for you. Fortunately the popularity of this myth seems to be declining, but you still run across it once in a while. There is also the myth that power lines and cell phones cause cancer. This one has its origin in the fact that people who live near power lines don’t live as long as people who don’t (which is actually true). This was first noticed by insurance folks, since little factoids like this make a big difference for insurance payout rates. For a long time, no one but insurance folks really cared about it. But then in the 1970s, a study was published that linked power lines to childhood leukemia. The study was later discredited, but it set up the idea in the public mind that power lines were bad. In the 1980s, things really went nuts. There hadn’t been a whole lot of study into the issue, but people were walking around with field strength meters confidently proclaiming what areas were “safe” and what areas were “dangerous” (despite there being no evidence whatsoever of what the “dangerous” levels actually were). One of my college professors was actually one of the early researchers trying to get to the bottom of all of this. Cell phones at the time were the size of a brick and cost a small fortune, but as cell phones shrunk in size and price, people made the obvious connection that if the electrical field lines from power lines could be bad, then the electromagnetic radiation from cell phones could also be bad. Fast forward a few decades, and tons of money has been poured into research on the topic, and no connection has ever been found between either power lines or cell phones and any sort of cancer. But the myth still remains. Curiously, the fact that people who live near power lines don’t live as long is still true. As my college professor noted way back in the 1980s, it could just be that people who choose healthier lifestyles also choose not to live next to power lines. ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2026, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-urban-myths-seem-to-hold-on-for-years-or-decades-even-when-disproven/1030852/38 "2026-06-13T02:07:17Z")
In fact, some birds downright _stink_! ---
**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:** [June 13, 2026, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-urban-myths-seem-to-hold-on-for-years-or-decades-even-when-disproven/1030852/39 "2026-06-13T02:13:32Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > There’s the myth that eating carrots improves your eyesight, which was based on WWII propaganda to cover up the use of airborne RADAR systems. Even though the propaganda campaign was later made public, people still think that eating carrots is good for your vision. I think that the nugget of truth behind that one is that there’s some nutrient in carrots (vitamin A?), where one of the symptoms of being badly deficient in it is vision problems, so eating carrots (or any of a wide variety of other foods) could prevent those vision problems. But “not enough causes bad vision” does not mean “more than enough causes even better vision”. > [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > Curiously, the fact that people who live near power lines don’t live as long is still true. As my college professor noted way back in the 1980s, it could just be that people who choose healthier lifestyles also choose not to live next to power lines. From what I’ve heard, it’s mostly economic. Houses near power lines are often cheap and undesirable, and there are all sorts of reasons why poverty causes health problems. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2026, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-urban-myths-seem-to-hold-on-for-years-or-decades-even-when-disproven/1030852/40 "2026-06-13T02:23:14Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > there’s some nutrient in carrots (vitamin A?) Beta-carotene. I believe your body converts it into vitamin A (if I recall correctly). High levels of beta-carotene will also turn your skin orange, though from pics that I have seen where people have actually tried this and posted the results on the internet, it’s more of a slight orange tint. It’s noticeable, but it doesn’t turn your skin the color of a traffic cone or anything close to that. I found the tint to be kinda underwhelming after the way it was hyped up on the internet. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-urban-myths-seem-to-hold-on-for-years-or-decades-even-when-disproven/1030852.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-urban-myths-seem-to-hold-on-for-years-or-decades-even-when-disproven/1030852.md?page=3)