# What's something that people claim happens a lot, but you have rarely, or never, witnessed it? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 13, 2022, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-something-that-people-claim-happens-a-lot-but-you-have-rarely-or-never-witnessed-it/960965 "2022-03-13T00:27:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2022, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-something-that-people-claim-happens-a-lot-but-you-have-rarely-or-never-witnessed-it/960965/241 "2022-03-15T21:59:49Z")
I have seen bears in the wilds a few times. I’ve seen plenty of snakes. I even saw a grey wolf once in Alaska. But I have never seen a mountain lion. I’m not sure if I’ve even seen one in a zoo. They’re supposedly not that uncommon in California. Most of the hiking trails at the state parks here have signs warning about them and what to do if you encounter one. But I’ve never seen one. Maybe that’s a good thing. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2022, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-something-that-people-claim-happens-a-lot-but-you-have-rarely-or-never-witnessed-it/960965/242 "2022-03-15T22:10:24Z")
One of my professors, who died recently well into his 90s, was a WWII veteran, and when penicillin came out, it was an IM injection every 4 hours, and he said that the nurses would make a big production of waking up the men in the sick bay for gonorrhea, syphilis, etc. for their nighttime shots. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2022, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-something-that-people-claim-happens-a-lot-but-you-have-rarely-or-never-witnessed-it/960965/243 "2022-03-15T23:06:28Z")
[quote]Oh, yeah, I’ve gotten tons of “dick pics”, it’s the “dick picks” I’ve never received. Wait, what are we talking about? [/quote] Tricky! Many of you may already know, but it turns out there is a company that will send a recipient of your choice a chocolate penis. IIRC you open the box and it says, “Hey, why don’t you eat a big dick?” or something like that. It’s untraceable to you, so if there’s someone special deserving of it… ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2022, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-something-that-people-claim-happens-a-lot-but-you-have-rarely-or-never-witnessed-it/960965/244 "2022-03-15T23:06:30Z")
> [@Lancia](#): > > This is location dependent, I’m sure. I live in western Oregon and have seen bears in the wild several times, the first time when I was ~13 and rafting the Rogue river. Colorado mountains here. See a black bear roaming our yard yearly. Last one was on our deck with two cubs. I ran down stairs to warn my wife because she was about to leave for work and would cross the deck where the bears where. Don’t want to mess with momma and her cubs. Bears have broken into our cars 4 times. Thankfully, no damage. Moose are much more frequent. Sometimes a daily occurrence. They like to bed down in our yard. I worry about our dogs when I walk them. I always check things out before I take them with me. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2022, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-something-that-people-claim-happens-a-lot-but-you-have-rarely-or-never-witnessed-it/960965/245 "2022-03-15T23:11:55Z")
> [@lobotomyboy63](#): > > [quote]Oh, yeah, I’ve gotten tons of “dick pics”, it’s the “dick picks” I’ve never received. Wait, what are we talking about? [/quote] I don’t know why that post is showing you replying to me. I’m not the one who posted about dick pics/picks. Maybe you should send one to discobot, which may have done something weird with the quote function. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2022, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-something-that-people-claim-happens-a-lot-but-you-have-rarely-or-never-witnessed-it/960965/246 "2022-03-15T23:13:12Z")
I got nothing… ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2022, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-something-that-people-claim-happens-a-lot-but-you-have-rarely-or-never-witnessed-it/960965/247 "2022-03-15T23:20:27Z")
_Phrasing…_ ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2022, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-something-that-people-claim-happens-a-lot-but-you-have-rarely-or-never-witnessed-it/960965/248 "2022-03-15T23:22:32Z")
> [@Lancia](#): > > Many years ago I was still teaching on campus. Another instructor and I were hosting an evening drop-in tutoring session. It was a slow night and me (male, balding, overweight, early 30’s) and my fellow instructor (female, shapely, attractive, probably late 20’s) were bored as all get-out. We hadn’t had a single student drop by for half an hour at least. But soon a very… curvacious, sultry young woman came and sat at my table. She was incredibly beautiful and very clearly knew it. The other instructor, who still didnt have any students to work with, came and sat with us to kill some time. This student was working on an essay of some sort that was several days late already and she was desperate to get it done. After some back and forth, talking about the standard essay writing 101 prep tools – organized research, quotations and cites organized, outline, etc – she said, looking very deliberately at each of us in turn, “what would it take to get you to just write this essay for me? I will literally do anything you want me to. _Anything._ I dont have to get up early tomorrow and I’m not feeling tired at all. What time do you two leave here tonight?” And with that she kind of puffed her chest out a bit, leaned back in her chair, and smiled. She definitely knew what assets she had and knew how to work them. > > After a rather uncomfortable pause both of us told her the only way to get a good grade on her essay was if _she wrote_ a good essay. She soon left, dejected. She never did start any actual work on her essay. > > After the the class ended and as we were walking to the parking lot the other instructor and I compared notes and agreed that yes, that student was offering sex in return for us writing her damn term paper. It was obvious, but so brazen that I genuinely was second-guessing her intent. I crossed paths with that student a time or three before transfering off campus and each time I felt a little pang of disgust. Worst. Penthouse Forum letter. Ever. … I’ve never identified any actual man who was accused of sexual harassment by a woman he never actually met. A lot of men feared this repercussion when #metoo became a big thing. ---
**Author:** ![EastUmpqua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eastumpqua/32/6025_2.png) [@EastUmpqua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EastUmpqua)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2022, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-something-that-people-claim-happens-a-lot-but-you-have-rarely-or-never-witnessed-it/960965/249 "2022-03-15T23:23:22Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > I’ve never seen a live snake outside a zoo. Do you live in Hawaii? ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2022, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-something-that-people-claim-happens-a-lot-but-you-have-rarely-or-never-witnessed-it/960965/250 "2022-03-15T23:46:06Z")
Another thing: Men whose ex-wives brainwashed the kids against him. Yeah, 99% of the time, HE turned the kids against him by his (in)action, not because of anything she did. If the kids were preschoolers, it MIGHT make sense, but older children, teenagers, or even adults? Nope, nope, nope, they were old enough to know. (And that applies for women whose kids totally sided with their dad after a divorce, something that DOES happen, and not infrequently.) ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2022, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-something-that-people-claim-happens-a-lot-but-you-have-rarely-or-never-witnessed-it/960965/251 "2022-03-16T00:09:03Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Moose are much more frequent. Sometimes a daily occurrence. They like to bed down in our yard. I worry about our dogs when I walk them. I always check things out before I take them with me. I’ve lived in New Hampshire for 30 years and so far I’ve seen exactly two moose in my whole life: the taxidermed one at the Boston Museum of Science, and the taxidermed one in the lobby of the Kittery Trading Post. There are supposed to be 10k moose in this state but they’re good at hiding apparently. I even missed the one that wandered across the Durham campus when I was a student at UNH. ---
**Author:** ![Jay\_Z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Jay\_Z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jay_Z)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2022, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-something-that-people-claim-happens-a-lot-but-you-have-rarely-or-never-witnessed-it/960965/252 "2022-03-16T00:12:36Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > People un-ironically “complimenting” someone’s fedora or trilby. It doesn’t happen, sorry. I told a guy he looked like Chuck Mangione once. Hat was part of the deal. So that was something. Also happened in Go Dog Go. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2022, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-something-that-people-claim-happens-a-lot-but-you-have-rarely-or-never-witnessed-it/960965/253 "2022-03-16T02:07:01Z")
I live in northern part of New Hampshire and I have only seen a moose in the wild once. I have seen black bears and white tail deer about a dozen times each. I have seen a snake in the wild probably three times. Raccoons and porcupines I seen live about a half a dozen times. I have only **seen** a _live_ skunk in the wild twice but I have smellt their presence a lot. And I have seen all three dead as roadkill numerous times. Wild turkeys-on the other hand–I see at once or twice a week when the weather is warm. They seem to be everywhere. I think only main NH animal I never seen live in person is a beaver and I know there some in the area. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2022, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-something-that-people-claim-happens-a-lot-but-you-have-rarely-or-never-witnessed-it/960965/254 "2022-03-16T02:24:02Z")
> [@Jay\_Z](#): > > Also happened in Go Dog Go. Naw, you’re remembering it wrong. Not a fedora or trilby. [![](https://i.redd.it/q4isbp64c2r01.jpg) ](https://i.redd.it/q4isbp64c2r01.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2022, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-something-that-people-claim-happens-a-lot-but-you-have-rarely-or-never-witnessed-it/960965/255 "2022-03-16T02:28:36Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Another thing: Men whose ex-wives brainwashed the kids against him. Yeah, 99% of the time, HE turned the kids against him by his (in)action, not because of anything she did. A counselor once told me that in a divorce, children gravitate to the more aggressive parent. It could even be a father that beat them—or it could be a henpecking mother that always got her way. “Which is more likely to protect me?” was the vibe I had from the discussion. ---
**Author:** ![Retzbu\_Tox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/retzbu_tox/32/11829_2.png) [@Retzbu\_Tox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Retzbu_Tox)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2022, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-something-that-people-claim-happens-a-lot-but-you-have-rarely-or-never-witnessed-it/960965/256 "2022-03-16T02:50:36Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Last year??? We used to wear hankies back in the '70s, to indicate, not our relationship status, but what kind of sex we were looking for. Yup, last year. While there, they went to the Chaka Khan concert, and had no idea who she was. It sounded like sexual preferences were included in the hankie code. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2022, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-something-that-people-claim-happens-a-lot-but-you-have-rarely-or-never-witnessed-it/960965/257 "2022-03-16T03:20:50Z")
I saw a Stanley Cup final in Chicago. Went to the washroom. There was one guy in a Boston Bruins shirt shooting his mouth off big time, and fifty guys in Blackhawks jerseys. A huge guy approached him. “You’re lucky you’re in Chicago. We’re nice people, even to loudmouths from Boston. We hope you are enjoying it here. But if the shoe was on the other foot, if I was the guy in Boston shooting my mouth off to a bunch of Bruins fans, it would not end nearly as politely.” ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2022, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-something-that-people-claim-happens-a-lot-but-you-have-rarely-or-never-witnessed-it/960965/258 "2022-03-16T07:18:55Z")
I’ve never taken part in nor seen an actual “Food fight” which happens all the time in middle school, high school, and college movies. The most I’ve seen regularly was people piercing the bottom of a milk carton and throwing it at someone else causing it to explode all over them but that’s more cruel prank than food fight. ---
**Author:** ![Orville\_mogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/aeb1de/32.png) [@Orville\_mogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orville_mogul)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2022, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-something-that-people-claim-happens-a-lot-but-you-have-rarely-or-never-witnessed-it/960965/259 "2022-03-16T07:40:01Z")
> [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](#): > > Someone legitimately breaking 90 on a golf course playing all official PGA rules. By ‘breaking 90’ you mean getting a score of less than 90 on a par-72 18 hole course? My late father-in-law golfed a couple of times a week his entire life, and I recall his handicap going as low as 6 as one point. So I would say he regularly broke 90. He also had three holes on one. ---
**Author:** ![Orville\_mogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/aeb1de/32.png) [@Orville\_mogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orville_mogul)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2022, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-something-that-people-claim-happens-a-lot-but-you-have-rarely-or-never-witnessed-it/960965/260 "2022-03-16T07:41:40Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > month’s Stephen King novel ooh, he has a new one? Cool! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-something-that-people-claim-happens-a-lot-but-you-have-rarely-or-never-witnessed-it/960965.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-something-that-people-claim-happens-a-lot-but-you-have-rarely-or-never-witnessed-it/960965.md?page=14)