# What's the most obvious lie you've ever believed past childhood? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 8, 2020, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obvious-lie-youve-ever-believed-past-childhood/847616 "2020-02-08T05:57:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2020, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obvious-lie-youve-ever-believed-past-childhood/847616/41 "2020-02-09T02:02:31Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > There’s a popular fact meme that says you can taste soy sauce poured on your testicles because apparently a 2013 study showed your testicles are home to taste receptors. The problem here being taste receptors don’t equal taste buds. It’s perfectly true that you can taste soy sauce poured on your balls. You just have to be very flexible. ---
**Author:** ![Yakamaniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a5b964/32.png) [@Yakamaniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yakamaniac)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2020, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obvious-lie-youve-ever-believed-past-childhood/847616/42 "2020-02-09T04:50:07Z")
That the government did not lie. ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2020, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obvious-lie-youve-ever-believed-past-childhood/847616/43 "2020-02-09T05:20:18Z")
Regarding another ‘tasting’ myth: In high school, we did the experiment of touching various flavoured cotton tips to parts of the tongue, to highlight how the tastebuds are ‘grouped’. You probably did the same thing - you are supposed to taste ‘sweet’ things near the front of the tongue, bitter at the sides etc. I couldn’t get it to work - it just tasted almost the same all over, and I could taste everything everywhere. I thought my tongue was broken. I worried about this for years, and when (as a young man) I tried my first beers, I didn’t like them - obviously because of my broken tongue (because all my mates loved beer, didn’t they?). But that must be the problem, because I was taught in school that my tongue was abnormal. Eventually I worked out that if I disagreed with ‘accepted wisdom’ or doctrine, I should investigate further. I may be mistaken or misled. Or maybe the original information I was given was wrong, or incomplete, or misinterpreted. Science is not a _thing_ - it’s a _method_. I was rather disconcerted to find out the tongue map had basically been disproved in the 1930s. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2020, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obvious-lie-youve-ever-believed-past-childhood/847616/44 "2020-02-09T06:00:13Z")
I’m with **Rocketeer**. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2020, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obvious-lie-youve-ever-believed-past-childhood/847616/45 "2020-02-09T06:12:18Z")
“What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.” “Anyone can learn to win at blackjack.” “Don’t trust anyone over thirty.” “Pennies are worth saving.” “Details don’t matter.” ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2020, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obvious-lie-youve-ever-believed-past-childhood/847616/46 "2020-02-09T06:33:48Z")
> [@bobkitty](#): > > No, you’re not naive. This one is definitely true. Just ask my oldest sister, born six months after my parents were married. 😃 My mother’s aunt got married and moved to Las Vegas with her husband in the 1920, when travel from northern Utah was more difficult. They had a honeymoon baby at the proper nine months but did t come back for a visit for a couple of years. Long story short, it wasn’t until her cousin had grown up and had difficulty obtaining his birth certificate that he found out his mother had been lying about his birthday by a couple of months. He had an unfortunately easily death (choked on some candy in bed) and his widow put his real birthday on the tombstone. That caused a rift between the two that never was healed. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2020, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obvious-lie-youve-ever-believed-past-childhood/847616/47 "2020-02-09T07:27:26Z")
I thought Indians from India were displaced American Indian for far too long. My brother told me that lie. ---
**Author:** ![kaiwik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaiwik/32/3978_2.png) [@kaiwik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaiwik)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2020, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obvious-lie-youve-ever-believed-past-childhood/847616/48 "2020-02-09T08:51:20Z")
As a child, Sunday evenings were reserved for viewing The Wonderful World of Disney on the television before bedtime. My brothers were not interested when it was a wildlife show, so I remember watching one such show with my mom that was focused on the flora and fauna of the arctic. It was a very interesting show, and I accepted everything that was shown as truth, because, you know, Disney wouldn’t lie, right? A year or two ago I was talking with my daughter, the wildlife savant of the family, and when the topic of lemmings came up and I told her that lemmings were such interesting creatures that controlled their population thusly: when there were too many lemmings to be able to survive on the meager foodstuffs available on the tundra, they would gather and leap into the water to drown, leaving enough lemmings to continue the colony. After she stopped laughing hysterically she told me “Bullshit!” and we did some internet research, and I discovered that for the better part of my life I had completely believed that this was the truth. Disney lies, folks, Disney lies. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2020, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obvious-lie-youve-ever-believed-past-childhood/847616/49 "2020-02-09T11:45:28Z")
well, this isn’t quite a lie, and it isn’t from my childhood,but… for several years when I was in college I kept an image in my mind that if I ever took a trip to the fjords of Norway, I would actually see parrots with beautiful blue plumage. (yes, folks, Monty Python destroyed my mind.) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2020, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obvious-lie-youve-ever-believed-past-childhood/847616/50 "2020-02-09T14:50:48Z")
> [@kk\_fusion](#): > > “Free beer tomorrow”. > > This wasn’t even meant to deceive; just a throwaway joke on my regular bar’s LCD. Yet I dragged my new girlfriend there the next day just to see the same display. Hormones, I guess. A friend of mine has an ancient, yellowed, cardboard sign that says, “FREE BEER TOMORROW” hanging over his bar. He occasionally has someone who sees the sign on a Friday night and then returns Saturday night for the free beer. > [@Napier](#): > > your partner ejaculates near your vagina How near, would Newark count? ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2020, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obvious-lie-youve-ever-believed-past-childhood/847616/51 "2020-02-09T15:05:50Z")
I’m not sure how “obvious” this is. But for several years, I believed the breathless hype from political ads, fund-raising letters, etc. that “This is the most important election ever!” It took me a while, but I finally figured out that life goes on–and in most cases, goes on just fine–even if your side loses the election. You probably won’t like everything that happens, but that’s true of many circumstances, not just politics. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2020, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obvious-lie-youve-ever-believed-past-childhood/847616/52 "2020-02-09T19:20:11Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > I thought Indians from India were displaced American Indian for far too long. My brother told me that lie. Your post reminds me of this supposed tweet I saw online last week. “Nate of Americans need to move back to India.” Don’t know if it’s real or not. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2020, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obvious-lie-youve-ever-believed-past-childhood/847616/53 "2020-02-09T21:28:22Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > I’m not sure how “obvious” this is. But for several years, I believed the breathless hype from political ads, fund-raising letters, etc. that “This is the most important election ever!” > > It took me a while, but I finally figured out that life goes on–and in most cases, goes on just fine–even if your side loses the election. You probably won’t like everything that happens, but that’s true of many circumstances, not just politics. This insight comes with age. I remember how excited I was when I first participated in an election when I was 19. Now, with more than 30 major elections under my belt, I’m much more relaxed and conscious of the impact my vote really has. But that doesn’t prevent me from trying, though my choices rarely win… ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2020, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obvious-lie-youve-ever-believed-past-childhood/847616/54 "2020-02-10T01:48:49Z")
“Caucasians are from Caucasia.” “The U.S. is not a police state.” “Meditation reveals inner truths.” “Money isn’t everything.” ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2020, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obvious-lie-youve-ever-believed-past-childhood/847616/55 "2020-02-10T03:03:57Z")
I was nearly 30 before Civil Rights became law… And I never once wondered if black childres said “with liberty and justice for all” when they were forced in lock step by their handlers to recite the mumbo-jumbo before the flag. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2020, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obvious-lie-youve-ever-believed-past-childhood/847616/56 "2020-02-10T15:56:36Z")
I wouldn’t call this a “lie” in the strictest sense, since I kind of got there on my own rather than having it directly taught to me. But I was well into my teens before I understood that Jesus of Nazareth was put to death due to a dispute with his own people over their law. I’d always thought that the Romans put him to death for refusing to worship Saturn and whatnot. As for “lies,” I didn’t fully disabuse myself of the fullness of what I was taught about American history until I was in my 30s. Pretty much the entire Springfield Public Schools District 186 history and social studies curricula were built on lies. The Founding Fathers were flawed men who owned slaves, had less-than-evolved notions about the roles of women and the poor in governance and voting, and believed (some did, anyway) that the God of Christianity gave them the right, nay the solemn duty, to exploit and murder the Natives. The Civil War was about many things, and yes, slavery was at the heart of the matter. But the war wasn’t strictly about slavery. Abraham Lincoln didn’t do what he did from a place of loving the Black Man and believing that going to war to free them was the moral and right thing to do. It was considerably more nuanced than that. …and so on and so forth. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2020, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obvious-lie-youve-ever-believed-past-childhood/847616/57 "2020-02-10T16:12:47Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > He had an unfortunately easily death (choked on some candy in bed) I guess that would qualify as “an unfortunately easily death.” 😃 > [@](#): > > and his widow put his real birthday on the tombstone. That caused a rift between the two that never was healed. He came back to haunt her a lot, did he? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2020, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obvious-lie-youve-ever-believed-past-childhood/847616/58 "2020-02-10T16:29:25Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > I’m not sure how “obvious” this is. But for several years, I believed the breathless hype from political ads, fund-raising letters, etc. that “This is the most important election ever!” > > It took me a while, but I finally figured out that life goes on–and in most cases, goes on just fine–even if your side loses the election. You probably won’t like everything that happens, but that’s true of many circumstances, not just politics. > [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > This insight comes with age. It also comes with being in a position where the bad shit resulting from the outcome of an election doesn’t fall on you personally, but rather on other people who you have little if any connection with, beyond your shared humanity. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2020, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obvious-lie-youve-ever-believed-past-childhood/847616/59 "2020-02-10T16:30:38Z")
When I was young there was an insurance company called Wimpey. I guess we must have been insured with them, because otherwise there would be no reason for my father to very solemnly tell me that they were so named for the acronym We Insure Many People Each Year. Nowadays, I suspect not. At least, if you google that in quotes you get _zero_ hits. Hmmm. And: I have no idea how I “knew” this - it’s more a misapprehension, or possibly an early urban myth, than a lie - but I was absolutely certain that (1) you can be prosecuted for being drunk in charge of a bike, boat, horse etc (true); and that (2) if you are prosecuted for one of these offenses, your driving licence will be endorsed (absolute bollocks). This is something I was certain of since before my brother had that unfortunate… well, let’s just skip that, but I was certain of it until late last year when, challenged, I bothered to check. That’s a period of about forty years, minimum. Is that the record? j ---
**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:** [February 10, 2020, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obvious-lie-youve-ever-believed-past-childhood/847616/60 "2020-02-10T18:15:28Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > It’s perfectly true that you can taste soy sauce poured on your balls. > > You just have to be very flexible. My husband can do that. 🙂 I was well into my 20s before I realized that females peed through a separate opening, rather than their vaginas. And years later, I learned that there were actual women who didn’t know that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obvious-lie-youve-ever-believed-past-childhood/847616.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obvious-lie-youve-ever-believed-past-childhood/847616.md?page=4)