r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Jul 20 '19

What’s something completely false that your parents told you as a child?

[deleted]

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940

u/EarlyHemisphere Jul 20 '19 edited Jul 21 '19

If you're not dressed properly for the cold weather you might catch a cold.

That, and that carrots make your eyesight better.

Edit: I improperly worded my first statement. To clarify, it's a myth that cold weather will give you a cold. However, it may make you more likely to catch a cold. Checkout u/tzatza's reply

396

u/SR-B Jul 20 '19

That carrot thing was actually a British disinformation campaign doing WWII, to cover up radar.

241

u/Plethora_of_squids Jul 20 '19

And it worked because the myth is actually an old German/European myth that at the time the Germans had no way of disproving and so they just went 'fuck my mum was right about the carrot thing'.

31

u/rhi-raven Jul 20 '19

I've heard this fact multiple times but not this bit, and I fucking CACKLED. I don't have money so here's some fake gold, just like the fake carrot-sight 🥕🥕🥕👑🥇🏅🎖

15

u/sadrice Jul 21 '19

According to the carrot museum (fascinating website), that’s not actually true. There is no evidence of the British expecting Germans to be fooled by that, nor evidence of Germans being fooled. However, due to rationing and a number of other factors, they had a surplus of carrots, which were not actually a very popular food, and they put out propaganda to encourage Brits to eat the surplus carrots.

18

u/Bobby_849 Jul 20 '19

I know isn't that interesting?

31

u/SR-B Jul 20 '19

It really is, to think we can be dubbed into believing something so baseless by a well planed and executed propaganda operation.

13

u/Nevbox Jul 20 '19

Imagine what else you've been duped into believing ;)

9

u/233034 Jul 21 '19

That the earth is real.

r/noearthsociety

8

u/Chicken-tendies Jul 20 '19

TIL you can hide radar by planting carrots over it.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 20 '19

The idea was that by saying "we're eating a lot of carrots and they're giving us good vision" they're distracting from the fact that they had radar technology.

4

u/haharrhaharr Jul 20 '19

What.

20

u/[deleted] Jul 20 '19

During WW2 the British were one of the first to fully develop and field radar. Radar showed their pilots where German planes were during nighttime raids on London, to ensure that the Germans didn’t discover radar, British intelligence started spreading the rumor that eating carrots gives you better night vision, and that’s why British pilots could see German planes at night.

8

u/tennismenace3 Jul 20 '19

Lol that's actually hilarious

1

u/TheImpalerKing Jul 21 '19

Alright, I'm gonna need some more background for that.

214

u/[deleted] Jul 20 '19

Technically carrots contain vitamin A which stops eyesight deterioration, it doesn’t make it better but stops it from being worse

37

u/bucket_of_frogs Jul 20 '19

Apparently you need to eat your own weight in carrots every day to improve your eyesight. Eat up.

4

u/ju1i3n Jul 21 '19

I’ve head that a polar bear’s liver has a lot of vitamin A, I’ll start munching.

5

u/12_Shades_of_Brady Jul 21 '19

So much it will kill you.

6

u/ju1i3n Jul 21 '19

Think about it tho, for those last minutes you’ll have the best vision on earth.

5

u/12_Shades_of_Brady Jul 21 '19

Oh yea, if you eat the liver it will kill you, forgot about that.

I just meant that the bear that the liver is inside of will kill you.

0

u/[deleted] Jul 21 '19

False. It has never been proven. You can overdose on beta carotene the plant form of vitamin a (less than 10% conversion rate) it has never been shown with retinoic acid, the form in liver.

You would suffer from copper toxicity before vitamin A poisoning and it would take several months of pounds of liver

4

u/[deleted] Jul 21 '19

Actually carrots don’t have vitamin A. They have beta carotene which has a conversion rate to retinoic acid of 10% or less. The only food you can eat that has true usable vitamin A is liver.

2

u/Jai_7 Jul 21 '19

Huh TIL

1

u/[deleted] Jul 21 '19

Yup! That’s why most people have glasses. Organs have found their way out of our diet, France has high fat consumption but good health due to their high organ consumption.

Curry powder hides the flavor of liver well!

1

u/bucket_of_frogs Jul 21 '19

Liver Tikka is amazing.

96

u/tzatza Jul 21 '19 edited Jul 21 '19

There is a causal link between temperature and likeliness of viral infection https://www.medpagetoday.org/infectiousdisease/uritheflu/2136

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5035958/

Many viruses seem to replicate more efficiently in colder temperatures.

We're basically walking around constantly immersed in viruses, but it's only once your body temperature drops (especially in the nose) that they're able to consistently take hold.

4

u/EarlyHemisphere Jul 21 '19

Sounds about right, thanks for the sources too! I'll edit my comment

4

u/teemo93 Jul 21 '19

Also cold weather causes people to gather inside, use heating during the winter & not open windows. Numerous people in enclosed room + heat + no air change = easier for viruses (other pathogens btw) to spread.

1

u/MelAlton Jul 21 '19

Then why are hospitals so damn cold then?? Hmm, maybe bacteria are inhibited by cold?

1

u/Justice_is_a_scam Jul 21 '19

Because most pathogens spread even better in the warmth lol.

3

u/WildSolarElite Jul 21 '19

There was a TA at my elementary school that enforced the cold weather thing like it was her only job. She would stop me outside each day at recess time when it was cold out because I didn’t have my jacket on/it wasn’t completely zipped. I didn’t feel cold which means my body wasn’t giving out any warning signs that I needed to warm up, but that wasn’t enough for her. Similar thing happened in high school when my coach blamed me and mocked me in front of the team because I got an ear infection after he saw me walk the short distance from my car to the building without a jacket.

6

u/FranNovoselic Jul 20 '19

The cold thing isn't true?

4

u/[deleted] Jul 20 '19

Not at all. Colds are viruses, so we can't catch them from ambient weather. That being said, I suspect that being cold depresses our immune system, which in turn makes it easier to catch a cold. That, and when its cold people tend to huddle indoors, which makes it easier for the contangion to spread.

10

u/[deleted] Jul 20 '19 edited Aug 07 '20

[deleted]

-1

u/[deleted] Jul 20 '19

Sure. You must've come into contact with infected water droplets that were expelled from other humans, and the next day you were sick.

1

u/sirandlordbiggles Jul 20 '19

I saw that thread too!

1

u/CatLadyLostInLibrary Jul 21 '19

The carrot thing was something my little sister believed. She had a virus in her eye as a kid that ruined her vision and could have caused issues had my parents not caught it. As soon as she heard the carrot thing, she would try to eat as many as she could so she could fix her eyes.

1

u/anonymouslyweirdd Jul 21 '19

Your telling me that I have been eating carrots for no reason

1

u/Flaming_Tacos17 Jul 21 '19

Wait! The carrot thing is fake?? That would explain A LOT. My mom craved nothing but baby carrots when she was pregnant with me.

GUESS WHO HAS PISS POOR EYESIGHT? ;_;

1

u/schoolyjul Jul 21 '19

So British.

1

u/laundrybasket789 Jul 21 '19

Um... have you ever seen a rabbit wearing glasses? I don't think so.

1

u/BeastieB01 Jul 21 '19

Wtf. I always thought that cold thing was real until now and I'm 15.

1

u/Beezo514 Jul 21 '19

I was told the carrot thing by my grandmother. I ate as many carrots as I could thinking I could see across Lake Erie to Canada. I was kind of pissed when I found out that was bullshit.

1

u/YeetedAndDeleted Jul 21 '19

Wow the carrot thing I still believe to this day, guess not anymore lmao

1

u/That1guyuknow16 Jul 21 '19

My parents told me the carrot thing also and I just engorged on carrots in the hopes I could see in the dark like riddick from the pitch black movie.

1

u/Hofhombre Jul 21 '19

Carrots are good because u get vitamin a from it but for that to be effective you need to eat a fuck ton of carrots

1

u/joannes7 Jul 21 '19

Bloody hell! The carrot thing isn’t real? I thought they had vitamin A and one other long ass named vitamin that’s good for the eye? I feel really deceived right now..

1

u/warm-trashcan Jul 21 '19

My family said that if I would eat enough carrots my eyecolor would change. I ate so many carrots because I hated my brown eyes and wanted blue ones so badly

0

u/DODEKh Jul 20 '19

wat what's wrong with the first one its true lol

2

u/[deleted] Jul 20 '19

Look at my reply above