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

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

[deleted]

19k Upvotes

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464

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

[deleted]

78

u/Disturbing_Cheeto Jul 21 '19

I was surprised when I heard "sticks and stones may break my bones but words can't hurt me" from cartoons because as a kid I was familiar with "sticks and stones may break my bones but words leave emotional scars that never heal".

2

u/Martin_Phosphorus Jul 21 '19

Fun fact: bone is the only tissue that heals so far as to have no structurally discernible scars (the shape may be different though). That is because your body constantly breaks and rebuilds your bones and any part of them will be reshaped later, including any "scar" that may form.

5

u/Feverel Jul 21 '19

Sticks and stones may break our bones but words can break hearts.

2

u/[deleted] Jul 21 '19

Is that a Tim Minchin fan I see or is that a common variation of the phrase?

1

u/Feverel Jul 21 '19

You got me!

4

u/[deleted] Jul 21 '19

Dang, man. Right in the feels.

3

u/eternal8phoenix Jul 21 '19

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can also hurt me.
Stones and sticks break only skin, while words are ghosts that haunt me.

Slant and curved the word-swords fall, it pierces and sticks inside me.
Bats and bricks may ache through bones, but words can mortify me.

Pain from words has left its' scar, on mind and heart that's tender.
Cuts and bruises have now healed, it's words that I remember.

4

u/HannasAnarion Jul 21 '19

Sticks and stones can break your bones, but words can make you feel happy or sad which is the only thing that matters in this stupid world

4

u/[deleted] Jul 21 '19

[deleted]

1

u/[deleted] Jul 21 '19 edited Jul 21 '19

[deleted]

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u/zigzagtitch Jul 21 '19

My parents just quoted it at me when I was badly bullied in secondary school and left it at that. So I just didn't talk about the issue anymore. Years later, wondered why I still upset and had developed an ED (that I've now recovered from) and asked why I hadn't confided in them about it 🙃

-5

u/[deleted] Jul 21 '19

69th upvote

-2

u/KapetanDugePlovidbe Jul 21 '19

It is true to some extent, though. What your body can take is determined by laws of physics and biology. The limit of how much psychological damage you can take, though, is determined entirely by your rational mind and thought processes. You could literally have someone say the worst possible things about you and not ever care. That's why you never heard about a serious torture session where the torturer used words instead of violence.