Urban myths that somehow, people still believe

[Pothole]

nonsequitur said:

Pothole said:

nonsequitur said:

Pothole said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Posh is an acronym of port out, starboard home.

That's true. It is an acronym of any 4 words which start with the letters P, O, S & H.

As an ex sailor, that is definitely correct.

What is?

All of it. Your user name is almost the same as an oceanographic window. How appropriate.

it is AN acronym of those words. It does not MEAN that.

http://www.snopes.com/language/acronyms/posh.asp

[br d]

Pothole said:

I lived in a tower block in Bow between 1992 and 2008...never heard of the like!

Pot,

This was on a very rough estate of 9 high rise and lots of low rise in custom house / canning Town. The whole place was earmarked for destruction and was basically like the wild west. My company used to clear the flats and help tenants move out.
One of the blocks was the famous Ronan Point.
I'm not suggesting it happened anywhere else but it certainly did happen there.

And to answer the other query, how would the burglars get "spotted" anyhow?

There were no cameras, no security doors, no staff or patrols.
This was a different world, junkies laying in a pool of piss in a lift or stairwell was a regular sight, kicked open doors was an everyday occurrence.

By the very nature of my work I've been around the worst imaginable places for over 30 years.
These kind of estates and conditions can't really be pictured unless you've spent time in them. I still do plenty of work in dodgy places (Bow has a few! And I am regularly in the 5 blocks that have just been evacuated in Camden) but of course things are very different now to how they were 20 plus years ago in terms of surveillance and recording.

Anyway, to return to the original point, burglars did use these marks. I'm a liar otherwise, make your own decision.
I don't care either way.

Edited by br d on Saturday 24th June 21:17

[Pothole]

br d said:

Pothole said:

I lived in a tower block in Bow between 1992 and 2008...never heard of the like!

Pot,

This was on a very rough estate of 9 high rise and lots of low rise in custom house / canning Town. The whole place was earmarked for destruction and was basically like the wild west. My company used to clear the flats and help tenants move out.
One of the blocks was the famous Ronan Point.
I'm not suggesting it happened anywhere else but it certainly did happen there.

And to answer the other query, how would the burglars get "spotted" anyhow?

There were no cameras, no security doors, no staff or patrols.
This was a different world, junkies laying in a pool of piss in a lift or stairwell was a regular sight, kicked open doors was an everyday occurrence.

By the very nature of my work I've been around the worst imaginable places for over 30 years.
These kind of estates and conditions can't really be pictured unless you've spent time in them. I still do plenty of work in dodgy places (Bow has a few! And I am regularly in the 5 blocks that have just been evacuated in Camden) but of course things are very different now to how they were 20 plus years ago in terms of surveillance and recording.

Anyway, to return to the original point, burglars did use these marks. I'm a liar otherwise, make your own decision.
I don't care either way.

Edited by br d on Saturday 24th June 21:17

Glad mine was posh, then. (no acronym intended)

[jurbie]

Anyone got any industry specific urban myths? There are lots of mobile phone masts on top of some pretty grotty blocks of flats and one of the first things I learned when I entered the industry many years ago was to never press the buttons in the lift when visiting one of these sites. Apparently drug addicts liked to snap needles into the button housing so if you weren't careful you might get jabbed by a HIV infected needle.

I've seen so many people using keys to push the buttons in lifts and heard this tale trotted out so often from so many different people in the industry that I'm pretty sure it's a belief held industry wide. Interestingly for such a safety conscious industry, it's never come up in any tool box talk or appeared in any risk assessment I've seen.

[tleefox]

A common one in construction (and apologies for the timing) is that you can buy fire rated expanding foam.

[Pothole]

"BABY ON BOARD" stickers guide triage at RTCs

[silentbrown]

Yipper said:

silentbrown said:

HTP99 said:

In the whole history of mobiles, has there ever been a fire in a petrol station actually caused by someone being on their mobile; that rule about not being on your mobile on a petrol station forecourt, due to a fire risk, has always perplexed me.

Err, no. That's why it's a myth...

http://www.snopes.com/autos/hazards/gasvapor.asp

All the petrol pumps here still have warning stickers on them, though.

It is because of the (tiny) theoretical risk of someone dropping their phone from height and the battery sliding off the back onto the concrete floor and any metal contacts creating a spark by friction that ignites vapour.

,, and switching your phone OFF fixes that how, precisely? There's probably more risk of friction sparks from dropping a big bunch of keys on the floor.rather than a largely plastic mobile phone!

Phones are dangerous while refuelling for the same reason they're dangerous while driving: Distraction, during what is potentially a dangerous activity. Risk of phone actually being an satisfactory ignition source must be very low.

[Johnnytheboy]

It's illegal to buy/sell the bible on a Sunday.

[bimsb6]

Fastchas said:

Steve McQueens gift of his Harley Davidson to Elvis, found in a barn with the famous inscription underneath the saddle?

I think that was james dean not steve mcqueen , and it was elvis's gift to dean that never happened .

Edited by bimsb6 on Saturday 24th June 23:53

[DavieW]

The Bible.

[bimsb6]

We had dinner with a guy we met in utah earlier this week he told us of a date he had with a girl in florida where he met her parents for the first time , after the meal the girls mum asked if she could have a word with him in private where she told him her and her husband would be honoured if he would take their daughter as one of his wives ( plural marriage had not been mentioned and not his thing anyway) and could she see the horns behind his ears ! Apparently an urban myth that mormons had horns lol .

[Jonmx]

FredClogs said:

Bob Holness from blockbusters played the saxaphone solo in Baker Street... I know this is not true but I always repeat it when ever I get the chance.

I vaguely knew the bloke who actually did play the Sax on Baker Street, Raphael Ravenscroft. He lived locally and drove a nice red E30 estate until his death a year or two ago.

[KungFuPanda]

lowdrag said:

It is illegal to get drunk in a pub.

It's not illegal to get drunk in a pub however it is illegal under the Licensing Act 2003 to serve someone who is already intoxicated.

[davhill]

The 'rude' version of the V-sign (palm towards the signer) is believed to be a gesture used by English and Welsh archers to the French at Agincourt. It was to show the enemy that the bowman still had his shooting fingers.
This isn't so. The French, on capturing a bowman, would cut off three of his fingers. A modern bow can be drawn and shot with two fingers but
a longbow could not and cannot.

The first genuine appearance of the sign as an insult originated in Rotherham, in 1901 and it was caught on camera. A worker outside Parkgate ironworks indicated with the gesture that he didn't want to be filmed.

Studies since as to the origin have been inconclusive so nobody really knows where it came from. It is only known where it didn't originate ( as above).

[Pothole]

davhill said:

The 'rude' version of the V-sign (palm towards the signer) is believed to be a gesture used by English and Welsh archers to the French at Agincourt. It was to show the enemy that the bowman still had his shooting fingers.
This isn't so. The French, on capturing a bowman, would cut off three of his fingers. A modern bow can be drawn and shot with two fingers but
a longbow could not and cannot.

The first genuine appearance of the sign as an insult originated in Rotherham, in 1901 and it was caught on camera. A worker outside Parkgate ironworks indicated with the gesture that he didn't want to be filmed.

Studies since as to the origin have been inconclusive so nobody really knows where it came from. It is only known where it didn't originate ( as above).

I suspect the French did as everyone else did and killed people they captured.

[popeyewhite]

Pothole said:

I suspect the French did as everyone else did and killed people they captured.

At the time of Agincourt there were standards of behaviour in battle. Anyone of means was ransomed or imprisoned until the ransom was met, and soldiers captured in battle or after siege were often freed or exchanged. Both the French and the English had fairly strict codes of 'knightly' behaviour. Henry V's decision to kill the French prisoners at Agincourt was taken largely as he felt the French had behaved in an ungallant/unknightly manner when they previously raided and killed members of his army's food/supplies/wives etc retinue.

[4x4Tyke]

Britain stood alone against the might of Hitler.

Britain would have been invaded if the RAF lost the Battle of Britain.

We would all be speaking German if it wasn't for the yanks.

WW2 History is full of these clichés come myths.

[grumpy52]

cootuk said:

Ari said:

Just seen the aids infected needles in petrol pump handles one shared on Facebook.

Honestly, 10 seconds on Google... but no, got to be seen as cared and protecting her mates.

Vandals glue a dozen RAZOR BLADES all over children's playground was a real one, so you can see where needles come in to it and is believable

Razor/Stanley blades in the sun vizors .Blades wedged in stearing wheels.Needles in seats . All found in vehicles hidden up to see if they are fitted with trackers .

[Yipper]

Matt-il77s said:

Mr Gearchange said:

More Facebook fkwittery:



"So HIV infected needles in petrol pumps is now a thing... Wtf. Be careful... Please look before pumping up they are putting infected HIV needles In the petrol stations. Please warn every friend of yours and family members. Please share share"

Also the "Don't flash people without their lights on as they will shoot you as a gang initiation"

FB really is a great tool for fking morons to spread their idiocy far and wide..

Similar thing from a while back

It is worth noting that the "dirty needle in a gas pump / banana" stories may be untrue. But those kinds of things do happen, sadly. Know someone who works for social services in southern England, and when certain tenants get evicted because of unpaid rent or housing damage, it is not uncommon for them to exact "revenge" by leaving behind dirty needles under cupboard door handles or next to light switches in darkened rooms.

[nonsequitur]

Pothole said:

nonsequitur said:

Pothole said:

nonsequitur said:

Pothole said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Posh is an acronym of port out, starboard home.

That's true. It is an acronym of any 4 words which start with the letters P, O, S & H.

As an ex sailor, that is definitely correct.

What is?

All of it. Your user name is almost the same as an oceanographic window. How appropriate.

it is AN acronym of those words. It does not MEAN that.

http://www.snopes.com/language/acronyms/posh.asp

OED: Very smart and luxurious.