Urban Legends You Shouldn’t Believe
Legend: Casinos pump oxygen into their gambling rooms to keep people wide awake and spending money at all hours of the day and night.
Reality: Casinos have lots of legends surrounding them, most of which aren’t true. The oxygen legend is mentioned in the 1978 novel Fools Die by Mario Puzo (who also wrote The Godfather). This may be how the legend became popular. The next time you find yourself mysteriously drawn to the slot machines, blame the strong drinks or the bright lights, but not extra oxygen.
Legend: If you swallow a piece of chewing gum, it will take seven years for your body to digest it.
Reality: Gum is passed through the body at the same rate as other foods. The myth probably started because gum isn’t digestible, meaning the body can’t break it down. Still, it’ll pass within a few days at most.
Legend: Aspartame, the substance found in some diet drinks and other sugarless foods, is responsible for an increased rate of cancer, brain tumors and other diseases.
Reality: An email sent out around 1998, to seemingly every American who had an email account, stated that aspartame was a deadly substance that was killing people left and right. The writer of the email claimed that the patent had expired on the drug and the U.S. government was doing nothing to protect its citizens. To date, the FDA has not determined that aspartame leads to illness or disease.
Legend: Humans use only ten percent of their brains.
Reality: This legend, which has been repeated in movies, magazine ads and television shows, is appealing because it leads to the conclusion that someday, when we can use “all” of our brains, we will know everything. In truth, brain imaging technology has shown we already use most of our brain, although we use different parts at different times. For example, you use a different part when learning math and another part when you’re playing basketball. What may be true, but is much harder to prove, is the idea that we don’t use our brains to their fullest potential. This means we could store more and use our brain more efficiently than we currently do.
Legend: If you put sugar in a car’s gas tank, the engine will be ruined.
Reality: Scorned lovers, prankster teenagers and vengeful drivers have all apparently dumped sugar into gas tanks in an effort to ruin a car’s engine. Their efforts were in vain, because as experiments done at Berkeley in 1993 proved, sugar does not render a car’s engine useless. The worst that could happen is that the fuel filter or fuel injector will get clogged, which may cause a car to stop, but won’t do permanent damage to the engine. If a small amount of sugar is poured in the tank, the filters may need to be changed a few times. A larger amount may require the gas tank to be removed from the car and dumped out.
Urban Legend: Donald Trump paid off the mortgage of a man who changed the tire on his limo on a night during the holiday season.
Reality: There are many versions of this story, dating back to 1995. The legend suggests that by doing good for a stranger in need, you may be rewarded in a significant and life changing way. People want to believe that their good deeds are appreciated and will be awarded accordingly. This type of gesture rarely happens but that doesn’t mean the good deed went unrecognized. The good you do for others, even those who can’t afford to pay off your mortgage, is appreciated. Most of the time, anyway.
|
Email this Article
Print this Article
