Famous sayings that are wrong

Montcalm · Post by **Montcalm** » 2003-01-23 09:46am

Eat like a bird.
whoever said that never saw a bird eat.

Zoink · Post by **Zoink** » 2003-01-23 10:05am

"Thou shall not kill" - God

2000AD · Post by **2000AD** » 2003-01-23 02:56pm

"Everythin that can be invented has been invented!"

Director of the Patents Office ...... 1899 !

neoolong · Post by **neoolong** » 2003-01-23 03:14pm

Not exactly famous but damn wrong.

Brannon Braga: "The continuity is airtight. Believe me. We know. We know." In reference to Enterprise.

THEHOOLIGANJEDI · Post by **THEHOOLIGANJEDI** » 2003-01-23 03:16pm

Just in case nobody said this.

"Actions speak louder than words."

Yeah 40% of the time.

Icehawk · Post by **Icehawk** » 2003-01-23 03:26pm

"You get back what you put out"

Yeah. sure. gotcha.

meatwad · Post by **meatwad** » 2003-01-23 04:23pm

"It's p-o-t-a-t-o-e"-Dan Quayle

Does that count?

InnerBrat · Post by **InnerBrat** » 2003-01-23 07:29pm

I'm disagreeing with two quotes put forward by people here, and I'm sure I'm going to suffer because of it.

1. Darth Wong

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger

OKI, not true all the time, but I really do have faith in this one. Firstly, in a trivial physical sense, scar tisue is often stronger than the original skin/bone/tissue.
Seocndly, going through shit is what makes us who we are, and helps us grow as people. If we didn't have all the crap thrown at us that we had to survive, we'd be weak and pathetic. As someone who has been scared for my life, and who has been through shit I ddint' think I would survive, I think I'm a stronger, more capable person than the spoiled little brat I was when I left home.

2. Lagmonster

It' is better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all

OK, so I've never lost my love, (touch wood), but again, I think having found love has been one of the most fulfilling events in my life. Even, Bob forbid, I should lose what I have tomorrow (and be plunged deeper into depression, and mourn greatly the loss), I wouldn't trade the love i had for any bliss in ignorance.
I'd much rather love passionately for one week, then to die at 120 having never experienced it. Of course, that 120 year old spinster wouldn't have the pain of heartache, but she would have had the pain of loneliness.

Totally agree with you about Romeo and Juliet, BTW.

EmperorChrostas the Cruel · Post by **EmperorChrostas the Cruel** » 2003-01-23 08:25pm

Innerbrat:

Scar tissue in NOT stronger than normal skin, and on what low gee planet is it stronger than bone?

I have extensive scar tissue, (on my shins and thights)and must CONSTANTLY watch those areas, as they tear and bleed easily, from things that don't even BRUISE the healthy skin tissue.
Scar tissue's ONLY advantage is the SPEED which it grows, which is VERY important in the real world. (As opposed to the modern world, where antibiotics make large open wounds non life threatening, from infection.)

Andrew J. · Post by **Andrew J.** » 2003-01-23 08:28pm

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

That reminds me:

"That which doesn't kill us leaves us stronger."-Chris Benoit.

"That which doesn't kill you leaves you unconscious."-Kevin Nash, after beating up Chris Benoit.

ArmorPierce · Post by **ArmorPierce** » 2003-01-23 08:36pm

"Absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence"

Haven't read the whole thread so I don't know if someone already put that one in.

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2003-01-23 08:37pm

It's funny. I just started reading this thread today, and earlier today, I was considering posting a thread on how there are such things as stupid questions.

This was basically incited by a dumbass in my programming class who literally asked at least one question every 2 minutes during the lecture. They were almost all invariably stupid. On Tuesday, he wanted to know if a compiler was a chip on the computer. Today, after the teacher had gone over how to write exponentials in Fortran on the board, he asked, "So, is 1E10 just another way of saying 1 x 10^10?" Keep in mind that the following was written on the board:

1E10 = 1 x 10^10

I could seriously write a book entitled The Stupidest Questions Ever Asked About Computers and Programming with the inane shit this kid puts out. It gets to the point where the lecture actually has to run overtime, and I have work 10 minutes after the class is supposed to end.

Singular Quartet · Post by **Singular Quartet** » 2003-01-23 09:29pm

Durandal wrote:It's funny. I just started reading this thread today, and earlier today, I was considering posting a thread on how there are such things as stupid questions.

This was basically incited by a dumbass in my programming class who literally asked at least one question every 2 minutes during the lecture. They were almost all invariably stupid. On Tuesday, he wanted to know if a compiler was a chip on the computer. Today, after the teacher had gone over how to write exponentials in Fortran on the board, he asked, "So, is 1E10 just another way of saying 1 x 10^10?" Keep in mind that the following was written on the board:

1E10 = 1 x 10^10

I could seriously write a book entitled The Stupidest Questions Ever Asked About Computers and Programming with the inane shit this kid puts out. It gets to the point where the lecture actually has to run overtime, and I have work 10 minutes after the class is supposed to end.

I have the same fucking problem, but at least he saves his questions for when we're not having a lecture. Due to the fact that this is High School class, we can actually do some programming in school, so everybody has had their share of this kid coming up to one of us and saying "I don't get it."

Sonnenburg · Post by **Sonnenburg** » 2003-01-23 10:53pm

Durandal wrote:It's funny. I just started reading this thread today, and earlier today, I was considering posting a thread on how there are such things as stupid questions.

I always remember an episode of the sitcom Wings where the old guy (Billy Crystal's father-in-law from Forget Paris) makes the same remark, and then asks tons of really dumb questions.

"If dogs sweat with their tongues, then what the hell are their armpits for?"

Ted · Post by **Ted** » 2003-01-23 11:17pm

"Miss, was the rugby player you dated a guy?"

WHAT AN ASS!!!

This to the teacher, he got in so much shit, not funny.

I've got one teacher, that while doesn't say stupid things, says hillarious things, like: "You ever try to scalp someone with a stone tool? It's damn messy. But if you use a steel tool, it just glides along smooth."

Slartibartfast · Post by **Slartibartfast** » 2003-01-24 12:41am

Vympel wrote:"You want to have your cake and eat it too."

Fuck off. What good's your own fucking cake if you can't eat it?

*kudos to whoever first said this*

The first time I heard it, I thought exactly that (didn't exactly say it out loud, plus it's an english-only expression I think)

"Does it mean I can only eat other people's cakes? WTF!?!"

Antie · Post by **Antie** » 2003-01-24 01:07am

The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

Of course it's not. And Mr. Wong beat this saying up in this thread.

The Dark · Post by **The Dark** » 2003-01-24 01:14am

Vympel wrote:"You want to have your cake and eat it too."

Fuck off. What good's your own fucking cake if you can't eat it?

*kudos to whoever first said this*

The actual quote (according to an English prof who researches these things) is "You can't eat your cake and have it too." This makes more sense, because it's true. If you have a consumable item of value and consume it, you no longer have it for further consumption. Somewhere along the line, some idiot got it backwards, and we've never fixed it.

SAMAS · Post by **SAMAS** » 2003-01-24 09:23am

Darth Wong wrote:How many famous one-liners are oft-quoted but may be sometimes or even always wrong? I can think of a few:
Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
This one is bullshit as far as I'm concerned. While separation may be good for healing old wounds (except in the case of the obsessive; see people like Darkstar, who obsesses over me constantly, and Bernd Schneider, who has obsessed over me for the whole 3-year period since we exchanged E-mail; WTF is with these people?), it generally destroys marriages.

That one's only wrong if you take it as an absolute. If your Wife had to take a short trip, you would miss her, and thus the saying would apply.

But if the seperation goes too long, the other quote about seperation starts to apply:

Out of Sight, Out of Mind.

If you don't have anything good to say, say nothing at all.
Ah, so if someone does something horrible, you should keep your trap shut? That kind of thing is known as apathy. As an engineer, I could face serious disciplinary action if I said nothing when witnessing an example of serious incompetence, even if it's not my direct responsibility.

In this case, pointing it out would be a good thing to say, because you would be helping them out.

But if you just call them stupid, for example, and not tell them what's wrong, or if there's nothing wrong, that's not good.

Perhaps it should be amended to: "If you don't have anything useful to say, say nothing at all."

Slartibartfast · Post by **Slartibartfast** » 2003-01-24 09:33am

Wise sayings are probably true for whatever occasion they were invented. Unfortunately the "wiseguy" who said it thought it applied for every case.

If I kick the gas pedal in my car and the engine blows up, I can make a saying like "if you hit the gas pedal your engine will blow up"

Peregrin Toker · Post by **Peregrin Toker** » 2003-01-24 02:56pm

"For my country - right or wrong, I'll do it" - popular nationalist motto

Thousands have died because of logic like that.

tharkûn · Post by **tharkûn** » 2003-01-24 07:11pm

"You cannot simultaneously prepare for war and peace."

BS. It is called deterance. The best way to convince despots, juntas, whomever not to go to war is to for them to know that doing so will get their asses kicked royally. Not to mention the benifits a well coordinated military brings in the event of natural disaster.

"There never has been a good war or a bad peace"
The good war part I agree with, the bad peace, ummm how about Munich?

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2003-01-25 06:44am

"It's not my problem"-anonomus refering to such things as:
The Kitty Genovese Case
The Holocaust
Domestic Violence
The Use of Slave Labour in various contries...

Biddybot · Post by **Biddybot** » 2003-01-25 07:41am

"It's what's inside that counts." -- Sorry. Should be true, but it isn't. And I've only ever heard people that could charitably be called plain if not downright ugly, say this and mean it...NEVER a good-looker.

"Absence makes the heart grow fonder." -- Not for me. I'll just forget about you.

"Size doesn't matter." -- Sorry again, but it does, especially length. And firmness. And overall fitness. That's just the reality of the physical aspects involved. Using what you DO have, now that's a whole different matter...

Einhander Sn0m4n · Post by **Einhander Sn0m4n** » 2003-01-25 08:19am

The Yosemite Bear wrote:"It's not my problem"-anonomus refering to such things as:
The Kitty Genovese Case
The Holocaust
Domestic Violence
The Use of Slave Labour in various contries...

My dad would use that expression in bad situations where he obviously was the perpetrator to justify leaving me in said situation with no recourse. I've never seen him act that way toward any other human ever. "Tough love" my foot!

StarDestroyer.Net BBS

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