this post was submitted on 21 Dec 2023
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No Stupid Questions

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Such as "money can't buy happiness" or "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger". Generally a false adage or something like that. All I could think of was "fallacious bumper sticker" which just sounds stupid.

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 11 months ago (3 children)

"Blood is thicker than water."

Usually said to convince someone that you should be there to help family regardless of what that family did to you. Unfortunately the full saying is "The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb", meaning the ties you form with friends can be stronger than the family you you born into.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago

This is probably not true. The concept of this phrase but referring to family is probably a modern confusion. There is no clear evidence it means it was really referencing ties to friends. Although I wish it did. Here's some further reading from others also looking for a clearer reference.

https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/147902/is-the-alleged-original-meaning-of-the-phrase-blood-is-thicker-than-water-real

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Most of those old sayings have had the rejoinder omitted, which completely shifted their original meaning, in fact. For example, "Great minds think alike" originally closed with "but rarely do they differ", etc.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

Not all wives tales are false. Most are, but not all.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 11 months ago (1 children)

"Fallacy" works. These are also adages, clichés, platitudes and folk wisdom, but neither really means "falsehood" per se. However, many of them just rationalize whatever: the money one is factually incorrect and exemplifies "sour grapes", silver linings is not a bad idea but also not necessarily true, any number of things will not kill you but make you wish they had, etc.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

Whoever came up with the "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger" adage never met a person with locked-in syndrome. That's where you're totally paralyzed but also totally conscious. There have been patients where the doctors thought they were in a persistent coma, but they were actually going crazy trapped in their own skulls.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 11 months ago (1 children)

A Canard (French for duck) refers to something often believed to be true but isn't.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago (2 children)

The origin of this expression is because the French do not believe that Quebec is real.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago
[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (2 children)

It's ducks all the way down.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

🇲🇶🦆💬"Ouai"

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago
[–] [email protected] 16 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

These fall under the category of "Half-baked Idea". This includes any idea that obviously hasn't been thought all the way through. Half-baked ideas can range from the absurd (e.g. "The Earth is flat."), to the benignly optimistic (e.g. "Everything works out for the best.")

[–] [email protected] 16 points 11 months ago

“Canard.”

noun 1. an unfounded rumor or story. "the old canard that LA is a cultural wasteland"

[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago (1 children)

A proverb.

Because your examples are actual proverbs, that might be considered true or not, depending on who says it when.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I dunno. Something being a proverb doesn't make it inherently false, which is what we're trying to define I guess

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (7 children)

For example someone says "you can't teach an old dog new tricks" and you might say "that's a questionable phrase." or "I doubt the validity of that platitude". But is there something specific to label it as, i.e. "That's a [insert word]"

[–] [email protected] 19 points 11 months ago

If you're not trying to be polite, "That's bullshit" works perfectly.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 11 months ago

"Myth" is a word I'd end that sentence with.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

"Canard" is the term, as another commented. 🤙🏼

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

Colbert's "truthiness" comes to mind

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

Misconception?

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

I like Fallacious Bumper Sticker! I'm absolutely using that going forward. It's better than Pithy Folk Ignorance that I used to use.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago

I dunno, I kinda like Pithy Folk Ignorance.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago (2 children)

"Decimate" =/= "devastate", but common misuse becomes common use, so here we are. 🤦‍♂️

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (10 children)

Language is fun like that. Kinda like how ‘literally’ can, and often does, mean ‘figuratively’, which has the opposite meaning.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

It annoys me that people keep saying "figuratively" is what they mean instead of "literally". "Figuratively" may be the opposite, and technically correct, but the use of the word "literally" in this way is to strengthen a statement. A more appropriate correction would be "actually" or "seriously", which holds the intended meaning. "Figuratively" is the last thing it should be replaced with.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago

Platitude

ish

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago

Bullshitism.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Adage

How has nobody said this yet? Some guy actually said idiom.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Because an adage isn't necessarily untrue, like the OP is asking.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago
[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

Baloney

In the actual deep south we say "fruta", "frula", "saraza"

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago
[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

false premise?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Thought-terminating cliche

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Maybe a "specious claim" or "folk wisdom" or "empty rhetoric"?

The word I would normally gravitate to is a "truism", however that's not really used to describe something that is necessarily false... just something that sounds insightful, but doesn't have any meaningful depth (e.g. "every cloud has a silver lining").

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Others have said "canard" which is almost certainly the best term; and "old wives' tale" which is the same but for an anecdote or advice rather than pithy saying.

I think "aphorism" also fits the bill for a proverb if dubious legitimacy.

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