Mermaid Misinformation?

**A_Koi_Mermaid** · 09-03-2015, 12:43 PM

So my mother was discussing my monofin and mermaid tails with my cousins husband, since he does triathlons or what have you he's into swimming so she was probably attempting to find some common ground. His reaction?

"You know people have drown in those things right? (Tails I assume) They get the fin part turned around and they drown!"

I...what? Then I have to explain to my mother that A. As far as I know that has never ever happened and B. That is pretty much impossible as far as I know since tails are literally just my monofin, complete with foot pockets, with spandex or silicone.

She seemed sated by that information, assured I wasn't going to drown like the fictional people, but it still was a pain to have someone give her MORE to worry about. (She's a worrier, but surprisingly supportive of my monofin)

Anyone else had to deal with this? I know the community as a whole has to deal with misinformation all the time but share your parents/friends/relatives strangest concerns! What's the weirdest "fact" you have heard?

**AniaR** · 09-03-2015, 01:11 PM

See my resource page on tail bans. Has all the info collected. Nope, not a single drowning.

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**A_Koi_Mermaid** · 09-03-2015, 01:18 PM

Originally Posted by AniaR

See my resource page on tail bans. Has all the info collected. Nope, not a single drowning.

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Oh I've seen/read that, yes. I wanted to be prepared for this sort of "concern". I just wondered if others had family members with similar stories/views on how mermaiding works. Where do people even pick up this stuff?

**PearlieMae** · 09-03-2015, 03:26 PM

It sounds like the viral video of the little girl in the pool has extrapolated into the worst horror story ever, and your cousin's husband is passing on the most current version of the story. Like a game of Telephone.

For instance...One day, at a stop light, a lady in the next car said I "shouldn't hang my arm out the window, people lose their arms like that all the time." Sounds plausible, my mom said that to me all the time when I was a kid.

But when I thought about it, in my entire life, I think I've seen maybe five people missing an arm. And of the ones I've spoken with, none lost it from hanging their arm out the car window.

No one I know knows anyone whose arm was ripped off from having it out the window of the car.

Same goes for people drowning in a mermaid tail/monofin.

**A_Koi_Mermaid** · 09-03-2015, 03:48 PM

I have not seen this video. o.o

Yeah, it is one of those things that would take two seconds to look up online but no one really bothers and just repeats misinformation. My mother told me about the boy who got his shoe laces stuck in the escalator to some disastrous effect and to this day I still get paranoid about my shoes and escalators...

It bothers me that this sort of info is out there being circulated, it's great that people like Raina are able to get out there and show them basic logic of it like how monofins actually work.

**PhaylennMurúch** · 09-03-2015, 08:03 PM

Originally Posted by A_Koi_Mermaid

I have not seen this video. o.o

Yeah, it is one of those things that would take two seconds to look up online but no one really bothers and just repeats misinformation. My mother told me about the boy who got his shoe laces stuck in the escalator to some disastrous effect and to this day I still get paranoid about my shoes and escalators...

It bothers me that this sort of info is out there being circulated, it's great that people like Raina are able to get out there and show them basic logic of it like how monofins actually work.

It's a video of a family in an above ground pool, they just got their daughter (7/8/9, not sure)a tail. Mom shouts 'do a flip!' and girl goes for it but can't get back up to the surface. The family admitted that she didn't know how to swim in the first place.

**Marinus Mortimer** · 09-03-2015, 08:33 PM

Originally Posted by PearlieMae

It sounds like the viral video of the little girl in the pool has extrapolated into the worst horror story ever, and your cousin's husband is passing on the most current version of the story. Like a game of Telephone.

For instance...One day, at a stop light, a lady in the next car said I "shouldn't hang my arm out the window, people lose their arms like that all the time." Sounds plausible, my mom said that to me all the time when I was a kid.

But when I thought about it, in my entire life, I think I've seen maybe five people missing an arm. And of the ones I've spoken with, none lost it from hanging their arm out the car window.

No one I know knows anyone whose arm was ripped off from having it out the window of the car.

Same goes for people drowning in a mermaid tail/monofin.

I'm with you PearlieMae, but my mother almost lost her arm like that, she got hit by some guy in a motorcycle in a traffic jam. Her arm still haves small metal bolts keeping it all together. (Bot no it was not ripped off)

**PearlieMae** · 09-03-2015, 08:57 PM

Wow! Okay, but the one instance does not prove the declaration...like the little girl trying to do the flip in the pool.

My regards to your mother. She's the only one I ever heard of in real life!

**Mermaid Momo** · 09-03-2015, 10:26 PM

I get the same thing about my corset / whenever I mention that I live wearing corsets and plan on making my own in the future. Some people just latch on to the inaccurate sensational stories they here going on and never care to do their own research (or even worse, choose to ignore your correct information when you present it to them)

**lulubelle** · 09-06-2015, 11:20 AM

Originally Posted by A_Koi_Mermaid

I have not seen this video. o.o

Yeah, it is one of those things that would take two seconds to look up online but no one really bothers and just repeats misinformation. My mother told me about the boy who got his shoe laces stuck in the escalator to some disastrous effect and to this day I still get paranoid about my shoes and escalators...

It bothers me that this sort of info is out there being circulated, it's great that people like Raina are able to get out there and show them basic logic of it like how monofins actually work.

when I was in high school a friend of mine got her shoe lace caught in the escalator. It caused her to trip and she had to cut her shoe lace to get free. Luckily we were already at the mall and we were able to buy her some new laces for her shoes. The only hurt was her pride.

**malinghi** · 09-07-2015, 12:59 PM

People who make confident declarations about things they know nothing about using incorrect information drive me crazy.

You should tell that guy that he shouldn't make up random facts. A team at Johns Hopkins proved it gives you cancer.

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**Aquatarian** · 09-07-2015, 01:40 PM

I find when you ask for specifics that usually will solve the situations concerns. If you ask any of the 5 Ws (who, what, when, where, why) people either don't know anything because it's misinformation or will speak of something off topic. Even just asking people to clarify or be more specific on something will solve any issues with misinformation. That's something I've been practicing doing.

It also makes people stop and think "Oh well I guess I need to do more research" or "I didn't know as much as I thought I did" just in thier own heads. They may een go and do more research on the topic.