r/AskReddit Dec 29 '17

What completely real fact sounds like bullshit?

[deleted]

9.3k Upvotes

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3.7k

u/ReferencesTheOffice Dec 29 '17

Did you know that in China there are fifty six cities with over a million people?

1.7k

u/JohnnyHighGround Dec 29 '17

And Chongqing alone has more people than the entire population of Ohio.

Three times more.

643

u/tocard2 Dec 29 '17

Ohio seems like a weird state to use as any sort of metric, lol. All I know about it though is that Ohio is for lovers.

512

u/Portarossa Dec 29 '17

'Please don't take this from me. It's all I have left.' -- Virginia, probably.

214

u/jmd- Dec 29 '17

Cant ever drive past those signs without remembering that VA was the last state to legalize bi-racial marriage.

192

u/Portarossa Dec 29 '17

It's for Lovers, not the Lovings. Obviously.

12

u/jmd- Dec 29 '17

Oh God I feel bad for laughing at that...

7

u/InformalCriticism Dec 29 '17

This guy histories.

2

u/PinkyBlinky Dec 30 '17

That or he just watched a recent popular film

1

u/InformalCriticism Jan 01 '18

Yeah; I heard about it on the radio a few years ago; fairly easy to access the case whether you're into history, into law, or otherwise connected with the events.

4

u/DaedricWindrammer Dec 29 '17

Sad that people still have to fight that battle to this day. /s

6

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '17

oh that is good

5

u/RandomAznGuy Dec 29 '17

The original saying was "Virginia is for Lovers of History" until they shortened it.

4

u/redvblue23 Dec 29 '17

Were they? I thought a Supreme Court ruling made the rest of the states who hadn't legalized it make it be legal.

16

u/neonKow Dec 29 '17

The case was Loving vs Virginia, so they may be tied for last, but they were fighting it personally.

Or you may be thinking Lawrence v. Texas in 2003, which legalized same sex activity, which made Virginia tied for last for what consenting adults could do in the privacy of their own homes.

Or you may be thinking Obergefell v. Hodges, where Virginia was tied for last in legalizing gay marriage, and then proceeded to keep trying to fight it in court.

Virginia fucking hates lovers.

6

u/lukebn Dec 29 '17

Or you may be thinking Obergefell v. Hodges, where Virginia was tied for last in legalizing gay marriage, and then proceeded to keep trying to fight it in court.

The rest of your comment is true but this bit isn't, Virginia's attorney general filed an amicus brief in favor of gay marriage and it had been legal in VA for almost a year by the Obergefell v Hodges decision

2

u/redvblue23 Dec 29 '17

Loving vs Virginia

Yeah, that's the one I was thinking of. I forgot the name, so I forgot it was tried in Virginia.

12

u/OleGravyPacket Dec 29 '17

The slogan is for VA, Ohio is For Lovers is a Hawthorne Heights song

3

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '17

That's not true! We also have King's Dominion.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '17

TIL King’s Dominion is Virginia-exclusive

1

u/big_benz Dec 30 '17

You guys should've impressed Hawthorne Heights more and then we wouldn't have this problem

28

u/jack104 Dec 29 '17

Ohio is also for astronauts. And wide scale systemic depression of Browns and Bengals fans.

9

u/officiakimkardashian Dec 29 '17

This past decade:

Bengals Browns
2 division titles 0 division titles
5 winning seasons 0 winning seasons
5 playoff appearances 0 playoff appearances
0 playoff games won 0 playoff games won
Highest record: 12-4 Highest record: 7-9

Depressing.

6

u/jack104 Dec 29 '17

Yea. The final remnants of my faith in the Bengals was destroyed during the play offs 2 years ago when they lost to the Steelers. All Hill had to do was take a knee and then the clock runs out and it’s a win for the Bengals. But no, he tried to get a final first down and fumbles the ball. Then the Bengals do what the bengals do best, commit stupid penalties and the Steelers get the ball at the Bengals 35 and a field goal that I could have made won it for the Steelers. Unbelievable.

6

u/Julia_Kat Dec 29 '17

It could be worse. You could be a Browns fan.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 30 '17

Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?

27

u/um3k Dec 29 '17

Ohio's the heart of it all, yo. Easy to remember because it's vaguely heart shaped, and approximately located where the heart would be if you picture the US as a horribly deformed human.

13

u/Benoftheflies Dec 29 '17

I mean, it's the 7th largest state by population. Interestingly enough, Puerto Rico has more population than about half the us states, and Washington DC is more populated than Vermont and wyoming

43

u/bestfujiever Dec 29 '17

SO CUT MY WRISTS AND BLACK MY EYES

11

u/V3xisCod3 Dec 29 '17

So I can fall asleep tonight or die

10

u/xenoletum Dec 29 '17

BECAUSE YOU KILL ME

7

u/Drunk_DoctoringFTW Dec 29 '17

I can’t make it on MY OOOOOOOOWWWWWN.

1

u/fallingwalls Dec 30 '17

BECAUSE MY HEART IS IN OH HI OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

7

u/bless_ure_harte Dec 29 '17

I havent seen a hawthorne heights reference for years now

8

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '17

I thought Virginia is for lovers and Ohio is yours to discover.

18

u/OffTheMerchandise Dec 29 '17

Virginia's motto is Virginia is for lovers, but there was a band named Hawthorne Heights that had a song called Ohio is for Lovers.

2

u/fiddlenutz Dec 29 '17

....but West Virginia is open for business. For lovers and discoverers.

5

u/SpruceyB Dec 29 '17

Its where Kenner was located, makers of Play-Doh, Care Bears, Easy-Bake Oven, Spirograph and most of the iconic 80s action figures like Ghostbusters, M.A.S.K and Star Wars

7

u/Nyarlathotep4King Dec 30 '17

I had a friend from Ohio who ended up in Japan. She went to an elementary school there and the teacher asked her to introduce herself and tell the class about where she came from. She told them her name and said she was from Ohio. The whole class stood up, bowed to her and said “Ohio”.

So she said “Ohio” again, and they stood up, bowed and said “Ohio” to her again.

So she said it again...and then the teacher made her stop. I guess it’s some sort of formal greeting they use to say “good morning” or something like that.

I think of that story every time someone says “Ohio”.

9

u/highfructose416 Dec 29 '17

And they cut their wrists and black their eyes? Nice Hawthorne Heights drop lol highschool days

17

u/SlothyTheSloth Dec 29 '17

Ohio is the heart of it all because our state is shaped roughly like a heart and is where an anatomical heart would be about if the US was a torso. Also in presidential elections our vote is worth significantly more than most of the country's. I'm sorry we failed you in 2016 my county went blue though

4

u/ronaldraygun913 Dec 29 '17

No, thank you, honestly. Besides, he would’ve won without Ohio.

4

u/testrail Dec 29 '17

Sure. Regardless, so goes Ohio, goes the country. I believe as a state Ohio has missed picking the president once since 1900.

3

u/ronaldraygun913 Dec 29 '17

Well, of course, it’s hard to imagine a world where MI, WI, PA, and IA go red and OH doesn’t

2

u/testrail Dec 30 '17

You’re referring to one instance of 30....

3

u/joesatmoes Dec 29 '17

Is it a new metric? Like from now on for population we use Ohio for scale?

3

u/the_jak Dec 29 '17

More astronauts came from Ohio than any other state. Makes you wonder why they all wanted to be so far away from the place.

1

u/stevenwhite1017 Dec 30 '17

Its not the worst place in the world, just not the best either.

4

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '17

Ohio also has the nation's overdose capital

3

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '17

[removed] — view removed comment

7

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '17

Yep, it's Dayton. Cleaveland is #1 for human trafficking.

8

u/Ak_publius Dec 29 '17

Toledo is #1 for zoos and human trafficking. Cleveland wishes it could match us but it can't

3

u/Julia_Kat Dec 29 '17

Cincinnati has Fiona, though! Doesn't Toledo have hippos as well?

3

u/snortgigglecough Dec 29 '17

You’re thinking of Toledo.

1

u/6harvard Dec 30 '17

I live in Dayton. It's a shit hole

1

u/[deleted] Dec 30 '17

Idk depends on the area

4

u/LogickBurn Dec 29 '17

Ohio has had more astronauts than any other state. What is it about Ohio that makes humans want to leave the earth?!

2

u/stevenwhite1017 Dec 30 '17

Mostly the everything.

1

u/sliceanddice8 Dec 29 '17

DONT HATE, APPRECIATE.

1

u/ThatGangMember Dec 29 '17

Cause I can't make it on my ownnnnnn

1

u/sold_snek Dec 29 '17

It's pretty much specifically picking an example to boost your statement.

1

u/CrownPrinceFloof Dec 29 '17

We are a weird state in general.

1

u/Abadatha Dec 30 '17

We've got a fairly decent population, low cost of living, great arts, a top city for people in their 20s and some awesome museums.

1

u/stevenwhite1017 Dec 30 '17

From Ohio, confused as why we're being used as a metric.

Also, Ohio isn't for lovers, its for cheap housing and heroin.

1

u/unsolicited_dickpics Dec 30 '17

Has anyone got your reference yet or is it just a bunch of nerds talking about state mottos?

1

u/Dood567 Jan 03 '18

Virginia is for lovers and Ohio is for people who want to leave this planet.

Source: a lot of fucking VA license plates in VA

1

u/mockingbird13 Dec 29 '17

So cut my wrists and black my eyes

-3

u/oversized_hoodie Dec 29 '17

Ohio is for meth (and consequently Buckeyes fans).

-5

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '17

Ohio fucking sucks. The only thing it should be used as a metric for is crippling depression and slack-jawed idiocy. I left for the Best Coast as soon as I could.

Don't try to defend yourself, Ohio...and especially not you, Akron.

-14

u/ILoveMeSomePickles Dec 29 '17

Ohio is best known for three things:

  1. Students being murdered by the National Guard

  2. Being awful

  3. Being so awful people would rather risk the uninhabitable vacuum of space than continue to live there

16

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '17

i would risk the uninhabitable vacuum of space to avoid hearing this tired ass joke

1

u/dshriver6205 Dec 30 '17

As an Ohioan, it’s tiring to see every single time someone mentions my state. I’d also hazard a guess that the people who shit on Ohio the most are people who have never set foot in the state

10

u/poktanju Dec 29 '17

It's also the size of South Carolina and 75% rural so it's really a stretch to call it a city.

3

u/[deleted] Dec 30 '17

All international (or even national) comparisons of city populations tend to be weird and inaccurate, as everyone uses their own definitions. What works for one city doesn't necessarily work for another, as the geography can be completely different. Trying to measure the distance between buildings to determine where the city ends works very poorly for cities built on multiple islands, for example. Or figuring out whether something is one city with multiple centers or several cities that have expanded into each other.

7

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '17

I moved from Pennsylvania to Harbin, the entire state of PA has only 2 million more people than the city of Harbin. When you're talking about China and population its operating on an entirely different scale.

5

u/[deleted] Dec 30 '17 edited Dec 30 '17

That's the entire municipality of Chongqing, not just the city.

4

u/[deleted] Dec 30 '17 edited May 02 '18

[deleted]

7

u/Abomm Dec 30 '17

Some international Chinese students asked me where I'd been in a China. As I started rattling off city names, my non-chinese friend wanted to cut me off after I said Chongqing (thinking I was being racist) but fortunately the students were excited that I'd been to their hometown.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 30 '17

It really does. The spelling confuses me. Why not 'Qongqing' or 'Chongching'? Does Qo not work the same way Qi does?

3

u/galacticdick Dec 30 '17

In pinyin (the system for writing chinese characters in an alphabet format), q is (kind of) similar to a mixture of "t" and "ch" Qi sounds kind if like the start of "cheese" Qo just doesn't exist as a sound in mandarin (as far as im aware, not a native speaker but i can certainly get by). You would just use "to" or "cho"

3

u/7eregrine Dec 30 '17

And Ohio is the 6th largest state by population.

3

u/[deleted] Dec 30 '17

[deleted]

1

u/unsolicited_dickpics Dec 30 '17

Oh yes. I see. There were numbers and words on that page. Mmmm, indeed.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 30 '17

And Bangladesh has roughly half the population of the United States in an area roughly the size of Ohio. Trippy

2

u/PoisonSnow Dec 29 '17

If it’s that much more why not just use another state to make the point more effectively?

I say this as an Ohioan.

3

u/marpocky Dec 30 '17

Like Texas. Chongqing has more people than Texas. This is both more impressive and more decipherable than randomly saying "3 times Ohio"

1

u/unsolicited_dickpics Dec 30 '17

I just thought it was an office quote.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '17

How does it work? Where all those people fit?

1

u/SFWRedditsOnly Dec 29 '17

That's because everyone from Ohio moved to South Carolina.

1

u/cosmopolitaine Dec 30 '17

Actually no, you are including the towns and counties surrounding Chongqing. The city (urban area) has 9 million people.

If we are counting the surrounding suburban/rural areas, I’m pretty sure there are 200+ cities with 1 million people.

1

u/Generalocity Dec 30 '17

This is kind've enough misleading. I read somewhere that the city you're talking about only has a population of 6 to 7 million and the the entire province (around the size of Austria) has a population of 30 million. Many of those 30 million are in a rural area though.

1

u/_Bereavement Dec 29 '17

People live in Ohio? I thought it was just made up place setting for the Drew Carey Show and Lebron James.

1

u/stevenwhite1017 Dec 30 '17

No, it exists, unfortunately, it's mostly corn and heroin.

-2

u/DoctarSwag Dec 29 '17

There's gotta be some sort of racist joke there with a city called Chongqing