Do you think mermaids are real and why?

Question

no way can the fairytales of mermaids exist everywhere around the world without it having some sort of fact in it i mean think of it if u take a pic of a mermaid and a pic of a manetee they really dont look alike at all i mean the sailors said they say a buitiful skinny half women half fish with long flowing hair does that sound like a mermiad to you? do you belive in mermaids if so why?

Answer 1

No.

Answer 2

No because they were made up by salors so their young sons would not fall for a bueatiful woman that was stranded at sea and had pretty voices.  

Answer 3

I believe I posted this before.

Mermaid sighting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSkYkBt8Q...

She is beautiful.

Answer 4

I beg to differ. For one thing, most mermaid fairy tales are literally hundreds of years old. People from over one hundred years ago did not have the scientific data, modern language, global experience, or communication skills available to them that we have today. So their myths are hardly credible stories, as they often were describing things they did not have the vocabulary or concepts for. It is not like people all around the world today believe in mermaids.

Your argument that they MUST exist because everyone around the world has them in their fairy tales is a really, really weak argument. Based on that same argument, then little green men from other planets, dragons, flying horses, magic, elves, and talking animals must all exist for real, too. They all exist in the mythology of most civilizations in history, too. Give me a break.

And the manatee explanation is actually a very valid possibility. For one thing, if you have actually studied the actual writings of sailors from the time (I'm a historian, and I have), you will find that the reports are very inconsistent. What some of them described was exactly like a manatee: a large, fat, ugly creature that vaguely resembles a human being. Factor in that their water was usually bad and they had to drink alcohol, which did not go bad on the boats as fast, many of the people who think they saw actual mermaids may have been drunk. They also could have been suffering from dementia or hallucinations from eating bad food or from having diseases like scurvy.

So you have no concrete evidence. No personal experiences with mermaids. Credible, logical alternative explanations for mermaid sightings in the past are readily available. And it is not even a commonly held belief in today's world, anywhere. So no. I do not believe in mermaids.

Answer 5

I'm going to have to say yes... I mean, they're part of so much folklore and almost every culture has a story or two about them.  I'm especially intrigued by the Irish one about the mermaid/selkie.  Might want to google it if you haven't heard of it, it really is pretty interesting!

Manatees and mermaids (allegedly) look nothing alike!  I mean perhaps they get sort of fogged out under the water, but it is IMPOSSIBLE to mistake something that sort of looks like a seal for a half woman-half fish when they're sitting on a rock, unless, of course, you're blind!

Answer 6

yes i do because like they are made from real humans!! and i dont think that people made up mermaids! and plus just like big foot but they have more evidence of big foot then mermaids. but i do think they are real. i mean like if u imagine a person with a tail it would be a tail like a tail of a dog or lion or something like that. unless u think of a tail with fins on it which if u think about it u cant really imagine that unless u think of mermaids. DONT BELEIVE IN THOSE HATERS THAT DONT RESPECT WHAT U BELEIVE IN!

~valeria~

Answer 7

wtf kinda Q is that?

Answer 8

Ok, be for real.  If they did exist, what would they mate with to reproduce?  What would a male mermaid be called?  How can something with all traits of a human but legs breath underwater?  I dive for a living so im thinking I would have a better chance to see one than that of someone who doesnt spend most of their time in the water.