Things like don’t shake a baby (babies love to be bounced and rocked, which are honestly just gentle shaking, but even moderately vigorous shaking can seriously injure or kill an infant and you should never shake a baby in anger or anything like that) or don’t take anything with you when exiting a building when a fire alarm goes off (don’t go looking for things, but you should still put your coat on if it’s next to you and it’s cold out). What other common maxims are generally good to follow, but over exaggerated? Bonus points if it’s only a well known saying because our instinct is to do the thing, like with rocking babies.
(Please don’t think I’m telling you to shake babies or look for and carry huge stacks of files out of a burning building)
“The gun is always loaded.” That maxim is meant to engender proper safety habits, yet I’ve had people try to argue that it should always be taken literally. Then how the hell am I supposed to clean the damned thing?!
Related, but I have a hard time looking down the business end of a gun barrel, even if it’s completed detached from the weapon, nothing but a steel tube. Guess the maxim worked on me!