For example, that if you shave your hair off, it will grow back thicker!! Ha ha, what ARE these people thinking?? Who else can think of some good ones?
2007-02-03 12:51:30 · 19 answers · asked by C 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Mythology & Folklore
And, no, it ISN'T called a MID-wives tale. Midwives deliver babies. How ignorant.
2007-02-06 01:06:03 · update #1
*I won't say I don't, but I can't think of any i beleive right now.*
2007-02-03 13:14:47 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I heard a young mum tell her child to eat her crusts, they'd make her hair curl! I thought that one would have disappeared by now. I ate mine but it takes a lot of help from a perm to get my hair to curl! But I was also told the old wives tale don't pick dandelions or you'll wet the bed. That is actually not far off. Dandelions are a mild diuretic when you make a tea with them.
2007-02-03 21:17:42 · answer #2 · answered by willowGSD 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
that's because folk wisdom is born of many, many years of observations of natural phenomena and we're only just beginning to get an idea that such wisdom is essentially correct.
Your example falls outside what I'm talking about, but this one is a great illustration of my point:
"Rain before 7, Fine by 11"....
The Physical, Meterological explanation of this goes like this: If the air pressure is low enough to allow it to rain before the sun rises, the sun's energy warms the air just enough to raise the air pressure over the following hours so that by 11am the pressure's high enough to stop the rain. It (the air pressure) may fall again over the next hour so that it starts raining again at midday, but the essential fact remains.
There are many other weather observations that have been proven correct hence the calling of them "folk wisdom", rather than your somewhat derogatory term "Old Wive's Tales".
Like "red sky in the morning, sheperd's warning; red sky at night, sheperd's delight" - that's got something to do with the refraction of light as the sun sinks and rises....
"It never rains on the night of the Full Moon"....
I remember seeing a book full of these wise old adages with their explanations, but unfortunately i cannot remember the title....
check it out....i'm sure you'll find stuff to both back your theory as well as mine....try wikipedia as a first stop!
update...for the person who said "the full moon makes you crazy"...scientific fact! the moon does have a tiny amount of gravitational pull upon the fluid in our brains (as it does with all bodies of water, hence tides) and in some people this is enough to affect them enough to tip the balance...
for the person who said sitting on a sidewalk gives you haemorrhoids - that's also trueas your butthole has some incredibly shallow blood vessels in it which can be ruptured by contact with very cold (i.e. concrete) surfaces to your detriment.
more backing for my theory.
sorry - the crusts, broken mirrors and the shoes one are...well....myths....
Love and Light,
Jarrah
2007-02-03 21:07:39 · answer #3 · answered by jarrah_fortytwo 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The hair on my face is thicker than when I started shaving, maybe the old wife was right
2007-02-03 20:55:14 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
Don't sweep dirt out of the house at night it brings bad luck in.
Never let a rocker or baby swing go on it's own.Death or brings bad luck.
when giving a knife or knife set to a loved one always give them a silver coin quarter,nickel whatever. Then have them hand it right back to you .Otherwise it will mean to cut your relationship.
2007-02-05 05:45:11 · answer #5 · answered by ? 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
uh first of all its called a MID wives' tale and..... i think that the hair thing isnt true but when u cut off the end part of ur hair, then when it grows back, it looks thicker becuase the tip isnt there or something. i forgot wat my friend said
2007-02-04 21:01:53 · answer #6 · answered by SJK 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Some have been proved true (e.g. lying makes your nose grow - it stimulates cells there)
An erroneous one is that promiscuous women are more likely to suffer from disorders requiring the attention of a gyno.
2007-02-03 21:03:22 · answer #7 · answered by rage997_666 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
There is a kernal of truth to old wive's tales.
2007-02-04 02:36:46 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
7 years bad luck for a broken mirror
I think I must be on 228 years to get through by now
2007-02-03 20:56:04 · answer #9 · answered by Northern Spriggan 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
some are right, but not sure about that one. I know if you loose your hair to chemo it grows back really well. But a different color! mine did anyway
2007-02-03 23:58:41 · answer #10 · answered by rose_merrick 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't believe any of that stuff. Dopey for sure. I didn't renew my subscription and it ran out a long time ago.
2007-02-04 03:05:21 · answer #11 · answered by Erica R 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋