Do you know any "old wives tales"?

[madison2000]

The expression is so familiar but I can't think of any.

[JimmyJazz]

1. It's bad to go swimming within one hour of eating - you'll

cramp up and drowned.

[Bjornsdotter]

6. Robert Klein did a great piece on this..

...."what did you eat? Potato salad...1/2 hour...ham sandwich...20 minutes"

Cheers,
Kim

[miss_kitty]

2. if you masturbate

god kills a kitten

[Joe Power]

4. If only that were true

I could say that 1/8 of my time on earth wasn't wasted.

[demosincebirth]

7. Don't drink milk after eating cherries...make ya sick.

[JohnKleeb]

16. hey thats how President Taylor died

[JimmyJazz]

12. No sweetie - you've got that slightly wrong:

but that's not an old wives tale - that's a fact, Jack.

ON edit: I'm too lazy to fix this - so please feel free to click on the image :P

[fluffernutter]

27. i thought it had something to do with going blind or

growing hair in funky places :P

[Bjornsdotter]

3. Yes...

Not sure if this is one in America but it is in Sweden...don't let a cat sleep with a baby; it will steal it's breath.

Cheers,
Kim

[JimmyJazz]

9. Yes - I have heard that one, too.

[goodboy]

5. never put an upright piano on an outside wall.

this one, however used to be true when houses weren't built like the are today. The registers were usually on outside walls where windows were...so the piano would get the heat from the register and the cold from the outside...but now it doesn't matter. You can put them virtually anywhere as long as you don't place it on a register.

[librechik]

8. my husband's ex-wife once took a dump in their living room

about thirty years ago. She doesn't deny it.

[Joe Power]

11. Isn't it about time someone cleaned it up?

[librechik]

35. hey, I'm not doin it...

[demosincebirth]

13. whaaaat???

[madison2000]

My mother told me not to start shaving my legs in junior high or

the hair would grow back darker or thicker. Didn't happen but she still believes it.

[Left Is Write]

10. Sure.

If you carry the baby high, it's a girl. If you carry the baby low, it's a boy.

If you shave your legs, the hair will grow back thicker and darker.

If you go swimming less than an hour after you eat, you will get a cramp.

Feed a cold, starve a fever.

Coffee will stunt your growth.

If you sit too close to the television, you will ruin your eyes. If you read in low light, you will ruin your eyes.

If you cross your eyes your face will freeze that way.

If you have food aversions during pregnancy, the baby will dislike those foods also.

[madison2000]

14. Mom. Is it you?

:hi:

[Left Is Write]

18. I'm a wife, but I'm not sure I qualify as an "old wife."

;)

And don't you believe any of those tales, either! All of the ones I wrote are untrue.

When I was pregnant with my first, I was still at work just a few days before giving birth. I did not know the gender of the baby. A woman I had never seen or met before came up to me in the cafeteria and said, "Look how low you're carrying! That's a boy for sure!"

Nope. It was a girl. I didn't have a boy until 14½ years later - and I carried HIM high! :)

[saltpoint]

15. My grandmother, explaining the facts of life to my younger --

-- sister, told her that in the moment of intimacy, if the woman sits astride during coitus the resulting child will be female; if the male is atop, then the baby will be male.

My sister, age 11, says she listened politely while silently dismissing it as an old wives' tale.

[sakabatou]

17. More

A wild bird flying into one's house portends ill luck, possibly even death.

Chewing gum takes seven years to pass through the human digestive system.

A few drops of Lemon Joy in a saucer of water will knock mosquitoes dead from the sky.

Custom allows marriage-minded gals to propose to their boyfriends on February 29.

Friday the 13th is a day fraught with peril.*

Hair grows back darker or thicker after it has been shaved.

Those who go swimming less than one hour after eating will be taken by a cramp and drown.

Even in the most crowded of rooms, an inexplicable silence will invariably strike conversationalists at twenty past the hour.

Home remedies to repel mosquitoes are effective ways to defend yourself from West Nile Virus.

An effective cure for warts is to have someone "buy" them from you.

[Ramsey]

19. Trauma causes cancer

Many people find a lump because they inadvertently traumatize the area, but trauma itself does not cause cancer.

[Ramsey]

20. Trauma causes cancer

Many people find a lump because they inadvertently traumatize the area, but trauma itself does not cause cancer.

[Rabrrrrrr]

21. If your nose itches, someone's thinking of you; if your ear itches,

someone is talking about you.

[madison2000]

25. If your nose itches you're about to kiss a fool

If you're horny, you'll wake up with a jerk. No, I made the last one up!!! :loveya:

[Rabrrrrrr]

22. Astrology works

[Rabrrrrrr]

23. Creation Science is true

[Rabrrrrrr]

24. That men have one less rib than women, because Adam

gave up his rib to have Eve made.

I actually knew a woman in college - at an engineering school! - who was absolutely sure that women had one more rib than men.

[madison2000]

29. (But only on one side.) Rib was taken out at the 5th intercostal space.

[Rabrrrrrr]

32. Ah, yes - on only one side.

[fluffernutter]

26. Cats can steal the air from a baby's mouth.

[fluffernutter]

28. Chocolate causes acne and Cracking knuckles causes arthritis.

[Rabrrrrrr]

30. All the wedding bullshit - "something borrowed, something blue"

and whatever the hell else it is.

[Rabrrrrrr]

31. That 13 is unlucky; that black cats are evil; and all those other

superstitions.

[madison2000]

33. Having a boy touch your breasts makes them grow bigger

Actually, sounds more like a teenage boys tale :shrug:

[Misunderestimator]

34. Put vinegar on sunburn...

my grandmother made my brother do that once... huge blisters resulted.

[yellowdogintexas]

36. If the palm of your hand itches,you are about to receive some

money.

eating too much salt will dry up your blood