Talk:Old wives' tale

message: I'm not so sure about rusty nails being no worse than other nails. It is true that an anaerobic climate is necessary for growth of Clostridium tetani and that oxides of iron would not be expected to depelete their neighborhood of oxygen. However, this simple view does not take into account the fact that rust particles and dirt accumulated within the rust could be deposited as "foreign bodies" in a wound, giving rise to infections with other organisms, changes in the actions of enzymes and other metabolic effects together with devitalization of the affected area, all of which could encourage proliferation of the tetatus microbe. Perhaps there are reports in the medical literature that might clarify whether rust contributes to tetanus. Myron 15:42, 17 October 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Yes. Back when horses were ubiquitous and all horses wore horseshoes (attached by nails, of course), old nails were everywhere. Also many people back then didn't own/couldn't afford shoes and went around barefoot, especially in the southern US where you could do that without losing toes to frostbite three months a year. Add this to the fact that one of the most common sources of tetanus historically was horse feces, and the old wives' tale begins to make a little more sense. --Charlene 08:47, 30 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Rusty nail 

message: How about a phrase origins section?  Looks to be the title of a 16th century play.  Unless anyone posts opposition I will work on sorting this out.  143.88.85.140 22:57, 31 October 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Origins of the Phrase 

message: Shaving/cutting hair makes it grow thicker than before
While stabilised hair should not have much impact, the usual thin hair all over the skin has.
Shaving that hardly visible hair can make it thicker or darker, more visible anyhow.
At least i know one woman who told me she tries in her 14yr histeria to shave top of breasts - and later had great regret on this.
Perdon my poor English.
:It's not true. The hair that is above the surface of the skin is dead. Cutting it will have absolutely no effect on the living tissue inside the skin that produces the hair. The only tiny kernel of truth in this myth is because of how hair is tapered at the end. If you cut off the tapered tip, only the thicker, lower part of the hair will be left as the hair continues to grow. This may create an optical illusion that the hair is thicker, but it is no thicker than it would be if you had not cut off the tapered tip. When the cut hair naturally falls out and is replaced by a new hair, the new hair will be completely unaffected by the previous one having been cut. --Icarus (Hi!) 04:12, 8 November 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Additionally, I've heard some people say that some hair, particularly facial hair, will slowly 'bleach' and lose colour in the sun (particularly in pre-pubecent moustuche hair), so by removing it, the stubble that regrows is a slightly darker tone. Is there any truth in this? Reverieuk 23:49, 14 December 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Shave or not? 

message: What if you get some in your eyes?--Kawachan 17:19, 30 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Masturbation and blindness 

message: Toward the end of the article, there seems to be little difference between these tales and general superstition. How would you define the difference? I looked at the article on superstition, and it seems as if the difference might be that the consequence in superstition is just generally "bad luck" or "good luck," while old wives' tales have more specific consequences. What do the rest of you think?Lawikitejana 22:47, 19 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Vs. superstition? 

message: Surely this one is very famous? Anyone got any information on it?
I found This new scientist link in favor --Reverieuk 00:30, 15 December 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  'Feed a cold, Starve a fever.' 

message: I believe the "wife" in "old wives' tale" doesn't refer to "wife" as we know it, but to the Old English term for a woman.  Hence, old women's tales.
Same as "housewife."  She's not married to a house, she's a woman who is associated with the house.
So "alewife" for a woman bartender or "farm wife" for a female farmer.
Maybe also "man and wife" although I don't vouch for it.Hypostasis 00:43, 17 December 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Use of 'wife'

message: There's an old tale if you go outside in cold weather with wet hair you'll catch a cold. I don't know for sure if it's true or not because wouldn't the water absorb heat? Cold weather alone is enough to give you a runny nose.
:It's safe to say that it's probably not true. The moistness of your hair should have no impact on your immune system, or any other factor that would make it likelier for you to catch a cold. It's certainly not true in an absolute sense: I've done this plenty of times and never caught a cold from it, and while anecdotal evidence is not conclusive, it at least proves the method is not reliable...
:Also, having a runny nose doesn't necessarily mean you caught a cold, though it is one of the symptoms. See Mucus#Cold weather and mucus for an explanation of how cold weather can cause a runny nose in an otherwise healthy person. 82.92.119.11 00:56, 14 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Cold hair

message: Wording of "never jump up and down it will give u a rash to be energic" is so confusing... Could someone please rephrase it? JBatista 12:47, 26 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Really Old "old wives' tale"

message: I removed a bunch of the text of this article, due to it being unsourced.  In fact, almost the entire article is unsourced, but these bits appear to be the most dubious.  Note that we don't merely need sources showing that an old wives' tale is false/true, we need sources that it even exists in the first place.  Please find sources for this, if anyone wants to re-add it, or for anything else you wish to add to the article:
"Watching television too much/up close will give you square eyes
False
This rumor is likely told to keep children from sitting too close to a television set or watching too much. Watching television for extended periods, and/or too closely, may cause fatigue, but it won't change the natural shape of the eye.
 Very old wives' tales 
None of these have any basis of truth:
* A man's hat placed on his marriage bed will cause infertility.
* Washing clothes on New Year’s Day will cause you to spend all year doing laundry.
* A black cricket in your house indicates you are prospering.
* If your palm itches, you are about to receive some money.
* If your nose itches, relatives are coming to visit.
* If you spill salt, you will not eat well for a period of time that is in proportion to the amount of salt spilled.
* Pulling a loose baby tooth in a child will cause permanent teeth to be crooked.
* Drinking coffee reduces body growth. False. Coffee is a stimulant and may increase body growth, or more likely, will have no effect. 
* Taking showers or washing your hair when you are sick will rehatch a virus. False. Doctors prescribe cold water showers to bring down temperatures and nasal congestion.  Viruses do not lay eggs or hatch from them.  The most nearly analogous activity is that some viruses, such as those responsible for herpes and chickenpox, can become dormant in the nerves and reactivate under various circumstances, such as the immune system becoming weakened.  However, a shower is unlikely in the extreme to cause this. 
* Eating the crust of bread makes your hair curl. False.
* A pimple on your tongue means that you have lied. False.
* If your chin does not shine yellow when you hold a buttercup underneath it then you do not like butter. A variation of this tale is that if it does shine yellow, you'll be rich. Veracity would be coincidental, not causative.
* If you sneeze while someone else is talking, then what they are saying is true.
* Don't cross your eyes; they might stay that way. It is conceivable that the ocular muscles may become cramped or strained while crossing the eyes, but the probability is very low.
* If you smell dandelions, you'll wet your bed. Coincidental if true.
** This may refer to the dandelion's well-known diuretic properties, but one would have to consume them; smelling would have no effect. Nonetheless, the idea that dandelions cause bedwetting is seen in the English folkname for the plant ("pissabed") and the common French name for it (pissenlit).
* If your eyelids keep on twitching or ticing (blepharospasm), something significantly bad is going to happen to you soon.  If the twitch occurs on the left eye, it means you will lose money, while a twitch on the right eye means you will be in some life-at-risk disasters. Unless the twitch is a highly unusual foresign of stroke, causation would be impossible to verify. 
* If you eat cold milk and cherries together, it is toxic. U.S. President Zachary Taylor was believed to have died because he consumed milk and cherries together. Alternatively, any fruit consumed with milk will make you ill, because the acid in the fruit will make the milk curdle in your stomach. False, but the combination will cause discomfort in sensitive individuals. 
* Eating apples with cherries increases penis size. Coincidental if true.
* Eating cheese before going to bed will make you have nightmares. Eating any food before bed may disrupt the somnatic cycle, increasing the likelihood that sleepers will awake during REM sleep and remember their dreams.
*Not wearing slippers indoors will cause a range of ailments such as diarrhea, infertility, hemorrhoids, and pneumonia (common belief in many eastern European countries, including Poland, Bulgaria, and Turkey). False.
*Drinking cold liquids or eating ice cream will cause one to have a sore throat. False. Ice cream is often given to tonsilitis patients after operations.
* Burying a chicken's foot in the garden cures common ailments. Coincidental if true.
* A crow making noise on your rooftop foretells the arrival of a guest. (Especially in Punjab) (In Norse mythology, the principal god, Odin, is accompanied by two ravens who can foresee the future.) However, Galliformes (game birds of the chicken family) predict death if perched on rooftops (especially in Northern Europe).
* If you drink milk after eating rice, it can kill you. False. (Rice is a staple food in Asia, many Asians drink milk right after eating rice with no problems)
:Not to mention the main ingredients of rice pudding. mh. 22:18, 28 May 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Removing a bunch of article

message: "The tale is believed to have originated as a misunderstanding of advice by fertility specialists not to be standing up during coitus, if one is attempting to become pregnant. While it is true that some positions encourage pregnancy, the converse idea that some positions prevent it is false."
Actually, the reasoning here seems sound, as long as the word "prevent" is changed to "discourage".  If certain positions improve the chances of pregnancy over the average of all positions, then the use of positions which do not improve the chances of pregnancy over the chances of all positions should decrease the chances of pregnancy.  The myth seems to lie in the belief that, if certain positions "cause" pregnancy (stronger than the actual "encourage"), than other positions "prevent" pregnancy (again, stronger than the correct "discourage").  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Editor437 (talk • contribs) 02:52, 3 February 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Sex Standing Up

message: "If you feel a burning in your ears, it means that somebody is talking about you. A variation on this is that if you hear a ringing in your ears, someone is thinking about you. In Pakistan, India, and former USSR countries, hiccups are a sign that you are being remembered by someone. In Japan, if you sneeze it means that somebody is talking about you behind your back. Similarly, choking mildly on food is also supposed to mean that somebody is talking about you. False."
While such beliefs might be false most of the time, there is no scientific evidence against the claim. Should remove the false at the end.
-Max  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.181.237.179 (talk) 20:45, 3 May 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: What scientific evidence do you have to support your claim? -- Smjg (talk) 22:25, 27 May 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  could be true 

message: Could some Old Wive's Tales from maybe 100 years ago have since lost the label "Old Wive's Tales" if they have been proven scientifically true leaving us with nothing but false tales?Lots of herbs meant to cure things really work, but were once Old Wives's tales.  Cramp Bark Tea relieves menustruation cramps, Rapeseed (the weed used to make Canola Oil) causes goats to act crazy when forced to eat it (the acid that causes this has been removed for human consumption, thus the name change), Devil's claw relieves Arthritis, etc.
I can't agree with the statement Old Wive's Tale's are generally false or the comparison made here on Wiki to Urban Legends.  Urban Legends are almost always untrue and sensational, granted the best ones are based on some fact, making for good converstaion. Old Wive's Tales true or not are some kind of teaching anecdotes, not really tales or stories.
A much more useful discussion would be to discover what the intended purpose of an Old Wive's Tale was, this would explain why it was perpetuated. 76.124.208.110 (talk) 18:55, 7 November 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Old Wive's Tales Over Places and Time. 

message: I have always heard ``If you step on a line, you'll break your mother's spine.`` and ``Don't make silly faces or it will stay like that forever.``.  I was wondering if anyone knows the origins of these old wives tales.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.229.112.135 (talk) 18:22, 19 May 2011 (UTC)
thread_title: some examples

message: My mother always said ``Always wear clean underwear because you never know what could happen.`` and I was wondering if this counts as an old wives tale.  If it does, is it true?  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.240.55.173 (talk) 15:47, 20 May 2011 (UTC)
thread_title: Does this count?

message: I have added a section to the article about the oral tradition of old wives' tales. I think this section could be expanded even further. Does anyone have any opinions on this? Pilkie01 (talk) 04:41, 1 November 2011 (UTC)
thread_title: Oral Tradition

message: Can we be sure about whether these are old tales of wives, or tales of old wives?  It would usually be older women handing these lessons down, but on the other hand the lessons are ancient.  Correctrix (talk) 11:23, 3 November 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  What is old? 

message: This is a poor example, since adults never believe this; it's only something that they say to children to try to improve their behavior... AnonMoos (talk) 23:48, 13 December 2017 (UTC)
thread_title: "Don't make silly faces or it will make the silly face permanent."

message: The idea that sugar consumption causes or worsens hyperactivity has been debunked thoroughly, but it's one of the most widely-accepted concepts in food folklore. Should this be included? - 24.37.164.162 (talk) 14:02, 29 December 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Sugar and hyperactivity 

message: ie to win a, something similar ,than- or a war.you have to separate the other people.someone please tell me what is the expression/old wives tale????...(.????? ) 92.40.214.85 (talk) 23:17, 10 March 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  War-winning & separating people