Wet and Aggressive Corella challenges Magpie

Wet and Aggressive Corella challenges Magpie

Wednesday 30 November 2016

Unchallenged Truths we Learn in Childhood

We don't challenge them, sometimes for years.  Or I didn't.  And when we do, we learn they have little or no basis in reality.

This is not a deep post, pondering the meaning of life.  The truths in question were described by Andrew in a recent post as Debunking myths. 

I am not certain that myths is the right word.  Urban legends?  Old Wives' Tales?  All three?

I think all of us grew up with some of them, but I also think that they are cultural and generational tales.

One of my sisters-in-law and an older friend firmly believe that going out in the cold (particularly with wet hair) will give you a cold.  Fans at night are dangerous too for similar reasons.

Slightly off topic, the friend in question has a firmly held belief which always amazes me.  He tells me that cats are filthy animals, and this is confirmed by how often they wash!!!

The same sister-in-law tells me that sitting on cold things (particularly concrete) will give you piles.

My mother insisted that if we went swimming immediately after a meal we would develop cramps and drown.  Immediately.  I am pretty certain that one has been disproved.

Flowers should be put out of a sickroom at night because they give off carbon dioxide and would asphyxiate the patient.  I suspect the bedroom would have to be tiny, the patient very unwell, and the plants huge or numerous for that to be valid.

I was also told that if I let any part of me (like my hand or arm) dangle out of a moving car a passing car WOULD cut it off.  I am too ashamed to admit how old I was before I realised if the car was that close we were going to be in an accident anyway.

And recently I read one I had never heard.  The author of an autobiography I am reading at the moment said that growing up in Britain in the 1920s he was told not to lie down and fall asleep in a field with poppies in it, or he would be drugged by opium and never wake up.

And again from an earlier Britain, one of Charles Darwin's granddaughters said that her contemporaries were told that if the skin between your thumb and your forefinger was cut, or even scratched, you would develop lockjaw and die.

How about you?  Did you grow up with these?  Or with different ones?  Please let me know in the comments.
 

168 comments:

  1. Flowers should not be put in a sick room.. flower water encourages the growth of klebsiella
    A nasty bug which may cause pheumonia in the weak
    Xxx

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    1. John Gray: Thank you for that. So why do hospitals allow flowers? Except in ICU they do, and no longer take them out of the room at night.

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    2. Very good to know, John!

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    3. I can't sleep with flowers in the room because the pollens might cause an asthma attack and asthma can kill if the attack is bad enough.
      I do sleep with a fan blowing on me all summer though, with no ill effects.

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  2. We must be related--I grew up hearing ALL of these!!

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    1. fishducky: Even the poppy one? I had never, ever come across that one.

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  3. I will you tell when I'm old enough, ha ha ha ha.

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  4. I know the (probable) truth behind the swimming cramps. At a time when , for most of us, swimming meant a family picnic at the beach/lake/river/stock hole, grown-ups,having indulged in a lazy lunch, probably wanted to sit back comfortably and snooze.So they wanted the kids to stay out of the water for a while, just in case a littley went under.
    And something about not licking your fingers if you'd been handling frogs. Can't remember what horrors that induced, but it would have been worse for the poor frogs.God! Some of our fingers had been in some ghastly places!

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    1. dinahmow: You are possibly right on the swimming after eating question. On the frog front I seem to remember being told that if we picked up a frog we would get warts. We did and we didn't if that makes sense. Or was it a toad? Same deal though.

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    2. I recall the frog one & the swimming after eating one. Like you said, dinahmow, I can imagine the adults not wanting too much action after eating, so the 'cramps rule' came into being.

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    3. It was frogs that supposedly gave you warts (no toads in NZ), but my mother never told me that.She used to help me catch any frogs that got out of their "pond" which was her biggest mixing bowl!

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  5. Going out with wet hair - Our saying is you would die your death of cold.

    Sitting on cold things (stone steps) - Our saying was that this would give you chin cough (whooping cough)

    Swimming on a full stomach - This can cause cramps but not drowning.

    Dangling an arm out of the car window - We were told you could get your arm ripped off. Not so much an urban myth, it is quite feasible to at least get your arm damaged hanging it out of a car window on an English country lane.

    Cuts and lockjaw - Lockjaw is associated with rust, cuts,infected wounds. The tale is based on truth http://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/everyday-myths/rusty-nail-tetanus1.htm

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    1. CherryPie: I hadn't heard the whooping cough version. I don't have any argument that the arm dangling out a car window could be dangerous. It wasn't presented as a possibility though, but as a certainty.
      I think there are vestiges of truth in many of them. I wonder why it was the piece of skin between your thumb and your forfingers which would guarantee lockjaw though.

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    2. If that skin between the thumb and forefinger one is true I should have died many times over by now.

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  6. I've heard the saying that your mother told you, which I actually believe may be very well true.

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    1. Lon Anderson: I don't think it is true. If you have eaten a very heavy meal you might get a cramp, but you may not.

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  7. My mother's generation believed thar wet hair gave one a cold if you went outside. There were a lot of these beliefs at one time!

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    1. Marie Smith: I wonder what has replaced them? I am sure that something has.

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  8. My mother used to tell me that eating raw dough (bread dough or cookie dough) would give a person worms. Ew. I ate it anyway, and it didn't.

    We, too, were told about not going swimming for a half hour after eating. At that time I liked the water in our little river so it was hard to wait. On the other hand, I didn't want to drown ...

    We were also told not to make faces in case the wind changed and our faces stayed that way. I was young enough that I believed it for the first while.

    Interesting tales! I'm looking forward to reading more comments.

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    1. jenny_o: I don't think we got the raw dough one. Just as well, because like you I did eat it.
      We did get story about our faces getting stuck if the wind changed though.

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  9. My mother was told that a certain self-stimulating practice would lead to blindness...thankfully, three generations of women have proven that to be happily incorrect!

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    1. e: I understand in France people were told that the practise would make them deaf.

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  10. Another saying we had was picking dandelions make you wet the bed. This is also based on truth, dandelion is a diuretic.

    http://science.blurtit.com/12462/do-dandelions-make-you-wet-the-bed

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    1. CherryPie: Grains of truth in so many of them. Presented as certainties...

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  11. I have heard many of them. The no swimming right after a meal was enforced when I was a kid. I remember waiting, and waiting, and waiting...

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    1. mshatch: That one was enforced when I was a child too. Rigorously.

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  12. The poppy one had to have come from The Wizard of Oz.
    I was told about the swimming myth coming from the fact that the blood was busy carting away the food from the stomach and not reaching the extremities as as it should. I've only had cramps in the legs on land and it's hellish pain so I would say I'd sink immediately.
    What about a black cat must have one white hair so no witch can claim it as a familiar.

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    1. JahTeh: I hadn't thought of the Wizard of Oz link, but given the book was published in 1900 you are probably right.
      Cramps are hellish aren't they?
      The single white hair was one I had forgotten about too.
      Jazz has none. I wonder whether that defines me as a witch. Jewel had two or three.

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  13. Cats are dirty? Oh huh.
    :)
    A fun post today.
    The ones I remember are not to step on a crack or walk under a ladder.

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    1. Sandra Cox: Did stepping on cracks break your mother's back as we were told here? I will admit to being careful before walking under ladders. And tossing a pinch of spilled salt over my left shoulder. I don't mind breaking mirrors though.

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  14. Yep. Have heard many of those before.
    And how extraordinary ... cats are considered filthy due to how often they wash. Hmmmm.... I do wonder where some people keep their brains.

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    1. Wendy: I can't convince him differently. He always has dogs. Unwashed dogs. Which often smell.

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  15. PS Hope you're doing okay after the death of your precious, Jewel :( It hurt like hell.

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    1. Wendy: It does hurt like hell. Still. And sometimes savages me. Thank you.

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  16. I thought flowers and plants gave off oxygen?

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    1. Alex J. Cavanaugh: During the day plants take in carbon dioxide, and at night they release it. So flowers had to be moved out of sickrooms at night.

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  17. I had a weird childhood.
    My parent and guardian taught me one thing
    Don't be like them

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    1. Martin Kloess: I had a lesson or two along those lines myself.

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    2. Martin, that's what I learned in childhood.

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  18. Good Fun! "not to lie down and fall asleep in a field with poppies in it, or he would be drugged by opium " seems like an old meme. Remember the Wizard of OZ?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSiJbhoA8zw

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    1. Cloudia: I liked that one. And wondered about napping in my garden...

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  19. I had the swimming one, and my gramma held the death by wet hair in the cold as self evident.
    I thought your title was going a different direction, and so sort of inside out I have this anecdote to add: Not being 21 at the time, I was not old enough to vote for JFK. However, I was one passionate 18 year old campaigning for him. I always felt my dad was slightly left of right, but he didn't discuss his political views with his children. So, I held forth unopposed at the dining room table, until the night he interrupted me: "Within a week of the election of that man there will be armed soldiers marching in the streets." I was incensed. He simply repeated it. And so we went, to the day after when I pointed out the lack of armed soldiers. "I said within a week. You wait and see how it will be." and So we went, right on to November 11th.
    A challenged untruth. Or something...

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    1. Joanne Noragon: Love your challenged untruth. Which wouldn't have made you popular.

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  20. My mom told me to stop having children. She said your going to get a bad one if you don't stop. I just laughed at her. She had 6 and I'm the youngest. I always teased her after that and told her that she saved the best for last.

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    1. Mom at home: Love it. And I can remember one of my brothers telling his siblings that they could say what they liked about their mother, but if they said those things about his there would be trouble. And there was.

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  21. I can remember being told not to go out with wet hair, because I will catch a cold ...

    All the best Jan

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    1. Lowcarb team member: It seems to have been a common one.

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  22. The flowers in hospital turned out to be an interesting one with the comment by John Gray of Wales. All animals are dirty, including us. I think the statistics have improved since air conditioning became widely used in car, but many people used to receive smashed up elbows and arms when they used to rest them outside the car windows. Yes, I am another one who was not allowed to swim after lunch, but I think it was longer than half and hour. Now, I think I shall go and lie in a poppy field, but can someone come and wake me up please.

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    1. Andrew: John Gray's comment was interesting wasn't it? And yet hospitals welcome flowers and provide vases.
      I would like to lie down in a poppy field myself. I wonder whether the statistics support lots of people getting smashed up arms and elbows. It certainly could happen, and would be a nasty injury, but I just don't know how common it was.

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  23. When I a little kid, I remember hearing the old wives' tale about cats and breath-stealing. And I BELIEVED it for years & years...

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    1. Bea: My mother told me that wasn't true and also told me that I was not to let the cat sleep in the same room with me. Covering all bases.

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  24. This sounds really awful, but I grew up I learned that a girl/woman shouldn't have a bath or wash her hair while she had her period. I debunked that one myself pretty quickly, but my older sister continued to sponge bathe and not wash her hair. I'm guessing the original rule was not to go swimming and that would have been in the days before tampons were invented or widely available.

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    1. River: We got that one too. And, like you, I debunked it swiftly.

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  25. I also learned, from my mother, that a tiny devil lives behind your eyes and if you tell lies he will dance and she will see. She was always right there in my face making sure I was looking at her when we spoke. To this day I'm uncomfortable making eye contact for too long. After all this time though, I'm wondering if she did this to make sure I was hearing and understanding her and maybe my hearing loss goes back much further than I thought.

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    1. River: That is a scary one. And somehow my mother did know when we were telling fibs. I am intrigued that you are now thinking it was a way of ensuring you could hear though. Such an elaborate way.

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    2. and probably true, I do 'hear' much better when I can see lips moving. I have a hearing test scheduled for later today to see about hearing aids. Finally giving in.

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    3. River: Good luck with the hearing test. I wish himself would go.

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  26. Great post, EC. My mother told me most of these, too: wet hair = catch a cold, dangle hand outside the car = lose it, etc. She always made us wait 30 minutes after eating before we were allowed to go swimming (harsh, as we lived at a beach!)
    Another one, which I believed totally was that if you swallowed a stone/pit (plum, cherry etc) it would put down roots in your stomach and start putting out branches. I remember having vivid fears of tendrils of little leaves growing out of my nostrils and ears!!
    My mother was a very superstitious woman and to this day I can't walk under a ladder or stop myself throwing spilt salt over my shoulder...

    Still sending you virtual hugs. You will be missing lovely Jewel badly.

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    1. Alexia: Thank you. You are right. I do miss Jewel. So much.
      And yes, we got the fruit pips which would grow into trees. Probably in an attempt to stop us swallowing them.

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    2. Just remembered that some kids were told never to swallow chewing gum as "it gets tangled around your bones and can kill you." I never chewed gum, but I've swallowed more than a few plum, cherry, apple pips!

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    3. dinahmow: We didn't get the chewing gum one. Perhaps because we were never allowed any. And, like you I have swallowed many, many pips. And still do.

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  27. This was an interesting post, yes we are told so many things growing up and they stay embedded in our brains. I was once told not to sleep with my arm hanging over the bed at night as spirits will try and grab me from under the bed. Yikes, I always keep my arms on the bed, just in case.

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    1. Truedessa: Now that is one I hadn't heard - and I would definitely be keeping my arms on the bed. And probably in the bed to be sure.

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  28. My doctor told me not to go out with wet hair, especially when already unwell. A naturopath I used to listen to on the radio always said not to go out with wet hair or sleep on wet hair and the acupuncturist told my daughter that she would never get rid of sinus issues if she didnt blow dry her hair after every wash.
    For me, that is enough of the same advice from a range of philosophies, to be worth taking notice.

    My daughter cut her long hair off and blow dries it and she is a lot healthier than she was. It must be pointed out though, that she has had quite a lot of acupuncture and herbal treatment so the wet hair thing is only a contributor

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    1. the sleeping with poppies thing has to be utterly unfounded

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    2. kylie: I would be very, very surprised if the poppies in England's fields were opium poppies.
      I never, ever blow dry my hair. I will accept that it might be bad for health to move around with it wet - but I am certain that it doesn't give us a cold. I am glad to hear that your daughter is doing better.

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    3. I go out with wet hair a lot in summer, and sometimes in winter if I've washed it and need to catch a bus. I'm rarely ill and almost never catch colds. I can't blow dry my hair unless I WANT to look like a tumble weed.

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  29. aren't these what's called old wive's tales. I am sure there are some from my childhood but I can't recall any right now. oh I know step on a crack (in the sidewalk) break your mother's back.

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    1. Linda Starr: Some of them have at least a basis in fact. And they were certainly promoted as truth.

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  30. My mom was always worrying about something and she passed it on to me. I NEVER let my kids hang their hands out the car window!

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    1. Birdie: I am a world champion worrier myself. I mentally cross bridges long before I am sure there is a river.

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  31. Ah, yes. The going out in the cold with wet hair, swimming after eating, and sticking a hand out the window are all too familiar to me. I was also told that crossing your eyes would make them stick like that permanently. I'm sure I grew up with many more that I've since forgotten...being a bit (or a lot) of a rebel insured that most went in one ear and out the other. :)
    Hugs to you.

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    1. River Fairchild: I didn't get the crossing your eyes one, but did get a similar one that said if I made a face and the wind changed I would get stuck. Cheerful tales weren't they?

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  32. "Old wives tales" these certainly are...I guess we have all grown up with them! They certainly made you think, at the time! I believe that I have heard most of them. My favorite is putting the shiny side of a cabbage leaf onto a sore. It actually appears to work....there just might be a "grain" of truth in some of these old sayings! :)

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    1. Sienna Smythe: Another one I had never heard. I am pretty certain that there is at least a grain of truth in many of them. Not all of them though.

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  33. yes was told some of these but don't know whom by...didn't take any notice anyway, didn't make sense to me.

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    1. Margaret-whiteangel: I am really impressed that you were able to ignore them. My rebellion started later.

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  34. Such an interesting post!! My grandmother told us that if we didn't eat every grain of rice on the plate, we'd get lice! Also - no cheese or meat without eating bread as well... that one was from my dad... strange!

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    1. Nicky HW: The rice and lice one is another I had never heard. It sounds as if your father would not approve of one of my youngest brother's favourite sandwhiches in which he replaces the bread with slices of cheese.

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  35. How about two people making a pot of tea made you pregnant. Also not doing washing on new years day. My grandma was from Devon. A lot of those you mention plus others have been fed to me.

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    1. Anna of the Mutton Years: Two people making a pot of tea makes you pregnant? No wonder China has so many people. I didn't know the no washing on New Year's Day one either.

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    2. In the same pot. If the pot is emptied while sitting around with friends and more tea is required, the same woman has to make the second pot. a different woman making tea in the same pot is supposed to be the cause of a new pregnancy in the first woman. I heard this one from my mother and it explains why we all drink coffee I suppose.

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  36. I've heard some of those growing up. Recently though, a Latina friend of mine said you should never go to a viewing if you have a cut because germs from the dead person could infect you. I've also heard pregnant women should not attend viewings or funerals either. Not sure why though.

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    1. We are: Clamco: I didn't know either one of those. Thank you for adding more to the mix.

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  37. One of mine was from my grandmother who declared when I was hanging wall paper 2 weeks before Son3 was born that stretching my arms so high would cause the umbilical cord to wrap around his neck.
    The other is from Mom who hated me crossing my eye, so she told me they would stick that way.

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    1. Anne in the kitchen: And yet more. There is rich pasture in these unchallenged truths...

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  38. Dear EC
    I was aware of some of these while growing up - the not sitting on cold surfaces particularly, for some reason. Pulling faces too - 'if the wind changes, you'll stay that way' and not sitting too close to the TV otherwise you'd go cross-eyed!
    Best wishes
    Ellie

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    1. Ellie Foster: We didn't get television until late - and it was square-eyed rather than cross eyed, but the message was the same.

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  39. What a lot of interest this post stirred up.
    All except the last few were told to me as a child and I believed them all, along with the tooth fairy, the easter bunny and of course santa but they all gave me things and money so why stop believing in them.
    Merle...........

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    1. Merlesworld: I disbelieved the easter bunny and his friends long before I thought about the arm dangling out the car window one.

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  40. I've heard of several of these while growing up. My grandmother had lots of sayings but for the life of me, I can't think of one of them at the moment.

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    1. Mason Canyon and R. Mac Wheeler: Forgetting your grandmother's pronouncements? Shame on you both.

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  41. oh lordie there are too many to count. You got some good ones.

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    1. R. Mac Wheeler: There are some gems aren't there?

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  42. I grew up never taking much notice of old wives'a tales. Sure don't go swimming after you've eaten. That's about it.

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    1. Treey Stynes: You were obviously more analytical than I was. I accepted some of these for far too long.

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  43. Yes, I remember all those tales except for the poppy one. After wracking my brain, though, I don't remember any others. That's not to say they weren't there, but just that I don't remember them. This was fun! :-)

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    1. DJan: The poppy one (and the lockjaw one as well) were new to me. Gosia tells us that she heard the poppy one, so I am suspecting it was a European tale.

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  44. No matter how often it has been bebunked, people will continue to believe that cold air causes a cold. Today, though, we have Fact Check on our computers but still people believe what they want to believe.

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    1. Starting Over, Accepting Changes - Maybe: Never let truth get in the way of a good story? Sadly true in lots of areas.

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  45. Yes...I heard most of these as a child. And I'm sure I said some of them to my children (without thinking).

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    1. Lorraine: No children here. And if there were I probably would have said some of them too.

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  46. These are great. A couple I've never heard before.
    I was always told never to throw the damp dishtowel over my shoulder when doing the dishes because I'd get arthritis in that shoulder. And to start at the house and mow the grass outward. (Found the truth to that when I mowed the cord!)

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    1. Diane Tolley: I didn't know the arthritis in the shoulder one? And can just hear it...

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    2. Well now, this is just unfair. I never threw a damp towel over my shoulder and have the arthritis anyway (*~*)

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  47. Oh this is a wonderful step back into memory-land I can still hear my grandmother telling me about catching the cold, they've all been and are a part of my life. But the cat thing I would say is false, only because they really (with all that constant washing) are actually the cleanest right! Funny thing is I find myself repeating many of these things, especially using the "so far as yet" or that thing you didn't want to happen will!

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    1. Karen S.: I never knew either of my grandmothers and can tell that I missed some good stories. I got most of these tales even without them though.

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  48. I heard the wet hair thing from my mother constantly and finally cut an article out to show her that myth was debunked, but she didn't believe it. I have curly hair and just let it dry naturally - always have (except as a child and in her charge.) :)

    And we had the swimming cramp thing, too. And the arm dangling thing.

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    1. Lynn: My curly hair is wash and wear hair too. Which works for me.
      Interesting that the stories cross oceans.

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  49. There was no doubt in my childhood that, if we went swimming immediately after our picnic we would sink to the bottom and never be seen alive again. It was also a very dangerous practice to pull ugly faces as, at any moment, the wind might change and you'd have that ugly face for life....
    Thanks for the memory jog!

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  50. You know the wet hair in the cold makes sense since that is where we first lose our body heat....
    Hope you're having a good day.
    Hugs

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    1. Sandra Cox: Except that being cold doesn't give you a cold. And we weren't only warned in winter...
      Hugs gratefully received and returned.

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    2. Hmm, I think if you get cold it can mess with your immune system and lead to a cold. My daughter gets colds from being out in the rain.
      Though, now that I think about it, back in high school and college I walked around with wet frozen hair on a regular basis:)
      It never did seem to effect me.

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  51. EC there are a lot of predictions in each community and I heard from my grandma story about poppies. Love from Poland

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    1. Gosia k: It seems the poppy tale was a very local one. I think you are the only one who had come across it. I love that different cultures and locations have their own stories...

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  52. I grew up with the same indigestion tale. If you go for a swim after lunch or a heavy dinner you risk getting a stitch that will make you drown. I've proved that myth so many times by now.

    Greetings from London.

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    1. A Cuban in London: I grew up with that one too. And didn't swim after eating for many, many years.

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  53. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeexcellent!

    The one about the wet hair was engraved inside for many years...And I passed it onto my own kids!

    Um, let me see...I was told that carrots make your eyesight 20/20. Also, that cats would kill your baby.

    Never happened.

    xx

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    1. My Inner Chick: Isn't it fascinating. We question so much and, in my case anyway, didn't question these 'truths' for years.

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  54. I definitely was told not to swim after eating for fear of drowning. I think parents just wanted a few minutes breather after watching kids in the water all day. ;) I was also told not to go outside with wet hair or I would catch a cold. Amazing to think how many of these are passed around all over the globe. :)
    ~Jess

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    1. DMS ~ Jess: You are the second person to raise the idea that the swimming ban gave parents a breather. Isn't it fascinating how similar, and how different, the stories were were told are?

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  55. Ever since childhood you can't get me to sit on anything ice cold particularly in the wintertime but then again I have had the misfortune to get a bad kidney infection. The arms out of cars I too know about. And one to make you not ever want to go to sleep at least for me and that is that when we dream that we fall if we don't suddenly jolt awake but do hit the ground or wherever we were falling to that means we have died. I had the double whammy of having both Latvian tales to worry about and English ones.

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    1. Rasma Raisters: That dream one is scary. Except I suppose it means you simply don't wake up...

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  56. I so enjoy reading this post today and having quite a laugh at some of these old wife's talesto. When growing up I heard all of these except for the poppy and lockjaw one at the end of your post . I also enjoyed reading the comments

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    1. Margaret Adamson: I am glad you enjoyed it. The poppy and the lockjaw ones were not ones I grew up with either.

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  57. I can relate to nearly all your phobias for want of a better word.
    Definitely about getting a cold for the most unlikely reasons and also swimming straight after a big meal.
    I am sure I have heard (many years ago) about going to sleep in a field of poppies and also the one about cutting the hand in that certain place, but not sure what the result would be.
    You have to realise I am much older than you so that is why these old wives' tales are more familiar to me.
    I do remember the one about not sitting on cold things (I actually think I heard Phil say it laughingly not long ago) and when I was in hospital years ago (either when aged 12 or 21) they used to take the flowers from the hospital rooms each night and bring them back in the morning. Not sure if that also happened in 1955 and 1957 when I had my two infants.
    I am sure there are plenty more of these that one could find if one searched thoroughly. Now that may give me something to do when I am looking for some light entertainment.

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    1. I just remembered if I pulled a face mum telling me if the wind changed I would stay like that and also there was a certain time when one did not go swimming which was a nuisance as I so loved swimming. So many things have been proven wrong over the years thank goodness.

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    2. Jinxing that wasn't smart of you now was it

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    3. Mimsie: I wonder what we are replacing these with? I do know that the stories are generational and related to our culture but I would be surprised if they stop.

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  58. I wonder how many ran to take "naps" in poppy fields - it sounds a bit enticing.

    The only myth I can think of that I grew up with was "Step on a crack and you break your mama's back." That was of course, what I learned from peers.

    Take care, EC.

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    1. Rawknrobyn: I can certainly see the charm of a nap in the poppy fields myself. And remember the step on a crack one too.

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  59. Don't be ashamed to admit how old you were before you realized if you hung your hand out the window it would be in an accident before being cut off....cause I just realized it now :). Yes the catching a cold if you go out with wet hair myth has been debunked

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    1. Kim@stuffcould: Amazing the way they sneak in and remain unquestioned for some of us isn't it? And other people question early. And often.

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  60. My mom firmly believed that if you go out in the cold with wet hair you will catch a cold. It took me a long long time to get rid of that myth.

    Next spring I will sleep among my poppies...

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    1. Carola Bartz: That was a tenacious one wasn't it? I am pretty certain that a lot of people still have it.
      And yes, a lot of us would love to sleep in the poppies.

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  61. Oh, my! So similar to what I grew up with! I started reading and kept smiling throughout because we were told almost the same things!

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    1. Olivia Rose: Welcome and thank you. It seems these stories travelled the world.

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  62. I've heard about a lot of these. We were told never to sit on radiators at school - otherwise we would get piles!

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    1. Lady Fi: How intriguing. We were told that sitting on a cold surface would give us piles, and you were told the opposite.

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  63. OMG, we have an abundance of these where I come from. I remember being told all my teenhood and early adult life about how the ghosties and ghoulies would get me if I left my hair loose after dark (had long hair then). And not to eat fruit after nightfall, would give me indigestion...and not to sleep with my head in the north or was it south? brain would fry or something...don't sit on pillows or you'd get boils on your bum...loads about cats being omens too...and other animals...seeing a snowy owl was incredibly lucky (because the goddess Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity and grace, rides a snowy owl)...lost count now of these 'superstitions.'

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    1. Nilanjana Bose: Different - and the same. All about control. And I WOULD think that seeing a snowy owl was incredibly lucky.

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  64. Oh, yes....all of the above and many others! lol

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  65. Hi EC - the old wives' tales we had ... walking under a ladder, having a black cat walk in front of one, all the countryside tales ... so many ... wonderful post and full of excellent replies ... cheers Hilary

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    1. Hilary Melton-Butcher: I almost always share my life with at least one black cat. And somedays they walk across my path repeatedly...

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  66. I definitely heard about the eating then swimming and cramps and drowning! Some of the others you mentioned were new to me though-interesting too :o)

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    1. HBF: I think the drowning one was very common. And widely believed.

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  67. Growing up in a religious cult, we were not allowed music. We were told playing a record backwards would produce secret messages from the devil. How would you play a record backwards anyhow, I would want to ask. We were also told all rock music was composed of just 3 cords and that they had been given by the devil. I used to ask also how Adam and Eve, if they had two sons, Cain and Able, if they went away to form families, who in the world did they marry? If the only other people on earth were their parents Adam and Eve. I suppose that's off subject. We were also told cutting our hair would make it grow back faster next time and that not eating enough when we were little would mean we would never have to eat much and save a lot of money down the years.

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    1. Strayer: The not eating much/saving money later is evil. More evil in my eyes than playing a record backward. We got a version of the hair growing faster thing. If we shaved our legs it would grow back thicker. And darker.

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  68. Such a great post this, you had me thinking back a lot. And I was told all of yours including the poppy one! The piles one is because if you already have piles, but they have popped back in and calmed down, sitting on a cold or cold and damp surface irritates them and may get them running for the exit again. I have this on good authority from several sufferers. I thank the small Gods and medium sized dogs that of all the ills I've had, piles ain't (as yet) on the list.

    Ma always said a girl who's time of the month it is, was in danger (unspecified) if they had a bath during that week. I kid you not!!! Good grief!! That's when hot baths are good!

    And as someone else mentioned, over here, if you put your arm out of a car, some of the roads are so thin, and the traffic so close, you might lose a finger or too at least. Definitely a head. No heads out of windows. Going to bed with wet hair will give you a cold *nods* Xx

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    1. All Consuming: I would have thought that cold would make piles shrink and hide - much as some bits of the other gender do... And no, no piles here, for which I am grateful.
      And yes a hot bath can be a very soothing thing.
      The poppies one seems to be from your side of the world. I never heard it here.
      On particularly hot nights I go to bed wet often, hoping that evaporation will cool me down enough to sleep. Hair and all. No cold has resulted.
      The skinny one's mum used to put his pyjamas in the freezer so he could be cool enough to sleep.

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  69. Mum told me that biting my nails would give me worms.
    Eating cheese at night would give me bad dreams.
    Never bring lilac blossoms or a peacock feather into the house, a certain bringer of bad luck.
    And from my aunt.... if you hear a ticking spider, a family member is going to die. No idea what a ticking spider sounds like!

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    1. Shammickite: A ticking spider is new to me too. As a confirmed nail biter (for years) I am surprised I didn't get that one.

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  70. I heard many of these while growing up in France – so they are international. My mother used to say not to open an umbrella indoors as it would bring me misfortune. She also said that to kill a spider was bad luck – when she saw one she would sing as mother said spiders like music – also if you saw a spider in the evening – it gave you hope but if you saw a spider in the morning it would bring sadness . Spider in French is “araignée” so “ araignée du soir: espoir, araignée du matin: chagrin.”

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    1. Vagabonde: Thank you. I didn't realise that when you saw a spider changed the impact. Or that they liked music. They are such clever beasts I am not surprised. We also got the 'bad luck to open an umbrella indoors' one. And to this day I don't.

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  71. I'm sure I did grow up with some, but I can't remember any on the spot. I'm sure for days now I'll be thinking of them here and there. :)

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    1. mail4rosey: I hope you can stop them from popping into your head. I really don't want to create an earworm.

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  72. I've been told some goofy things as a child, but I've always been a little skeptical because I had a neighbor who often pulled my leg and then laughed at my expense.
    But, I've never heard the ones you mentioned.
    There was a kid here that stuck her head out a school bus window as the bus was backing up. The side of the bus scrapped a tree and the child's head was severed. True story.
    R

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    1. Rick Watson: That is a tragic story. The busdriver, the other children, the family would never recover.
      I was always aware that it 'could' happen, but it was presented as a certainty. Which fortunately it isn't.

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  73. Those were fun to read, trying to think of what I grew up with. Oh, I got one, eating the crusts of bread will make my cheeks rosey. Or is it spelled, rosy. I dunno. Either way, that's one I recall.

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    1. The Happy Whisk: Crusts of bread were supposed to make our hair curly rather than our cheeks rosy. Different - and still designed to make us eat our crusts.

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  74. Your post and many of the comments brought back some hilarious memories. Eating crusts was curly hair for me too. I was also told that if I was making a funny face when the wind changed direction it would stay that way, I can't find anyone else calling it widdershins though - someone would just say 'widdershins' and we'd stop pulling faces, or we'd stop looking cross or miserable. And what about 'square eyes' from watching too much TV. Actually those three things are funny ones to have mentioned as I have curly hair, I smile a lot and I don't watch TV.

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    1. Kim: Widdershins is new to me. Love it. And I too have curly hair, smile often, and rarely watch the box.

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