What's the most ridiculous " fact" or old wives tale do you know about anything?

[debm55]

Last edited Mon Jul 3, 2023, 02:15 PM - Edit history (1)

Black Strap Molasses is good for your hair. And bats can get tangled in your hair resulting in getting your hair cut off. And another about going blind for some reason or other. Did anyone hear that one?

[MiHale]

1. That hippo milk is pink...

It really not but it is an interesting story.

https://a-z-animals.com/blog/hippo-milk-the-real-story-why-its-pink/

[debm55]

2. Thanks MiHale---started reading the other stories.

[NoRethugFriends]

3. That the U.S. is the greatest country in the world. (nt)

[debm55]

4. Or there is one system of justice.

[NoRethugFriends]

14. right

[Chainfire]

5. The one that irritated me the most was associated with my job.

I was a new construction plumber, and in our work we do a lot of excavations. When you backfill an excavation you inevitably end up with too much or too little backfill materials to return the grade to its original condition. The old plumbers, and some of the old inspectors, that I had the greatest respect for, would insist that whether you had too much or too little fill was the result of the current phase of the moon. (New Moon, too little, full moon too much is how I believe it went)...I would argue with them until I was blue in the face, to no avail. They thought that I was a damn fool for not believing them.

Later in my career, when I taught apprentice classes, I about had to beat that superstition out of some my students and I doubt it took with many of them. They would believe superstition that grandad told them over demonstrable facts. (I bet the moon folks all became Republicans)

[debm55]

9. Yep, sometimes things are hard to let go of, especially when they are spoken about generation after

generation.

[Kali]

25. I hear that one in regards to castrating calves

and whether they will bleed too much.

[patricia92243]

6. It is better for a baby to be born early than for a baby to be born late. I'm

not sure if that was the exact wording.

[debm55]

10. I heard of that one. Also related if a baby is carried high it's a girl and if it is carried low it'

is a boy. I might have gotten those mixed up.

[doc03]

7. Balls (monkey balls) from Osage Orange trees will keep spiders

out of your house. They don't work and I think they may even attract them.

[debm55]

11. Never heard that one before. Did you try it?

[doc03]

23. I saw a book of old remedies and wives tales at the Boscov's store. It said Native

Americans used them to keep spiders out of their tee pees. I have these big wolf spiders get in my basement when it
starts getting cooler outside in the fall. I picked up a coupe monkey balls and put them next to my basement door. I didn't
see where they helped but I thought I would get more and try them again the next year. I was fishing one day and saw an osage orange tree, so I picked up about 8 of them. A couple hours later I started itching like crazy. I noticed the front of my boat was covered with hundreds of tiny spiders. I threw them out of my boat and sprayed the inside of the boat with bug killer to get rid of all the damn spiders. I don't mind snakes, bees and other bugs but spiders creep me out. A friend of mine nearly died from a brown recluse bite, I couldn't sleep
if I knew there was a live spider in my house.

[Kali]

26. huh, that is interesting

years ago in Turkey, I bought some beautiful ceramic "balls" about 3 inches in diameter strung on hand woven straps. they called them spider balls and you are supposed to hang them in a ceiling corner to repel...spiders. mine have spiderwebs all over them.

[Wicked Blue]

8. If you cross your eyes too much, they'll stay crossed

[debm55]

12. I have heard of that one, there was another--if you made a face your face would stay like that.

[Phentex]

24. I'm certainly NOT going to try it!

[Effete Snob]

13. That you can prove anything in court by mailing a document to yourself

There are a couple of variations on this.

The one I run into a lot is the inane notion that you can show ownership of a copyright by putting your work in a sealed envelope and mailing it to yourself so it has the dated postmark on it.

The more general form is that you can show (insert evidentiary issue here) by mailing (whatever) to yourself, for the same reason.

There has never - in the history of court proceedings - been a trial of any kind in which someone shows up with a sealed, postmarked envelope and then proceeds to open the envelope and, voila, wins the case.

Evidence doesn't work that way.

Actually, that gives me an idea. I think I'll Scotch magic tape a bunch of envelopes, mail them to myself, remove the tape, and keep a handy supply of postmarked envelopes around. Wait a couple of months after the postmark date, put in current newspaper clippings, and then seal them. Those would be fun to have around.

[debm55]

21. I never heard of that one before. I guess people actually thought it would work. Thank you for

sharing.

[sanatanadharma]

15. "Don't sit on a concrete wall or bench", the Georgians told my Peace Corp wife

I think this applies only to women. Apparently bad things arise from concrete too close to the thighs or places nearby.

My wife was in the Republic of Georgia (old USSR) as a USPC volunteer.
She was constantly stumbling over cultural knowns unknown to her.

[debm55]

18. I heard this all the time as my relatives came from Georgia (old USSR) As was told to me men and

women would get hemorrhoids from sitting on concrete wallls or benches.

[hlthe2b]

16. "Feed a cold; starve a fever..." (Nope, really bad for the immune system--feed 'em both)

[debm55]

20. Heard that one. You are so right.

[Diamond_Dog]

17. If you swallow a watermelon seed

A watermelon plant will grow inside you.

[debm55]

19. Heard that and apple seeds too.

[Gruenemann]

22. Glass is a liquid

Oddly, ancient Egyptian bottles are the same shape they were when they were made...

[First Speaker]

27. That if you wash your hands in water eggs have been boiled in, you'll get warts...

...I had a great-aunt who swore this was true. Also--that you can poison someone if you ground up glass and put in in a drink, and get your would-be victim to drink it...