Old Wives Tales

Old Wives Tales -  Old wives tales date back to many years ago many of our older ancesters lived by them .
@mrsbrian (1949)
United States
March 31, 2007 11:39pm CST
My guess is that they come from long ago from old wives? Although it is just a kind of a superstion many in the older days lived by them,I dont think so much in todays world do we pay much attention to them,but my mom sure did have a few. Dont put new shoes on the table they will burn your feet. Stir the cake batter in one direction only If you spill the salt shaker you must throw some over your left shoulder. Dont open the umbrella in the house. Put your slippers at the foot of your bed to have good dreams. What about you did your folks have old wives tales? and did you pick up and carry on any of them?
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3 responses
• United States
1 Apr 07
my grandmother used to call dragonflies "sewing needles" and said they would stitch your eyes closed if you bugged them LOL.
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• United States
1 Apr 07
LOL ... either that was an "Old Wives Tale..." .... or -- bless her heart -- Grandma was trying to protect the poor things from rambunctious young'uns, LOLOLOL
@ydiwan (448)
• India
1 Apr 07
well my friend i am from india hence tradition do play a role in our life no matter how much modern we become but there are a few things an indian is supposed to remember like God is the supreme being etc etc but there are some medical facts also which has come from these old wives tale as you put it for eg circumsisation,beauty remidies,loosing weight,getting rid of old ailments through herb therapy and many such things it is history and without history we could not have survived cos the old ways are the basics for new inventions
• United States
1 Apr 07
Well, you have to kind of take an objective look at them. Some of them are just plain good ol' common sense (which really isn't that common). Like the umbrella in the house -- that's just plain smart. The rest of the ones you mention sound more like superstition. Now being an "Old Wife" myself, LOL ... when young, I used to laugh at my mother-in-law's "Old Wives Tales..." but then I began to be a little more objective when I started discovering some sound truths in many of them. Such as using the fleshy leaves of the aloe plants that grew in our yards for healing -- both topical and internal. The external healing attributes I already knew about, but I thought she was NUTS about using aloe internally!!! Turns out that she was right -- and used properly, I guess it's known to be an internal healing agent now. So I guess each "Old Wives Tale" must be examined and judged upon its own merit ... "The truth is in the puddin'."