Old Wives' Tales

[Cast No Shadow]

I'm not sure if you have these in the US, but basically they're like myths that are passed down, that people believe. It's similar to an urban legend.

Are there any that you think are particularly funny? Or are there any that you believed for a long time?

I remember being told not to pick dandelions, because it will make you wet the bed and if you swallow chewing gum it will stay in your system for seven years.

Can you think of any funny ones?

 

[kittenpoker]

haha awww I LOVE picking dandelions....I make wishes when I blow them.... I'm glad that one isn't true. 🙂

and I head the gum one. there's tons of those....like urban myths. I like to go to snopes to check out a bunch of those.

 

[Seeing Red]

Well, the one with the babysitter and the 'clown statue' always scared me when I was younger.

 

[NY State of Mind]

I don't know but my mom and grandmother will still smack me if I go inside with open umbrellas or put my sneakers on the table....yes I love to put my sneakers on the table 😛

 

[Kean]

Where I'm from, it's seen as bad luck to bring anything into a house for a baby if the baby isn't born yet.

 

[VisionGirl]

There are a ton of old wives tales about pregnancy:

-Don't raise your hands above your head or the cord will wrap around the baby's neck.
-Lots of heartburn means a male baby, or that the baby will have a lot of hair.
-Sex while pregnant can hurt the baby [as if!]
-Holding baby a lot spoils them. @@

 

[Kean]

[MENTION=6330]arabella[/MENTION] Since we, at least within my family, have never done it any differently I don't think it is all that inconvenient. Another tradition we have is that the people close to you buys the "big" things that you need for the baby. For instance, I bought my sister the cradle for my nephew. Her mother in law bought the pram etc etc. So, either those people hold the gift until the baby is born or the shop holds it for you. Or, you just wait until the baby is born and then buy.

 

[ILLYRIAN]

If the wind changes while you are making that face, it'll stay like that.

Thing is, who was Joss looking at when he decided to have his vampires look like that?

 

[arabella]

[MENTION=6330]arabella[/MENTION] Since we, at least within my family, have never done it any differently I don't think it is all that inconvenient. Another tradition we have is that the people close to you buys the "big" things that you need for the baby. For instance, I bought my sister the cradle for my nephew. Her mother in law bought the pram etc etc. So, either those people hold the gift until the baby is born or the shop holds it for you. Or, you just wait until the baby is born and then buy.

Yes, we got all the big stuff from other people at baby showers so we didn't buy anything for our first baby either... To be honest, it's helpful to me to imagine it the way you are saying since I'm über stressed that we haven't gotten the baby girls room emptied so we can start decorating and she isn't due until May 4th!

To contribute to the thread, I never heard as many old wives tales as I did when I got pregnant the first time! Everything from predicting the gender by how I was carrying to the heartburn/ hair connection... None true that I noticed. However, spicy food and speed bumps did send me right into labor per the tales. 😉

 

[November]

Mum used to always tell me to eat my crusts (off my bread) so my hair would go curly. I already had insane curly hair so I think thats why I still dont like the crusts now - I dont want my hair to get even more curly 😛

 

[LoveLoveLovix]

Butter makes cats have softer fur.

 

[hazzard]

don't twirl your hair or you'll get a bald spot. my mum used to drive me INSANE with that one, cause i twirl my hair haha

don't let cats sleep with/near babies--they'll suffocate them. complete nonsense cause our old cat slept in my crib with me.

 

[SlayerFest]

Haha yeah we have them. Apparently the whole "if you shave your legs, the hair grows back thicker" thing is one. There's some reason why the hair seems as if it's grown back thicker, but in reality it hasn't. I remember being rather peeved when my friend told me this. I seriously don't know why hahah I just refused to believe her. My leg hair was practically blonde before I shaved my legs and now it seems so much darker. However, various sources prove that it is indeed, an old wives tale.

There are tons of them about pregnancies. Oh, and "chewing gum takes seven years to pass through the digestive system" I swallowed my gun a lot as a kid and I remember being horrified when someone told me that.

 

[dexeded]

If you don't eat all the rice on your plate, you'll marry a guy with pimples.

Never give a clock as a gift.

 

[Skytteflickan88]

In Sweden, when serving cake, if a person gets served a piece that's "laying down" that person will get married(within a year, I think). Or won't get married, I can't remember.