We’ve all heard the phrase “oh, that’s just an old wives’ tale.” We may even have used it ourselves to dismiss something that seemed either unusual or unverifiable. In all likelihood, we’ve even repeated phrases or slogans that could be termed “old wives’ tales.”
What are they? Mere fables? Irrelevant advice from a bygone era? An example of ageism? A pejorative view of older women and their precarious place in the world?
Germaine Greer, the Australian novelist and Cambridge Ph.D., suggests they are more than mere superstitions. Instead, they summarize a code of ethics passed from one generation to another with the best known advice about health, child-rearing and etiquette. Rather than getting dismissed out of hand, they can be examined and updated as needed.
Old wives’ tales originate in the oral tradition of storytelling. They include key messages that teach or warn, advise or counsel. In a complex and uncertain world, they can provide shortcuts on what to do and how to act. Like other aphorisms, they are the collective learned wisdom of one generation passed to the next one.
But situations change and what we know changes as well. Science and medicine expand our knowledge and consequently require that we adjust slogans and quick notes about ourselves. We can make the past a prologue if we willingly look at the relevance of catchphrases and avoid “throwing out the baby with the bathwater.”
Here are a few that may need an update rather than simply throwing them away:
You’ll get sick if you go outside in cold weather with wet hair: Colds and flu come from viruses, not wet hair. But going outside in cold weather can increase your vulnerability to those viruses since they thrive in cold weather. So, while there’s no causal connection between going outside with wet hair and catching a cold, wearing your coat anyway can help you in other ways.
Cracking your knuckles causes arthritis: Doctors say that you won’t get arthritis from cracking your knuckles, but sometimes it may cause a temporary swelling in your hands. Besides, it may irritate others around you who see it as an undesirable habit.
Wait 30 minutes to swim after eating: It is unlikely to be dangerous to swim immediately after eating, but digestion is improved by avoiding any strenuous activity right after a big meal. Your body needs time to digest what you’ve eaten, so give it a little time to do so.
Swallowed gum stays in your system for years: It’s true that your body can’t break down gum during the digestion process — but it will likely pass through your system a few days after you swallow it. So, while it won’t remain in your system very long, you’re better off putting it in the trash (not under a chair) than swallowing it.
Sitting too close to a television will permanently hurt your eyesight: While sitting too close to a TV won’t cause permanent eye damage, it can lead to temporary eyestrain, headaches and blurred vision, especially with prolonged viewing.
Chicken soup cures a cold: The broth in chicken soup can help with hydration and has anti-inflammatory properties that can soothe cold symptoms, according to a 2014 study at the University of Miami.
Eating carrots will improve your eyesight: While carrots won’t magically fix vision problems, they are rich in beta-carotene, which the body converts to vitamin A, essential for good vision.
While each of these bits of generational wisdom may not be completely accurate, there is some truth to each of them. They simply need updating before getting passed to the next generation. Like so many things, they are neither completely wrong nor totally right. Keeping the spirit of learned wisdom and shortcuts while updating specific content may help us benefit from the past while building on the present.
It’s hard to say what’s most fatal about the label “old wives’ tale.” Are we to mistrust the message because it originated with an old wife? Perhaps old wives’ tales derive their value from a different kind of knowledge that we aren’t used to recognizing: observation and intuition from ordinary people. It’s worth looking beyond the distinction between science and superstition when considering old wives’ tales and instead trying to figure out when and how to use the accumulated experience of grandmothers and their predecessors.