35Kviews
30 Wise Old Sayings That Have Totally Lost Their Meaning In The Contemporary World, As Shared By Folks In This Online Group
Over the millennia of its existence, humanity has accumulated a huge amount of so-called "folk wisdom" - sayings, proverbs and various allegedly wise quotes. These are words that are intended - often in rhymed form - to reflect some kind of rule of conduct, or simply to calm an upset person.
They are passed down from generation to generation, remain in our subconscious, and we continue to pronounce them without even thinking - but how much do they even make sense? Well, some are simply outdated, not keeping up with the rapid development of mankind in recent decades, some are even harmful, because public morality has changed significantly, and some are just one big lie.
Do you want an example? Voila! You may have heard Thomas Edison's famous saying, "Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration." Beautiful and impressive, isn't it? On the other hand, this statement is true, perhaps, only to one person - Edison himself.
The fact is that the great inventor did not receive a fundamental education, but rather he had simply phenomenal perseverance and working capacity. As a result, where it was enough to simply make some scientific calculation, Edison compensated for everything with a banal enumeration of options manually. It worked for him, but it's far from a fact that it works for others.
Well, there is a very popular thread in the AskReddit community where the topic starter wonders "Which old saying is actually nonsense?" During the few months of its existence, the thread has been upvoted more than 35.4K times, and today it consists of nearly 16.6K comments, many of which hide a complete deconstruction of some element of that notorious "folk wisdom".
Bored Panda has made a list for you with the most popular comments of the original thread. Some of them we have heard hundreds of times in our lives, some you will first meet in this post - in any case, feel free now to scroll to the very end and if you do not find something that seems like complete nonsense to you, please write it in the comments.
More info: Reddit
This post may include affiliate links.
"It's always in the last place you look"
Well of course it is. Why would you continue looking once you've found it
Good things happen to good people. Crock of s**t that is.
I know some pretty horrible people that are positively charmed in life.
"looks don't matter"
I've noticed that this is usually said by people who are attractive themselves. That's like someone born rich saying that money doesn't matter.
I was an fat ugly kid and I'm now a fat, ugly adult. Trust me, looks matter. It has been made very clear to me over the years how much it matters. I've even been told on job interviews that I wasn't attractive enough for the job.
"Age brings wisdom"
We have an congress, senate, and a bunch of aging baby boomers that prove that wrong.
“Money is the root of all evil” is probably one of the most misquoted sayings out there. The actual quote is “for the love of money is the root of all evil” that changes the meaning behind the quote completely imo
“Winners never cheat and cheaters never win.”
Yeah, b******t. Cheaters almost always win.
Look at a social devient, corrupt criminal like Trump. He even cheats himself.
Go big or go home. You have no idea how bad I just want to go home.
"Lions are king of the jungle" They don't live in the damn jungle.
No way am I going to tell a lion he can't live in a jungle if he wants to.
"Everything happens for a reason."
No. It. F*****g. Doesn't.
Well there's a reason but it's not some grand existential reason or anything. The saying is true in the literal sense only.
If at first you don't succeed try, try and try again.
Don't follow that advice when dating. You will be branded as a stalker/creep.
Do something you love, and you'll never work a day in your life. B******t, now what used to bring my joy is misrable and I dont have a backup career.
I love what I do for a living, I just don't love the long hours and stress.
"Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise."
I did that for years, and I'm morbidly obese, lower middle class, and stupid as hell.
"An Apple a day keeps the doctor away." No matter how many I shoved up my butt I still had to get a colonoscopy
The customer is always right
The phrase means that customers buying habits determines the market. They are always right, because they dictate what is popular
You can be anything you want.
You have a highly probability of making that happen through plastic surgery,etc than a few human options like becoming a billionaire.
Load More Replies...…….if you have enough money. Buy a presidency? Buy a rocket and go to space? Just become a billionaire. Easy peasy.
so, i can be a sparkly vampire unicorn named Alberta Cullen who goes to Hogwarts???
This is such a harmful and damaging phrase. You can be anything you're good at or have skills to be. Which requires a lot of work, time and possibly money to get good at. All of which you may never get or have. And even then it helps to know someone. And if you have all of that, you still might not get to be what you want for various reasons. Telling kids this sets them up to constantly be disappointed in any of their achievements because they aren't 'enough'. Or they constantly feel like failures because they haven't gotten there yet or haven't figured out what they want to be. Stop setting people up for failure with these useless and untrue quotes.
I always told my students "You CAN'T be anything you want to be, and someday you'll be damn grateful for that."
I want to be the first African American woman to swim across the English Channel. (Me? I’m a 41 year old white Canadian man.)
"I want to be president" - some mentally challenged gameshow host.
Or some equally mentally challenged orange entrepreneurial orangutan
Load More Replies...I would love to be a nurse but, I'm blind, autistic, have Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and PTSD.
* Hospital, needle, cannula and CT scan related PTSD.
Load More Replies...I want to be a house cat. Sleep for 18 hours, warm hone, comfy beds, someone feeds and pets me.
Blood is thicker then water.. Always hated it , s***ty family members.
What doesn't kill you make you stronger
Lies...when my son died it almost killed me. I wanted to die. I'm not nearly as strong as I was prior.
“Pull yourself up by your bootstraps”
- it’s meant as an ironic/satirical phrase, because it refers to an act which is literally impossible
Whenever I hear a libertarian say things like "there's no such thing as a victim of circumstance" I want to punch them. Say that to the millions of homeless children in the world. Yes, because you were born with wealth and privilege, therefore we all were.
"A jack of all trades is a master of none". Only because no one ever user uses the full quote, so it's useless in this form.
“This too shall pass”
Uhh not if it’s herpes? Unless you mean pass it on
This is actually a saying that DOES have some merit: Anything you experience will end. Pain, joy, suffering, family and yourself will end. This is to remind us to cherish the wanted experiences and that anything undesirable will untimately pass from the present to the past. Even LIFE will pass if life is undesirable.
Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me
Good things come to those who wait….
Slow and steady wins the race… yet I always lose the kahoot
My grandmother used to say, "That man is as worthless as a one legged man at an a*s kickin'."
Well, I worked at a mental facility. One day I saw a one legged man absolutely destroy another dude. Popped him in the head with his crutch, then pitched forward and just stomped on him with his one leg.
The saying is "Busier than a one-legged man in an a*s-kicking contest." The meaning was that you were at a disadvantage in some way, usually by not having the proper tools, training, or team and still trying to reach the goal.
Boys pick on you because they love you.
This hurts me more then you (when a parent is spanking a child)
Don't play the victim.
All bad for many reasons.
this hurts me more than u? well then for you what's it like, the damn Cruciatus Curse? sorry, im a potterhead.
Feed a cold, starve a fever.
Just eat nutritious, easy to digest foods when you're sick (and stay hydrated)..
edit: Holy cow this comment blew up! Thanks for the awards!
As for the people who are telling me my version is incorrect, I can tell you that its the one I heard growing up, and the internet seems to confirm that it is indeed a saying (though starve a cold, feed a fever also seems to be a thing)
Don't judge a book by it's cover. C**p. I'm gonna judge the heck out of that cover!
That is the only purpose of the book cover is so that judgement can be made.
Load More Replies...Maybe they mean pecking at it and taking small bites?
Load More Replies...My mother-in-law, that I loved very much, used to say, " you catch more flies with honey than with viniger". Well, who the F**? wants flies?
I've always thought about this one to mean, if you are nice to people, they will be more willing to help you out or go above and beyond for you. If you are nasty to them, you are going to get the least from them they "have" to give. Which is true for myself. Sweet? I will get you taken care of the best, fastest, and most generous way I can. A*****e? Your appointment will be 2 weeks out etc.
Load More Replies...“birds of a feather flock together” was originally “birds of a feather flock together before the cat comes.” it was actually a warning about fair-weather friends, not about people with similar personalities.
"There's someone out there for everyone." One said by my dad was, "Suffering's good for the soul."
I'm sorry you have to go through that Kate. 😔 The human race is losing.
Don't judge a book by it's cover. C**p. I'm gonna judge the heck out of that cover!
That is the only purpose of the book cover is so that judgement can be made.
Load More Replies...Maybe they mean pecking at it and taking small bites?
Load More Replies...My mother-in-law, that I loved very much, used to say, " you catch more flies with honey than with viniger". Well, who the F**? wants flies?
I've always thought about this one to mean, if you are nice to people, they will be more willing to help you out or go above and beyond for you. If you are nasty to them, you are going to get the least from them they "have" to give. Which is true for myself. Sweet? I will get you taken care of the best, fastest, and most generous way I can. A*****e? Your appointment will be 2 weeks out etc.
Load More Replies...“birds of a feather flock together” was originally “birds of a feather flock together before the cat comes.” it was actually a warning about fair-weather friends, not about people with similar personalities.
"There's someone out there for everyone." One said by my dad was, "Suffering's good for the soul."
I'm sorry you have to go through that Kate. 😔 The human race is losing.