“Which Old Wives’ Tale Is Actually True?” (30 Answers)

It’s wild to think that knowledge and information wasn’t as easily and readily available just a few decades ago. Thanks to the internet, it now reaches billions of people on demand, and the world is better off because of it.

Now, old wives’ tales were among the many things that worked before the internet in terms of spreading information. Granted, they were often dubious or even superstitious, but their prevalence was strong.

Well, turns out, not all of it was hogwash as folks on Reddit were recently sharing old wives’ tales that turned out to be true. Thanks, internet!

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Gargling with salt water helps a sore throat as well as tooth and gum issues.

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"Which Old Wives' Tale Is Actually True?" (30 Answers) When rain is coming, your joints hurt.

I used to roll my eyes and laugh when Granny said her arthritis was acting up because it was going to rain. I was 10 years old.

I'm now 53 and not laughing. Granny 1, me 0

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"Which Old Wives' Tale Is Actually True?" (30 Answers) I can't believe there are over 400 comments and nobody has mentioned one of the most valuable old wives' tales: That garlic had medicinal powers for a wide variety of ailments.

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So, old wives’ tales as a concept originated centuries ago in the form of the oral tradition of storytelling. The whole idea behind old wives’ tales was to teach lessons and make concepts like death or aging easier to understand.

These tales were primarily aimed at children, but once they grew up, it was easy to understand why some grownups began picking them up too.

"Which Old Wives' Tale Is Actually True?" (30 Answers) Open a window to let out ghosts. If you are seeing things it's probably actually gas or carbon dioxide.

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"Which Old Wives' Tale Is Actually True?" (30 Answers) Gathering herbs by the light of the moon.

Some plants, pollinated by moths, have their most potent oils at night to attract night insects. So if you need it at its strongest, pick it at night.

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"Which Old Wives' Tale Is Actually True?" (30 Answers) “Doomed is the child who, when kissed on the forehead, tastes salty. He is cursed and will soon die.”

It’s cystic fibrosis. Nowadays, we know that cystic fibrosis is due to a non functional protein that regulates salt transport; when that protein doesn’t work, you get thick, sticky mucus clogging up every membrane… and a whole bunch of salt being pumped onto the skin.

Many diseases existed for a looooooong time before we had the framework to understand them, but our ancestors were paying attention and trying to understand these tragedies through the lenses that they had. And sometimes, that’s how you get an old wives’ tale that is right on the money!

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Now, one of the major reasons why old wives’ tales were usually fake was because of the fact that they were most often propagated by illiterate women and communicated to children. If they were trying to scare kids off from a particular behavior, it didn’t have to be true—they just had to stop them from doing something. And it was really hard to fact-check them.

"Which Old Wives' Tale Is Actually True?" (30 Answers) Pregnant women should not be near cat litter. Source: am blind in one eye from toxoplasmosis acquired in utero.

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"Which Old Wives' Tale Is Actually True?" (30 Answers) More of an old nurse's tale, but redheads need more anesthetic. Turns out that there is a linked gene to red hair that increases resistance or metabolism or something to the drug.

At any rate, waking up in the middle of a full colonoscopy sucks. Hearing the doctor say, "Ah, s**t, she's awake, give her another one..."

And the nurse, all melodramatic as she pushes another syringes worth into your IV, saying to him, "Are you *SURE*, Doctor???" as your eyes slowly close again is especially awesome.

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"Which Old Wives' Tale Is Actually True?" (30 Answers) Nurses used to put Jaundices babies on window sills until their color returned. No idea how they figured it out but it’s actually a legitimate cure!

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As the centuries went by and human progress was ever so surely moving forward, old wives’ tales started getting debunked. One of the biggest oofs out there is the idea people can catch a cold from the cold.

That has since been proven to be false because a cold is caused by an infection, and not the temperature.

#10

"Which Old Wives' Tale Is Actually True?" (30 Answers) If he cheats with you, he’ll cheat on you.

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MP 10 months ago

That’s not an old wives tale either. Just general advice and not a hard and fast rule like most of the others.

76points

A. Starhawk Hunt 10 months ago

hardly a 'hard and fast rule" but one that, nonetheless, most people should remember. It certainly increases the likelihood.

7points

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Sarinz 10 months ago

If they cheat with you, they will cheat on you.

12points

Tobias Reaper 10 months ago

this applies to both men and women if someone cheats to be with you they will cheat on you speaking from first hand experience

7points

Lyone Fein 10 months ago

Common sense

5points

Iampenny 10 months ago

Not necessarily, people CAN change

5points

lenka 10 months ago (edited)

Perhaps, and It's nice to think so, but I've never seen people genuinely change.

3points

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Eric Williams 10 months ago

EXCUSE ME! What about if SHE cheats??

3points

Cynthia Carter 10 months ago

Or marry a person who cheats, you're married to a person who cheats.

2points

Michelle Reynolds 10 months ago

Never never never ever stay with a cheater. They are liars and cannot control themselves.

1point

ColdSteelRonin 10 months ago

Baillie & The Boys: "And if she wants a man Who'll take the ring off of his hand And then turn around and say that he'll be true Then she deserves you"

1point

Mia Hamsa 10 months ago

You loose them the way you get them, is what my grandmother used to say.

1point

Melissa Harris 10 months ago

Past behavior us a good indicator of future behavior.

0points

tullotoe underfoot 10 months ago

You were cheating with him at the same time, and you will also cheat on him. Housewives cheat much more than businessmen, especially in the not so distant past. Much easier to carry on an affair in your house with no one around than it is in an office or factory setting.

0points

tullotoe underfoot 10 months ago

You were cheating with him also.

0points

Riley Quinn 10 months ago

This has been repeated ad nauseum in every genre and media since the beginning of time, yet there are always those people who think it won't happen to them.

0points

🇫🇮 Goth Nurse 🇫🇮 10 months ago

I don't understand this

0points

Pollymere 10 months ago

Been faithful for twenty-six years to the man I cheated with. Maybe it's different for girls? (I WAS cheating on a gaslighting, emotionally and physically abusive guy though...)

0points

Nadine 10 months ago

Not always.

0points

Pablo Ramos 10 months ago

Makes sense. You got yourself a cheater, didn't you? What did you expect, seriously?

0points

Robin Roper 10 months ago

Why is the world the Affair Partners think they are special, I'll never figure out.

0points

Bruce Horton 10 months ago

Same for she's

0points

Shiva Ho 10 months ago

That's human nature! Now if you want a mate for life you need to be a Bird

0points

Sandra Morison 10 months ago

This is common sense

0points

Asterisk 10 months ago

From experience 'she' will too.

0points

Dread Pirate Roberts 10 months ago

This is actually just common sense.

0points

IYAAYAS64 10 months ago

100% true

0points

Michael Largey 10 months ago

If he cheats with you, he's already thinking about cheating on you.

0points

Keith Lancaster 10 months ago

Why "he"? Are you trying to claim that Women don't cheat as well?

-1point

Timbob 10 months ago

Should’ve their heads be up there ?

-1point

Demosthenes 10 months ago

What about her and they?

-3points

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#11

Honey as topical medicine. It’s actually used in hospitals now for certain kinds of wound dressings. It’s anti microbial and keeps other s**t from getting in the wound.

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#12

"Which Old Wives' Tale Is Actually True?" (30 Answers) Red sky at night, sailors’ delight

A red sky appears when dust and small particles are trapped in the atmosphere by high pressure. This scatters blue light leaving only red light to give the sky its notable appearance. A red sky at sunset means high pressure is moving in from the west, so therefore the next day will usually be dry and pleasant.

— Met office

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Other cold-related myths include: vaccinations can make you sick (they don’t, it’s a killed virus), heaps of vitamin C will keep away illness (studies can’t prove it), and chicken soup cures colds (nope, wrong again, it’s just comfort food that hydrates you, and perhaps can help ease congestion, but otherwise doesn’t have any specific effect on a viral infection).

#13

"Which Old Wives' Tale Is Actually True?" (30 Answers) Drinking gelatin to up amniotic fluid during pregnancy.

They wanted to schedule a c-section at 32 weeks for my kid, due to low amniotic fluid. My friends midwife told me to mix gelatin packets into apple juice and drink it before it started to thicken.. 3x a day. Brought my levels up from a 3 to an 8.. and managed to keep the kid baking for another 4 weeks.. she was born at 36 weeks, weighing 4lbs 3oz.. so, the gods only know how tiny she would have been at 32 weeks..

She was discharged with me three days later, at 4lbs 1oz.. perfectly healthy, besides being as tiny as a doll.. and she didn't wear clothes for four months because I was terrified of breaking her..

But, yeah, I *never* thought it would work..

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#14

A lot of the ones about herbal remedies. You can grow a lot of things that pharmaceutical companies deconstruct and reconstruct to make into pills. Common weeds are edible and good for your health. It’s crazy how much we’ve forgotten about the benefits of plants.

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#15

"Which Old Wives' Tale Is Actually True?" (30 Answers) A good senator is a poor senator

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Nowadays, old wives’ tales are quite literally a thing of the past and anything can be proven or disproven in just a few moments online without having to rely on dubious maiden wisdom.

However, the fact that something is an old wives’ tale doesn’t mean it’s automatically fake. This listicle is proof of it.

#16

"Which Old Wives' Tale Is Actually True?" (30 Answers) A cut onion rubbed on insect bites takes away the sting. I’ve tried it on wasp and ant bites and works instantly.

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#17

"Which Old Wives' Tale Is Actually True?" (30 Answers) Chicken soup when you're sick

Gotta stay hydrated!

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#18

My mom had what she called an old Indian trick and was able to predict if it was going to rain within 30 minutes.
In college I learned that is it got closer to raining leaves would cup to catch the water and when my mom would go outside and look at the tree leaves she could like look and see if they were cupping and she would be able to predict if it was going to rain.

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For example, older folks experience joint pain right before rain because the barometric pressure tends to decrease, which in turn might make the muscles, tendons and other tissue around joints expand and put more pressure on the joints. Hence the pain.

#19

"Which Old Wives' Tale Is Actually True?" (30 Answers) A while back, scientists set out to prove false the old wives tale that if a pregnant woman has lots of of heartburn, her baby will be born with a thick head of hair. Except…they ended up doing the opposite. Turns out heartburn really is associated with a baby having lots of hair:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17150070/

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#20

Beer makes breast milk drop. I had never heard of this before giving birth, and a couple people had asked me while pregnant if I had my beer lined up for after I gave birth and just laughed it off. A few days after giving birth my milk still wasn’t coming in and at the pediatrician, she said, “Listen it’s an old wives tale but I swear by it, drink a beer. Preferably non alcoholic because you just need the hops.” After the appointment I grabbed a case of Heineken 0 chugged two and within hours we were breastfeeding. I now give Heineken 0 as a gift to expectant moms.

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#21

"Which Old Wives' Tale Is Actually True?" (30 Answers) People can smell illness (at least in babies). I cant link a paper because I'm busy proving it! So far in my research people can smell the difference between a well baby vs a poorly baby

twilightprincess98 , Leah Kelley Report

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Another cool trick is to rub ammonia onto a mosquito bite to stop it from itching. The idea lies in the ammonia solution equalizing the counter pH of the itching caused by the bite.

#22

"Which Old Wives' Tale Is Actually True?" (30 Answers) My grandmother always insisted that a new mom in the family get up and walk as soon after delivery as possible. Said if you stay in the bed alot after giving birth your hips would spread and stay that way. Turns out the hormone changes during childbirth cause your cartilage to become flexible so your hips can widen some. It wears off fast though so if you stay in the bed for days, like they did back in the day, your cartilage hardens back up spread out. When you walk your center of gravity is in your pelvis and pushes it back together. I've never seen a medical study on it but none of the women in my family have wider hips after having kids.

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#23

"Which Old Wives' Tale Is Actually True?" (30 Answers) If you ever feel dehydrated get a pinch of salt put it in your water and add lemon (no sugar) and just drink. It helps.

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#24

"Which Old Wives' Tale Is Actually True?" (30 Answers) Cold cabbage leaves relieves engorgement and mastitis pain while nursing!

It sounds SO old wives tale but it’s been proved true.

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Since it’s easy to fall prey to a fake kind of thinking, then the same tricks that apply to identifying fake news also apply to old wives’ tales:

Always check the source because if it looks fake or it has a dubious reputation, its content is probably fake too. It also helps to run the information against a quick Google search to see if others confirm it.

#25

Ammonia on a mosquito bite.

Dab a bit of ammonia on it, and don't touch it, count to 120 seconds, and the bite is 'gone' (inflammation etc).

When I first heard of it, I didn't believe it. Now, just a touch of kitchen ammonia and don't scratch and it's beyond gone. Completely.

Mackheath1 , icon0 com Report

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51points

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#26

"Which Old Wives' Tale Is Actually True?" (30 Answers) Letting a baby eat after you will cause them to get cavities. When my sister told us not to let my nephew eat something we've taken a bite out of, I thought she was full of s**t. It turns out adults really can transfer cavity causing bacteria to babies.

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#27

"Which Old Wives' Tale Is Actually True?" (30 Answers) Looking at something too close (like the TV) for too long will strain your eyes.

You need to exercise your long distance focusing muscles to prevent myopia. If you always look at things close up, you can develop it. Studies show that myopia is more often linked with behavior and environment rather than genetics.

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If anything, be skeptical of everything you hear and ask yourself how and why? The more you try to ask and answer these questions, the more likely you’ll find reason to deem something false or true.

In other words, deem it fake until proven true.

#28

"Which Old Wives' Tale Is Actually True?" (30 Answers) You really don't want to touch that frozen metal pole with your tongue.

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#29

"Which Old Wives' Tale Is Actually True?" (30 Answers) a stitch in time saves nine.

so true.

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#30

Don’t pee into the wind

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Note: this post originally had 50 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.

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So, have you heard any old wives’ tales lately that you were mind-blown to learn are actually real? Why not share yours in the comment section below!

And if you need a fix of more tales, be sure to check out the original Reddit thread.

What do you think ?

Ace 10 months ago (edited)

These seem to mostly fall into one of two categories - they're simply repeated unproven Old Wives' tales or they're well understood phenomena. One or two are simply everyday proverbs, why they're included here is not clear.

13points

CK 10 months ago

A lot of old beliefs are things that were observed to be true, but were originally attributed to the wrong cause, and later the real scientific cause was discovered.

Pedro Badan 10 months ago

I don't think whoever wrote this quite understands what an "old wives' tale" is 😕

8points

INGI 10 months ago

Definitely not!!!

Chonky_not_stonky 10 months ago

A suspicious amount of these have anecdotal evidence as "proof".

4points

FaceTime Audio 10 months ago

My family swears by hot showers during sickness. My grandpa literally had a heart attack and KNEW he was having a heart attack, but he took a shower before going to the hospital. He survived, but I don’t credit the shower. Personally, I hate showers when I’m sick because it’s hard to breathe with it so I get dizzy and tired.

Carol Close Taylor 10 months ago

Haste makes waste. No truer words were ever spoken!

D20 Games 10 months ago (edited)

So I've got a few, that can be proven with a Google search. 1) Witch Hazel, it's an external anti-inflammatory, it is found in beauty aisles now, for skin care. Or next to the rubbing alcohol in the medicine aisle. It's the active ingredient in hemorrhoid creams. It was commonly used in the middle ages by new mothers in the first week after giving birth to reduce swelling and stave off inflammation and infection. 2) Cherry Juice, this is an internal anti-inflammatory. At around the early 1700's it was discovered that drinking the juice from cherries helped ease aches in the hands and feet. By the 1760's cherry juice was being used to treat gout, successfully. 8oz glass of cherry juice a day will reduce swelling and pain from arthritis, after about a month, you should not have any pain or aches. It also prevents ankles and legs from swelling from pregnancy.

marianne eliza 10 months ago

Thumbs down. The OP needs to find out what an old wives tale actually is.

Curlz 10 months ago

Alot of these are related to pregnancy. It's amazing our ancestor's passed this info on. If's also a shame women weren't in the medical field-we'd know so much more now!! It makes sense that women would be better suited at observing and nurturing...

Petra Schaap 10 months ago

where i come from, old wives tales means something different

“Which Old Wives’ Tale Is Actually True?” (30 Answers)

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