Someone Wanted To Know The Old Wives Tales That Are Still Believed Today And Got 30 Examples

When I was pregnant I heard some mad s**t about what my cats would do to my baby. “Stealing its breath” was the most fairytale example. Both cats were horrified and disgusted by the baby and didn’t even go near her.

That drinking ice cold water after eating oily foods will solidify the oil and permanently remain in your body.

I informed my coworker that if your body temperature ever reached that point, you’d have bigger problems than weight gain.

Birds disown their young if you touch them

(To be clear I am saying this is a myth. Despite the post title people are agreeing with this myth. No. A bird did not abandon their baby bc you touched it. Birds have a poor sense of smell, and if you don't believe me go ahead and google it)

If you’re a woman and you wear opal jewelry but opal is not your birthstone (October), you’ll never be able to have children, or will be widowed, or just generally have bad luck, or something. You can counteract this by having a diamond in the same piece of jewelry as the opal, though.

I have a nice opal ring that my parents gave me years ago, and I’ve had other women give me this “advice” unprompted more than once when I’ve worn it. I have absolutely no idea where it started, but I’m pretty sure this little chunk of silicate rock has no concept of what month I was born in, let alone of how my reproductive organs work.

Some people still believe cracking knuckles causes arthritis.

Going outside with wet hair will make you get pneumonia. Or an earache. Or maybe arthritis. Depends on which old wife you listen to.

Joke's on them - I haven't blow dried my hair in decades and usually leave the house with wet hair in the morning. On winter mornings, the tips of my hair get frozen. No ear infections or pneumonia or arthritis yet.

That we only use 10% of our brain

Was told by young and old alike that I should NOT raise my arms above my head or exert myself in such a manner, because it could cause cord strangulation to my unborn sons and daughters.

That you have to wait 24 hours to report someone missing

An undercover cop has to tell you he's a cop if you ask him

You can't get pregnant if you are breastfeeding.

This is a German one, but basically if you give your child a very Americanised name, then the child will be attention seeking and naughty and perform badly in school. It’s called Kevinism.

Many Koreans still believe that if you sleep in a closed room with a fan on, that you will die. Does that count as an old wives tale?

Chewing gum stays in your stomach for 7 years

You can suck venom out of a snakebite.

When you shave your hair it grows back thicker.

Starve a fever; feed a cold.

Edit: well it seems that both versions exist (starve a cold; feed a fever), but I've always heard the Starve a fever version, never the other one. The (wrong) explanation was that if you're hungry and cold, eating will warm you up. Since eating warms you up, you don't want to eat when you have a fever. Technically however, if you're sick, your body needs nutrients to get better, so you should not starve either.

My mil thinks that if I tickle my babies feet he will have a speech delay

The cold makes you get sick, not germs

You can tell the sex of the baby by how you carry