Old Wives' Tales

Call me gullible.


Do you remember any of those hard to believe "Rules" we had when we were kids?  For example, what about the rule that states that we have to wait one hour after we eat before we go swimming, because we may get a cramp and drown?  I remember learning that one when I was really young, and I have heard adults say it as well.   I looked it up on snopes.com and of course it's not true.  This is a old myth that for some reason has made it's way into our popular belief system.  I remember being told as a kid if I swallowed my gum it would take seven years to digest, and would give me a tummy ache.  I often go to snopes.com when I hear something that sounds too hard to believe.  Some of those crazy emails we get warning us about car hijackings and things like that, sent from people that are well-meaning, intelligent and responsible, unknowingly pass around false information.  I always set them straight with a link to snopes.com if/when I can.  Here are a couple of old wives' tales I wanted to set straight:

1.  It's okay to go in the water right after you eat.  http://www.snopes.com/oldwives/hourwait.asp

2.  Swallowed gum does not take 7 years to digest.  It makes it's way through the digestive tract just like all food, except it's relatively unchanged.  http://www.snopes.com/oldwives/chewgum.asp

3.  The 5-Second Rule:  Food that's been on the food for 5 seconds or less is not germ-free.  http://www.snopes.com/food/tainted/dropped.asp

4.  Touching a toad will not give you warts.  http://thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomainnameatlonglast.com/tales75.html

5.  Thank goodness I don't use butter on burns anymore.  I did when I was a kid.  That's what we did.  And it didn't help one bit.  http://thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomainnameatlonglast.com/tales43.html

Have a great day!

~ Angela Gentile