Top 10 Old Wives Tales

When you’re a kid, it’s a blast to mock your friends by making silly faces, sticking out your tongue or crossing your eyes. However, it’s not nearly as fun when you’re worried your face might never return to normal. Although this one is clearly untrue, adults knew that nothing short of a dire threat – or an appeal to your vanity – would get you to stop tormenting your siblings or classmates. The grimace that seemed funny when directed toward someone else would stop being so hilarious if you had to see it in the mirror for the rest of your life, wouldn’t it?

Who hasn’t heard this warning? Even so, you most likely did it anyway when your parents weren’t watching; bonus points if you were in a dark room as you sat almost nose-to-nose with your favorite characters. If you’re kicking yourself for your childhood viewing habits every morning when you put on your glasses, you can stop: this one’s a myth. Actually, there was a time when this old wives’ tale mighta been true: the earliest GE TVs emitted radiation that was hazardous to your eyes. However that was quickly fixed, and the worst things today’s TVs can cause are eyestrain and fatigue.

Cows can’t talk, but if they’re sitting down, they’re telling you to hurry home and hunker down, because bad weather is coming. If there are no cows in your neighborhood, you might get the same message from trees. When the wind blows before a storm, you can see the bottoms of the leaves on the trees, which are often a different shade from the topside. However, scientifically speaking, neither cows nor leaves can predict the weather, but thinking they can might help us feel more in control of the uncontrollable.

Spinach gives you big muscles and carrots help you maintain perfect vision. Isn’t it funny how, when you were little and you didn’t want to eat a certain food, you were told that doing so would practically give you superpowers? This myth might’ve stemmed from WWII, when British forces hid the fact they were using radar by telling the Germans their soldiers had unsurpassed night vision due to their carrot-eating habits. While it’s true that carrots are full of vitamin-A and beta-carotene, which are both good for eye health, they’re not likely to prevent you from needing glasses if everyone in your family wears them.

If you can’t get to someone on a moral level, then try to freak them out. Masturbation has been denounced by religions across the world, for thousands of years, as a morally reprehensible act. Whether you believe that or not, you might’ve been told that making hand party will cause you to go blind, go deaf, go crazy or grow hair on your palms. Scientists have researched this one significantly and have found no correlation between choking the chicken and any negative physiological effects, so whatever you do in the privacy of your own home will stay private.

This habit won’t give you arthritis, but it’s not particularly good for your hands either. If you crack your knuckles, you still might end up with sore, swollen knuckles, and you might have a harder time getting a good grip on objects compared to those who aren’t knuckle-crackers. At the very least, frequent knuckle cracking may cause anyone within earshot to instantly dislike you, get extremely annoyed, or give you dirty looks, any of which should be reason enough to stop, even if you haven’t been warned about arthritis.

Something that tastes this good has gotta be bad for you, right? Well, not necessarily. Acne is actually caused by bacteria, but it can be exacerbated by numerous influences that depend on you. Hormones, your environment, makeup, stress; any of these things can make your face look like a pizza if you’re not careful and if you’re susceptible to such things. But your fondness for king-size candy bars is most likely not the cause. So, as long as you’re not worried about the extra calories, you can ignore this common old wives’ tale.

It just figures that when you’re given the greenlight to eat as much of anything as you want, it’s at a time when you’re not interested in chowing down. If you’re feverish and in bed with the flu, you’d probably rather nap than nosh. And, when you have a cold, you might find that anything you try to eat tastes like cardboard. Whether it’s a cold or fever that ails you, it’s best to eat healthily and keep yourself hydrated so you’ll heal more quickly. Starvation isn’t a cure.

If you haven’t been around someone who has a cold or haven't been exposed to the virus some other way, you could let icicles form on your head and still not get sick – no matter what you’ve been told. This old wives’ tale has been studied and proven false. However, if you go outside with wet hair on a freezing cold day, it’s likely to feel pretty unpleasant just the same. So while you don’t have to worry about catching a cold from soaked strands, you’re still better off reaching for the blow dryer on frosty winter mornings.

Before we reveal our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions:

- Shaving Your Chest Hair Makes it Grow Back Thicker
- Fish Is Brain Food
- Itchy Palms Mean Money Is Coming to You
- Baldness Comes from Your Mother’s Side
- Switching Lights On & Off Rapidly Blows the Fuse
- Spicy Food Causes Ulcers

When you were a kid, scarfing food and jumping into the pool were probably two things you did a lot. But your parents almost definitely warned against doing both together, telling you that swimming too soon after eating would lead to stomach cramps and possibly even drowning. Yeesh! If you really want to practice your breaststroke after lunch, fear not; you’ll survive. But there are actual medical reasons why swimming right after eating could cause cramps, so if you’ve eaten a big meal, consider waiting a little while before getting into the water. However if you don’t, you won’t drown. Probably.

Do you agree with our list? Which old wives’ tales freaked you out the most? For more fascinating Top 10s every day, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.