Old Wives' Tales and Superstitions

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

The National Weather Service advises against using the toilet or showering during thunderstorms.

https://www.weather.gov/mlb/lightning_rules
Avoid contact with plumbing. When thunderstorms are occurring, do not take a shower or bath, wash dishes, or do the laundry. Wait until after the storm.

I always grew up with that drilled in my head.

 

[ThistleMae]

Never take a pin or needle from someone trying to hand you one. Have them thread it through your shirt and then retrieve it or you will be 'stuck' with bad luck.

LOL, I'll keep this in mind!

 

[ThistleMae]

I always grew up with that drilled in my head.

Me too!

 

[sam_gordon]

The National Weather Service advises against using the toilet or showering during thunderstorms.

https://www.weather.gov/mlb/lightning_rules
Avoid contact with plumbing. When thunderstorms are occurring, do not take a shower or bath, wash dishes, or do the laundry. Wait until after the storm.

Actually, it says nothing about toilets. Again, porcelain is a good insulator. Maybe if you're in jail on a metal toilet, it wouldn't be a good idea.

Many houses have the electrical ground tied to (copper) plumbing. So maybe that's what people are thinking? A direct lightning hit would potentially send the voltage to the copper pipes? Sorry, not worrying about that.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I never heard not to use toilets either, just maybe to hold off on doing dishes or taking a bath/shower.

 

[Moliphino]

Actually, it says nothing about toilets. Again, porcelain is a good insulator. Maybe if you're in jail on a metal toilet, it wouldn't be a good idea.

Many houses have the electrical ground tied to (copper) plumbing. So maybe that's what people are thinking? A direct lightning hit would potentially send the voltage to the copper pipes? Sorry, not worrying about that.

Toilets are part of your plumbing, which they say to avoid contact with.

 

[sam_gordon]

Toilets are part of your plumbing, which they say to avoid contact with.

I mean if you want to "hold it" for the duration of a storm, go for it. I'm not that concerned.

 

[Moliphino]

I mean if you want to "hold it" for the duration of a storm, go for it. I'm not that concerned.

If it's urgent sure. What are the odds your toilet will be struck in the minute it takes to use it? If you google toilets and lightning, though, you can see what it looks like if it does get struck. Wouldn't want to be on it then!

 

[ThistleMae]

Toilets are part of your plumbing, which they say to avoid contact with.

According to a news report, lightning came through the vent fan and hit the toilet. So I suppose if you were in the bathroom it could have hit you. Back on track to "old wives tales and superstitions". What about the lucky rabbit foot?

 

[Moliphino]

According to a news report, lightning came through the vent fan and hit the toilet. So I suppose if you were in the bathroom it could have hit you.

There was another one in Florida where their septic tank was struck and they think it ignited the methane in the tank. Ruined a lot of plumbing and blew up the toilet.

 

[Simba's Mom]

https://www.dictionary.com/e/rabbit-rabbit-and-hare-hare/

Wow, thanks for this! I never met anyone else who'd heard of this.

 

[_19disnA]

Most of the 'old wives tales' sound like stories that got passed around years ago and lost something in translation. Most of them sound like nonsense to me. It reminds a bit of that game we used to play in grade school where you said something in the ear of the person next to you and by the time it got all the way around the room it was nothing like was originally said.

 

[disneyseniors]

My 94 y/o Mother just mentioned the one about not wearing white past labor day, LOL. She always told me that about wearing black and white at certain times. I followed it when I lived at home because it was just a part of "normal" for me. Now, I wear what I want and haven't been struck by lightning or had bad luck! My Mother, however, still wears white after EAster til Labor Day.
I think most of these stories are told generation to generation;; just passed along as true. And we follow them because of that in some cases.

I never heard the one about saying Rabbit the first of the month! If I tried to that I would probably say Bunny and then be cursed into eternity!

I didn't know the Not looking into a mirror at night was a thing? I usually don't look in a mirror in the dark just cause it looks spooky, but that's just me
Having fun reading all these.

 

[Mysterian]

Maybe if you're in jail on a metal toilet, it wouldn't be a good idea.

Imagine. One stormy night. Moments after getting a reprieve from the mayor, a Death Row inmate sits down to relieve himself and ZAP! Death by toilet. Poetic justice, because this particular inmate killed someone in a violent, toilet-related murder.

Everyone stay back, I've got dibs on the movie rights.

 

[NotUrsula]

The business about white before Easter and after Labor Day isn't an old wives' tale; it was a fashion rule. You could ignore it, but to do so would have marked you as a clueless frump. Many younger women find it hard to understand now, but up until the mid-1960s, there was an accepted set of such fashion rules that delineated the tasteful from the tasteless, and no one wanted to be on the wrong side of that divide. It extended to hem lengths; Women's Wear Daily would decide what the "right" skirt length that year would be, and nearly every woman in America under age 70 and over age 12 would scramble to re-hem every skirt and dress she owned to the "correct" length. Other such "taste" rules included a rule that no clothing with sparkly trim could be worn before 5 pm, and the rule that your shoes must never be lighter in color than the lower half of your outfit. You always wore a girdle when going out in public (even very thin women did, to prevent the possibility of jiggle of any kind), and always, always wore a slip with an unlined skirt or dress. Also, it was NEVER acceptable for any part of your underclothing (such as a bra or slip strap) to show beneath your outer clothing.

Now then, here's my old wives' tale contribution: going outside with your hair wet is an immediate and inescapable cause of death. (Though somehow it didn't necessarily apply if you got caught in the rain and your hair got wet AFTER you were already outside. No one ever seemed to be able to explain that part.)

 

[PollyannaMom]

Most of the 'old wives tales' sound like stories that got passed around years ago and lost something in translation. Most of them sound like nonsense to me. It reminds a bit of that game we used to play in grade school where you said something in the ear of the person next to you and by the time it got all the way around the room it was nothing like was originally said.

Yes, "Telephone" I think it was called.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Many younger women find it hard to understand now, but up until the mid-1960s, there was an accepted set of such fashion rules that delineated the tasteful from the tasteless, and no one wanted to be on the wrong side of that divide.

Who is considered younger women because that timeline is approaching 60 years ago..or just under how old my mom is. I think she'd be delighted to be considered a "younger woman" at 63

 

[DisneyMomx7]

I heard so many of them growing up- never open an umbrella in the house, no shoes on the table, bad luck if it rains on your wedding but a good sign if it rains on your funeral, bird flying in your house or a knock at the door with no one there meant death. I still don’t wear white after Labor Day or before Memorial Day

 

[NotUrsula]

Who is considered younger women because that timeline is approaching 60 years ago..or just under how old my mom is. I think she'd be delighted to be considered a "younger woman" at 63

Your mom is 2 years older than I am, and I remember those rules quite well, though I had older sisters who were teens at the time, so I often overheard my mother policing what they wore. By the time I was an adult the rules were almost all gone (except the one reserving white for late spring/summer), though there is no way that I would have gone to work in the 1980s bare-legged whilst wearing a dress; hose were required at my workplace. Out of lifelong habit, I do still observe the rule of thumb about wearing white; though I can note that it actually only applies to white shoes or white pants/skirts; it never did apply to white blouses, winter white or to athletic wear.

I'd say that by "younger" in this context, I meant anyone who didn't hit her teen years until about 1990.