Misinformation, disinformation, fake news are words that have been around for a very long time but which were rejuvenated after Donald Trump became president of the United States and which have gathered steam ever since. From a much earlier, less politically-charged time we have such words as superstition, folklore and myth. Although these aren’t exactly "squeaky-clean" either when it comes to the authenticity of the information, the intention was not to mislead or manipulate but rather to advise or caution.
A phrase frequently encountered in connection with superstition, folklore and myth is old wives’ tales. Here, wife is based on the Old English wif, meaning woman rather than spouse. The same sense of wife is found in housewife and midwife (mid is Old English for with, so midwife means, literally, the with-woman. In other words, the woman with the one giving birth). Old wives’ tales began as advice to women on the subjects of sexuality, pregnancy and women’s care in general. They were considered words of wisdom from an older, experienced female to a younger one just entering womanhood. Finding an appreciative audience, old wives’ tales circulated widely because there were no, or few, books to be consulted. In any case, only a small percentage of the population could read.
There are also many so-called old wives’ tales that are not directed specifically at women but which still hang on to that tab. They were based on observation, although the conclusions they reached were not always correct. One example is the claim that if you shave your hair, it grows back coarser. Hair shaved at skin level will indeed seem coarser as it starts growing because it reappears with a blunt end (just like the grass does when you mow your lawn), but each hair shaft will eventually regain its natural, tapered end.
My home in Florence was in a centuries-old palazzo. Unsurprisingly, it was also home to a few mice who would occasionally drop in for a visit. I’d escort them out in a Havahart trap, using bait supplied by my cheese monger, who kept a tray full of old cheese ends for such a purpose. The bait worked well. After the trap snapped shut, I’d carry it downstairs and release the mouse on the street (first making sure no one was watching). However, it turns out that mice actually prefer other foods, above all grains, and will avoid cheese if they have a choice. The old wives’ tale that cheese is the ideal mouse bait has its origin in the way we used to store provisions. Traditionally foodstuffs were kept in a larder or cellar, enclosed in barrels or jars or hung from ceiling rafters. Wheels of cheese, however, were placed on open shelves in order to ripen. Telltale signs of gnawing led people to conclude that mice targeted cheese, but in fact, it was the only food in the larder easily accessible to them.
Every year in late May I’d notice that ants were crawling all over the buds on my peony bush. Until quite recently, I believed the old wives’ tale that ants were necessary for the peony flowers to open. But in fact it doesn’t work quite like that. Peony flowers will open even if there are no ants, but when they’re present, both plants and insects benefit. The ants harvest the nectar they find on the buds and at the same time attack competitor insects, such as aphids or thrips, which could damage the plant. It’s an example of mutual aid between two different species, which the Belgian zoologist Pierre-Joseph van Beneden termed mutualism in an article published in 1873.
Old wives’ tales also served to warn people, especially children, of undesired consequences. When I was a little girl in Germany, my grandmother would tell me that if I drank lots of water all at once I’d end up with frogs in my tummy. Like most children, I took everything literally. I’d heard people had frogs in their throat, and I could picture how a sudden rush of water would dislodge those frogs and send them sliding downwards.
Even if many old wives’ tales are nonsense, they’re part of our social history. Describing them as fake or wrong is too harsh. They’re not deliberate mistakes. "Mythtakes" would be a much gentler term.
Sabine Eiche is a local writer and art historian with a PhD from Princeton University. She is passionately involved in preserving the environment and protecting nature. Her columns deal with a broad range of topics and often include the history (etymology) of words in order to shed extra light on the subject
