Old wifes tales.

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Terrier
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Old wifes tales.

Post by Terrier » Fri Jul 18, 2025 3:51 pm

Know of any or if there is anything in them?
Asking because I recently read 90% of the goodness in an apple is in the core so I have started to scoff the whole apple, problem is every time I eat one I hear my grandma ( dead for over 50 year ) telling me that if I ate an apple pip a tree would grow in my stomach .
Nothing happening as of yet!

dougcollins
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Re: Old wifes tales.

Post by dougcollins » Fri Jul 18, 2025 4:15 pm

I imagine it takes a while for an apple tree to grow.

The bad news is my doctor friend always said apple pips are the biggest cause of appendicitis.

WadingInDeeper
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Re: Old wifes tales.

Post by WadingInDeeper » Fri Jul 18, 2025 4:25 pm

I was told an Apple a day keeps the doctor away.

But I have an allergy to them so that doesn’t quite work.

Sausage
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Re: Old wifes tales.

Post by Sausage » Fri Jul 18, 2025 5:02 pm

I'd be more worried by the amygdalin in the apple seeds. Apparently it breaks down into cyanide when it's in your stomach. While the dosage is minute, it still can't be good for you.

LeadBelly
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Re: Old wifes tales.

Post by LeadBelly » Fri Jul 18, 2025 7:19 pm

If you sit on cold surfaces too long you get piles.
I've never shied away from sitting on cold surfaces and, thankfully, haven't been troubled by said affliction yet in my 75 years.
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claret wizard
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Re: Old wifes tales.

Post by claret wizard » Fri Jul 18, 2025 8:41 pm

Sausage wrote:
Fri Jul 18, 2025 5:02 pm
I'd be more worried by the amygdalin in the apple seeds. Apparently it breaks down into cyanide when it's in your stomach. While the dosage is minute, it still can't be good for you.
Why you should never feed your dog the apple cores.
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GordonvaleClaret
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Re: Old wifes tales.

Post by GordonvaleClaret » Sat Jul 19, 2025 10:10 am

A mate of mine was once suffering from "tummy pain". Upon medical investigation it was discovered that a grapefruit seed was sprouting in his gut.

brexit
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Re: Old wifes tales.

Post by brexit » Sat Jul 19, 2025 11:10 am

wives
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No Ney Never
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Re: Old wifes tales.

Post by No Ney Never » Sat Jul 19, 2025 12:39 pm

A nettle sting can be soothed by applying a dock leaf!
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Rowls
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Re: Old wifes tales.

Post by Rowls » Sat Jul 19, 2025 12:59 pm

Sausage wrote:
Fri Jul 18, 2025 5:02 pm
I'd be more worried by the amygdalin in the apple seeds. Apparently it breaks down into cyanide when it's in your stomach. While the dosage is minute, it still can't be good for you.
Nah. Cyanide (like arsenic) in these tiny doses isn't going to do anything. Just like there is a trace amount of alcohol in every ripe banana but nobody ever got drunk eating 'nanas.

There are some dangers, for example peach or apricot seeds are high enough in cyanide to be extremely dangerous. Or if you've made apple pulp (eg. making cider) then you don't want to be eating much of that because it will have a concrentration of pips in it.

But eating apples individually and scoffing the pips and cores isn't going to provide anywhere near to a dose to cause any worry, not even for a small child.

No Ney Never
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Re: Old wifes tales.

Post by No Ney Never » Sat Jul 19, 2025 1:02 pm

You can test positive for cocaine from eating toast!

Tricky Trevor
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Re: Old wifes tales.

Post by Tricky Trevor » Sat Jul 19, 2025 1:13 pm

Rowls wrote:
Sat Jul 19, 2025 12:59 pm
Nah. Cyanide (like arsenic) in these tiny doses isn't going to do anything. Just like there is a trace amount of alcohol in every ripe banana but nobody ever got drunk eating 'nanas.
Enough to get off drink driving?

mdd2
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Re: Old wifes tales.

Post by mdd2 » Sat Jul 19, 2025 2:13 pm

No Ney Never wrote:
Sat Jul 19, 2025 1:02 pm
You can test positive for cocaine from eating toast!
Cocaine with Toast by Jake Kelly

Got yo grandma putting cocaine on her toast, no avocado
Got yo momma on the boof now she a groupie licking toes

CnBtruntru
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Re: Old wifes tales.

Post by CnBtruntru » Sat Jul 19, 2025 5:01 pm

I would not have thought coke was about when the old wives tales began, so that one must be an urban myth.

Middle-agedClaret
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Re: Old wifes tales.

Post by Middle-agedClaret » Sat Jul 19, 2025 5:04 pm

Rowls wrote:
Sat Jul 19, 2025 12:59 pm
Nah. Cyanide (like arsenic) in these tiny doses isn't going to do anything. Just like there is a trace amount of alcohol in every ripe banana but nobody ever got drunk eating 'nanas.

There are some dangers, for example peach or apricot seeds are high enough in cyanide to be extremely dangerous. Or if you've made apple pulp (eg. making cider) then you don't want to be eating much of that because it will have a concrentration of pips in it.

But eating apples individually and scoffing the pips and cores isn't going to provide anywhere near to a dose to cause any worry, not even for a small child.
Mmmm….reluctant though I am to challenge the authority of Rowls…
On a large local field used by many dog walkers are a number of apple trees. One of the dogs, unsurprisingly a Labrador, gorged on the windfalls.
She was very unwell, and at her subsequent visit to the vets the cause was identified as the cyanide in the apples she’d eaten.
I keep my dog well away from windfalls.

Middle-agedClaret
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Re: Old wifes tales.

Post by Middle-agedClaret » Sat Jul 19, 2025 5:12 pm

As for old wives’ tales I remember from my childhood in Ireland, the one that seemed oddest was that if you put a new pair of shoes on the table it would bring you bad luck. Still don’t do it ( although I’ve had my share of bad luck, like us all)

dougcollins
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Re: Old wifes tales.

Post by dougcollins » Sat Jul 19, 2025 5:12 pm

No Ney Never wrote:
Sat Jul 19, 2025 12:39 pm
A nettle sting can be soothed by applying a dock leaf!
That works, bizarrely.

Rowls
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Re: Old wifes tales.

Post by Rowls » Sat Jul 19, 2025 9:21 pm

Middle-agedClaret wrote:
Sat Jul 19, 2025 5:04 pm
Mmmm….reluctant though I am to challenge the authority of Rowls…
On a large local field used by many dog walkers are a number of apple trees. One of the dogs, unsurprisingly a Labrador, gorged on the windfalls.
She was very unwell, and at her subsequent visit to the vets the cause was identified as the cyanide in the apples she’d eaten.
I keep my dog well away from windfalls.
You're wise not to doubt me.

The major factors here are (a) the patient being a dog and (b) the apples being windfall apples.

Guppyspotter
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Re: Old wifes tales.

Post by Guppyspotter » Sat Jul 19, 2025 9:49 pm

My eyesight isn't what it used to be.....

midlander63
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Re: Old wifes tales.

Post by midlander63 » Sat Jul 19, 2025 11:06 pm

My mum was very superstitious - she said that if you hang out the washing and a bird shits on it that's good luck

rob63
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Re: Old wifes tales.

Post by rob63 » Sat Jul 19, 2025 11:09 pm

No Ney Never wrote:
Sat Jul 19, 2025 1:02 pm
You can test positive for cocaine from eating toast!
How many lines of toast do you have to eat though? ;)

Guppyspotter
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Re: Old wifes tales.

Post by Guppyspotter » Sat Jul 19, 2025 11:13 pm

dougcollins wrote:
Sat Jul 19, 2025 5:12 pm
That works, bizarrely.
Not bizarre but works in an unexpected way. You might expect that the sap from the crushed leaves neutralizes the formic acid found in nettles by being alkaline but it is the soothing effect of the sap evaporating and cooling the area. Dock leaf sap is also acidic.
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dougcollins
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Re: Old wifes tales.

Post by dougcollins » Sun Jul 20, 2025 8:47 am

Would have been so much neater if it was the alkaline neutralisation!

chekhov
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Re: Old wifes tales.

Post by chekhov » Sun Jul 20, 2025 8:56 am

brexit wrote:
Sat Jul 19, 2025 11:10 am
wives
Wives’

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Re: Old wifes tales.

Post by CaptJohn » Sun Jul 20, 2025 9:06 am

"Share salt, share sorrow!" I was brought up to never hand the salt cellar over to another person at the dinner table. Always put it down on the table in front of them if they ask you to pass it.

brexit
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Re: Old wifes tales.

Post by brexit » Sun Jul 20, 2025 4:31 pm

chekhov wrote:
Sun Jul 20, 2025 8:56 am
Wives’
“Wisdom.... comes not from age, but from education and learning.”

brexit
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Re: Old wifes tales.

Post by brexit » Sun Jul 20, 2025 4:33 pm

CaptJohn wrote:
Sun Jul 20, 2025 9:06 am
"Share salt, share sorrow!" I was brought up to never hand the salt cellar over to another person at the dinner table. Always put it down on the table in front of them if they ask you to pass it.
interesting, I went to a house-warming in Serbia once and most of the locals brought bread and salt to bless the house.

kentonclaret
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Re: Old wifes tales.

Post by kentonclaret » Sun Jul 20, 2025 5:05 pm

midlander63 wrote:
Sat Jul 19, 2025 11:06 pm
My mum was very superstitious - she said that if you hang out the washing and a bird shits on it that's good luck
Gives it that “whoosh of freshness” :lol:

IanMcL
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Re: Old wifes tales.

Post by IanMcL » Mon Jul 21, 2025 10:19 pm

Terrier wrote:
Fri Jul 18, 2025 3:51 pm
Know of any or if there is anything in them?
Asking because I recently read 90% of the goodness in an apple is in the core so I have started to scoff the whole apple, problem is every time I eat one I hear my grandma ( dead for over 50 year ) telling me that if I ate an apple pip a tree would grow in my stomach .
Nothing happening as of yet!
Recommend creating a smoothie with your apple etc.

yTib
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Re: Old wives' tales.

Post by yTib » Mon Jul 21, 2025 10:28 pm

goose grease is a cure-all for just about everything.

my gran smothered my neck in it when i pulled a muscle.

decades later i still feel the same injury.

JohnMac
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Re: Old wifes tales.

Post by JohnMac » Mon Jul 21, 2025 10:30 pm

Don't sit too close with your back to the coal fire otherwise your spine will melt. (As we did to get warm)

IanMcL
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Re: Old wifes tales.

Post by IanMcL » Mon Jul 21, 2025 10:32 pm

midlander63 wrote:
Sat Jul 19, 2025 11:06 pm
My mum was very superstitious - she said that if you hang out the washing and a bird shits on it that's good luck
How to fool yourself after a bad happening!

FCBurnley
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Re: Old wifes tales.

Post by FCBurnley » Mon Jul 21, 2025 10:36 pm

If the wind changes direction while you are pulling a face at somebody your face will stay like that !

IanMcL
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Re: Old wifes tales.

Post by IanMcL » Mon Jul 21, 2025 10:47 pm

Don't play near drains or you will catch Scarlet Fever.

Guppyspotter
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Re: Old wifes tales.

Post by Guppyspotter » Mon Jul 21, 2025 10:58 pm

Middle-agedClaret wrote:
Sat Jul 19, 2025 5:12 pm
As for old wives’ tales I remember from my childhood in Ireland, the one that seemed oddest was that if you put a new pair of shoes on the table it would bring you bad luck. Still don’t do it ( although I’ve had my share of bad luck, like us all)
I did that once and my dad slapped me round the head and told me to get my shoes off the table. Not convinced it was bad luck but bad manners.

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Re: Old wifes tales.

Post by Grimsdale » Mon Jul 21, 2025 11:36 pm

If you've been out in the cold and you put your hands in front of the fire, you'll get chilblains.

When I asked my mum what chilblains are, she just told me to shut up and get my hands away from the fire.

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