Thing To Consider Today: Old Wives' Tales.

 An Old Wives' Tale is a piece of 'wisdom' passed on by someone older than oneself that is not considered by the recipient to be true.

When I was a child, for instance, a heavy cold would be treated by putting the feet in a bowl of hot water to which mustard powder had been added.

Other examples of such lore include the advice that cramps occur if you swim less than two hours after a meal; shaving the head making your hair grow back curly; and keeping your coat on indoors will stop it keeping you warm when you go out again.

I was a awkward child - one of my first words was why - and I don't think that any of these dicta convinced me of anything except that my mother really wasn't very clever at all. 

Never mind, I told myself, she'd left school at fourteen. Soon everyone would be much better educated, and then the rules of evidence would govern the beliefs of the whole world, and much less mustard would be wasted.

I suppose that just goes to prove that I wasn't very clever either.

Thing To Consider Today: Old Wives' Tales. The Old English form of this word was wīf. It comes from the Old Norse vīf, which might have something to do with vīfathr, which means veiled.