old wives tale
Grandma's false wisdom
An old wives' tale is a traditional belief or piece of folk wisdom passed down through generations, typically regarded as superstitious or scientifically unfounded.
The term implies the information comes from uneducated sources rather than authority: The idea that you catch cold from being cold is an old wives' tale.
Despite the dismissive connotation, some old wives' tales turn out to contain genuine insight.
- mythTraditional explanatory tale
- superstitionBaseless belief in omens
- folkloreInherited cultural narratives
- folk wisdomTraditional communal knowledge
- legendUnverified traditional tale
grandmother · old saying · belief · cure · home remedy · remedy · nonsense · fable · tradition · wisdom · warning · pregnancy · full moon · moonlight · hearsay · rumor · whisper · word of mouth
- talesfunny stories, short story, yarns, folktale, ghost story
- proverbsproverbs, sayings, maxims, adages, aphorisms
- folk sayingsproverb, adage, maxim, folk saying, old saying
- folk wisdomproverb, folklore, folk sayings, saying, proverbs
- superstitionssuperstition, superstitions, hexes, black cats, broken mirror
- misinformationmisinformation, disinformation, fake news, falsehoods, hoaxes
old wives taleempirical evidence
Proof from measurable observation
scientific consensus · evidence-based medicine · clinical study · experimental result · statistical analysis
old wives taleexpert opinion
Informed judgment from specialists
scholarly consensus · academic research · scientific literature · medical advice · peer-reviewed study
older, oldest, olden, eldest, wives, wifely, wifehood, tale, tales