wives tale
Grandmotherly medical advice
An old wives' tale is a traditional belief or piece of advice passed down through generations, typically regarded as superstitious or scientifically unfounded: The idea that you catch cold from being cold is an old wives' tale.
The phrase almost always appears with "old" preceding it.
Without "old," wives tale is incomplete—the full expression implies folk wisdom from elderly women, often dismissed as quaint or unreliable.
- folkloreInherited cultural narratives
- superstitionBaseless belief in omens
- mythTraditional explanatory tale
- oldExisting many years
- grandmotherMother of a parent
folk wisdom · wisdom · old saying · remedy · home remedy · legend · urban legend · hearsay · word of mouth · nonsense · tradition · belief · cure · kitchen · gossip · yarn · fable · home
wives taleobjective truth
Reality independent of perception
empirical evidence · scientific evidence · hard science · evidence-based medicine · scientific consensus
wives talescience
Systematic study through observation
scientific knowledge · professional opinion · empirical research · academic research · academic scholarship