Episode 68: Old Wives' Tales - Does Pee Really Cure a Jellyfish Sting?

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Transcript:

Ian: Hey everyone, you are listening to “Coffee with Gringos.” I’m Ian Kennedy.

Paige: And I'm Paige Sutherland.

Ian: So today we're going to talk about things that are called “old wives’ tales.” And old wives’ tales are traditional beliefs or myths that have been passed down through history, regarding certain facts about things that usually end up not to be true. So, we're going to discuss those today and we're going to talk about, maybe, things our parents told us, growing up, that would happen if we did certain things and how they actually aren't true. Okay, so let's get to talking about old wives’ tales. And the first one that I can think of is, you should not swim after eating food. I think it's something like a half hour, or something like that. What do you know about this old wives’ tale?

Paige: Yeah, my parents would always say, you have to wait thirty minutes—they were very strict about it. And we grew up in the summer on a lake. So, we would always, I mean, I was basically a fish—I would be in the water every second of the day. And after lunch, my parents would have to, like, make sure we didn't go in the water, because they said that we would drown. We would get, like, a massive cramp and we wouldn't swim and so we had to wait. And I believed them.

Ian: Yeah, I was gonna say, did you believe them? Were you afraid to do that?

Paige: It became, I guess, like, just a fact. Like, it was just kind of, like, “Oh, after lunch we can't swim right away. We have to wait.” Like, you don't even question it.

Ian: Sure, sure. But again, it turns out though this isn't really true. Science is saying that you don't need to wait after eating to swim. I guess they used to say your limbs and your body, it needs more blood in order to swim in the water. And if you eat food, all the blood goes to your stomach—to your digestive system—and that you won't have enough blood to be able to move your arms and legs to swim. So now we know that's not true and you can swim whenever you want, basically.

Paige: I will say though, like, even though my childhood has been a lie, with that being told to me so often, as an adult, I don't think I would swim after I eat. Just because I feel full.

Ian: Right.

Paige: I don't want to be doing exercise after I eat and you can’t, swimming is, unfortunately, like work.

Ian: Exactly, yeah. It's, like, real good exercise so you make a good point. While, I guess, scientifically, it's not proven, I think really it is kind of like that. You eat a big meal and the first thing you want to do is kinda relax and let it digest before you get to moving again. So, yeah, another funny one that I can think of is, when you cross your eyes, the old wives’ tale that if you cross your eyes, they'll stay stuck like that. And I remember doing that with my little brother. I was crossing our eyes, we thought it was so funny. And I remember my mom saying, “If you keep doing that, your eyes are going to stay stuck cross-eyed.” And I had, I think, recently around that time, I'd seen someone that actually had a condition that had crossed eyes.

Paige: Because of this?

Ian: No, not because of this but in my mind, I thought maybe it was possible. And so, the idea of being cross-eyed forever was really scary to me when she told me that. So as soon as she said that, I stopped doing it. And I think even just in my mind, even though I knew for quite a while that it wasn't really true, is something I, just even when I do it now, I'm like, “I don't want to do it for too long, maybe they'll actually get stuck.”

Paige: I remember growing up hearing that, but I can't cross my eyes.

Ian: Really?

Paige: No, I've tried, and it's, it doesn't look pretty.

Ian: Well it doesn't look pretty if you can do it too.

Paige: True, true. It’s worse when you're trying to do it and you can't epic fail.

Ian: Well there you go, you don't have to worry about that one then. Funny.

Paige: The one that my parents used to always say to me growing up, because I'm not a morning person, so, when I would wake up for school I would wake up, like, the last possible minute. And I would shower and I would always go to school with wet hair. I would never blow dry my hair, because that would require me to wake up earlier. And my parents would always say, “You can't leave the house with wet hair because you'll catch a cold.” So even to this day I would think, “oh, if I have wet hair and it’s winter and I go outside, I'm going to catch a cold.” But that's false.

Ian: Yeah, I remember hearing that one a lot too. Yeah.

Paige: Yeah, I mean, even as an adult I still, even though I know it's not true because to catch a cold or the flu—it’s germs. You need to be, like, in contact with other people with, like, the environment—it's not about your hair being wet. But I still feel like shouldn’t go outside with my wet hair…

Ian: Exactly. It's funny because even after you figure out these old wives’ tales aren't even real, they still linger in your thoughts and in your brain just because that's what you heard growing up or that's what you're used to. So, kinda like how I said with still, when I cross my eyes sometimes, I think, “oh, I don't want them to get stuck.” Even though I've known for years that's not true.

Paige: Yeah, it's hard to reverse something that you thought was a fact for fifteen years or so.

Ian: Exactly, exactly. And did you ever hear the old wives’ tale, did your parents ever tell you that if you swallowed watermelon seeds that they would grow in your stomach?

Paige: I do remember that, yeah.

Ian: I guess, now I think about it, my parents never told me that, but there was a show on Nickelodeon called “Rugrats.” I don't know if you remember “Rugrats.”

Paige: Of course.

Ian: There's a specific episode where one of them swallowed a watermelon seed, and then they were able to shrink down and go in and they went into the person's body to see if it was growing. And they found out the watermelon actually wasn't going to grow. That was something that I was really scared of so I realized, okay, I can eat watermelon seeds and it won't grow in my stomach.

Paige: So did you start eating them after that episode?

Ian: No, not for pleasure. I wasn't purposely eating the seeds for fun but I worried a little bit less if I swallowed a couple of them.

Paige: That's the same one my parents used to say about if you swallow gum, that your stomach can't digest it, so it stays in your belly for seven years. Which, like, as a kid, you can't be bothered with, like, going to a trash barrel. So, you're just, like, “Ehhh, I'm done with this, I'm just gonna swallow it.” So, I would not do it often but, like, I would do it. My parents would be like “What are you doing? Blah, blah, blah.” And then, like, the thought of it just being in my stomach for seven years, which as a child, seven years is a lifetime.

Ian: Forever, yeah.

Paige: That's, like, probably all my life at that point.

Ian: Exactly, exactly.

Paige: Yeah, so that one, that one too, like you said, I mean, I don't swallow gum because I just know it's not good for your stomach. But also, that comes into my mind. How long does it take to digest?

Ian: You just have all these pieces of gum in your stomach for years and years. Yeah, that would be strange, for sure.

Ian: Another one related to food—now that we're talking about kind of food related ones—I can think of is the classic “five second rule.”  So you drop food on the floor and they say, if you pick it up within five seconds, then it'll be germ free, it's safe to eat. Which, we know technically isn't true. But to this day, I still in my mind, kind of follow that rule. I kind of, I think, it's like a countdown when something drops on the floor. Ah! 1…2...3, try to get it as quick as possible and maybe brush it off, clean it, but still eat it, in most cases. But whether it's one second or five seconds, I guess it really doesn't make much of a difference.

Paige: Is it bad I thought it was a 10 second rule?

Ian: You can just keep extending it. Why not? That's fine.

Paige: Yeah, five seconds sounds really quick. No, I mean, obviously, it does make sense that if it touches the ground, it automatically has germs. That still applies to my life but it depends on the food. Like, if it was ice cream, I wouldn't eat it. If it was, like, a cookie, like you said, I would, like, brush it off and I would feel safe.

Ian: Sure, yeah.

Paige: It depends what it is.

Ian: Depends on the food. That’s a good point, yeah.

Paige: But no, I would still eat something off the floor.

Ian: Definitely, we're not above that.

Paige: Now, the other ones, speaking of food, which doing research, just now on it, I'm amazed, was with Thanksgiving. They always say that if you eat a turkey there's a certain chemical in the turkey…

Ian:  I think it's called tryptophan.

Paige: Yeah that, and when you eat that, allegedly it's supposed to make you really sleepy. So that's why Thanksgiving, you have a turkey and everyone kind of falls asleep. And I believed that forever until literally five minutes ago.

Ian: And then we looked it up and they say that it's a lie. It's more just that you eat a lot of food, a lot of carbs, you're drinking, that you're just naturally more tired—it's not the turkey.

Ian: Exactly, the turkey just happens to be with a lot of other food, so you're just eating a lot of food, which makes you tired. So, it's kind of the connection there but, yeah, I thought the same thing for years and years. I thought there was something special about turkey that made me extra sleepy.

Paige: I know, I'm kinda, like, still processing it.

Ian: It's mind-blowing. Revelation.

Paige: And just a quick reminder, if you are interested in taking private classes with Dynamic English, go ahead and check out our website at dynamicenglish.cl. And there you can sign up for private classes in your apartment, in your house, in your office. You can even now take classes online. Sitting on your couch, you can log on and practice English. It's very easy. So, if you're interested, check us out also on social media through Facebook or Instagram.

Ian: There's another interesting one, that bulls hate the color red. And that's the reason why matadors and other people that they always show red to a bull and a bull will get angry and charge them. But really, bulls are colorblind, so they really can't even see the color red. It's not necessarily the color that makes them angry or makes them charge, it's really just the movement, it's like they see you're provoking motion, and that's what makes them run at somebody. So yeah, for the longest time I also thought, perhaps, there's something special about the color red. But it's just a part of the tradition.

Paige: I know, because it is just always red. They never change it so it's kind of like, that's interesting.

Ian: Yeah, believable.

Paige: It's probably just because red is on the Spanish flag, I don't know.

Ian:  Probably got to be a reason for it.

Paige: The other ones that I think a lot of my friends, use them to this day and, like, are like diehard fans of these old wives' tales are around alcohol. A lot of my friends will always live by the phrase “hair of the dog.” Which for those that don't know, it just basically means that if you drink a lot the night before, you wake up hungover, you're supposed to keep drinking. That's called “hair of the dog.” So, it's very common for someone to wake up in the morning and have mimosas, maybe Bloody Mary, maybe just any drink of choice.

Ian: Yeah, maybe a beer from the night before. Yeah, who knows.

Paige: So my friends will always say that if they're hungover.  They’re like , “I got to keep drinking.” I never did that. Do you live by that?

Ian: Definitely, yeah. It's pretty common for, if I have a bad hangover, let's say like on a Sunday, or whatever, I'll have a Bloody Mary to try to prolong or to try to smooth out the hangover over a long day. Yeah and sometimes, depending have like a morning beer, if I feel like I'm gonna have an impending hangover that's really bad. I know it's not really true but, yeah, in my mind it's like a placebo effect of that “hair of the dog.” So, I'm kind of like your friends, I kind of agree with that particular wives’ tale.

Paige: Basically, what happens is you are hungover and you drink and you just, kind of, prolong the hangover.  So, you're always going to be hungover, it's just a matter of when.

Paige: The other one that's my friends will always say and I live by too is the phrase,“liquor before beer, in the clear. Beer before liquor, never sicker.”

Ian: Yep. Yeah, yeah, just like that.

Paige: Yeah, and it's always funny because, like, with my friends, like, we’ll always when we're hungover it's like, “Oh, because we mixed alcohol.” But no one really remembers which one’s first. I feel like they're like, “Do you drink beer first and then liquor?” Like, I feel like no one quite understands the mix and everyone always blames it on that.Ian: Exactly. Yeah, it's pretty easy to blame it on that mix, or try to think back—which one did I start with? Liquor? Beer? What should I drink more of?  I think it all comes down to, you usually just end up drinking too much, in my case, usually. I usually say, “Well, what should I start with? Wel,l I guess it doesn't matter because I drink too much. And that's why I feel bad. But yeah, I totally understand what you mean. Sometimes it, kind of, can feel like that. Yeah, you start with one, you feel sicker and the next day you're like, “What did I do yesterday that made me this sick?”

Paige:  I know. I will say, like, even though I know it's not true, it's just about the amount of alcohol you drank that makes you that hungover because you're dehydrated. But I still feel like it depends on mixing. I think, like, if you have one beer and one mixed drink, no. But if you're having, like, a lot of beers and a lot of alcohol, just, like, stick with one.

Ian: Totally.

Paige: But, it's just mental. It's not, there's no science.

Ian: Right, exactly. And the last one that we'll talk about today is that if you get stung by a jellyfish, you're supposed to pee on the sting. Now this is something that I have heard and believed for, well, up until about five minutes ago, like we're talking about with our research. And it turns out not really supposed to do that. I guess, really what you're supposed to do is remove the stingers with something other than your hands so you don't get stung again, and then use something like vinegar to dilute the sting. And then, then scrape it, I guess. So that's a process I hadn't heard before. I thought it was just “Oh, got stung, gotta pee on it.” It turns out that's false.

Paige: I mean, I guess it's good that we know now because if I was in an emergency situation and a friend got stung, I would pee on it.

Ian: That’s what a good friend would do.

Paige: It's like what I would do. It would be, like, my first thought. So now we know we don't have to drop the pants, we can just get some vinegar and scrape it off. We probably saved ourselves some weird videos out there.

Ian: Yeah, and a real good friendship test, also.

Ian: So those were just a few that we've grown up with and heard all our lives that have surprised us a little bit about them not being true, but that's kind of what they are, right?  

Ian: Exactly. Yeah, getting those revelations now as an adult, super funny.

Paige: Well, as everyone knows if you get lost, check out the transcript online. Thanks, as always, for listening.

Ian: We'll see you next time.

Paige: “Coffee with Gringos” was brought to you by Dynamic English, where you can learn English simply by using it. If you’re interested in taking classes or just want to learn more, go to our website at dynamicenglish.cl. Thanks for listening.

Key Vocabulary, Phrases and Slang:

1.     to drown (verb): to die from not being able to swim and inhaling water.

a.     She learned how to swim so she would not drown.

2.     cramp (noun): involuntary muscle pain.

a.     I got a cramp from running all afternoon.

2.     limbs (noun): arms and legs.

a.     Her limbs were so cold because she forgot her jacket and pants.

3.     to digest (verb): to break down food in the stomach.

a.     I need my lunch to digest before we go into the water.

4.     germs (noun): disease-causing microorganism.

a.     We know that germs are what cause diseases.

5.     to linger (verb): to stay, remain.

a.     The smell of gas lingers in the air after the protests.

6.     to reverse (verb): to change, to make something the opposite.

a.     I reversed my thoughts on wives’ tales after reading the science.

7.     shrink down (phrasal verb): make something smaller in size.

a.     We need to shrink down the size of the design for our clients.

8.     belly (noun): stomach.

a.     Santa Claus has a big belly.

9.     to drop (verb): to let or make something fall.

a.     The little boy drops the glass every time he has it.

10.  countdown (noun): counting numbers until the end of something.

a.     The countdown to New Year’s Eve has already started.

11.  brush off (phrasal verb): to clean something. 

a.     I brush off my fruits before I eat them.

12.  allegedly (adverb): something seems to be true without any evidence.

a.     She allegedly fights people when she drinks too much.

13.  carbs (noun): carbohydrates, food compound.

a.     Athletes usually eat carbs the night before a competition.

14.  mind-blowing (adjective): surprising, very impressive.

a.     It was mind-blowing to find out that wives’ tales aren’t true.

15.  to charge (verb): to run at something or someone quickly.

a.     The bull charged at the man with speed.   

16.  colorblind (adjective): unable to know the difference of colors or see colors at all.     

a.     My cousin is severely colorblind.

17.  to provoke (verb): to cause a reaction.

a.     My sister provokes my brother into getting angry.

18.   diehard (adjective): fanatic, loyal.

a.     My dad is a diehard fan of Colo-Colo.

19.  hungover (adjective): to feel sick after drinking too much alcohol.

a.     She was so hungover that she didn’t leave her house.

20.  mimosas (noun): Alcoholic drink with orange juice mixed with champagne.

a.     The girls like to drink mimosas with their brunch.

21.  Bloody Mary (noun): Alcoholic drink with tomato juice and vodka.

a.     I want a Bloody Mary to help with my hangover.

22.   to prolong (verb): to extend the duration of something.

a.     These drinks will help us prolong our hangovers.

23.  impending (adjective): something about to happen soon.

a.     His impending sadness came with winter.

24.  to blame (verb): to give responsibility or guilt to someone or something.

a.     He always blames others for his mistakes.

25.  dehydrated (adjective): lacking water.

a.     I feel so dehydrated after a night of drinking.

26.  to pee (verb): to urinate.

a.     I always have to pee when I drink beer.

27.  sting (noun): a wound where an insect or animal has cut someone’s skin with a sharp point on its body.

a.     I have a big bee sting on my arm that hurts.

28.  to dilute (verb): to make a liquid or chemical weaker by adding water.

a.     Make sure to dilute the vinegar before putting it on the sting.

29.  to scrape (verb): to remove something by pushing or pulling with a hard object.

a.     She scraped the sting until it was able to come out of her arm.

30.  revelations (noun): surprising fact that wasn’t known before.

a.     The scientific research gave her revelations about the world that she never knew before.