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old wives tale 

Bobby's Grandma: "Put on your coat or you'll catch pneumonia"
Little Bobby: "Nah ah Grandma. That's an old wives tale. Pneumonia is caused by bacteria."
old wives tale by enzoblinx July 20, 2006

old wives' tale 

A belief, usually in the form of untested new pieces of information like having to behave well to get more screen time from parents, passed from mouth to mouth as piece of traditional wisdom
My parents always made me behave well to earn extra screen time, but now I realize it was just an old wives' tale about how to manage kids and technology.
old wives' tale by Emotional Cruiser September 30, 2025