an old wives' tale



an old wives' tale

a piece of advice or an idea which a lot of people believed in the past but which we now know is wrong It's an old wives' tale that drinking alcohol before you go to bed helps you sleep.
See also: old, tale

Common Names:

NameGenderPronouncedUsage
Radzimierzrah-JEEM-yeshPolish (Rare)
Balakrishna-Indian, Telugu, Kannada
Nicolaunee-koo-LOW (Portuguese)Portuguese, Galician, Catalan
Barr[ba:]
Agassiz['ægəsi]
Alcyoneal-SIE-ə-nee (English)Greek Mythology (Latinized)