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30 Wise Old Sayings That Have Totally Lost Their Meaning In The Contemporary World, As Shared By Folks In This Online Group
Over the millennia of its existence, humanity has accumulated a huge amount of so-called "folk wisdom" - sayings, proverbs and various allegedly wise quotes. These are words that are intended - often in rhymed form - to reflect some kind of rule of conduct, or simply to calm an upset person.
They are passed down from generation to generation, remain in our subconscious, and we continue to pronounce them without even thinking - but how much do they even make sense? Well, some are simply outdated, not keeping up with the rapid development of mankind in recent decades, some are even harmful, because public morality has changed significantly, and some are just one big lie.
Do you want an example? Voila! You may have heard Thomas Edison's famous saying, "Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration." Beautiful and impressive, isn't it? On the other hand, this statement is true, perhaps, only to one person - Edison himself.
The fact is that the great inventor did not receive a fundamental education, but rather he had simply phenomenal perseverance and working capacity. As a result, where it was enough to simply make some scientific calculation, Edison compensated for everything with a banal enumeration of options manually. It worked for him, but it's far from a fact that it works for others.
Well, there is a very popular thread in the AskReddit community where the topic starter wonders "Which old saying is actually nonsense?" During the few months of its existence, the thread has been upvoted more than 35.4K times, and today it consists of nearly 16.6K comments, many of which hide a complete deconstruction of some element of that notorious "folk wisdom".
Bored Panda has made a list for you with the most popular comments of the original thread. Some of them we have heard hundreds of times in our lives, some you will first meet in this post - in any case, feel free now to scroll to the very end and if you do not find something that seems like complete nonsense to you, please write it in the comments.
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"It's always in the last place you look"
Well of course it is. Why would you continue looking once you've found it
Good things happen to good people. Crock of s**t that is.
"looks don't matter"
I've noticed that this is usually said by people who are attractive themselves. That's like someone born rich saying that money doesn't matter.
I was an fat ugly kid and I'm now a fat, ugly adult. Trust me, looks matter. It has been made very clear to me over the years how much it matters. I've even been told on job interviews that I wasn't attractive enough for the job.
"Age brings wisdom"
We have an congress, senate, and a bunch of aging baby boomers that prove that wrong.
“Money is the root of all evil” is probably one of the most misquoted sayings out there. The actual quote is “for the love of money is the root of all evil” that changes the meaning behind the quote completely imo
“Winners never cheat and cheaters never win.”
Yeah, b******t. Cheaters almost always win.
Look at a social devient, corrupt criminal like Trump. He even cheats himself.
Go big or go home. You have no idea how bad I just want to go home.
"Lions are king of the jungle" They don't live in the damn jungle.
No way am I going to tell a lion he can't live in a jungle if he wants to.
"Everything happens for a reason."
No. It. F*****g. Doesn't.
Well there's a reason but it's not some grand existential reason or anything. The saying is true in the literal sense only.
If at first you don't succeed try, try and try again.
Don't follow that advice when dating. You will be branded as a stalker/creep.
Do something you love, and you'll never work a day in your life. B******t, now what used to bring my joy is misrable and I dont have a backup career.
I love what I do for a living, I just don't love the long hours and stress.
"Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise."
I did that for years, and I'm morbidly obese, lower middle class, and stupid as hell.
"An Apple a day keeps the doctor away." No matter how many I shoved up my butt I still had to get a colonoscopy
The customer is always right
The phrase means that customers buying habits determines the market. They are always right, because they dictate what is popular
Blood is thicker then water.. Always hated it , s***ty family members.
What doesn't kill you make you stronger
Lies...when my son died it almost killed me. I wanted to die. I'm not nearly as strong as I was prior.
“Pull yourself up by your bootstraps”
- it’s meant as an ironic/satirical phrase, because it refers to an act which is literally impossible
Whenever I hear a libertarian say things like "there's no such thing as a victim of circumstance" I want to punch them. Say that to the millions of homeless children in the world. Yes, because you were born with wealth and privilege, therefore we all were.
"A jack of all trades is a master of none". Only because no one ever user uses the full quote, so it's useless in this form.
“This too shall pass”
Uhh not if it’s herpes? Unless you mean pass it on
This is actually a saying that DOES have some merit: Anything you experience will end. Pain, joy, suffering, family and yourself will end. This is to remind us to cherish the wanted experiences and that anything undesirable will untimately pass from the present to the past. Even LIFE will pass if life is undesirable.
Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me
Good things come to those who wait….
Slow and steady wins the race… yet I always lose the kahoot
My grandmother used to say, "That man is as worthless as a one legged man at an a*s kickin'."
Well, I worked at a mental facility. One day I saw a one legged man absolutely destroy another dude. Popped him in the head with his crutch, then pitched forward and just stomped on him with his one leg.
The saying is "Busier than a one-legged man in an a*s-kicking contest." The meaning was that you were at a disadvantage in some way, usually by not having the proper tools, training, or team and still trying to reach the goal.
Boys pick on you because they love you.
This hurts me more then you (when a parent is spanking a child)
Don't play the victim.
All bad for many reasons.
this hurts me more than u? well then for you what's it like, the damn Cruciatus Curse? sorry, im a potterhead.
Feed a cold, starve a fever.
Just eat nutritious, easy to digest foods when you're sick (and stay hydrated)..
edit: Holy cow this comment blew up! Thanks for the awards!
As for the people who are telling me my version is incorrect, I can tell you that its the one I heard growing up, and the internet seems to confirm that it is indeed a saying (though starve a cold, feed a fever also seems to be a thing)
According to my grandmother's aunt and family healer, "feed a cold, starve a fever" was a neighborly thing. When you heard someone is sick with a cold, just had a baby, had a bad back, etc., you would take food to your neighbor to help ease the burden, but if they had a fever (think small pox, the plague, contagious disease of some sort), you stayed away from their home - hence "starved the fever." She was 105 when she passed away in 2017.
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
That’s also the definition of practice.
EDIT: Alright, I get it everyone. I oversimplified practice.
"Practice Makes Perfect"
The real saying should be "Practice Makes Permanent." You can practice something the wrong way or practice something completely wrong altogether. No matter what it is, doing something over and over again solidifies it as a habit and you become stuck with whatever way you practiced it.
Yes, practice makes perfect if you are practicing the thing PERFECTLY. but if you're doing any step wrong, it's not just PRACTICE that will fix it, it's being capable and aware enough to see the error and CHANGING your approach on the fly. Too many people are afraid of change and just charge through things thinking that they just need to be more aggressive when they really just need to stop, shift, and then practice the right way.
Only the good die young.
My amazingly wonderful grandmother who was the kindest, most generous person I've known lived to be 95
"Opposites attract". In romance, opposites tend to repel each other.
In romance novels, the strong loner hero and the self-sufficient female both agree they'd be horrible together, but always get married in the end. No one continues writing through until the divorce.
In my experience the more differences you have the more doomed it is. I was with someone who was near-identical (except hair colour and family, no banjos here). We differed on one thing: introversion/extraversion. That doomed it.
Nope...this only applies in some situations and it all depends on what's the opposition.
BALANCE attracts. Not opposites. Life isn't a teeter totter. Sometimes the person who balances you out isn't your opposite, just different in the right way.
This is true from a psychology perspective- we are often more attracted to people who are more like us both in looks, interest etc
then that is "likes attract" not "opposites attract". sheesh.
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If you’re married, never go to sleep angry.
Sometimes situations are so volatile, there’s no way to interact without saying something that can’t be unsaid.
"Children should be seen not heard"
Always listen and admire old people. My grandpa is a goddamn chainsmoker, i can't handle the smoke which releases from that thing
I"ve always loved talking to elderly people. They've seen some s**t!! lol
“You are poor cause you want to”
Happy wife, happy life
you can never be too careful
You certainly can. My overly strong fear of taking too many risks has really held me back in life.
“If you love something, let it go. If it comes back, it was meant to be.”
If you let something go, it was probably for a good reason. Better to move forward without it than to live in limbo.
Edit to clarify that I’m not at all opposed to letting go. I’m opposed to assuming something is “meant to be” just because it keeps showing back up at your door.
'I before E except after C' is wrong more times than its right.
There's more to the saying. The whole thing is "I before E, except after C or when sounded as A, as in neighbor and weigh. And weird is just weird.” even the whole saying has some exceptions though
Don't judge a book by it's cover. C**p. I'm gonna judge the heck out of that cover!
That is the only purpose of the book cover is so that judgement can be made.
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Maybe they mean pecking at it and taking small bites?
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My mother-in-law, that I loved very much, used to say, " you catch more flies with honey than with viniger". Well, who the F**? wants flies?
I've always thought about this one to mean, if you are nice to people, they will be more willing to help you out or go above and beyond for you. If you are nasty to them, you are going to get the least from them they "have" to give. Which is true for myself. Sweet? I will get you taken care of the best, fastest, and most generous way I can. A*****e? Your appointment will be 2 weeks out etc.
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“birds of a feather flock together” was originally “birds of a feather flock together before the cat comes.” it was actually a warning about fair-weather friends, not about people with similar personalities.
"There's someone out there for everyone." One said by my dad was, "Suffering's good for the soul."
I'm sorry you have to go through that Kate. 😔 The human race is losing.
Don't judge a book by it's cover. C**p. I'm gonna judge the heck out of that cover!
That is the only purpose of the book cover is so that judgement can be made.
Load More Replies... Maybe they mean pecking at it and taking small bites?
Load More Replies... My mother-in-law, that I loved very much, used to say, " you catch more flies with honey than with viniger". Well, who the F**? wants flies?
I've always thought about this one to mean, if you are nice to people, they will be more willing to help you out or go above and beyond for you. If you are nasty to them, you are going to get the least from them they "have" to give. Which is true for myself. Sweet? I will get you taken care of the best, fastest, and most generous way I can. A*****e? Your appointment will be 2 weeks out etc.
Load More Replies... “birds of a feather flock together” was originally “birds of a feather flock together before the cat comes.” it was actually a warning about fair-weather friends, not about people with similar personalities.
"There's someone out there for everyone." One said by my dad was, "Suffering's good for the soul."
I'm sorry you have to go through that Kate. 😔 The human race is losing.
