What myths did you grow up with?

[Nightjar]

My Pop was a character with a great sense of humour but did keep me away from handling Bobtail Lizards.
Pop instilled in me, if you placed the barrel of a rifle in their gaping mouth, then stood on their tail and tried to remove the rifle shards of steel would peel off the barrel.
Anyone else got any stories about the growing up years?

 

[Mackka]

Go on Pull my Finger

 

[aussiefarmer]

Square eyes
Black tongue
Hairy palms
Going blind
Shutting the back gate keeps the snakes out

 

[Heatho]

Stop pulling faces! If the wind changes direction your face will stay that way.

 

[Hilux]

Not really a myth, more of a tall story...........my brother told me that our old man told him he caught a penguin when fishing.

 

[Hilux]

Go on Pull my Finger

That one is definitely not a myth!

 

[The Tester]

Myth or parents trying to make their children behave.

Be a good boy or the boogy man is going to get you.

 

[geof_junk]

boogy man

He was too slow in my area!

 

[user 22230]

Santa Claus

 

[user 14190]

Bunyips was the one that I had when we visited Grandfathers farm, they (the bunyips) lived in the dams and could move from one to another dam without being seen and if one got hold of you there was very little chance of getting away, it kept me away from the dams and creeks for many years, was not even keen on having a bath there either.

 

[user 12139]

if you didn't wash behind your ears properly you'd grow spuds there

Hey Hilux, I once caught a seagull while fishing (hocking unweighted mullies) on the foreshore at Victor Harbour in SA.. Was people everywhere, kids in prams and all.. they where all "oh that poor seagull". The **** of a thing.. packed up and went home after that!

 

[Mackka]

Always wear clean undies incase you get hit by a bus and have to go to hospital.

 

[Hilux]

if you didn't wash behind your ears properly you'd grow spuds there

Hey Hilux, I once caught a seagull while fishing (hocking unweighted mullies) on the foreshore at Victor Harbour in SA.. Was people everywhere, kids in prams and all.. they where all "oh that poor seagull". The **** of a thing.. packed up and went home after that!

Haha I can imagine the scene!

I hooked a big albatross type bird on a floating mulie from a boat. In trying to unhook him he ended up clamping down on my index finger.

When the hook was out I he was still clamped on, I figured if I sort of threw him up in the air he'd release my finger and fly away. I was wrong.... the hook on the end of his beak just about ring-barked my finger.

 

[user 22230]

Sorry Mackka regards Santa. Hope this one is ok ............................. Storks bring babies and the one's they don't bring you will find in a cabbage patch.

 

[Manpa]

If you don’t eat it now you’ll have it cold for breakfast.
if you don’t eat your crusts you wont get hair on your chest.
The music playing on Mr Whippy means he’s out of icecream!

 

[geof_junk]

My uncle had a giant snake in his shed that can swallow a large child in a flash. It was to stop his nephews from going in there, but we tried many ways to see it instead.

 

[MegsyB007]

Eat your crusts - it will make your hair curly. (Backfired - I thought if I didn't eat them, my curly hair would grow straight! )

Don't sit too close to the tv, it will make your eyes go square.

Don't lie on the floor, you'll be in a draft and catch a cold. (Go outside and play!)

Opals are bad luck. (Even though my grandmother wore them for decades and was considered a lucky lady).

Don't put new shoes on the table, it's bad luck.

Don't open an umbrella inside, it's bad luck.

Don't walk under a ladder, it's bad luck.

Throw salt over your left shoulder after you spill it - I asked why - apparently the devil is the one who caused you to spill it, and he's right behind you!
So a bit of salt in the eye, is meant to scare him away...?

A black cat walking across your path is bad luck.

Friday the 13th is a bad luck day (I was born on that day, and for years, my mother insisted I was born on a Thursday - until I looked it up...)

Seeing magpies rhyme:
"One for sorrow, two for mirth, three for a funeral and four for a birth."

I can go on and on with everything that was supposedly bad luck according to the family...

My question as an adult was, who made up these stupid superstitions, and why do sensible people perpetuate them?!

Cheers,
Megsy

 

[Davent]

Not really a myth, more of a tall story...........my brother told me that our old man told him he caught a penguin when fishing.

I have caught a couple of penguins while fishing, 1 on a lure and a couple on baits. All released unharmed except for a sore beak!

 

[Manpa]

If someone had a wart, if you gave them some money and bought it, it supposedly disappeared.

 

[Goldfreak]

Had a farmer near us, he had cattle and the paddocks on his block were very steep. When I was young my old man used to tell me the cows he had were specially bred so that they're legs were shorter on one side, this he said enabled them to graze accross the slopes more easily. I beleived this and spent at least a year trying to work out how they cope if they wanted to graze in the opposite direction before I realised he was pulling my leg. He also informed me of the hoop snake a snake that gets away from danger by biting its tail and forming a hoop and quickly rolling down the hill.