by BobbyMungler
(edit: me and MrNu replied at the same time. His answer is similar, but with a lot more uncertainty and "window to the soul" bullshit. So if you want a shorter, more accurate reply, here ya go.)
I'm on a kick where I believe that knowledge has been passed down through the millenniums as "old wives tales".
Meaning when someone from the a century or two ago said, "the eyes are the window to the soul", they weren't just spewing bullshit, and they knew a thing or two.
Don't get me started on chewing gum staying in your body for seven years. That's one that I have in the back of my mind.
But yeah, lateralization. You've said it much more concretely.
Is this the most awesome write-up on the wiki pedia, or what?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_wives%27_tale
Old wives' tale is an epithet used to indicate that a supposed truth is actually a superstition or something untrue, to be ridiculed. It can be said sometimes to be a type of urban legend, said to be passed down by older women to a younger generation. Such "tales" are considered superstition, folklore or unverified claims with exaggerated and/or inaccurate details. Old wives' tales often center on women's traditional concerns, such as pregnancy, puberty, social relations, health, herbalism and nutrition.
Dem witches knew a thing or two if you ask me. Let's burn em at the stake!
Look at this one! It is so rediculous, but it is in fact extremely true!
Don't make silly faces or it will make the silly face permanent.
Right? If you are constantly creasing your forehead, you end up with wrinkles or creases in your forehead. As we age, our personality is "written" on our face. This is surely something of great concern to a "witch".
Interesting possibilities.
Wiki Says,
High heart rates lead to female fetuses.
http://www.webmd.com/baby/features/predicting-your-babys-sex
Although Schaffer's fortunetellers all proved accurate, that was probably just luck. In a study published in the journal Birth in September 1999, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health researchers asked 104 pregnant women to guess their baby's sex, using whatever method they liked, whether it was hunches, dreams, or rings on a string. The women were right 55% of the time, or about what you could expect from random guesses.
But just to throw a little confusion into the mix, the study also found the mothers-to-be who had the highest levels of education (12 years or more) were far more accurate, predicting their baby's sex correctly 71% of the time. These women most often based their gender predictions on dreams or feelings, and those were the ones that proved most prophetic.
The heartbeat theory. "Fetal heart rates range between 110 and 160," explains Patricia Crane, MSN, CNM, director of the nurse-midwifery service with the University of Michigan Health Systems. "If your baby's heart rate averages in the 110 to low 130s range, the thought is that it's more likely a boy, and if it's in the mid 140s to 160 range, it's more likely a girl. Mid-130s to 140s is unpredictable -- and where a lot of heart rates fall."
A study done in 1993 at the University of Kentucky seemed to prove this theory right, finding that the fetal heartbeat could be used accurately to predict the sex of 91% of boys and 74% of girls. But subsequent studies all disagree. "I also tell my patients that there must be other atmospheric conditions that affect this because you have a run of babies where this theory tends to work, and then suddenly you can't get one right to save your life!" Crane says.
I've never heard that one before though. I wonder how far back it goes, and what they were using to listen to fetal heartbeats? Can mothers feel a babies heartbeat inside the womb? I dunno...
(Generally, at face value when there are conflicting studies, I park the idea, as "possible".)
And this is why it is extremely important to understand the differences between different translations of the bible and thier intent.
The concept of old wives' tales has existed for centuries. In 1611, the King James Bible was published with the following translation of the Apostle Paul writing to his young protégé Timothy, "But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself [rather] unto godliness" (I Timothy 4:7 KJV[1]).