Childhood myths; yay or nay?

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2 years ago
Topics: Myth, Childhood

This article has been sitting in my draft since last week and I finally decided to write on it today. It was during the recent power outage in my city and I was playing football with my friends when my girlfriend noticed ripe pawpaw (papaya) on a tree close to our fence.

My friends succeeded in plucking it and two kids helped us to retrieve them from the next house. The mother of the kids then told my girlfriend that since she will be eating pawpaw, then she should stay away from soft drinks throughout the day (specifically Fanta). After hearing that, I started thinking about all of the myths I have heard during my childhood and I wondered if there was a truth to them.

1. Pawpaw (papaya) vs soft drinks (Fanta).

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I am not really a fan of pawpaw and I don't like eating it right from childhood but I can remember my mom strictly warning my siblings never to drink Fanta after eating pawpaw because they will end up dead. The argument was that pawpaw and soft drink when combined are very deadly.

The one that is even more popular and widespread is mango vs Coke or Fanta. It's the same as the pawpaw case above, and it's said that both of them should never be combined. But is that true? Definitely not! πŸ˜€ I believed it a lot when I was a kid but as I got older, I find out it isn't true because I have mistakenly tried it a couple of times.

And also, there's no medical evidence to support this claim that mango or pawpaw and soft drinks combo could kill. Mango contains ascorbic acid like most fruits, so what specifically is in mango that will combine with coke to form a poison? πŸ€” I have seen people that took soft drinks after taking mango and nothing bad happened to them. So yeah, it's just a myth πŸ˜‰

2. Coconut water is bad for kids

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I don't know about people in other parts of the world but in Nigeria, this was a very well-known myth that was very popular during my childhood. I remember my parents will always drink the water inside a coconut when they have opened it and when I ask for some, they tell me that kids shouldn't drink it because it will make them dull πŸ˜†

I believed them a lot and I stayed away from coconut water because I don't want to end up reducing my intelligence (but I guess my intelligence did reduce for believing in that sh*it πŸ˜‚). There's definitely no relationship between coconut water and a kid's brain, if at all it will even contain nutrients that will nourish the brain.

But I guess my parents wanted the coconut water all to themselves, hence they came up with that lie πŸ˜† But I believed them because other adults around also said the same thing. It was like they all held a meeting to come up with that lie, it worked for years. But later on, I just damned the consequences and started drinking the water.

3. Throw your teeth on the roof

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This one is very funny and I believe most of us in Nigeria have heard it before. Whenever a person's milk teeth fall off, they are told to throw them on the roof or else new teeth won't grow back. I did it for years and whenever a tooth falls off, I quickly throw it on the roof.

My mom even told me something even crazier; that throwing one's tooth to the roof will give it access to lizards who takes the tooth and gives the person a new one (I guess our tooth fairy in Nigeria are lizards 🀣). I thought about it one day and just concluded that it's very absurd and not true. Till today I still don't know the reason why teeth have to be thrown on the roof.

4. When your right hand itches you, money is coming.

To be continued...

Thanks for reading πŸ’–πŸ’–πŸ’–

Monday April 4th, 2022

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2 years ago
Topics: Myth, Childhood

Comments

I think I still believe the myth that you shouldn't take any soft drink when you have taken mango, it causes stomachache. Lol

Also there is the one of not taking mango and Garri too because it's dangerous.

About the throwing of teeth on the roof, I have done this countless of time when I was young and would be careful not to open my mouth for the lizard because my tooth will not growπŸ˜…πŸ˜…

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2 years ago

Yeah there's also one about garri and mango and I agree with that one; why will anybody think of drinking garri after eating mango??? πŸ˜‚

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2 years ago

They told us about was mango and Coke, the worse that will happen is a stomach ache (sometimes) πŸ˜‚ big time scam, all of them.

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2 years ago

I don't even get stomach ache after trying that mango and coke, I wonder how that rumour even started πŸ˜†

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2 years ago

I also don't get it but I've geard people say they do sometimes.

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2 years ago

All mythical nonsense. But that coconut water fit be true o, because I drink am well when I small

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2 years ago

So are you trying to say you dull now? I concur πŸ˜‚

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2 years ago

These things really got us those times. The mango and Coke is still trending in my villa till today. Lol🀣.

The coconut; I believed this till I entered secondary school. But all the beliefs vanished when I started using phone,,,I browsed.

The teeth on the roof; I was a full victim of that.

Hand scratching and money; actually this works for some people and I think it's based on what they believe.

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2 years ago

Looks like you fell for a lot of them πŸ˜‚ it is crazy how popular these things are back then, but noww we hardly hear about them anymore

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2 years ago

Yeah, the new modern Life has helped in chasing away these myths. You can't fool a boy of 12years that has phone with these. Just a Google touch, the truth pops up

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2 years ago

Lolz, you remind me of a lot from reading this. Mango and Garry, don't walk on your shadow, never draw a line on the floor at night.

Those things never had side effects, they were composed just to keep us away from doing somethings.

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2 years ago

And I still wonder why we were told those things, till today I still don't know the reason behind most of them, it's not like they are really dangerous

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2 years ago

This are things we were told at our young age especially that β€œthrow your teeth on the roof” that one is the most popular one which is just superstitious. It’s said that lizard will eat the teeth lol πŸ˜‚

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2 years ago

Exactly what my mom told me, but I later found out that it's rubbish as I grew older πŸ˜†

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2 years ago

Omo if to say the first item on list dey kill true true, I for don die teytey cos I used to test if those things are true. The one about the coconut water is really hilarious, I can't believe you fell for that. Me, I was like 'if I dull, I dull, I must drink this water o' πŸ€£πŸ˜‚

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2 years ago

🀣 exactly me o, I just got to one point and I just said "abeg forget this thing, I must drink this forbidden water" πŸ˜‚

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2 years ago

Waiting for the money part, this topic is the biggest and hottest one especially to us Filipino, i want to know if it is for real or a not

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2 years ago

I will talk about that later today 😁

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2 years ago

Hahaha, these are some interesting and amusing myths indeed. I suppose these were told by old generations and were passed down to their offspring and then now to you, lol!

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2 years ago

That's right Ate, but now it seems nobody cares about them anymore and are no longer passing them down

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2 years ago

We usually wrap our tooth in a black polythene bag before throwing it on the roof if not all those lizard that use to climb fence would easily spot it. To be on the safest side, just dig a little hole at the backyard and bury it.... We usually feel like conquerors after successfully burying a tooth 😁

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2 years ago

πŸ˜‚ I am telling you. Some people picked that option of burying their tooth, but I prefer throwing it on the roof

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2 years ago

I love drinking coconut water though.. O Coz we have a farm ful of coconut tree 😁

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2 years ago

Coconut water has a refreshing taste, but my parents never allowed us to drink it when I was younger πŸ˜†

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2 years ago

I think some of myths are only an excuse to protect the child from being hurt.

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2 years ago

Exactly, parents use that as a tool to protect their children, but sometimes they do it for selfish reasons πŸ˜†

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2 years ago

Oh the number 3 myth, we also had that myth in our country and I remember throwing my milk teeth on the roof. I don't exactly remember the reason but yeah most of the kids before were doing that, unlike today no one does it anymoreπŸ˜…

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2 years ago

Same thing in my country, I no longer see people doing it anymore

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2 years ago

Parent's greatest excuse is "it's not good for the kids" lmao they always said that if they don't want to give you some lol. That itchy hand thingy , I used to believe that when I was younger, I was so excited everytime my hand itches because I was expecting to receive money 🀣 but now that I'm an adult, not a even single penny arrives whenever my hand itches lmao

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2 years ago

πŸ˜‚ I feel like we have been conned into adult life. Most of the things we believe as kids no longer work when we become adults πŸ˜†

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2 years ago