A bath after food? Or that you shouldn’t swim after a meal

As a child, it was drummed into me never, ever swim for less than 2 hours after a meal.
Never done it since..l

SueDonim

I had to have a bath, or rather a shower, last night after I dropped my entire bowl of strawberries and cream into my lap!

What a Waste - Ian Drury

(blame DH who suggested this when I read your post to him!)

A girl died recently in the sea near Cleethorpes pier after eating 'a substantial lunch of pizza and chips', in June 23. Her mother warned her not to go swimming until her food settled but she ignored her, got into difficulties and was swept out to sea and died from inhaling her own vomit.(DT 2.8.25.)
So not such an old wives tale after all. Tragic.

Redcar

primrose I read that too.
I stayed with a French family when I was 15 and one of their friends died while swimming after eating a big lunch. I remember going to her funeral mass.

I was brought up on the coast and we were always swimming. My Mum always made me wait for a good hour after our food before we were allowed back in. Most of my friends were the same.

primrose I read that too.
I stayed with a French family when I was 15 and one of their friends died while swimming after eating a big lunch. I remember going to her funeral mass.

Coincidentally there is a story in the news today about a teenager who sadly died while swimming straight after a meal.

*Crossstitchfan", way back in the 40s when I was around 7, I had a roaring temperature with measles, 104+, and the doctor told my mother to plunge me in a tepid bath. It must've worked, I'm 85 now!

M0nica

No one knows where the phrase 'all my eye and Betty Martin originated, but the suggestion is that it is the English mispronunciation of an Italian phrase.

Rather like the phrase, more or less gone out of use, San fairy Ann, to mean a something doesn't matter. Said to date back to WW1 and an anglecisation of the French phrase 'Ca ne fait rien'

The film was good, filmed partly in my local area.

grammargran

It's obviously a generation thing as in my 80s and I remember each and everyone of the restrictions quoted. I'll add another, don't cut your toenails on a Friday ...

Years ago, in the early 70s, I was a trainee auxiliary nurse at a local hospital. A three year old I was minding was quite poorly one night and developed a high temperature. I was told to stand him, naked, (at 2am) in front of an open window until he was cooler. It was November!
Good job they don’t think like that now!

You should not swim directly after a meal, as a coroner stated recently after a teenager inhaled her own vomit when swimming last year and subsequently died
.

No one knows where the phrase 'all my eye and Betty Martin originated, but the suggestion is that it is the English mispronunciation of an Italian phrase.

Rather like the phrase, more or less gone out of use, San fairy Ann, to mean a something doesn't matter. Said to date back to WW1 and an anglecisation of the French phrase 'Ca ne fait rien'

Thank you, Allira!

I remember those old wives tales :
But I was swimming after a big lunch and I threw up and had to come out of the pool so maybe there is something in it .
My hair was greasy as a teenager and I wasn't allowed to shampoo it until my period had completely finished .
I'd have to use dry shampoo . It just made my hair look dusty .
And I wasn't allowed to get chilled by sitting on cold walls or stand on cold floors without proper insulation on my feet .
Vests and petticoats were considered insulating in the Winter .
All our clothes had to be thoroughly aired .
Not eating breakfast and lining the stomach with adequate food was the rule.
Drinking soft drinks such as Coke or Fanta were considered unhealthy and addictive .
I wasn't allowed coffee until I was an adult .
Getting wet in the rain was another taboo .
Sun bathing was another.

AngieLC

Aha, not regional then! And who was Betty Martin?

“[A] Jack Tar [British sailor] went into a foreign church, where he heard someone uttering these words—Ah! mihi, bea’te Martine (Ah! Grant me, Blessed Martin.). On giving an account of his adventure, [the sailor] said he could not make much out of it, but it seemed to him very like “All my eye and Betty Martin.”
speakingplainly.org/2012/11/26/all-my-eye-and-betty-martin/

Possibly 😁

My mother had my ears pieced when I was 6 as it was thought it would relive the terrible catarrh I was suffering from!

Aha, not regional then! And who was Betty Martin?

Heard in the South West!

AngieLC

For Casdon - you are the only other person I’ve come across whose mother used to say ‘it’s all my eye and Betty Martin’!!
I’ve had some funny looks when I’ve used that phrase….my mother was brought up in South West London: I wonder if it’s a regional thing?

I've heard the phrase but my Mum never used it.
🙂

For Casdon - you are the only other person I’ve come across whose mother used to say ‘it’s all my eye and Betty Martin’!!
I’ve had some funny looks when I’ve used that phrase….my mother was brought up in South West London: I wonder if it’s a regional thing?

‘Best’ old wives’ tales I heard were while we were living abroad, with neighbours from a different (Mediterranean) culture.

If I continued to carry toddler dd1 while pregnant with dd2, my baby would be born with a broken arm.

If I went swimming when pregnant ‘your bones will open and you’ll lose the baby’.

Perhaps ‘best’, if taking the baby out after dark, I must cover her face with a blanket, to keep any evil spirits away!

Dandelions are colloquially known as pissabeds in some parts of the country.

New house, new baby
Yes, that one's true 😁

If you pick dandelions you will wet the bed. Also new bed new baby

Pissenlit if I remember right.