Bubbemeisehs

 

For the uninitiated, that's the Yiddish term which, literally, means “grandmother stories.” The closest English expression is “old wives' tales,”ⁱ but there's much more to it than that. The term also refers to other nonsense – to misconceptions and misleading ideas which may be modern, not just the ones passed down through the generations. For example, the recent teaching of Linus Pauling – that high doses of vitamin C will protect you from a variety of diseases – is a bubbemeiseh. All the scientific studies initiated to prove this point have failed to do so. There just isn't any truth to it.ⁱⁱ

One of my favorites is the concept that going out in the cold will cause you to have a cold. (“Put on your coat. I'm cold.”) It may sound good, and it may have been passed on to you earnestly,ⁱⁱⁱ but there's no truth to it. Absent a cold virus you can go dancing naked in the snow and you won't catch cold. You may be cold, but you won't catch cold. It's the virus, not the weather, that causes the problem. But the idea persists. It's intuitive – it makes sense – so it must be right.

Another commonly held notion is the idea that orange juice or chicken soup or tea not only will cure a cold but can be used for almost any disease.^iv One of the classic, if tongue-in-cheek, therapies I remember from medical school was the two-hat treatment for the cold. According to this strategy, the afflicted one should hang his hat on the bedpost^v and start drinking bourbon. When he saw two hats hanging there he should go to sleep. That remedy could be repeated until the cold passed. It might not help very quickly, but he wouldn't care. He might not even discontinue the therapy after the cold is gone.

Nowadays we have new ideas and fads. Many of them are just as silly as the ones we've inherited, but they're repeated with such earnestness that it's hard not to listen attentively. With some, however, it's harder to keep a straight face. The idea that people take many of these beliefs^vi seriously is a reflection on a society that is searching for “answers,” because logic is less important than whatever sounds or feels good, or feeds into the current vogue. And the word of the day is “healthful.”^vii

Listen to the radio, or your friends, and you will find out that you need a certain amount of (bottled) water every day, or more fiber and anti-oxidants, or less fat, or, perhaps, a certain number of fruits or vegetables. Or the secret of long life may be Greek yogurt, probiotics, or more vitamins, or whole grains, or less gluten.

One way of ensuring your continued good health is to make sure that all the food you eat is natural. If you're not sure what that means, it's worth looking it up in, for example, Wikipedia.^viii There you'll find an article which contains the following paragraph:

"'Natural foods' and 'all natural foods' are widely used terms in food labeling and marketing with a variety of definitions, some of which are vague. The term is assumed to imply foods that are minimally processed and do not contain manufactured ingredients, but the lack of standards in some jurisdictions means that the term assures nothing. The term "organic" has similar implications and has an established legal definition in many countries and an international standard.^ix In some places, the term "natural" is defined and enforced. In others, such as the United States, it has no meaning.

That reality, of course, in no way discourages the believers from looking for such a designation on the labels of the products they buy, and belittling those who do not buy “natural.”^x The designation is one that permits higher prices whether or not there is anything beneficial in the products it adorns. Similarly “organic.” It may be more difficult and time consuming to raise crops without the aid of modern fertilizers and pesticides, but that only makes them more expensive – not better. I'd rather have a small amount of a pesticide that may cause cancer^xi than a small amount of a lethal E. coli strain that might have been eliminated by the pesticide. Oh well, à chacun son goût.

There are other frequent beliefs that ought to be taken with a grain of (sea) salt. These include the ideas that living near power wires causes cancer, as does the use of cellular telephones. And drinking coffee will cause a child to stop growing. Those risks are real as superstitions like walking under a ladder, or letting a black cat cross your path, or breaking a mirror, will bring bad luck. No one takes superstitions seriously. The jury is out on astrology as well, but there are certain “facts” that we'd be fools to ignore – like what doesn't kill you makes you stronger,^xii wind power can solve the energy crisis, or immunizations cause autism.

The idea that bubbemeisehs are old and outdated myths ignores the truth that they are created every day. They make reality easier to face because they provide the answers we need to get along – comforting “truths” by which we live. They make clear everything that “they” – the powers that be, or anyone else – are trying to hide from us. We may change our ideas tomorrow and realize that what we accept today are just silly concepts that really aren't true, but all we'll do is substitute new myths. Those new tales will provide all the solace we need until they, too, are disproved and replaced. There will always be bubbemeisehs. Grandma knew what she was talking about – and so do we. At least we think we do.

Next episode: “Washington Arms” – A fundamental change in America.

i     An expression dating back to days when mothers married.

ii    Vitamin C does protect people from scurvy, but high doses aren't needed.

iii    Probably by your mother, not your grandmother. However your mother heard it from her own mother. And she believed it.

iv    The main concern is that the person who is sick have a lot of fluids to prevent dehydration at a time when he does not feel like eating. I find the chicken soup rather comforting however.

v      Do beds still have posts, or am I living in the past?

vi    And, indeed, they are beliefs. Some are based on “science” – usually “junk science” or a single unconfirmed study – but most are based on hype cooked up by someone who has written a book, or someone who has something to sell.

vii     Actually most people say “healthy” when they mean “healthful,” but language change is also common nowadays.

viii    Notwithstanding its bad reputation, Wikipedia is a good starting point for many inquiries.

ix     Indeed, the legal requirements are sometimes quite complex and they differ from country to country. Whether there's any scientific basis for them, or whether they represent a response to a public demand, is arguable. According to the Creighton University School of Medicine in it's view of “Perceived Pros and Cons of Organic Foods”: “Arguments for or against organic foods are largely anecdotal and left to word of mouth.”

x     Poison oak is natural, isn't it? And so's uranium. There's got to be more to it than that.

xi     In twenty years, when taken in amounts that are inconceivable in actual use.

xii      Actually, even if it doesn't kill you it can make you very sick.