Truisms, clichés, and old wives’ tales, by Elizabeth Kay
Truism (Chambers) – a self-evident truth; a commonplace or trite statement. Cliché (Chambers) – a stereotyped phrase, or literary tag; something hackneyed as idea, plot, or situation. Old Wives’ Tales (Brewer’s) – superstitious stories and beliefs such as are kept alive and spread by credulous old women. There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance; pray you love, remember. So says Ophelia, in Hamlet, and like me you may have just thought it was one of those things like wearing a posy to ward off the plague, or throwing salt over your shoulder for good luck. Not so. A study found that pupils working in a room with the aroma of rosemary, in the form of an essential oil, achieved 5% to 7% better results in memory tests, and the findings were consistent with tests on adults. Rosemary has been associated with memory for hundreds of years, and Ancient Greek students wore garlands of rosemary in exams! We all try t...