dont think it gets talked about enough how theres a generation or two that just... believes things they are told. everything was anecdotal, so being the first to put something in their head that seems plausible still has incredible value. my mom still repeats things an aunt wrongly told her in 1964.
This drives me a bit crazy about my mom. I've been hearing her say the same kinds of stuff since the early 80s, which is often dominated by the bog standard "conventional wisdom that's been disproved for decades." And who would she have heard it from to begin? The family members she says were awful!
We only got my mom to stop washing chicken this year!