On a less serious note: I told this story to a friend this morning who thought it would make for a good thread.One of my cousins remembered as a child overhearing a conversation between her mother and mine about what it is that determines the sex of a child. My mothers view was that it was determined by the sex of the person who had initiated the act by which the child was conceived. My cousin said that it gave her a whole other view of my mother since of her twelve children, ten were female.I suppose we cant call these kinds of things "old wives tales" any more, but are there others, on this or any other subject, that were handed down in your family?

Rev. Joseph A. Komonchak, professor emeritus of the School of Theology and Religious Studies at the Catholic University of America, is a retired priest of the Archdiocese of New York.

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