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Innate knowledge to Brits, similar to knowing a swan might break your arm
by mikeodds 2y ago
Innate knowledge to Brits, similar to knowing a swan might break your arm
- DougN7 2y agoLol, I don’t understand what THAT means! A swan might break your arm?!?
- throwup238 2y agoIt’s the British version of an urban myth. It’s like an urban myth… but more British.
- seanhunter 2y agoI emigrated to Britain. These sorts of things mystified me for the longest time. Yes. Picture some British parents and their child on a walk near a pond, river, canal or whatever. The child sees a swan. The parents will say something like "don't get too close dear, it could break your arm". Swans are aggressive so it's probably not terrible advice, but not because they go around breaking people's arms specifically.
- MonkeyClub 2y agoAnecdotal reports, all of them true I'm sure: https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-24008,00.html https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-24... Lovely read!
- beezlewax 2y agoYe and the queen eats swans for breakfast or something like that.
- Nursie 2y agoAll swans are owned by the crown and the monarch has the exclusive right to kill and eat them. Or at least that's the way I heard it, come to think of it I have no idea at all if that's true. Stops people killing and eating swans though. Not that many would anyway these days.
- inopinatus 2y agoit is a custom more honour’d in the breach than the observance
- lmm 2y agoSt John's College serves swan on formal occasions sometimes, because they have some connection to the royal family that means they have special permission. (Or used to in the Queen Elizabeth days, I don't know if they still do under Charles)
- globular-toast 2y agoApart from the ones at Abbotsbury swannery. Those ones are privately owned. It is true to say all mute swans in Britain are owned by someone, though.
- louthy 2y ago> All swans Not all, just mute swans; so not Bewick’s or whoopers (if I remember correctly) Edit: “His Majesty specifically owns any unclaimed mute swan in open water in both England and Wales in a ceremonial fashion. This has been a law since medieval times. His ownership is shared with the Worshipful Company of Dyers, granted to them by the Crown in the 1400s.” https://royalcentral.co.uk/uk/king/does-the-king-really-own-all-the-swans-191589/ https://royalcentral.co.uk/uk/king/does-the-king-really-own-...
- seanhunter 2y agoLess often since September 2022.
- louthy 2y agoWe still have a queen, just not the one we want ;)
- nickyvanurk 2y agoIn the Netherlands we are also taught a swan could break your arm if you get too close. I don't know if it's true or not because I've been too scared to find out.
- defrost 2y agoThey're not going to hold you down and break it with a tire iron .. but I'll bet for certain that Swans are responsible for arms being broken. They've got a pretty savage and scary charge to them, it's highly likely they've startled more than one person in a park who've turned to run, tripped and fallen across steps or rockery edges and come out badly injured.
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- JoachimS 2y agoThey are also able to swing their wings quite rapidly while charging you. In this way they can throw a surprisingly hard punch. But not break bones in healthy humans - kids included. https://outdoorswimmer.com/coach/myth-busting-can-a-swan-break-your-arm/ https://outdoorswimmer.com/coach/myth-busting-can-a-swan-bre... The beak is probably more dangerous, or at least give you a nasty pinch or nibbing.
- defrost 2y agoBlack Swans in Perth, herdsman Lake and elsewhere, in the 1980s during breeding season (and likely still today) fully charged people and had the mass to knock over more than one kid or small teenager .. and scare the bejeebus out of many adults. As I said, and supported by your link, I can't see a swan directly breaking a human bone - but they sure as hell can knock one arse over by charging and causing a step back fall over. That'll do some damge in some cases, easy.
- t-3 2y agoI've never been charged by a swan, but I have been knocked into a ditch by the slightly smaller but no less aggressive Canada Goose while biking. No broken bones, but I did have to straighten the alignment of the wheels on my bike.
- robinsonb5 2y agoThe idea that a swan can "break a man's arm with a blow of its wing" is (or was) ingrained enough into the British psyche that Peter Cook's comic creation, Arthur Streeb-Greebling, once said of his mother that she could "break a swan's wing with a blow of her nose."
- thebruce87m 2y agoDon’t draw on your hand with a pen or you’ll get ink poisoning
- walthamstow 2y agoDon't make that silly face. If the wind changes, it'll stay like that forever.
- zeristor 2y agoHow holding a feather and you’ll get a “red ring of fungus” in your hair. I thought that was stupid then as well.