Cure for the Common Cold

Main Piece: KK: My grandma used to say that if you were sick, you should put Vicks on the bottom of your feet… which DOESN’T work, but I still do it sometimes! Because when you’re sick, you’ll do anything to be not sick.

 

Context: This tradition was used whenever KK or a family member was sick.

 

Background: KK’s family is fairly low-income, which is of particular interest with folk remedies, as people with less financial stability are more often going to resort to different sorts of ways to cure themselves, as opposed to going to a store and just buying some medicine.

 

Analysis: Vick’s is used quite often in folk medicine– many times it is put directly under your nose to clear it up. I think this is particularly interesting because KK clearly states that this doesn’t work at all, and yet she still does it. This is an interesting example of tradition in families– even if logically, KK knows that putting Vick’s on the bottom of your feet to make yourself feel better should not work, the thought that her grandma told her it does can often make her do it anyways, as a memory of her grandmother, and because she was raised to do this.