“Home remedies? I remember when I was younger we would gargle warm salt water whenever we had a sore throat.”

[Was it something you only remember doing as a kid? Or would your parents do it too?]

“No, my parents would do it too. I mean I also still do it to today. I’m not sure if there’s any real reason why it could cure a sore throat, but I think just gargling warm water is good because your throat can get dry. I do remember drinking the water for fun sometimes as a kid, but I don’t do that anymore.”

[Thank you!]

Analysis: Initially, what I found interesting about this is that although essentially it’s just a homemade saline solution, the term  “Salt water” is used instead. Additionally, I think this is a pretty efficient folk medicine because it’s fairly inexpensive (just salt and water), and can be found using items generally already in the house. It can also be made quickly, which would be perfect for a parent trying to heal children as fast as possible, or just themselves. This can be particularly helpful for children’s sore throats, because many kids don’t like the taste of cough syrup or general medicine, so getting them to gargle salt water is better than the possibility then the headache of gross medicine- or even downright refusal to take such medicine. Additionally,  the “gargling” can be seen as a fun activity (at least funner than taking medicine), which is always a bonus.