This rural proverb is still widely circulated in rural areas. Because many rural elderly people believe it, and it is generally believed that this sentence is very effective. The so-called "if you are not afraid of owls, you are afraid of owls laughing" means that owls are not terrible, which is very normal. But if you hear an owl make a strange cry, it sounds like laughter, which also indicates that someone will die in this place soon.
Why did the ancients say that? In fact, owls have been regarded as "ominous birds" since ancient times, and they are also called "mourning birds" and soul-chasing birds among the people. In ancient books, night owls are also called strange owls, ghosts and wanderers as a symbol of bad luck and death. This is really not a feudal superstition, and the accuracy is really high. It is also for this reason that many old people are afraid of night owls, let alone joking.
Owl's laughter can predict people's death in advance because owl's sense of smell is very sensitive. The human body itself is an electrolyte composed of acid, alkali and salt. When the human body is about to die, the electrolyte accelerates its decomposition, that is, the decomposition speed of metabolism is much faster than the synthesis speed. At this time, it will emit a smell, which is the smell of carrion. When owls smell this smell, they will fly to look for food. When it can smell the food but can't find the meat, it will make an anxious cry, which is what the folks call the owl's laughter.
Every old saying summed up by the ancients has been observed and summarized a lot. The ancients found that whenever night owls gave strange smiles, they usually died, so they summed up this proverb and thought owls were unlucky birds. There are many folk sayings about owls in China, but almost all of them are negative. In addition to the "fear of night owls, fear of night owls laughing" discussed earlier, there are some common sayings, such as "night owls come in and nothing comes".