How superstitious are you?

later12

A few years ago I was only very negligibly superstitious.

Today, under the influence of impending old age and superstitious friends, I cannot walk under ladders, walk upon four drains, refrain from crossing a 7 nor from saluting to magpies without considering some inexorable doom which may at any moment visit my destiny.

Has anybody else shared such an experience?

How has your superstition manifested itself, and from where did it come? I find it quite contagious, myself.

Opinions?

Mr. Boo

I smash mirrors for a living.

Darlughda

Yeah this is the seventh time you shall hear this warning-feck off with your silliness!

Greentopia

later10 wrote: »

A few years ago I was only very negligibly superstitious.
Today, under the influence of impending old age and superstitious friends, I cannot walk under ladders, walk upon four drains, refrain from crossing...

The what now?

later10 wrote: »

Opinions?

My opinion is you appear to be very superstitious. :pac:

Myself I avoid walking under ladders and I don't like walking on cracks in the pavement-though that might be more a neurosis than a superstition.

Pedro K

I'm not superstitious at all. It's bad luck to be superstitious.

Chuck Stone

I was going to say some stuff but then I wasn't sure if it was superstition or just mad shit that goes on in my head.

mackg

Chuck Stone wrote: »

I was going to say some stuff but then I wasn't sure if it was superstition or just mad shit that goes on in my head.

It probably isn't much madder then well known superstitions.

OneArt

I wouldn't really consider myself superstitious I don't believe in any of them but I still salute magpies anyway... Just in case :P

Although now I'm in Germany it's a habit I must stop.

Jesus Wept

Hopefully not at all. Being superstitious is for morons.

Old Perry

A black cat tried to cross infront of me today so I chased after it and ran him down....turns out he was dark blue, superstitions will do that to ya OP.

later12

OneArt wrote: »

I still salute magpies anyway... Just in case :P

I agree. It's polite, if nothing else!

Darlughda

Old Perry wrote: »

A black cat tried to cross infront of me today so I chased after it and ran him down....turns out he was dark blue, superstitions will do that to ya OP.

Jayzus! Ya psychopath! Hope I don't cross your path!:eek:

DEFTLEFTHAND

Have an irrational fear that odd numbers will bring me bad luck. I play outside centre for my local rugby team but must always wear number 12.

Hank_Jones

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Have an irrational fear that odd numbers will bring me bad luck. I play outside centre for my local rugby team but must always wear number 12.

Ooooo post 13, wouldn't want to be you right now.

Darlughda

Silly boy. number 13 is your fate and DOOM!

okay, okay, am just making that up for dramatic effect.

DEFTLEFTHAND

Sh1te, I'm worried now that I'm going to be struck down and killed.

Emiko

I always give the nod to a lone magpie.

Dravokivich

I don't walk under ladders, because I don't want the fúcker on top of it blasting me with piss.

:mad:

--Kaiser--

I knock on wood if someone talks about something unpleasant that could potentially happen, .i.e. "if we were in a crash..."

I wouldn't consider it superstition though, it's merely a way of saying 'God forbid'

tfitzgerald

I must be a sad old bloke I do all of the above post including saluting magpies so they take the bad luck with them

Biggins

Not superstitious at all.
No time for that rubbish.

Orando Broom

If the number 13 passes me buy I must immediately run to get on a number 7 bus to avert the bad luck...

Plazaman

What the hell does saluting magpies mean ? What are ye doin', american style salute or is it a full on mein furhrer salute? ( O> or O/ )I've hear the old "One for sorrow, two for joy...." rhyme about magpies but never hear of saluting them. Just wondering does that mean since I haven't been doing it all my life am I hexed :eek: ?

jester77

When I am in Ireland I always carry an umbrella with me, does that make me superstitious?

Sirsok

Very superstitious, writing's on the wall
Very superstitious, ladders bout' to fall
Thirteen month old baby, broke the lookin' glass
Seven years of bad luck, the good things in your past

When you believe in things that you don't understand
Then you suffer
Superstition ain't the way

Very superstitious, wash your face and hands
Rid me of the problem, do all that you can
Keep me in a daydream, keep me goin' strong
You don't wanna save me, sad is my song

When you believe in things that you don't understand
Then you suffer
Superstition ain't the way, yeh, yeh

Very superstitious, nothin' more to say
Very superstitious, the devil's on his way
Thirteen month old baby, broke the lookin' glass
Seven years of bad luck, good things in your past

When you believe in things that you don't understand
Then you suffer
Superstition ain't the way, no, no, no


so yeah whatever that says i am

marty1985

Instead of putting chopsticks down on the table, I left them stuck into a bowl of rice, and was asked to remove them quickly, as it's really unnerving for some Chinese people to see. Apparently it resembles incense sticks at the temple. They're super superstitious.

tfitzgerald

Plazaman wrote: »

What the hell does saluting magpies mean ? What are ye doin', american style salute or is it a full on mein furhrer salute? ( O> or O/ )I've hear the old "One for sorrow, two for joy...." rhyme about magpies but never hear of saluting them. Just wondering does that mean since I haven't been doing it all my life am I hexed :eek: ?

Magpies bring bad luck with them but if you wave or just acknowledge them they will take there bad luck somewhere else

Snakeblood

later10 wrote: »

A few years ago I was only very negligibly superstitious.

Today, under the influence of impending old age and superstitious friends, I cannot walk under ladders, walk upon four drains, refrain from crossing a 7 nor from saluting to magpies without considering some inexorable doom which may at any moment visit my destiny.

Has anybody else shared such an experience?

How has your superstition manifested itself, and from where did it come? I find it quite contagious, myself.

Opinions?

Not very. I'm barely even stitious to be honest.

Gearheart

i once walked under a ladder when moving into my new house and a guy working on our driveway got run over by the dumper half way up his body lucky he wasnt killed , i think it was the ladders fault lol

as for others splitn poles and walking on the 3 manhole covers in a row i stil ave to skip the last one and look like a freak hoping over it or 2 the side lol

seamus

Not in the slightest. Complete waste of time and energy worrying about that nonsense.

tfitzgerald

Snakeblood wrote: »

Not very. I'm barely even stitious to be honest.

Very good:):)

skylight1987

later10 wrote: »

A few years ago I was only very negligibly superstitious.

Today, under the influence of impending old age and superstitious friends, I cannot walk under ladders, walk upon four drains, refrain from crossing a 7 nor from saluting to magpies without considering some inexorable doom which may at any moment visit my destiny.

Has anybody else shared such an experience?

How has your superstition manifested itself, and from where did it come? I find it quite contagious, myself.

Opinions?

whats wrong with crossing your sevens , i always cross my sevens oh no:eek:
i dont salute magpies i used to but there are so many and four drains i never heard of not walking on four drains

mcmoustache

I'm not superstitious at all but when a superstition overlaps with common sense, then I'll do what a superstitious person would do.

For example, I won't walk under ladders. This isn't because of any superstition. I just don't want a workman dropping his tin of paint or his anvil on my head. Neither would I want to snag my bag off the bottom of the ladder and bring the guy crashing down.

LeeHoffmann

I'm not superstitious. I don't think there's any superstitions I follow. However, I understand how easily it is to get sucked into such thinking. Years ago I was mildly OCD and had my own little rituals - e.g. When people left the house, I had to watch them leave until they turned the corner otherwise I felt like something 'bad' would happen to them. Total nonsense but I was only a young teen (12-ish). Superstitions, like the 'secret' craze, help people to feel like they have some control over external events. It can be comforting when people are going through dark, troubling or unpredictable times.

later12

LeeHoffmann wrote: »

I'm not superstitious. I don't think there's any superstitions I follow. However, I understand how easily it is to get sucked into such thinking. Years ago I was mildly OCD and had my own little rituals - e.g. When people left the house, I had to watch them leave until they turned the corner otherwise I felt like something 'bad' would happen to them. Total nonsense but I was only a young teen (12-ish). Superstitions, like the 'secret' craze, help people to feel like they have some control over external events. It can be comforting when people are going through dark, troubling or unpredictable times.

That's interesting, I wonder if there is a direct corrolation between being slightly anally retentive and being superstitious.

I am a little anal about silly things - most occasionally developing compulsions to count whether words have an even or uneven amount of letters (preference for even numbers). And I have to repeat certain methods for no reason. For example as a child I wouldn't tie my shoelaces until I was walking into the school yard, I have to cross the street at the same point every day on my way to work, etc.

On a superstition scale I would consider myself a 6.

seamus

later10 wrote: »

That's interesting, I wonder if there is a direct corrolation between being slightly anally retentive and being superstitious.

I imagine that there is a significant amount of the population with mild OCD in one form or another. In many cases people would say that they're just superstitious when in fact they have OCD.

Read the wikipedia article on the nature of OCD and you'll see that you may as well be describing someone who's fervently superstitious.

robman60

I don't believe it, but I'd never walk under a ladder just because it was seem as if I were trying to "provoke" bad luck.

Strangely enough, I never leave my TV volume at thirteen, always opting for twelve or fourteen instead. Thirteen is the perfect night time volume though!

LeeHoffmann

developing compulsions to count whether words have an even or uneven amount of letters...I have to repeat certain methods for no reason...I have to cross the street at the same point every day on my way to work

That sounds to me like you are well on the way to OCD my friend. Counting things that don't need to be counted is a sure sign (been there too). Turn back now. OCD aint fun (unless you're the one laughing at the person who has it). Worst case I've ever heard of..a shopkeeper in France (a wine shop incidentally) counting the number of wine bottles over and over and over. My little brother was only seven at the time - he just stood there staring with his mouth hanging open. My Dad didn't have the heart to laugh. It was just too pitiful

Abi

Mr. Boo wrote: »

I smash mirrors for a living.

I'm not too far off it. I wouldn't want to be superstitious, I've broken 3 mirrors in the last month.


And no, it's not because I looked at them

Apanachi

OneArt wrote: »

I wouldn't really consider myself superstitious I don't believe in any of them but I still salute magpies anyway... Just in case :P

Although now I'm in Germany it's a habit I must stop.

Nah, you just pretend you're scratching/rubbing your forehead, that's what I do, my husband finds this highly amusing (especially as he's the only one who knows what I'm really doing )


But what do you do if you see one magpie, salute it and the a second one turns up beside you, have you jinxed yourself because you've saluted the first one, meaning the second one counts as a second sighting of a single magpie (double bad luck) or is the salute disregarded and you're lucky because you saw a pair?

Oh yeah and in case you haven't guessed my answer to the question of how superstitious am I is VERY superstitious (and I know it's stupid to be, but I am, I can't help it, there's probably a bit of OCD thrown in there too)


And as far as crossing my sevens is concerned, I have to - because if I don't ze Germans over here will think it's a 1 - my post from regularly gets sent to the wrong house, we live in no.7 and it gets sent to no.1 (the postman obviously can't read names...)

kfallon

Abi wrote: »

I'm not too far off it. I wouldn't want to be superstitious, I've broken 3 mirrors in the last month.


And no, it's not because I looked at them

You punched them cos they were looking at you??? :P

Mike 1972

Old Perry wrote: »

A black cat tried to cross infront of me today so I chased after it and ran him down.....

Racist !

Son Of A Vidic

This is what I love about AH.

Old Perry wrote: »

A black cat tried to cross infront of me today so I chased after it and ran him down

Mike 1972 wrote: »

Racist !

SuperGrover

I'm touching wood right now.

LeeHoffmann

that sounds dirty

Azureus

Not conciously supersticious, but about ten mins ago I passed a ladder that there was no way around without going under it, so I waited until the guy holding it could move so I cuold get around it, rather than walking under it. No idea why...just felt like walking under a ladder wasn't a good way to start a weekend!

kfallon

And while we're at it who, in the name of the Lord Jaysus, came up with the 'theory' that it's lucky if a bird shat all over you?

Oh and I mean a winged creature....some people actually get off on the other 'birds' doing it :pac:

later12

seamus wrote: »

I imagine that there is a significant amount of the population with mild OCD in one form or another. In many cases people would say that they're just superstitious when in fact they have OCD.

Read the wikipedia article on the nature of OCD and you'll see that you may as well be describing someone who's fervently superstitious.

I would consider that anal retentiveness as opposed to OCD. OCD is a serious anxiety disorder and this isn't aimed at you (your post just reminded me of it) but I think we misuse terms like OCD way too much in society.

I would liken describing 'mild OCD' to referring to 'mild anorexia', it's a very unhelpful and misleading term and would better off detached altogether from a rather serious psychological disorder.

Although I don't personally know anybody with a serious OCD, it still bugs me whenever I overhear (usually 15 - 25 year old) girls in starbucks go on about how they're totally OCD because they hate when they car is a mess or when they aren't wearing some clothing combo or, blah.

Abi

kfallon wrote: »

You punched them cos they were looking at you??? :P

Maybe >_>

:pac:

kfallon wrote: »

And while we're at it who, in the name of the Lord Jaysus, came up with the 'theory' that it's lucky if a bird shat all over you?

Someone who was embaressed they just got shat on I suspects.

Oh and I mean a winged creature....some people actually get off on the other 'birds' doing it :pac:

I wouldn't put anything past you at this stage


People don't like to think they're superstitious, because they KNOW it is moronic. Although they're still probably counting how many magpies are in front of them subconsciously, it's all crap drummed into us as kids.


I love catching superstitious people out though. A friend of mine once started scratching her itchy palm, so

I said: "you know what thats a sign of?"

She perks up and I've her full attention...

Her: "what?"

Me: "You've got a fuckin' itchy palm"

Her : "Bitch"


*snigger*

hondasam

I didn't think I was superstitious but the more I read this the more I realise I am a little.
I think we are all a little superstitious in some way or other.

im invisible

I'm a superstitious girl
I'm the worst in the world
Never walk under ladders
I keep a rabbits' tail
I'll take you up on a dare
Anytime, anywhere
Name the place, I'll be there
Bungee jumping, I don't care

Life, oh life
Oh life, oh life
Life, oh life
Oh life, oh life