Old superstitions you've heard of/still use

Munstergirl854 · 13-06-2021 06:15PM #1

Ones I've heard down through the years...
Never sign your name in red.Bad luck.
If giving a knife to someone include a penny as otherwise this will cut the friendship.
Being able to draw a perfect circle on paper is a sign of madness.
The colour lilac is bad luck to be found in a home(used to be put in coffins to mask the smell).
Peacock feathers-very bad luck in a home..

corner of hells · 13-06-2021 06:17PM

Munstergirl854 wrote: »

Ones I've heard down through the years...
Never sign your name in red.Bad luck.
If giving a knife to someone include a penny as otherwise this will cut the friendship.
Being able to draw a perfect circle on paper is a sign of madness.
The colour lilac is bad luck to be found in a home(used to be put in coffins to mask the smell).
Peacock feathers-very bad luck in a home..

Sure if you were in a coffin , you probably wouldn't be worried about the smell.

AllGunsBlazing · 13-06-2021 06:23PM

I remember being admonished for writing in red brio by a teacher. But it was considered bad form not bad luck.

I'd imagine the peacock feathers thing was worse luck for the peacock.

13-06-2021 06:29PM

I have heard of the perfect circle one and recall it being said DaVinci could do it. But, likely impossible freehand more than anything.

Mollydog123 · 13-06-2021 06:34PM

When you see a lone magpie always say 'Hello Mr. Magpie, and how is Mrs. Magpie'. Have tried it a few times but they all just flew away. Still dont know how Mrs. Magpie is after all these years.

13-06-2021 06:38PM

Mollydog123 wrote: »

When you see a lone magpie always say 'Hello Mr. Magpie, and how is Mrs. Magpie'. Have tried it a few times but they all just flew away. Still dont know how Mrs. Magpie is after all these years.

I still salute the fûcker. He never waves back, Josepha Madigan will sue me now in a minute for assuming the gender.

Capt'n Midnight · 13-06-2021 07:22PM

It's unlucky to be superstitious.

Hyperbollix · 13-06-2021 07:36PM

Very superstitious,
Writing's on the wall,
Very superstitious,
Ladders bout' to fall

Suckler · 13-06-2021 07:43PM

Munstergirl854 wrote: »

.
If giving a knife to someone include a penny as otherwise this will cut the friendship.

The person you gift the knife to gives you a coin in return.
(is my understanding)

McGinniesta · 13-06-2021 08:36PM

Superstition is the ultimate in feeble mindedness.

It beats religion and anything else you can think of.

zanador · 13-06-2021 08:39PM

Never buying a wallet for yourself, and putting a penny in one you buy for someone else. I don't believe it but I like it

fixXxer · 13-06-2021 08:40PM

The only one I still hold on to is I will always say hello to a magpie.

PsychoPete · 13-06-2021 08:42PM

I'm not superstitious, but I'm a little stitious

Doctors room ghost · 13-06-2021 08:42PM

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I still salute the fûcker. He never waves back, Josepha Madigan will sue me now in a minute for assuming the gender.

Same as that Bertie

alchemist33 · 13-06-2021 08:44PM

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I have heard of the perfect circle one and recall it being said DaVinci could do it. But, likely impossible freehand more than anything.

Giotto apparently did one in Renaissance times to impress a patron, and then got the gig

dan1895 · 13-06-2021 08:45PM

Mollydog123 wrote: »

When you see a lone magpie always say 'Hello Mr. Magpie, and how is Mrs. Magpie'. Have tried it a few times but they all just flew away. Still dont know how Mrs. Magpie is after all these years.

My missus is forever waving at magpies

Gregor Samsa · 13-06-2021 08:52PM

AllGunsBlazing wrote: »

I remember being admonished for writing in red brio by a teacher. But it was considered bad form not bad luck.

That’s because if you hand up something written in red, they’re afraid you won’t notice all their corrections and sarky comments, which teachers traditionally write in red pen.

I remember handing up an Irish essay written on an A4 page, but in a plastic sleeve. Teacher obviously couldn’t wait to rip into me and wrote all his comments (in red pen) on the plastic sleeve itself. The full page from top to bottom. Then he obviously realised his mistake and went back and wrote them all again on the actual page.

The reason I handed it up in the plastic sleeve was because the teacher had an awful habit of dribbling on your work (due to an illness he had), and you’d get it back with drops of drool all over it, smudging the writing.

Gregor Samsa · 13-06-2021 09:06PM

My only superstition is: if you’re in a desert and you see a Vulture, it’s bad luck to play dead.

theguzman · 13-06-2021 09:19PM

Never disturb a Lios, fairy fort, rath etc. I still continue the superstition out of respect for the old beliefs and from a historical and archaeological point of view I would like these ancient monuments to continue undisturbed into the future. Instead nowadays you have some thick farmer with a head on him like a kosangas cylinder and the IQ of a midge will come along and bulldoze it out because it is ruining his field of silage or whatever after that thing lasting for for thousands of years previously, protected by ancient pisheogs, curses and warnings of bad luck to let it alone. The old people had respect for the dead and ancients, they had absolutely nothing but never touched these places, today some moron with a 211 Toyota Lancruiser worth €90k will bulldoze these out of sheer greed for a few sq metres of topsoil.

theguzman · 13-06-2021 09:21PM

Gregor Samsa wrote: »

That’s because if you hand up something written in red, they’re afraid you won’t notice all their corrections and sarky comments, which teachers traditionally write in red pen.

I remember handing up an Irish essay written on an A4 page, but in a plastic sleeve. Teacher obviously couldn’t wait to rip into me and wrote all his comments (in red pen) on the plastic sleeve itself. The full page from top to bottom. Then he obviously realised his mistake and went back and wrote them all again on the actual page.

The reason I handed it up in the plastic sleeve was because the teacher had an awful habit of dribbling on your work (due to an illness he had), and you’d get it back with drops of drool all over it, smudging the writing.

I had a jobsworth in the ESB refuse a wiring cert two years ago because the sparks wrote up the form in red ink.

Fils · 13-06-2021 09:23PM

You should always trust yourself if you have pulled off a ghostly. Checking with a wipe brings a dose of scour sooner or later.

Taeholic · 13-06-2021 11:18PM

Munstergirl854 wrote: »

Never sign your name in red.Bad luck.

My granny was very superstitious. She believed using a red pen to sign your name was signing a deal with the devil himself.

Sky King · 13-06-2021 11:23PM

Its like the old saying goes, if it takes two men four hours to dig half a hole, how long does it take a spider wearing boxing gloves to pull a thorn out of a frogs arse?

What was this thread about again?

monkeysnapper · 13-06-2021 11:26PM

Taeholic wrote: »

My granny was very superstitious. She believed using a red pen to sign your name was signing a deal with the devil himself.

Holly Jesus feck ....I work in a warehouse and always signing dockets with a red pen !!!!!

I'm in real trouble now

AllGunsBlazing · 13-06-2021 11:43PM

Opening umbrellas indoors?

Spilling salt is supposed to be another bad one.

tupenny · 14-06-2021 02:27AM

My gran went mad at me for putting new runners on the table. Ahh the 90s!
Bad luck apparently

Hamsterchops · 14-06-2021 06:58AM

Walking under a ladder brings you bad luck.

....so I don't, just in case.

AndyWhite1 · 14-06-2021 07:03AM

Hold a breathe when entering a tunnel - if you make it, you are gonna be rich (c.) Granny

that kind of superstitions when people didnt have LONG tunnels, huh

but I tried when I was a kid

revelman · 14-06-2021 07:20AM

Munstergirl854 wrote: »

Ones I've heard down through the years...
Never sign your name in red.Bad luck.
If giving a knife to someone include a penny as otherwise this will cut the friendship.
Being able to draw a perfect circle on paper is a sign of madness.
The colour lilac is bad luck to be found in a home(used to be put in coffins to mask the smell).
Peacock feathers-very bad luck in a home..

Are these specific to an area of the country? I’ve never heard any of these.

Endaaaagh · 14-06-2021 07:31AM

Before I built my house, I planted 4 posts where the 4 corners of the house would be. This was an old way of checking to ensure you weren't blocking a fairy path with your house. If the posts remained upright, and weren't knocked then it was OK to build

fryup · 14-06-2021 07:57AM

what's the one that if you're selling a house to bury a statuette of st jude or someone similar in the back garden ??

Old superstitions you've heard of/still use

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