Since it's Friday the 13th (On this side of the world at least) I thought it would make a good day to talk about superstitions.

Personally I always try to stay indoors during full moons. My mother used to work as a nurse and told me that all the crazy accidents happen during that time.

In Korea some students eat sticky things before tests so that things they learned can't get slip their mind.

So what are your personal superstitions? Do you throw salt over your shoulder? Knock on wood? Inquiring minds want to know.

I'm not a superstitious person by nature, but for some reason, I used to hate having an open door to my back.

That might just be paranoia though.

I'm not superstitious myself; the closest I come is not saying things like "well at least it's not [fill in the blank]", not because I think it'll jinx things but because of the ribbing I'd take from the guys if [fill in the blank] did crop up.

edited to add: Most of the superstitions in my tabletop gaming group surround die rolls. It's become taboo to say "anything but a one" because, well... And also, it's considered unlucky to say "missile" in regards to the weapon type when rolling for it because "missles miss", and "rocket" is used as a euphemism instead to avoid jinxing the roll. Again, I don't think there's any causal link between those phrases and the die rolls but I conform to the taboos because of their reactions should I break them.

-- Steve

I do nothing. I'm not very superstitious, unlike several of my friends, who use every tecnique known to man to avoid bad luck.

The only superstition I truly adhere to is that it's bad luck to bad mouth airport security while going through the screening point...

Even if they ARE unemployable retarded crotch dumplings that have been rolled in feces by a leper before having been shoved up Roseanne Barr's fat ass only to come back out her nose.

Oh, and it's also bad luck to say "I Do" at weddings.

God,I hate having my blinds open when its dark outside and I hate having people watch me eat... not sure if these are superstitions though.

I don't, on an intellectual level, believe in superstitions. However, there is a childlike comfort in believing a nonsensical act can have an effect on future outcomes. So I knock on wood and feel better.

I'm really against superstitions. I just can't believe some people. It fits into my 'people are stupid' category in the end I think. I LOATH all the ghost hunter shows. *eye twitches* Funny enough though I always throw salt over my shoulder when I knock it over. It's more out of habit than anything. My grandmother was big on superstition so I grew up with it. Now I just hate it. My mind works on rationalizing things...superstistions is what you get when you cop out and just let your imagination run with something you fear. It's easier to fear something you don't understand than to take the time to understand it.

^_^

Dcarty745:
God,I hate having my blinds open when its dark outside and I hate having people watch me eat... not sure if these are superstitions though.

No, you're just paranoid.

My friends nervous about tomorrow. Its her birthday and shes looking into the Friday 13th link too much I think

Being superstitious is bad luck...

I'm insanely superstitious about dice and fate, if something good happens bad is surely about to follow. Usually when something good in my life happens bad happens in the future it's like I'm not allowed to be happy for very long, which is fine I ignore the bad times well enough. Now as for dice if you roll one and it comes up a 6 if you roll it again it will roll a 1, if you switch it still has a good chance of coming up a 1 (better than 35% but it isn't the 100% of using the original dice) unfortunately this doesn't work in vice versa, well it does but it's only a 34% chance of coming up a 6, which is a little low for me.

Easykill:
Being superstitious is bad luck...

Genius! I love it; probably put that on a sampler for the office.

-- Steve

The only superstition I go in for is the old Magpie one. 1 for sorrow, 2 for joy, etc. So I spit when I see one magpie. Feck knows why though.

Easykill:
Being superstitious is bad luck...

Ha! Clever!

I'm suspicious about seances and Ouija boards, even though I've done both in my youth. I don't like the idea of opening a door without knowing what might walk in. I also expect bad things to come in threes, so if two bad things happen I really expect a third to quickly follow.

I also don't like to step on cracks, but that's more from compulsive behavior than superstition I think.

I suppose I'm a bit superstitious about die rolls (but only when I play GURPS), in that I feel I can affect the outcome of the roll by thinking about it. Actually, that's not really a good way to put it. Whenever I'm totally confidant that I'll make the roll successfully--even if I'm making a shot with something like -6 penalties--it always works. I'm not sure if that counts as a superstition or not.

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.

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

*Ahem*....

AnGeL.SLayer:
I'm really against superstitions. I just can't believe some people. It fits into my 'people are stupid' category in the end I think. I LOATH all the ghost hunter shows. *eye twitches*

i'm the same way, i just laugh at the ghost hunter shows. they're comedy gold cause they try to do science but fail badly.

their reasoning is always good too "oh i wasn't in tune today" or "oh well i was drawn to this, that's why i thought [insert something very wrong]" or if you put them to a test, that they agree to your mehtods, and you prove them wrong "you did the test wrong" not the truth which is "i'm full of crap and lying"

Penn & Teller's Bullshit has some great episodes on debunking superstitions and ghost hunters, psychics and mediums. personal fav is the ventriloquist dummy doing a running commentary on some person getting a crystal to "magically" move and answer yes or no, you can actually see his fingers move back and forth

anyways no i'm not superstitious at all, as for friday 13th being bad luck, it's not it was friday oct 13 1307 that was the bad luck day and only if you're a member of the Knights Templar

Khell_Sennet:
Oh, and it's also bad luck to say "I Do" at weddings.

I laughed my ass off at that, but my soon to be married roommate didn't think too highly about that...

Easykill:
Being superstitious is bad luck...

beat me too it...
I'm just paranoid and worry about "jynx-ing" things

If I was superstitious the those things would afffect me, but since I'm not they don't right?

*Throws salt over sholder*

One of my friends has the absolute worst luck when going out to eat, we try to not invite him because if he is there then it will take at least an hour to get our food done, and it probably won't be correct, we have even tested this using the scientific method (as best we could anyhow) and he brings a curse with him when going out to eat or even when ordering food from other places, even buffets become worse all of a sudden if he decides to order. I feel kinda bad for him.

I personally think superstition is a joke but some of my friends are pretty superstitious so I like to tell them that doing (insert activity here) is bad luck to see if they do or don't do it its funny one time I got him to skip basketball because it was an unlucky time of day.

No matter what the occasion, I always wear the same cross necklace that I own. It just really makes me feel safer than without it.

Oh, and I never badmouth/trashtalk when I'm in a contest. It usually ends up biting in me in the butt.

I consider myself a rational being, with a rational helping of agnosticism to stifle all nervous forays into the mystic, and I find myself making wishes when the time on the clock is symmetrical anyway. In fact, some part of my brain finds numerical symmetry in general very lucky. Any year where I am a symmetrical age is generally awesome - 22 was great fun - and I try to pay for lottery tickets with symmetrical funds (the extra three cents goes to ensure victory).

I also have two pendants, bought separately for non-lucky reasons, that are both filled with fortune. One is black marble shot through with white in a freak pattern that resembles a lightning bolt; it's lucky when it rains. The other is a humongous silver-set carnelian outlined with silver planet rings; it's lucky when the sun is shining.

There is a bridge by my house, with a train station just below it. If I'm riding the streetcar and pass over the bridge just when a train is below me, the rest of the day is characterized by extreme good fortune.

zacaron:
I personally think superstition is a joke but some of my friends are pretty superstitious so I like to tell them that doing (insert activity here) is bad luck to see if they do or don't do it

if you want to have some fun, tell them it's bad luck to believe someone when they say something is bad luck

see what they do then :)

I have a couple that I picked up from my stepmom, that I don't really believe but are really just habits from her making me observe them all the time:

If I put two or more knives down, like in the sink or on a table or something, I make sure that the blades never cross each other. If they do, it'll supposedly cause conflict in the household.

If I give someone a wallet or a purse for a gift, I put a few cents inside it before I give it to them to ensure good fortune.

I do several things branching from superstition purely because they are idiosyncratic.

Throw salt over shoulder after spill
Don't walk under ladders (Which I consider more of a safety hazard then anything)
Don't break mirrors

I also say it's bad luck to kill a spider, however I have been guilty of doing so on occasions.
And if the first pet I ever had wasn't a black cat, I'd probably believe that one too.

These really don't have any superstitious back ground though, but it's just advice that I've always followed.

If I step on 3 road surface covers on the pavement in a row, I have to say "toast" before I step on anything else.

I only do that to remind me of my friend who taught me it, because it's nice to think of her every now and then because I hardly ever get to see her.

So not quite a superstition, but she said it would bring bad luck if I didn't.

wilsonscrazybed:

Personally I always try to stay indoors during full moons. My mother used to work as a nurse and told me that all the crazy accidents happen during that time.

My students are always crazy on full moons and right before a storm! It is really strange...

As for my own superstitions, which I have tried very hard to let go of, I think I have only one left that I still take kind of seriously: NEVER EVER GIVE ANYONE A KNIFE (OR ANYTHING SHARP LIKE SCISSORS) AS A GIFT. It will sever the relationship.

There is a supposed "fix" for this - you give the person a penny for every blade - but I don't even mess with it. I get crazy when I see knives on someone's bridal registry for this reason.

I've got about another hour before it's officially June 13th here, but I don't believe in most popular superstitions. That said, I'm Wiccan, and have plenty of belief-oriented "tricks" that most of you would call superstitions, lol.

I had my wisdom teeth (all 4) removed on Friday, October 13th. I was the only surgery scheduled for that day o.0 Somehow I wasn't fazed.

Now, having two black cats is bad enough on the popular superstition scale, but when one of them sat under a ladder while my dad and I were putting up shelves, I about lost it. A black cat that walks underneath a ladder seriously has to be bad luck x4, or some other massive bonus. Needless to say, I'm unaffected by the black cat myth.

I throw a pinch of salt over my shoulder if I spill it, but that's about the only thing I can think of at the moment. I have a few my mom taught me but I don't adhere to them or believe in them; ringing ears, itchy palms and the like.

Stuff my mother would kill me for if she caught me doing it (yay Wiccans!):
Different colors invoke different energies: for example, I always wear purple on a test day because it's the color of wisdom and intellect.
Cinnamon in the coin jar is supposed to attract more money.

...And tons of other random things I can't even begin to remember because I do them out of habit, lol.

I'm a little superstitious although I don't do anything particular *besides a prayer before every football game*.

I don't like things in fives. I throw salt over my left shoulder with my right hand if I slipp it. everytime I have a drink in a bottle I have to remove the wrapper. and thats all I can think of.

WolfMage:

Khell_Sennet:
Oh, and it's also bad luck to say "I Do" at weddings.

I laughed my ass off at that, but my soon to be married roommate didn't think too highly about that...

Well it's true...

And did you know that marriage is the leading cause of divorce?

Khell_Sennet:

WolfMage:

Khell_Sennet:
Oh, and it's also bad luck to say "I Do" at weddings.

I laughed my ass off at that, but my soon to be married roommate didn't think too highly about that...

Well it's true...

And did you know that marriage is the leading cause of divorce?

As is breathing is the leading cause of death.

EDIT

Wait, my one doesn't make that much sense. Move along.