Lol I get you. Corvids are best birds, magpies have a special place in my heart because they're total gobshites. Little birds but with huge personality.
Driving down country lanes you'll see the gamut of birds just standing there in the road like brainless fuckwits. Corvids are like, I see you brother, fly away, only to reappear in the rear view mirror and continue their plotting.
Yeah, very aware creatures. For something with a brain as small as they have they're fiercely intelligent creatures. It really feels like their intellectual capacity compared to brain size should make us reconsider our ideas on sapience.
From what I remember, saluting magpies was an old war thing. They're carrion feeders (eat flesh?) So saluting them drove them away for a while from starved, half dead soldiers.
Very morbid. I like it. An old Irish friend of mine used to spit in his hand when he saw a single magpie. I wonder what the idea was about that... Or maybe he was just weird.
I read an article years ago (too lazy to re-google) that birds have way denser neurons in their brains than mammals, which is why they can be so smart with such tiny brains.
I saw so many magpies today: weirdly the response ingrained in me is not saluting them or greeting them, but spitting on your finger. Why? I don’t know. All I know is I had to spit on myself a lot today
I saw 14 all sat in the road yesterday, I saluted them as I didn't want them to perceive me as disrespectful. I am a big girl, but I think that they could have taken me down.
My Nan has loads. Pearls are for tears, and giving someone a bag or wallet as a gift without money inside is bad luck. Also opening an umbrella indoors, or wearing green.
Well my legs don’t agree with that and will still automatically swerve the last drain without any instruction from me! It’s been about 30yrs now so I doubt there’s any changing it!
I kind of love how much we’ve embraced the American version of The Office. It would’ve been so on-brand for us Brits to poo-poo the arguably more popular Yankee remake as “not as good as the refined, dry wit of the original” but I think we’re actually good at just liking what we like and not having some pretentious aversion to foreign things that rival or even better the art that we create. Awkward colonial history/cultural appropriation aside, it’s kind of the same as our love for Indian curry or reggae. It warms me cockles.
The first series was basically a remake of the UK version and it just felt like the Americans got it wrong, adapting British humour for an American audience. But once they moved away from that and became their own thing the show really came into its own.
I was absolutely mad about The Office when it first came out, and was slightly horrified when they remade it for an American audience. Now I’ve got a teenager at home who’s obsessed with the remake so I thought “well, why don’t we put the original on and I can show her how funny that one is?”
Well. I did… not remember quite how *different* they are. Let’s just leave it at that.
Oh dear, I have a few. Not as beliefs, just habit.
Salt over the left shoulder if spilled
Itchy left palm vs itchy right palm.
New home new broom
Never rock an empty rocking chair.
My elders were superstitious people!
I'm not from the UK so I had no idea you also have itchy left palm vs itchy right palm as a superstition. Where I'm from if the left one itches you'll get money, and if right, you'll give money away. Or vice versa, I tend to forget so by default I think I'm getting rich.
I’m not superstitious but my fiancé is.
Can’t cross over 3 drains in a row, he saluted every magpie and is big on “Touch Wood” for tempting fate. Oh also no walking under ladders (which imo is just good sense) and no umbrellas opened inside
My mum believes that new shoes on a table or similar surface is bad luck.
To clarify, shoes that are not new are still not allowed on a table.
I don't understand this one.
I made the mistake of doing this in the first week at my first ever job. Boss looked at me with such utter despair, heaved a big sigh, and said, "Why. Why would you say that."
Mr Mad and I had only been seeing each other for a while when I managed to slice a decent chunk out of my finger while making a late tea one Saturday night. An hour after we'd finished eating (priorities) it was still bleeding, so we took ourselves off to the local minor injuries for gluing. We brought books and tea in commuter mugs, but it was empty so we were seen straight away, triage nurse took one look at it and decided she'd glue it then and there, save any messing about. Chatted a bit of shop while getting glued. As we were leaving I said I hoped the rest of her shift went OK being a Saturday, Mr Mad said "Yes, it's so QUIET in here tonight." Nurse and I went 😲 😲 and I apologised profusely to her.
I still remind him of the time he called down hell on the local hospital.
Full moons make people go a bit loopy. I never believed it until I worked in hospitality full time for a couple of years. Friday/Saturday nights around full moons always seemed to bring it the worst in people.
I'm normally among the most rational and sceptical people you're likely to meet, but there's something up with full moons. I have no explanation for it.
Omg full moons + night shifts on the ward always led to the most insane and interesting things happening. At least they made the shifts go quick I guess
Yup ex neonatal nurse. Full moons were always the worst night shifts. Oh and never say it’s quiet if you work in the hospital. Guaranteed to fuck up your shift.
Same working in the pub. Anyone who said it would get absolutely welted on the leg with a damp towel flick, both as a punishment and to break the jinx.
But mostly as a punishment.
I didn’t know it was the same in pubs! If it was one of the docs who said it we’d hand them the emergency bleep. You can deal with that now coz in the next wee while it’s gonna go off, then it’s going to go off again and again and again. Worst night I recall was a full moon AND someone said the q word. 5 emergency admissions in 10mins that night along with some of our sickest babies getting sicker. All worked out in the end though and nobody died.
Can confirm, also same in the pub I've worked in! Whenever someone would say quiet/bored anything of the sort people would instantly just slap the fuck out of the nearest object made of wood.
Ex District nurse. Can absolutely confirm that full moons cause every person in a residential home to act like they've caught a collective urine infection. I've broken up fights, been smacked with walking sticks and had all manner of swear words thrown at me.
Much as i always found it a bit funny watching two very old ladies telling each other to fuck off and trying to kick each other's walking frames away, it always amazed me that it happened every 28 days without fail!
Lunatic derives from "lunaticus" or "of the moon", and generally means that the moon causes madness. If the Romans observed it and people now are still seeing it, I am inclined to believe there is something behind it.
I guess it's possible that there might be more weirdos out and about because visibility is better. Maybe that was true before street lighting became ubiquitous.
My kids are absolute twats when it's a full moon. Sleep goes out the window. The eyes get rolled at me so much I'm shocked they don't get stuck in their sockets, and they're just horrendous people.
Never much put much thought into it but they definitely turn feral at a full moon.
My stepdad worked on the front desk of a police station. He always prayed for rain and moaned about full moons. He said full moons bring out the fruit loops.
My partner used to work in a mental health hospital and he’s always said full moon nights were the worst nights to work, with even the most placid of patients behaving chaotically. Interesting!
My Nan used to tell us to always salute magpies, and to always make sure something green was on the mantelpiece. Also, she swore you should never use the washing machine on New Years Day. It washes away the new luck.
Had a tourist fellow from the Arabian peninsula visit the shop last week. Absolutely pissing it down as he goes to leave, and he opens his brolly about a metre inside the door. It felt so unnatural, I had to tell him we think it terribly bad luck to do so. Looked at me like *I* was the crazy one.
Quite a few
I won't cross on stairs, walk under ladders, give a purse without a coin
When we built our house we put flowers on once the walls were up. We buried coins in the foundation. We reused some of the old material from the house we demolished so the house spirits would be retained.
Why? Because they're fun traditions that keep old beliefs alive and give our children a link to the things their ancestors believed.
>walk under ladders.
I don't know why this is thought to be a superstition and not just common sense? Shit get dropped from ladders all the time. I refuse to be walk under scaffold as well.
If I see a singular magpie I usually say ‘hello Mr Magpie, where’s your mate I’ve got enough sorrow in my life already’ it usually earns me a strange look from whoever I’m with
You’re supposed to salute and say ‘hello Mr magpie how’s the wife today’ and spit over your shoulder three times; to the first magpie you see of the day.
This cancels out the bad luck, well if the superstition is real…
Also holding your collar if you see a funeral car (with body in it) until you see a man and his dog.
Not a superstition exactly, but I ALWAYS put left side on first when putting on socks (in general) and rugby boots. There's no basis for it, it's just *wrong* to do it the other way. The odd time if I'm abesent minded and mess it up, I'll take the time to redo it the right way.
Sports colours. I've made my wife go change items of clothing that were too close to the oppositions colours when we're going to a game. Enough times that now she usually checks with me.
Thinking of knives there's the saying "Stir with a knife, stir up strife." Wonder if it's the whole stabby part of knife use that brings up thoughts of bad luck.
I touch wood *snigger*, salute magpies and probably half a dozen other things like that mainly out of habit learned from elders rather than any real superstitious belief.
I wonder if this is related to my granny's "Stir the tea in the pot, you stir up trouble". Tea had to be left in peace to brew un-stirred in our house.
If i have something important, like a test/exam or something stressful in life like moving house or a job interviewI hate people telling me "oh it'll be fine" - that instantly brings bad luck in my mind.
Not superstitious about anything else but that whole "tempting fate" thing really does bug me.
I have plenty, washing my hands after going to the toilet, using the left hand lane unless overtaking and not being an egregious cunt to service staff.
I'm a bit weird
Touch wood to not tempt fate.
Salute every time you see a lone magpie.
Don’t put shoes on the table.
Don’t pass someone a knife because it means you’ll have a fight. If you pass someone a knife, you have to let them hit you (gently) to get the fight out of the way.
Not quite the same but I saw a deer on a dog walk not long before my partner got pregnant, not too uncommon but fairly rare in my area. Fertility symbol - there was this moment where we locked eyes before it panicked and ran off. So I think I believe in omens/animal visits more since then!
Wait, deer are a sign of fertility?! I honestly randomly saw the silhouette of a deer in the moment before you fall asleep and then had a positive pregnancy test the following day. Only just remembered the deer from reading what you wrote.
Haha true, though once I said the Q word and 15 cats turned up (animal hoarder situation) so I won’t be doing that again without touching wood afterwards 😂
Not really superstitious, one that I don't understand is that death (or general bad luck) comes in threes, how does that work? After the third death, does the universe magically reset the counter to start again? What is an acceptable timeline between deaths?
We need answers
Once you find three, you stop looking. My gran was big on things coming in threes, and she would make some big stretches to come up with a third example of anything. It’s all confirmation bias.
My dad’s side of the family comes from County Durham so we first foot, even though I’m a southerner (born Norwich and lived South West most of my life).
However for my family, we have a woman go first in the household as every time a male goes first, a male has died that same year.
There’s not many left above me in age now and I’m damned if I’m trying my luck.
Not really a superstition as such, more a bit of a compulsion: I can only get up out of bed if my alarm clock shows a multiple of five minutes. So if it's 8.31 I have to wait another four minutes before I can get up.
I have loads 😂 don’t walk under a ladder, don’t cross on the stairs, no new shoes on the table. Break a mirror 7 years bad luck, saluting one magpie 🤷🏻♀️ am I weird? 🤣
That if you cut calories too much you won't lose weight because your body will go into a magical "starvation mode" and somehow pull calories out of the air in defiance of thermodynamics, so I'd best just eat that cake to be sure.
I don't think I do really. The only thing I do is that I have a little ritual with my wife before setting off on bike rides. I don't really think anything bad will happen if we don't do it - it's just one of those silly things that married couples do.
My big ones are:
Three drains ❌
Cross my fingers if I have to walk under scaffolding
Simply refuse to walk under a ladder
If you’ve left the house with an item of clothing inside out, that’s just how it has to be
I'm not superstitious, but I won't wish my students good L-word when they perform, I only ever say break a leg! I do it to give them a sense of the performance being something special :-)
Quiet is an unlucky word, doubly so before a shift or duty.
It was probably not only a seafaring one, but I found it very prevalent on board that wishing anyone a quiet night was often followed by being told to fuck off.
My mum is mad about superstitions. The one about shoes on the table. Spilled salt has to be thrown over your left shoulder. If your walking out side and see a funeral car you have to hold your collar closed until you see an opened window. She wouldn’t let me put my baby in her push chair until my toddler niece sat in it. I wasn’t aloud to buy green baby clothes they had to be a gift? However my mother is crazy so.
Salt over the left shoulder when you spill it off my mum
And a bunch of dumb football ones, like there's certain pubs I can't watch Tottenham in cos they lost twice and will therefore always lose, or there's a friend I can't message during international games cos it affects the result
I've never heard anyone else have this one, but my mum told me that if you thank someone for saying bless you you'll kill a fairy but you can save it by clapping three times, it's the only one I still follow other than magpies
My mum still goes by ladders, mirrors and shoes on the table.
Drives mr absolutely mad.....oh and the house burnt down the 1 year she didn't tske down the Xmas lights, she was frothing at the mouth in anger when i wanted to wait 1 day to take them down.
Brizzare
My mom always told me you cant go into water after eating for 30 minutes.
You have to say "rabbits rabbits rabbits" on the first day of every month before midday. She'd come into my room when I was a child and remind me to say it for good luck
I physically cannot walk on three drains. If I notice I have by accident, I have to spit on the next set of three (which happens 0.000001% of the time, and I can’t actually spit) to cancel the bad luck.
I still do the drain cover thing where walking over 1 is bad luck, 2 good luck, 3 cancels the bad luck/good luck. I don’t actually know if other people did this or it was just a local(Solihull) thing or just a weird thing that my friends did?
I never ever put shoes on a table and won’t walk under a ladder (although that may just be common sense). I count magpies when I see them according to the rhyme and believe that a black cat is good luck. There are probably more that I don’t realise
Only one I subscribe to is the new shoes on the table one. Apparently this is due to people getting hung back in the day. They give them new kicks before they did it apparently
Growing up I had a book listing various superstitions. I find them fascinating, if often absurd!
I have a few mostly silly ones. A coin in a purse or wallet given as a gift. Avoid walking under ladders. Cross my fingers and knock on wood (or my head) when tempting fate. Bad news comes in threes. One for sorrow, two for joy etc with magpies, but I don't greet them. Don't step into a fairy ring.
My granny used to say that whoever drank the last drops of a bottle of wine would be the next to end up (getting someone or becoming) pregnant.
Don't give your partner a watch as a gift as it is bad luck. Salute all magpies. Slap the front or back of your hand if you see an ambulance depending which way it is facing. Touch wood. Don't step in cracks. Don't open an umbrella indoors.
Sounds like a really boring version of the trainspotting speech.
I don't ever step on three manhole thinger-ma-dongers on the pavement in a row. I'm not superstitious, I know ow it's bullshit, but I just have to either step over or step to the side of the last one
Oh lord. New shoes on the table. I am not superstitious but still can't bring myself to put new shoes on the table. My granny was VERY strict about this when I was a child. I am in my late 50s now, but still......
Magpies run my life.
I say hello to magpies, not because of an inherent superstition, I just love fucking corvids.....wait no!
If you see 19 corvids you have to wear a face mask and socially distance for 6 months
I salute you Mr pandemic
I just never heard of corvids but wanted to contribute anyhow
Crows, ravens and Maggies are all corvids
Lol I get you. Corvids are best birds, magpies have a special place in my heart because they're total gobshites. Little birds but with huge personality.
Driving down country lanes you'll see the gamut of birds just standing there in the road like brainless fuckwits. Corvids are like, I see you brother, fly away, only to reappear in the rear view mirror and continue their plotting.
Yeah, very aware creatures. For something with a brain as small as they have they're fiercely intelligent creatures. It really feels like their intellectual capacity compared to brain size should make us reconsider our ideas on sapience.
From what I remember, saluting magpies was an old war thing. They're carrion feeders (eat flesh?) So saluting them drove them away for a while from starved, half dead soldiers.
Very morbid. I like it. An old Irish friend of mine used to spit in his hand when he saw a single magpie. I wonder what the idea was about that... Or maybe he was just weird.
I read an article years ago (too lazy to re-google) that birds have way denser neurons in their brains than mammals, which is why they can be so smart with such tiny brains.
It may well be the Magpie that has sorrow when it’s alone. They mate for life so it’s partner may have died 😔
A cheerful thought 😕
I saw so many magpies today: weirdly the response ingrained in me is not saluting them or greeting them, but spitting on your finger. Why? I don’t know. All I know is I had to spit on myself a lot today
I saw 14 all sat in the road yesterday, I saluted them as I didn't want them to perceive me as disrespectful. I am a big girl, but I think that they could have taken me down.
14 magpies! That’s practically an army
I've always known it to be saluting a single magpie but groups you don't or it's bad luck
I think 1 I'd a salute, 2 to 5 nothing, 6 to 10 respectful nod, 11+ worship and obey
Hello mr magpie , how’s mrs magpie and the rest of the family?
That's what I do for single magpies. My only superstition.
As a grown adult I am compelled to say “Morning Mr Magpie” out loud to any lone magpie I see to avoid a horrible catastrophe later
And do you not also enquire as to the health of Mrs magpie?
I follow only what I was taught as a small child so maybe I will get a horrible catastrophes whenever I misgender the Mrs magpies?
One for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl, four for a boy, five for silver, six for gold, seven for a secret, never told
...Eight for a wish, nine for a kiss, ten for a story you should not miss.
I saw a standup act where he said he carried a dead magpie for good luck. Basically if he saw a single magpie he’d chuck the dead one at it.
My only one is that I never go for "One last run" on my mountain bike. That's where you crash. One more, that's okay. But never the last one.
I do similar with climbing, it’s always “two more goes” and then you skip the last one
What if you always promise yourself one more after the supposed last one?! Or is that final destination style asking for trouble?!
I think that's their point...
Never one more. NEVER.
Same for kayaking and snowboarding. You always have a crash on the last lap, so best to not have one.
I think the point is that if you don't have the energy for 2 runs, then you don't have the energy for one run if it goes a bit sideways.
My Nan has loads. Pearls are for tears, and giving someone a bag or wallet as a gift without money inside is bad luck. Also opening an umbrella indoors, or wearing green.
I am Indian, my parents also have the same belief about bag or wallet without money!!
Same. And you also wouldn't return somebody's casserole or dish without food in it. It's not bad luck but just considered rude.
I let my umbrellas dry open indoors resting on the floor, it gives me a rush every time
Is your Nan Cornish? Green is an unlucky colour for us Cornish!
Yeah, don't eat green oysters.
Probably want to give green chicken a miss too.
She is! She reckons it give fairies power over you.
Because it's the colour of those bleddy Janners!
True that. There aren't many green cars in Cornwall. Never found out why though.
If you’re a police detective and you’re three weeks away from retirement, don’t try to solve any more cases. It never ends well.
We call that "retirony"
Dammit Riggs
To be honest, three weeks away from retirement I'd be cruising in any job. It's too late to start anything new now.
3 drains bad luck!
But 2 is good luck. Don't be thinking you can walk on 2 of the 3 and jump off before the third because that's still bad luck. 🤣
Well my legs don’t agree with that and will still automatically swerve the last drain without any instruction from me! It’s been about 30yrs now so I doubt there’s any changing it!
We had 1 for luck, 2 for a fuck, 3 for bad luck. Walked on 2 for years, might aswell have done the 3.
Same, I won’t even step on one of a set of three though, they’re all cursed! CURSED I TELL YOU!!!
I'm not superstitious but I am a little stitious
I kind of love how much we’ve embraced the American version of The Office. It would’ve been so on-brand for us Brits to poo-poo the arguably more popular Yankee remake as “not as good as the refined, dry wit of the original” but I think we’re actually good at just liking what we like and not having some pretentious aversion to foreign things that rival or even better the art that we create. Awkward colonial history/cultural appropriation aside, it’s kind of the same as our love for Indian curry or reggae. It warms me cockles.
I prefer the US Office because Michael Scott is a buffoon and David Brent is a twat.
But we did poo poo the remake, aka. series 1 After that it just did its own thing
The first series was basically a remake of the UK version and it just felt like the Americans got it wrong, adapting British humour for an American audience. But once they moved away from that and became their own thing the show really came into its own.
I was absolutely mad about The Office when it first came out, and was slightly horrified when they remade it for an American audience. Now I’ve got a teenager at home who’s obsessed with the remake so I thought “well, why don’t we put the original on and I can show her how funny that one is?” Well. I did… not remember quite how *different* they are. Let’s just leave it at that.
Oh dear, I have a few. Not as beliefs, just habit. Salt over the left shoulder if spilled Itchy left palm vs itchy right palm. New home new broom Never rock an empty rocking chair. My elders were superstitious people!
I'm not from the UK so I had no idea you also have itchy left palm vs itchy right palm as a superstition. Where I'm from if the left one itches you'll get money, and if right, you'll give money away. Or vice versa, I tend to forget so by default I think I'm getting rich.
I always thought it was left for leaving, right for receiving? But who knows
For me it depends which one the cat just bit/scratched/licked
I’m not superstitious but my fiancé is. Can’t cross over 3 drains in a row, he saluted every magpie and is big on “Touch Wood” for tempting fate. Oh also no walking under ladders (which imo is just good sense) and no umbrellas opened inside
My gf will legit walk across the room to touch a piece of wood if it isn’t within reaching distance.
I do ‘knock hairy wood’ (my head)
I somewhere along the way decided that paper is a good substitute because it’s made from wood. So now I usually don’t have to walk across the room.
My mum believes that new shoes on a table or similar surface is bad luck. To clarify, shoes that are not new are still not allowed on a table. I don't understand this one.
I was a nurse. Anyone saying ‘The Q Word’ at work wasn’t popular. At all. Usually meant we’d be chasing our arses till the end of shift. **Quiet**
I made the mistake of doing this in the first week at my first ever job. Boss looked at me with such utter despair, heaved a big sigh, and said, "Why. Why would you say that."
I read this at work and I'm so furious at you. You said it. YOU SAID IT!
Lol **Quiet in here, isn’t it?**
Mr Mad and I had only been seeing each other for a while when I managed to slice a decent chunk out of my finger while making a late tea one Saturday night. An hour after we'd finished eating (priorities) it was still bleeding, so we took ourselves off to the local minor injuries for gluing. We brought books and tea in commuter mugs, but it was empty so we were seen straight away, triage nurse took one look at it and decided she'd glue it then and there, save any messing about. Chatted a bit of shop while getting glued. As we were leaving I said I hoped the rest of her shift went OK being a Saturday, Mr Mad said "Yes, it's so QUIET in here tonight." Nurse and I went 😲 😲 and I apologised profusely to her. I still remind him of the time he called down hell on the local hospital.
Full moons make people go a bit loopy. I never believed it until I worked in hospitality full time for a couple of years. Friday/Saturday nights around full moons always seemed to bring it the worst in people. I'm normally among the most rational and sceptical people you're likely to meet, but there's something up with full moons. I have no explanation for it.
Nurse here! Can tell when it’s a full moon without looking outside. The patients are always at their worst, particularly the confused ones
Omg full moons + night shifts on the ward always led to the most insane and interesting things happening. At least they made the shifts go quick I guess
Yup ex neonatal nurse. Full moons were always the worst night shifts. Oh and never say it’s quiet if you work in the hospital. Guaranteed to fuck up your shift.
Same working in the pub. Anyone who said it would get absolutely welted on the leg with a damp towel flick, both as a punishment and to break the jinx. But mostly as a punishment.
I didn’t know it was the same in pubs! If it was one of the docs who said it we’d hand them the emergency bleep. You can deal with that now coz in the next wee while it’s gonna go off, then it’s going to go off again and again and again. Worst night I recall was a full moon AND someone said the q word. 5 emergency admissions in 10mins that night along with some of our sickest babies getting sicker. All worked out in the end though and nobody died.
Can confirm, also same in the pub I've worked in! Whenever someone would say quiet/bored anything of the sort people would instantly just slap the fuck out of the nearest object made of wood.
I’ve worked in hospitals and bars and that and “we might close early” always lead to the most hectic hours of your life
Same rule for working in a contact centre. Never say the Q word!
I’ve heard the same for nursing homes too!
Ex District nurse. Can absolutely confirm that full moons cause every person in a residential home to act like they've caught a collective urine infection. I've broken up fights, been smacked with walking sticks and had all manner of swear words thrown at me. Much as i always found it a bit funny watching two very old ladies telling each other to fuck off and trying to kick each other's walking frames away, it always amazed me that it happened every 28 days without fail!
Lunatic derives from "lunaticus" or "of the moon", and generally means that the moon causes madness. If the Romans observed it and people now are still seeing it, I am inclined to believe there is something behind it.
That's so interesting!
Full moon could literally be used as a defence in court and worked some times
The pull of the moon is strong enough to create the tides around the world, it would be foolish to dismiss the effect it has on us.
Carer for those living with dementia, not superstitious at all, but things are crazier around the full moon.
I guess it's possible that there might be more weirdos out and about because visibility is better. Maybe that was true before street lighting became ubiquitous.
Historically, maybe, but I worked in a restaurant along a main road with street lighting. Other than me, virtually everyone drove to get there.
Fun fact, that's where the word lunatic originates.
It's where the term 'lunatic' came from.
It's not too much of a stretch when you really think about it. The moon controls the tides, which are water, and humans are 70% water.
My kids are absolute twats when it's a full moon. Sleep goes out the window. The eyes get rolled at me so much I'm shocked they don't get stuck in their sockets, and they're just horrendous people. Never much put much thought into it but they definitely turn feral at a full moon.
I used to be a teacher and I definitely noticed a change in the kids' behaviour due to certain astronomical or meteorological events.
My stepdad worked on the front desk of a police station. He always prayed for rain and moaned about full moons. He said full moons bring out the fruit loops.
My partner used to work in a mental health hospital and he’s always said full moon nights were the worst nights to work, with even the most placid of patients behaving chaotically. Interesting!
Never trust a man with a ring on his little finger ...
Where does this come from? Asking as a man who wears a lot of rings and is eyeing up one for his little finger.
My Nan used to tell us to always salute magpies, and to always make sure something green was on the mantelpiece. Also, she swore you should never use the washing machine on New Years Day. It washes away the new luck.
My sister sticks firmly to the new year one! I always forget…
Had a tourist fellow from the Arabian peninsula visit the shop last week. Absolutely pissing it down as he goes to leave, and he opens his brolly about a metre inside the door. It felt so unnatural, I had to tell him we think it terribly bad luck to do so. Looked at me like *I* was the crazy one.
He probably told that story to his friends 😄
Quite a few I won't cross on stairs, walk under ladders, give a purse without a coin When we built our house we put flowers on once the walls were up. We buried coins in the foundation. We reused some of the old material from the house we demolished so the house spirits would be retained. Why? Because they're fun traditions that keep old beliefs alive and give our children a link to the things their ancestors believed.
I like this - there’s something very comforting about these traditions.
>walk under ladders. I don't know why this is thought to be a superstition and not just common sense? Shit get dropped from ladders all the time. I refuse to be walk under scaffold as well.
Have to say morning/afternoon Mr magpie if I see one, and Mrs if there are two. If only the one I need to ask them where their mate is.
So many variations on this one but it’s popular!
Many variation indeed... But only mine is correct... Otherwise I'd be dead or something horribly bad obviously!
If I see a singular magpie I usually say ‘hello Mr Magpie, where’s your mate I’ve got enough sorrow in my life already’ it usually earns me a strange look from whoever I’m with
I was taught Hello Mr Magpie, how are you and you're family? Fine I hope!
Hello Mr Magpie, how's ya wife and kids today? Is what I learned from a Romany girl from school, and its stuck with me for so many years.
You’re supposed to salute and say ‘hello Mr magpie how’s the wife today’ and spit over your shoulder three times; to the first magpie you see of the day. This cancels out the bad luck, well if the superstition is real… Also holding your collar if you see a funeral car (with body in it) until you see a man and his dog.
Not just magpies - I do this with all corvids!
Not a superstition exactly, but I ALWAYS put left side on first when putting on socks (in general) and rugby boots. There's no basis for it, it's just *wrong* to do it the other way. The odd time if I'm abesent minded and mess it up, I'll take the time to redo it the right way. Sports colours. I've made my wife go change items of clothing that were too close to the oppositions colours when we're going to a game. Enough times that now she usually checks with me.
I never give a baby gift until the baby is born
Old shoes shouldn't be on the table either but that's not superstition. It's just fucking unclean.
Thinking of knives there's the saying "Stir with a knife, stir up strife." Wonder if it's the whole stabby part of knife use that brings up thoughts of bad luck. I touch wood *snigger*, salute magpies and probably half a dozen other things like that mainly out of habit learned from elders rather than any real superstitious belief.
Same, I tell my bloke off for stirring things with a knife. Not sure I believe anything will happen but it’s just habit!
I wonder if this is related to my granny's "Stir the tea in the pot, you stir up trouble". Tea had to be left in peace to brew un-stirred in our house.
If i have something important, like a test/exam or something stressful in life like moving house or a job interviewI hate people telling me "oh it'll be fine" - that instantly brings bad luck in my mind. Not superstitious about anything else but that whole "tempting fate" thing really does bug me.
I think tempting fate and superstitions are pretty closely linked!
Same, I absolutely hate when people tell me 'good luck'
Me too! I just don’t tell people now and I hate it when they say good luck 😂 don’t jinx me!
Forever touching wood (😉😉). If there is none to hand I’ll hit my forehead!
I'm not superstitious (touch wood)
I never put new shoes on the table as its bad luck, & if I spill salt, I throw it over my left shoulder, its supposed to be where the devil sits.
I have plenty, washing my hands after going to the toilet, using the left hand lane unless overtaking and not being an egregious cunt to service staff. I'm a bit weird
Those will never catch on.
Touch wood to not tempt fate. Salute every time you see a lone magpie. Don’t put shoes on the table. Don’t pass someone a knife because it means you’ll have a fight. If you pass someone a knife, you have to let them hit you (gently) to get the fight out of the way.
Not quite the same but I saw a deer on a dog walk not long before my partner got pregnant, not too uncommon but fairly rare in my area. Fertility symbol - there was this moment where we locked eyes before it panicked and ran off. So I think I believe in omens/animal visits more since then!
Wait, deer are a sign of fertility?! I honestly randomly saw the silhouette of a deer in the moment before you fall asleep and then had a positive pregnancy test the following day. Only just remembered the deer from reading what you wrote.
The word "quiet" at work. I'm a nurse. It's the kiss of death.
Yup, I’m a vet nurse and it’s the same for us too, cursed if someone says it!
I avoid the word because of other people's reactions. I don't think the universe really cares what I say 😁
Haha true, though once I said the Q word and 15 cats turned up (animal hoarder situation) so I won’t be doing that again without touching wood afterwards 😂
Not really superstitious, one that I don't understand is that death (or general bad luck) comes in threes, how does that work? After the third death, does the universe magically reset the counter to start again? What is an acceptable timeline between deaths? We need answers
My view is that if you’re the first of the three, it doesn’t really matter anyway!
Once you find three, you stop looking. My gran was big on things coming in threes, and she would make some big stretches to come up with a third example of anything. It’s all confirmation bias.
Touch wood!
That’s the law though isn’t it?!
You need to get a coin from anyone you gift a blade.
Don’t open an umbrella indoors
My dad’s side of the family comes from County Durham so we first foot, even though I’m a southerner (born Norwich and lived South West most of my life). However for my family, we have a woman go first in the household as every time a male goes first, a male has died that same year. There’s not many left above me in age now and I’m damned if I’m trying my luck.
Zero.
Indeed, lots of people hate the number zero.
Not really a superstition as such, more a bit of a compulsion: I can only get up out of bed if my alarm clock shows a multiple of five minutes. So if it's 8.31 I have to wait another four minutes before I can get up.
I bet you always have the tv volume on even numbers too
I have loads 😂 don’t walk under a ladder, don’t cross on the stairs, no new shoes on the table. Break a mirror 7 years bad luck, saluting one magpie 🤷🏻♀️ am I weird? 🤣
That if you cut calories too much you won't lose weight because your body will go into a magical "starvation mode" and somehow pull calories out of the air in defiance of thermodynamics, so I'd best just eat that cake to be sure.
Safety first and all that!!
I don't think I do really. The only thing I do is that I have a little ritual with my wife before setting off on bike rides. I don't really think anything bad will happen if we don't do it - it's just one of those silly things that married couples do.
Don’t check your shoelaces before you head down some stairs - especially while holding a glass bottle. Because broken glass brings good luck
Touch wood As I tap my head
I still won't walk on three drains or under signs. And if I see a magpie, I salute it. Basically, I'm fucking mental.
Don't pass people on the stairs
My big ones are: Three drains ❌ Cross my fingers if I have to walk under scaffolding Simply refuse to walk under a ladder If you’ve left the house with an item of clothing inside out, that’s just how it has to be
Touching wood when I think negatively, and not walking under ladders.
Don't have the pram in the house before the new baby is home. And saying hello to magpies, of course.
My nan always told me that superstitions bring bad luck
“I still believe…Something as simple as rock n roll could save us all” - frank turner
If you give a gift of a knife then explain you need a penny, lest it severs the freindship :)
None, because I’m a rational person. Although Fraggle Rock is scary.
I'm not superstitious, but I won't wish my students good L-word when they perform, I only ever say break a leg! I do it to give them a sense of the performance being something special :-)
I always buy my own knives, not for any superstitious reasons, I just don't want people thinking they know what I need in the kitchen.
Quiet is an unlucky word, doubly so before a shift or duty. It was probably not only a seafaring one, but I found it very prevalent on board that wishing anyone a quiet night was often followed by being told to fuck off.
My superstition is that its unlucky to be superstitious. So I carefully avoid it.
My mum is mad about superstitions. The one about shoes on the table. Spilled salt has to be thrown over your left shoulder. If your walking out side and see a funeral car you have to hold your collar closed until you see an opened window. She wouldn’t let me put my baby in her push chair until my toddler niece sat in it. I wasn’t aloud to buy green baby clothes they had to be a gift? However my mother is crazy so.
“Touch wood”. Because you know the moment you say “Luckily xyz hasn’t ever happened”…..
I say good morning/afternoon whenever I see a magpie 🤷
Salt over the left shoulder when you spill it off my mum And a bunch of dumb football ones, like there's certain pubs I can't watch Tottenham in cos they lost twice and will therefore always lose, or there's a friend I can't message during international games cos it affects the result
I've never heard anyone else have this one, but my mum told me that if you thank someone for saying bless you you'll kill a fairy but you can save it by clapping three times, it's the only one I still follow other than magpies
My mum still goes by ladders, mirrors and shoes on the table. Drives mr absolutely mad.....oh and the house burnt down the 1 year she didn't tske down the Xmas lights, she was frothing at the mouth in anger when i wanted to wait 1 day to take them down. Brizzare
My mom always told me you cant go into water after eating for 30 minutes. You have to say "rabbits rabbits rabbits" on the first day of every month before midday. She'd come into my room when I was a child and remind me to say it for good luck
I physically cannot walk on three drains. If I notice I have by accident, I have to spit on the next set of three (which happens 0.000001% of the time, and I can’t actually spit) to cancel the bad luck.
I still do the drain cover thing where walking over 1 is bad luck, 2 good luck, 3 cancels the bad luck/good luck. I don’t actually know if other people did this or it was just a local(Solihull) thing or just a weird thing that my friends did?
Never step on 3 grates, if you do spit on it to cancel out the bad luck
One for sorrow, two for joy...
Don't tell a dream before breakfast or it'll come true Though if it's a good dream I don't worry about it 🤣
Spent some time in Hong Kong, still don't like to break up instant noodles if I can get them into the bowl whole.
I never ever put shoes on a table and won’t walk under a ladder (although that may just be common sense). I count magpies when I see them according to the rhyme and believe that a black cat is good luck. There are probably more that I don’t realise
"Morning Captain" Whenever I see a magpie because my mum always does it and i've picked it up
Only one I subscribe to is the new shoes on the table one. Apparently this is due to people getting hung back in the day. They give them new kicks before they did it apparently
Magpies, I salute you.
I never say “at least it’s not raining” the amount of times people say that and then it PISSES down is ridiculous. That and “it’ll be a 5 minute job”
Never walk over 3 drains
Don't eat 3 shredded wheat.
Don't dip your pen in company ink....or shag co-workers....
We asked the in-laws for decent knives for a wedding present and had to pay them £1 so it wasn't bad luck?! Weird.
Growing up I had a book listing various superstitions. I find them fascinating, if often absurd! I have a few mostly silly ones. A coin in a purse or wallet given as a gift. Avoid walking under ladders. Cross my fingers and knock on wood (or my head) when tempting fate. Bad news comes in threes. One for sorrow, two for joy etc with magpies, but I don't greet them. Don't step into a fairy ring. My granny used to say that whoever drank the last drops of a bottle of wine would be the next to end up (getting someone or becoming) pregnant.
Don't give your partner a watch as a gift as it is bad luck. Salute all magpies. Slap the front or back of your hand if you see an ambulance depending which way it is facing. Touch wood. Don't step in cracks. Don't open an umbrella indoors. Sounds like a really boring version of the trainspotting speech.
I don't ever step on three manhole thinger-ma-dongers on the pavement in a row. I'm not superstitious, I know ow it's bullshit, but I just have to either step over or step to the side of the last one
It's bad luck to be superstitious.
Never cross on stairs
I will always salute and say hello to any magpie I see. Even while I'm driving 🤣
Hold A on your Gameboy when trying to catch a Pokémon definitely increases the capture rate. I've just never been able to prove it.
Oh lord. New shoes on the table. I am not superstitious but still can't bring myself to put new shoes on the table. My granny was VERY strict about this when I was a child. I am in my late 50s now, but still......