Comments on: A mid-week dose of tips and superstitions

By: Gollum

Gollum — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 05:03:25 +0000

Good Luck: My (Portuguese) wife claims that if you accidentally wear an item of clothing inside out, you will get a present.

She also insists that everyone on the family have a new item of clothing to wear after midnight on New Year’s day, to ensure plenty of presents during the following year.

I think these are simply hints for more presents.

By: Carrie

Carrie — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 23:41:30 +0000

My grandmother and mom always said – don’t wash laundry on New Year’s day or you’ll be washing the clothes of someone who will pass away this coming year.

By: EJ

EJ — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 19:57:01 +0000

Old East European superstition (that still has some affect today): Never give knifes as gifts – it will sever the relationship. My grandmother believed it this so much that she sold me my grandfather’s butcher knives after his death for the change in my pocket.

@Darcy, the tradition of giving odd amounts of money in Indian culture has been explained to me this way. You always give $1 extra has a sign there will always be more.

By: Knate

Knate — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 19:09:56 +0000

Mine is pretty standard…if someone hands me a knife that can open and close, if they open it, they have to close it. If I, or someone else, closes it, they are apt to get cut at that moment or sometime in the very near future. Plus, its just etiquette…I guess

By: Jon

Jon — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 18:33:08 +0000

I live by The Unspeakable Rule: if it’s bad, don’t talk about it because then it will happen; if it’s good, don’t talk about it because then it won’t happen.

And all you naysayers out there: things really DO happen in 3′s.

Live by those rules and your karma will never run over your dogma.

By: Noelle

Noelle — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 17:39:29 +0000

I’m not superstitious, but apparently my great grandma was. My mom told me that she would get very upset if anyone kicked an empty rocking chair or the rocking chair moved with nobody in it. I think she believed that it meant a ghost was in the chair… there was a rhyme my mom told me that went with it:
“Trouble is a-coming and it’s coming in a minute
Cause the rocking chair’s a-rocking and there ain’t nobody in it.”

By: Bookworm

Bookworm — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 15:39:06 +0000

In our family, the shoes couldn’t be overhead, so no shoes on the top shelves of closets, in the attic, etc. It’s bad luck to open umbrellas in the house. And my sister always scratches her head when she sees a hearse so she won’t be the next to die.

By: Carol

Carol — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 14:36:53 +0000

My mom handed down all kinds of superstitions from her mom:
If you touch a baby bird, the mom will kill it (which may be true).
If a black cat crosses your path, you have to spit to undo the bad luck. My mom will actually roll down the car window to do this if she’s driving.
If you take the last whatever (cookie, piece of candy in the bag), you’ll end up an old maid.
If you have the hiccups, it means you’re growing.
And this one is just my mom’s: Whenever we drive over a bridge with girders over the top, she puts her hand up to the roof of the car in case the top of the bridge falls down, or to magically hold it up. If she doesn’t, she freaks out.

By: PartiallyDeflected

PartiallyDeflected — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 14:36:19 +0000

To make it rain, hang a dead snake in a tree.

By: shane

shane — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:27:04 +0000

I noticed a couple of lines about stepping on cracks and bad luck, but didn’t read the obvious consequence of said stepping – Breaking your mother’s back!.

Some people wouldn’t consider that bad luck, (excl. me of course, Mom).

I’m just sayin.