Superstition or prejudice

[Reece]

Originally Posted by August

Are these superstitions cumulative? If only a 10th of the ones in this thread are true I died, horribly, sometime in 2011.

I died a minute ago!! Just ask my wife!!

[August]

Originally Posted by Reece

I died a minute ago!! Just ask my wife!!

Everything in your country is so poisonous, it's a wonder that you've survived this long!

[Jimbuna]

Don't Jump Over a Child

Another thing you shouldn't do in Turkey? Jump over a child. Doing this will curse them to be short. Forever.

[Jimbuna]

Don't Kiss Babies on the Lips

If you plant one on a baby in Nigeria, legend says you'll condemn them to spend their entire adult lives drooling.

[Sean C]

Also weird.

[Jimbuna]

Carry an Acorn to Stay Forever Young

Women in Ancient Britain often kept acorns in their pockets to ensure a youthful complexion.

[Jimbuna]

Don't Let Your Purse Touch the Floor

In Brazil, putting your purse or wallet on the floor means you'll become penniless.

[Jimbuna]

Don't Tempt Your Fate

In Cuba, if you declare that it's "el ultimo," or your last drink, then you're tempting fate and death will shortly follow.

[Jimbuna]

Avoid Sleeping With Fans On

Many South Koreans do not sleep with fans running in closed rooms — if they do, it's believed to be fatal.

[August]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

Avoid Sleeping With Fans On

Many South Koreans do not sleep with fans running in closed rooms — if they do, it's believed to be fatal.

Maybe if they stopped sharpening the blades and strengthened their ceiling attachments a bit.

[Jimbuna]

Knock on Wood

Knocking on wood, naturally, is one of the most prevalent superstitions people talk about.

[August]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

Knock on Wood

Knocking on wood, naturally, is one of the most prevalent superstitions people talk about.

According to Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, “traditionally, certain trees, such as the oak, ash, hazel, hawthorn and willow, had a sacred significance and thus protective powers.”
Furthermore, the theory goes, Christian reformers in Europe may have deliberately transformed this heathenish belief into a more acceptable Christian one by introducing the idea that the “wood” in “knock on wood” referred to the wood of the cross of Jesus’ crucifixion.
However, no tangible evidence supports these origin stories.
The Oxford English Dictionary traces the phrase “touch wood” only back to the early 19th century, locating its origins in a British children’s tag game called Tiggy-touch-wood, in which children could make themselves “exempt…from capture [by] touching wood.”
Of course, much folklore is learned informally, by word of mouth or customary behavior. So it’s possible – even likely – that the phrase and the ritual predate its first appearance in print

https://theconversation.com/why-we-k...or-luck-129864

[Sean C]

Originally Posted by August

That reminds me of an origin story I heard [read?] somewhere about the phrase "Olly, olly oxen free!" when playing a game of "hide-and-seek" in the U.S.


The story goes that a similar game was played in Germany and that, when the person who was "it" [i.e. the seeker] could not find the remaining hiders - they would declare "Alle, alle auch sind frei!", meaning "All the rest are free!" [literally: "All, all also are free!"]


So, when German immigrants commingled with other American immigrants, the phrase became perverted into the meaningless English phrase which probably no one but myself and Mr. Burns remembers today.


Then again, I could be suffering from that syndrome where people mis-remember the past and which is complete B.S.

[Armistead]

Some southern mountain superstitions

Got to hold your breath walking through or by a graveyard. No clue why.
If you wear new shoes to a funeral it's bad luck
Put acorns on things you don't want struck by lightning.
See an owl during the day someone you know is gonna die
Hanging cloth diapers on a clothesline at night summons evil
We use to play "jump over a crack or break your momma's back" as a kid
If you swallow a watermelon seed it will grow in your belly and explode your stomach
Brick dust spread at a doorway will keep evil from entering
Never put moonshine in #13 mason jar, bring bad luck. The lore is shiners always broke them so not many on the market today. I come from the moonshine capitol county of the world and have asked many old folks and they say they used them or never cared to look and it's a myth, but the myth drives the price up of a #13 Ball mason jar.
One of my grandmaws....If you slam the screen door it will bring you back luck...like a switch

[d@rk51d3]

Originally Posted by Armistead

Some southern mountain superstitions

If you swallow a watermelon seed it will grow in your belly and explode your stomach

Brother in law was rushed to hospital may years back.
Opened him up, and his appendix was jam packed full of them, to the point of bursting.

Apparently, if you swallow them whole there is that risk, but if you bite them through they'll pass.