Are you superstitious? If you are how superstitious are you? Good? Bad? Indifferent?

[33girl]

I never heard of not passing the salt, but I do throw salt over my left shoulder if I spill it. I knock on wood all the time, I wish on stars and I usually stay at home on Friday the 13th, just because I've had a couple spectacularly crappy Friday the 13ths.

As for the not stepping on graves, the house where I grew up is next to a cemetery & we used to play flashlight tag and go for walks there, so that one pretty much does nothing for me.

[christiangirl]

Originally Posted by 33girl

I usually stay at home on Friday the 13th, just because I've had a couple spectacularly crappy Friday the 13ths.

This just reminded me of a HORRIBLE time when some bullies from school got a hold of my diary. They read all about my Friday the 13th which happened to be horribly embarassing. I had almost forgotten about that!!

I don't step on gravestones because I feel like it's rude. It's like stepping on someone's head! Silly, but I don't think anything bad will happen if I do. And I read in a Babysitters' Club book that you should hold your breath when passing a graveyard or else you'll inhale a spirit. I still do that but really just to see if I can hold my breath that long (I usually can't).

ETA: Oooh, I did just think of one. It's a HUGE superstition at my job that you NEVER EVER EVER say "It's been quiet all day/night." It's like saying "Macbeth" at a theater. That totally jinxes it and the patients all start acting up after that. Whenever someone does (usually the new person), we all groan and say "Dangit, she said the q-word!!!" Sometimes things stay okay, but tooooo many times I've seen that one actually come true.

[LucyKKG]

Originally Posted by christiangirl

It's like saying "Macbeth" at a theater.

Omg, I did that once, and I was like "Noooo!" My drama friends made me go outside, turn around three times, and curse. (I think that was it.)

I used to either lift my feet up off the floor or touch a screw in the car when driving past a graveyard. I still hold my breath going through tunnels, but I just do that because it's fun to see how long I can do it.

I tap the dashboard when I see a police car. A guy I dated briefly said it was good luck. Whatever, not like I'm a delinquent!

Hmm...I'll add more if I think of them.

[WinniBug]

Originally Posted by LucyKKG

Omg, I did that once, and I was like "Noooo!" My drama friends made me go outside, turn around three times, and curse. (I think that was it.)

I used to either lift my feet up off the floor or touch a screw in the car when driving past a graveyard. I still hold my breath going through tunnels, but I just do that because it's fun to see how long I can do it.

I tap the dashboard when I see a police car. A guy I dated briefly said it was good luck. Whatever, not like I'm a delinquent!

Hmm...I'll add more if I think of them.

My mom said you're supposed to lift your feet when you go over railroad tracks

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by christiangirl

ETA: Oooh, I did just think of one. It's a HUGE superstition at my job that you NEVER EVER EVER say "It's been quiet all day/night." It's like saying "Macbeth" at a theater. That totally jinxes it and the patients all start acting up after that. Whenever someone does (usually the new person), we all groan and say "Dangit, she said the q-word!!!" Sometimes things stay okay, but tooooo many times I've seen that one actually come true.

My boss does this kind of crap all the time. After I'd been at this job about 3 months, he says "I haven't had a server crash in over a year!" and BAM, a server crashed that day. Now, when he starts to say something like that, I stop him "Shhhh, don't jinx us!"

[tld221]

to Rashid (and Winnibug, as i posted in the wrong thread): make a wish!

I don't consider myself superstitious at all, but one thing I never do is turn my back to the ocean.

We've got a lot of local superstitions here: don't whistle at night (you'll attract ghosts); don't cut your nails at night (it's bad luck); putting jars of water on your lawn/yard will prevent dogs/cats pooping on your property; a huge black moth in or outside of your house means a deceased loved one has come to visit; never point in a cemetery (it's bad luck); if a young kid bends down and looks between his legs that means mom and dad will be expecting a new one soon...the list is endless.

My most favorite one, though, is the one about chopsticks in your rice. Never, ever stick your chopsticks upright in your rice bowl. It's bad luck, or as the Japanese call it, bachi.

[cheerfulgreek]

This is very interesting. I haven't read all of the posts yet, but there was a Gallup poll that was taken in 2005 that showed 41% of Americans profess belief in ESP. A similar study conducted in 2006 in Poland by the Public Opinion Research Center showed that 30% of Polish citizens claim that star signs affect a person's character. There was also an earlier European study that was done in the UK that said 74% of respondents claimed they knock on wood for good luck. I saw this on the History Channel. They were also talking about how it's related to some kind of evolutionary theory, adaptive traits and stuff like that. There was more, I just can't remember all of it. But I really don't think that different kinds of superstitions need to be explained using just one evolutionary mechanism, it just may be that different kinds of superstititions have different evolutionary explanations, and only some of them may be adaptive. Really though, Who the hell knows?

After watching this, it kind of changed my opinion on this subject slightly. I think that phenomena such as superstition kind of forces us to look at reason from a more consistently scientific point of view. While I think it can be the opposite of reason, on the other hand I also think that it can be looked at as being naturalized similarly to reason. Another possibility that I found to be more persuasive than what the show was saying, was the fact that it could actually be a by-product. What I mean by this is it may not even have any adaptive value in itself, it may just be linked to a trait which may be adaptive. But then again, I may be looking into this too hard.

Oh, and it was also talking about how superstition may be related to cognitive illusions too. It was really good, I enjoyed it. I had been waiting all week long to watch it. It was very interesting. I TiVo'd it.