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Do you have any superstitions?
#1

Do you have any superstitions?
Where I live, some of my neighbours are 'tick-box-Christians', they would tick the 'Christian' box in a form or questionnaire, attend baptisms, weddings and funerals and think no more about it all.  Others are completely disinterested in any kind of religion, and a few are atheists. There is one Buddhist and a couple of Muslims nearby. 

But I've noticed that many people have superstitions of various kinds, regardless of their atheism, theism or agnosticism. The last time I noticed an example of a superstition was while talking to a 'religion is rubbish' neighbour about the rebuilding of an engine for his van, a recent victim of belt-drive failure and with pistons smashed through cylinders.  As he told me that all was fixed and running smoothly he put out a hand and touched a wooden fence with a finger. 

So......  how about you? Do you have any tiny (or huge) superstitions?
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#2

Do you have any superstitions?
(06-22-2022, 05:46 AM)eider Wrote: So......  how about you? Do you have any tiny (or huge) superstitions?

I think all of us do, most of them trivial, but superstitious all the same.  I don't think we can help it.  The desire to feel as if all is under control is irresistible, as is the desire to feel some much desired outcome will reach fruition.  Any positive "sign" is embraced and we forget the times such "signs" fail.

I can't think of any conscious ones I have, but I'm sure there are subconscious ones that amount to pure superstition.
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#3

Do you have any superstitions?
I say"touch wood" but I think that it's more of a figure of speech than a superstition.

ETA.. It's always funny when someone says "touch wood" and there is no wood around, so they just touch their head.
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#4

Do you have any superstitions?
Does music make you think?

It makes Stevie Wonder.
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#5

Do you have any superstitions?
Not really, but I do have OCD complete with compulsions... I actually finally realised/admitted to myself I was an atheist when I realised that something religious (not praying) had morphed into a compulsion, completely devoid of any religious significance. For quite some time after I would even occasionally "say a prayer" when under stress... I was aware it was just a way to relieve the havoc in my brain (and a bit of a habit) so it didn't bother me. I guess for a lot of "normal" people superstitions are the same (though not cranked up to 11 like with OCD) - a bit of habit, a bit of relief- and sense-of-control inducer.

Actually, far as I'm aware, superstition seems to predate human or rather, seems to span different species. Wasn't it Skinner, who did that pigeon superstition thing?

ETA: Yeah, it *was* Skinner.

Show ContentSpoiler:
“We drift down time, clutching at straws. But what good's a brick to a drowning man?” 
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#6

Do you have any superstitions?
I wouldn't be sure about anything really if it weren't for my trusty mood cock-ring.
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#7

Do you have any superstitions?
I don't walk under the ladders but I would say that it is common sense and not superstition.
There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.


Socrates.
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#8

Do you have any superstitions?
Not in the sense of performing nonsensical rituals to attempt to prevent undesirable outcomes from occurring. I do have irrational anxieties as most humans do though. The difference is my anxieties are not as big as believing I'm going to be tortured for eternity if I do a "bad" thing, like not believing in god.
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#9

Do you have any superstitions?
Nah, none here.
On hiatus.
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#10

Do you have any superstitions?
I'm not really spersititious.  I have funny querks though.  I like even numbers rather than odd numbers when it comes to certain things.  When I do situps I do 32 of them, partly I do 32 because of the 32 fouettes the lead female dancer famously does in Swan Lake.  If I do weights I do them in sessions of 32.  I like that number because it's musical.

But then when it comes to visual design like painting it's best to have odd numbers, like three object in a painting or 5 or 7.  One of the objects should be slightly more dominant than the others.  Then there's the Golden Mean or the Golden Ratio.   It's one of the basic concepts of design in art which goes back thousands of years to the Greeks. Actually it goes back even further than that.. 

[Image: golden-parthenon.jpg]  

A photograph is more aesthectically pleasing if it contains the Golden Ratio. This photo is offset to one side so it contains that ratio.

[Image: images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSLmfdSwxACkkzOlumoab-...w&usqp=CAU]


I need to have a lot of Golden Means in my house and most houses have them even if you aren't aware of it.  Most windows have this common design ratio of 1.618.  Most cars designs are based on this ratio.  It's in nature. It's everywhere.   I don't think anything bad will happen to me if the ratio is off so it's not a superstition but it makes me feel balanced and content when I see it.  I'm very, very, very, very aesthetically inclined.  I guess that's why I went into the arts. 

[Image: the-golden-ratio-brings-order-and-harmon...museum.jpg]
                                                         T4618
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#11

Do you have any superstitions?
Answering questions about superstitions.
Being told you're delusional does not necessarily mean you're mental. 
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#12

Do you have any superstitions?
Never understood them.
[Image: color%5D%5Bcolor=#333333%5D%5Bsize=small%5D%5Bfont=T...ans-Serif%5D]
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#13

Do you have any superstitions?
I know that machinery does not appreciate neglect, so I will talk nice to it and give it attention and hope for the best when I try to resurrect it Smile
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#14

Do you have any superstitions?
I have a weird one that I don't know where it came from. I'm still old school in that I keep a calendar/day planner and don't use a computer program. From years ago at work I started marking off the day previous each morning.

I NEVER mark days off before they happen, even weekends.

I guess I didn't realize how strong it is till a couple months ago when my husband was going to change the month a day early on the calendar hanging on the pantry door and I nearly hyperventilated.

The only thing I can think of is that I recall a woman I worked with saying 'don't wish your life away' when someone said they wished it was some days in the future...perhaps for a vacation or something.
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#15

Do you have any superstitions?
(06-23-2022, 02:03 AM)arewethereyet Wrote: I have a weird one that I don't know where it came from.  I'm still old school in that I keep a calendar/day planner and don't use a computer program.  From years ago at work I started marking off the day previous each morning.

I NEVER mark days off before they happen, even weekends.  

I guess I didn't realize how strong it is till a couple months ago when my husband was going to change the month a day early on the calendar hanging on the pantry door and I nearly hyperventilated.

The only thing I can think of is that I recall a woman I worked with saying 'don't wish your life away' when someone said they wished it was some days in the future...perhaps for a vacation or something.

"Don't count your chickens before they hatch" is an aphorism for a reason, and it's not a superstitious one. Smile
On hiatus.
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#16

Do you have any superstitions?
(06-23-2022, 04:59 AM)Thumpalumpacus Wrote: "Don't count your chickens before they hatch" is an aphorism for a reason, and it's not a superstitious one. Smile

Fair enough......... there's not much that superstitious about running a hatchery, or in most businesses.

But I seem to remember that our proverbs and maxims contain a lot of superstition..... or am I wrong about that? 

Here's a superstition so strong in a neighbour that she was prepared to lose money over it! An Australian 'In-law' though her late husband came to visit her whilst in the UK and brought a beautiful opal gemstone with him to give to her.  She received it politely and placed it upon her table, but after he had left she called her son to come and take it away, and he took it down to the sea front and placed it upon the sea wall for any to find and take.   Many years later that son told my wife what he had done, and explained that his family believe that opal  ......   brings bad luck, is bad. 

Has anybody heard that one before?
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#17

Do you have any superstitions?
(06-23-2022, 05:57 AM)eider Wrote:
(06-23-2022, 04:59 AM)Thumpalumpacus Wrote: "Don't count your chickens before they hatch" is an aphorism for a reason, and it's not a superstitious one. Smile

Fair enough......... there's not much that superstitious about running a hatchery, or in most businesses.

But I seem to remember that our proverbs and maxims contain a lot of superstition..... or am I wrong about that? 

Here's a superstition so strong in a neighbour that she was prepared to lose money over it! An Australian 'In-law' though her late husband came to visit her whilst in the UK and brought a beautiful opal gemstone with him to give to her.  She received it politely and placed it upon her table, but after he had left she called her son to come and take it away, and he took it down to the sea front and placed it upon the sea wall for any to find and take.   Many years later that son told my wife what he had done, and explained that his family believe that opal  ......   brings bad luck, is bad. 

Has anybody heard that one before?
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#18

Do you have any superstitions?
(06-23-2022, 05:57 AM)eider Wrote:
(06-23-2022, 04:59 AM)Thumpalumpacus Wrote: "Don't count your chickens before they hatch" is an aphorism for a reason, and it's not a superstitious one. Smile

Fair enough......... there's not much that superstitious about running a hatchery, or in most businesses.

Well, I wasn't writing about any other aphorisms, or hatcheries for that matter, just that this one in particular I read as "it's nice to have hope, but you need to be ready to work too." Nothing suprstitious about it to my reading. I was addressing AWTY's dislike of crossing off days before they've some to pass.

Mind you, at work I don't tick a box until I've done it, not out of superstition, but because if it slips my mind to do it and then I look at my planner to see if I've done it, I get wrong info. There's nothing superstitious involved. I don't cross off a day before I've done it, either. And like her, I carry forward undone tasks.

That's how I see that aphorism, and why I don't think her preference is superstitious.

(06-23-2022, 05:57 AM)eider Wrote: But I seem to remember that our proverbs and maxims contain a lot of superstition..... or am I wrong about that? 

Here's a superstition so strong in a neighbour that she was prepared to lose money over it! An Australian 'In-law' though her late husband came to visit her whilst in the UK and brought a beautiful opal gemstone with him to give to her.  She received it politely and placed it upon her table, but after he had left she called her son to come and take it away, and he took it down to the sea front and placed it upon the sea wall for any to find and take.   Many years later that son told my wife what he had done, and explained that his family believe that opal  ......   brings bad luck, is bad. 

Has anybody heard that one before?

I haven't. I'd gladly pick up a loose gemstone left laying around.
On hiatus.
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#19

Do you have any superstitions?
I always roll my car windows down if I'm driving on a bridge over water.
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#20

Do you have any superstitions?
No.  Shake
“I expect to pass this way but once; any good therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.” (Etienne De Grellet)
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#21

Do you have any superstitions?
When I see a black cat crossing my path I'm not afraid.  I try to lure it over so I can pet it.   "Here kitty-kitty-kitty."
                                                         T4618
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#22

Do you have any superstitions?
(06-23-2022, 05:58 AM)eider Wrote:
(06-23-2022, 05:57 AM)eider Wrote: Fair enough......... there's not much that superstitious about running a hatchery, or in most businesses.

But I seem to remember that our proverbs and maxims contain a lot of superstition..... or am I wrong about that? 

Here's a superstition so strong in a neighbour that she was prepared to lose money over it! An Australian 'In-law' though her late husband came to visit her whilst in the UK and brought a beautiful opal gemstone with him to give to her.  She received it politely and placed it upon her table, but after he had left she called her son to come and take it away, and he took it down to the sea front and placed it upon the sea wall for any to find and take.   Many years later that son told my wife what he had done, and explained that his family believe that opal  ......   brings bad luck, is bad. 

Has anybody heard that one before?

Yes I have heard of that, in my culture its unlucky to use opal in an engagement ring this came about as a result of two things, firstly opals are softish stones and can break when being mounted in rings etc and secondly in the 19th century opals were becoming very popular round about the same time large deposits of diamonds were discovered in British controlled South Africa and the diamond merchants didn't like competition so its believed they started a rumour that opals were bad luck. I love opals they are hands down my favourite gemstone particularly black opal.
The whole point of having cake is to eat it Cake_Feast
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#23

Do you have any superstitions?
(06-23-2022, 08:50 AM)Thingymebob Wrote: I always roll my car windows down if I'm driving on a bridge over water.

But what if the bridge is overTROUBLED water?  What do you do then?
                                                         T4618
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#24

Do you have any superstitions?
(06-23-2022, 03:32 PM)Dancefortwo Wrote:
(06-23-2022, 08:50 AM)Thingymebob Wrote: I always roll my car windows down if I'm driving on a bridge over water.

But what if the bridge is overTROUBLED water?  What do you do then?

They will ease his mind of course Angel
The whole point of having cake is to eat it Cake_Feast
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#25

Do you have any superstitions?
Makes sense in a way, but I'd rather plan on not wrecking while on the bridge. I admit I do pay much closer attention when driving a bridge, over water or no. Driving the Golden Gate had my balls trying to crawl up into my gut, though.
On hiatus.
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