# Atheists: What superstitions do you still practice? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 7, 2012, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-superstitions-do-you-still-practice/630767 "2012-08-07T18:37:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-superstitions-do-you-still-practice/630767/21 "2012-08-08T12:34:20Z")
> [@Nature\_s\_Call](#): > > This makes sense. Unless someone is following me around with a shovel, there will be a delay between my coil-shuffling and interment. > > But isn’t there a smidge of superstition considering all of the preservation activities in total (embalming, water tight caskets, etc.) I thought there was some underlying notion to preserve the body for religious sensibilities (to look [del]good[/del] better for the rapture?) - in a vein similar to why the pharaohs had their burial practices. It probably would be fine to just throw it in a hole and cover it up, though I’ve heard that some bad gasses escape from graves dug that way occasionally. Honestly in the long run you’re probably right, cremation would likely be better for the environment. We’d need less land for grave real estate, less wood for coffins, etc. It’s probably rooted in superstition, but it’s a bit difficult to tell where the line between superstition and tradition is. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-superstitions-do-you-still-practice/630767/22 "2012-08-08T13:18:35Z")
If the store clerk makes a mistake on the lottery tickets I’m buying those too. Because if I don’t the mistake ticket is guaranteed to be the winner. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-superstitions-do-you-still-practice/630767/23 "2012-08-08T13:42:09Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > Yup. Things like switching to a new d20 because the THIS ONE has been rolling for crap. I know guys who get really bent out of shape if someone touches their dice. A guy rolled off the table and under my chair. I picked it up and handed it back. I noticed that he didn’t use it again for the rest of the game. In fact, he put it off to the side away from the _uncontaminated_ dice. I’ve done things like leaving my dice 20-side-up in the middle of some sort of symbol (i.e. the Triforce from Zelda), or switching to my silver dice for important rolls. It’s funny, because some people put the dice 1-side up. Because OBVIOUSLY leaving it 20-side up drains the luck out of it for being in the optimal state for too long. Well I say it just trains the dice to prefer the 1 side! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-superstitions-do-you-still-practice/630767/24 "2012-08-08T13:52:29Z")
I like saying “bless you” for sneezes. It’s nice, meaningless, but nice. In portuguese there is no way of saying “sleep well” other than “sleep with god”, so I say that. I try to look people in the eye when raising my glass, but not because I worry about 7 years of bad sex (pff superstition clearly has not seen my hot boyfriend!) It’s just nice to look everyone at the table in the eye while raising a glass, so it’s a good custom. Can’t think of anything I actually do for superstition, thinking it will somehow benefit me. Some superstitions are just nice, that’s all. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-superstitions-do-you-still-practice/630767/25 "2012-08-08T15:51:43Z")
My Aunt once went through a very fast bad run of car accident related stuff. She’s agnostic, but somehow she ended up with a St. Christopher medal clipped to her car visor. The car didn’t crash after that. Years later, she gave me the medal, and now I keep it in the car, clipped to my own visor. I feel safer with it there. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-superstitions-do-you-still-practice/630767/26 "2012-08-08T16:35:46Z")
I have voodoo doll I got from a voodoo priestess in New Orleans ages ago. Mr. Magick sits on my desk at work and if I really really want something to go well, I’ll pin a note to him with my wish written on it. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-superstitions-do-you-still-practice/630767/27 "2012-08-08T16:43:28Z")
I always say “Gesundheit” when someone sneezes. It meets the social nicety of saying something, and wishing good health on someone seems a more appropriate reaction to sneezing than trying to keep demons off them. I have lots of minor irrational habits (such as buying the odd lottery ticket) but I try not to take them too seriously. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-superstitions-do-you-still-practice/630767/28 "2012-08-08T20:57:51Z")
> [@Nature\_s\_Call](#): > > I have finally purged the need to respond in any fashion to someone’s sneezing (it was hard to do), though I do like Penn Jillette’s family’s “That’s funny” as a replacement for “Bless you” and its derivitives. Just say “Stop it!” in a commanding voice. It also doesn’t work when someone coughs. But it’s fun. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-superstitions-do-you-still-practice/630767/29 "2012-08-08T21:08:17Z")
Does pretending to be a Jedi count? When I approach a set of automatic doors I try to estimate when I trip the sensor field and do a little “these aren’t the droids you’re looking for” hand wave. Its done almost unthinkingly these days (I was 6 when _Star Wars_ came out). Yeah its silly & a bit childish but it almost always gets those doors open. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-superstitions-do-you-still-practice/630767/30 "2012-08-08T22:20:47Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > Wait, what? Some people kiss their hand and then touch their rearview mirror or sunshield thingy when passing through yellow lights. > [@Gyrate](#): > > I always say “Gesundheit” when someone sneezes. It meets the social nicety of saying something, and wishing good health on someone seems a more appropriate reaction to sneezing than trying to keep demons off them… Me, too, along with “Salud!” I work with a bunch of pretty devout Christians - my boss’s boss among them - so I ain’t gonna rock the boat. I was taught to hold my breath when driving past a graveyard by a childhood friend. Took me _years_ to break that particular habit. I also knock on wood if mentioning something I don’t want jinxed - drives me nuts that there isn’t a scrap of wood in our entire office. No wonder shit goes FUBAR so often around here! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-superstitions-do-you-still-practice/630767/31 "2012-08-09T00:40:39Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > Some people kiss their hand and then touch their rearview mirror or sunshield thingy when passing through yellow lights. (snipped) Sorry - didn’t see the response until now. Yes, this is what I was talking about. Um… it’s like a thank you, or a bribe, to the light to stay yellow just a teench longer so I can get through. Everyone in my group of friends does it automatically - my husband does a doubletap for red lights but I figure if she’s gonna be a bitch about it, she aint getting a kiss from me at all! She being the light… Oh God, I completely forgot about all the stupid dice rituals for tabletop and board games. Yeah. Those get a little extreme sometimes. Also, I use phrases like “Oh God” when I know damn well better. (even damn, I suppose, when thinking about it.) ---
**Author:** ![figure9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@figure9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/figure9)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-superstitions-do-you-still-practice/630767/32 "2012-08-09T01:35:14Z")
Madmonk28, I do that too. Has to be my left hand. I have no idea why. Also I knock on wood whenever a sports announcer says something good about the team I’m rooting for. I think that the announcer saying something good about my team will cause them to suddenly screw up, unless of course, I knock on wood. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-superstitions-do-you-still-practice/630767/33 "2012-08-09T12:42:24Z")
Superstitions can be so mundane. I work with an ancient (20+ years old) application program that could run scripts in a scripting language of its own. Ancient versions of the app could not reliably detect the end of the script file. So all scripts MUST contain an extraneous blank line at the end, as an end-of-file marker. To this day, any blank line anywhere in a script file terminates the execution of the script. The need for a blank line at the end is long-gone ancient history in all recent releases of the app. Still, to this day, I am ALWAYS absolutely careful to put a blank line or two at the end of every script. ---
**Author:** ![Noelq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noelq/32/16438_2.png) [@Noelq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noelq)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-superstitions-do-you-still-practice/630767/34 "2012-08-09T19:25:53Z")
1. Knocking wood will definitely scare the evil spirts away. Even if they don’t exist. 🆒 2. Never discuss getting a new computer, appliance, TV, etc., in front of the possibly-replaced device, because it will then get all uppity and decide to die on you out of spite. 3. Computers demand a blood sacrifice for the hard-to-fix problems. If you accidentally cut your finger on a case-screw, your problem will be gone the next time you start the machine. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-superstitions-do-you-still-practice/630767/35 "2012-08-09T20:35:12Z")
> [@Nature\_s\_Call](#): > > y HC kit has dozens of dice in it. For every tournament, though, I always use my FF Starter Set dice - the dice I used in my very first tournament. It is a conscious choice every time and I can’t see my see myself playing without’em. My gaming group has generally done its dice rituals mockingly. None of us do what gamblers used to call ‘ass-english’ – an attempt to influence die rolls with a little dance, but we will say “Watch this!” just before we roll as if daring the fates to screw us at a dramatic moment. But I wonder how many actual superstitions evolved out of ironic superstitions, like the old incantation “break a leg.” > [@Sudden\_Kestrel](#): > > Most of my superstitions are Minnesota things or Scandinavian things, like: > [ul] > [li]Never let on that something good or exciting has happened; to do so causes something bad to happen and cancel it out.[/li][li]If you anticipate a positive outcome (“Oh, for sure my team is going to win this game”) you will guarantee its opposite.[/li][li]If you commit a kind or compassionate act it must not be acknowledged by the recipient or it becomes self-aggrandizement.[/li][/ul] My wife and I fear no gods or demons, though we do dread Future Irony. So, we try not to make any memorable statements that the future events could make ironic, e.g. “That’s nailed on there for good”, “There’s no way the baby could get into that.” We don’t actually believe the world is governed by an impish will, but when things go wrong we joke about Ironia, the Roman Goddess of Irony. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-superstitions-do-you-still-practice/630767/36 "2012-08-09T21:06:46Z")
You don’t need a goddess, just Finagle’s Law: “The perversity of the universe tends to a maximum.” (One of Larry Niven’s favorite phrases.) ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-superstitions-do-you-still-practice/630767/37 "2012-08-09T21:39:41Z")
> [@Johnny\_Angel](#): > > we will say “Watch this!” just before we roll For full effect you need to preface that with “Hold my beer and…” ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-superstitions-do-you-still-practice/630767/38 "2012-08-10T00:14:35Z")
I play along with lots of superstitions – touching wood, salt over the shoulder, always making eye contact when drinking a toast, that sort of thing. On the rare occasion when I shoot craps, I always make a vestigial motion of raising my hand to blow on the dice. But in every case it’s just playing along – it’s fun to observe these silly little rituals, and maybe it assuages my OCD tendencies. However, I learned a while ago, when my wife and I were discussing what we’d do with our children if something happened to us, that I absoutely will not discuss counterfactual misfortunes without a “god forbid.” Not about myself, but we were talking about whether we wanted the grandparents, now starting to get older and develop some health problems, to take over. We were trying to have a serious conversation about it, but whenever the subject of our parents’ health came up, I always said god forbid, and once when my wife didn’t have any similar totemic language when my dad’s health was mentioned, I interrupted her and said “you’ve got to say god forbid when you talk about stuff like that.” I was pretty hot, too. I know the universe doesn’t care one whit about a few extra syllables – and explicitly invoking a deity I know doesn’t exist, yet! But I got really, even physically upset, whenever the form wasn’t observed. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![Enkel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Enkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enkel)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-superstitions-do-you-still-practice/630767/39 "2012-08-10T03:06:09Z")
> [@stpauler](#): > > As for my superstition, it’s a really weird and specific one. No matter how inviting an empty wheelchair looks, I won’t even sit in one even for a second for the possibility that I’d be inviting one on me for the rest of my life. I have one along that line. I can’t park in a handicap space ever. I’ll walk 5 miles or just come back later if there are no other spaces. Also, can’t use the handicap stall in the bathroom, etc, etc. I also cannot leave shopping carts out in parking lots. Not sure why, but they either have to go into the cart coral or I’ll push them all the way back into the store. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-superstitions-do-you-still-practice/630767/40 "2012-08-10T11:02:16Z")
> [@Enkel](#): > > I have one along that line. I can’t park in a handicap space ever. I’ll walk 5 miles or just come back later if there are no other spaces. Also, can’t use the handicap stall in the bathroom, etc, etc. > > I also cannot leave shopping carts out in parking lots. Not sure why, but they either have to go into the cart coral or I’ll push them all the way back into the store. :rolleyes: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-superstitions-do-you-still-practice/630767.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-superstitions-do-you-still-practice/630767.md?page=3)