# Make a wish! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 29, 1999, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-a-wish/4318 "1999-10-29T19:00:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 1999, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-a-wish/4318/1 "1999-10-29T19:00:00Z")
Maybe this should be MPSIMS, but I do actually have a question: Where do all the charming rituals for making a wish come from? Appropriate times for wishing that I’ve heard of include: - throwing a coin in a fountain - blowing out birthday candles - finding an eyelash that’s fallen out and blowing it off your fingertip (much more romantic than it sounds) Where do these come from? And how many others are out there? ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 1999, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-a-wish/4318/2 "1999-10-29T19:18:00Z")
Star light, Star bright… * * * **Dopeler effect:** The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 1999, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-a-wish/4318/3 "1999-10-29T19:19:00Z")
Don’t forget pulling on a turkey wishbone. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 1999, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-a-wish/4318/4 "1999-10-29T19:43:00Z")
When my family plays bridge: A trick consisting of the ace, two, three, and four of the same suit is a “wish trick,” and the first person who slaps his / her hand down on the cards gets to make a wish. (If the king, five, six, and seven are played on the NEXT trick, it’s a “double wish trick” and you get to make TWO wishes, although this has only happened once.) * * * “I can call spirits from the vasty deep.” “Why, so can I, or so can any man; But will they come when you do call for them?” - Shakespeare, _I Henry IV_ ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 1999, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-a-wish/4318/5 "1999-10-29T19:47:00Z")
Making a wish upon tasting the first apple cider, the first sweet corn, the first whatever kind of seasonable produce of whichever season…this was an old Ukulele Family Tradition. Anyone else do this? * * * Uke ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 1999, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-a-wish/4318/6 "1999-10-29T20:56:00Z")
Yeah Uke, we did something similar. But in my house it was the first computer crash of every month. Geez, that’ll date me. My little brother’s first word was “microprocessor.” -andros- ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 1999, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-a-wish/4318/7 "1999-10-29T21:10:00Z")
I come from a long string of butchers. So…every time I taste a tongue, I make a wish \ Cartooniverse " If you want to kiss the sky, you’d better learn how to kneel ".