# Making a wish at 11:11 **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 2, 2003, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-a-wish-at-11-11/172526 "2003-05-02T01:41:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gypsymoth3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@gypsymoth3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gypsymoth3)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2003, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-a-wish-at-11-11/172526/1 "2003-05-02T01:41:59Z")
has anyone besides me heard of making a wish at 11:11? i was wondering how this started and if it has anything to do with armistice day (veterans’ day). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Zamboni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@The\_Great\_Zamboni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Zamboni)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2003, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-a-wish-at-11-11/172526/2 "2003-05-02T01:49:08Z")
That’s about the time sports comes on the late news. Do you wish on sports? I would. ---
**Author:** ![Beer\_Penguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ad7895/32.png) [@Beer\_Penguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beer_Penguin)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2003, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-a-wish-at-11-11/172526/3 "2003-05-02T03:55:30Z")
My ex-girlfriend was psychotically OCD, and she wished on every palindromical and sequential unit of time. I also know that my sister and some of here friends do the same, but not with the zeal of my ex-girlfriend. I would say it probably just evolved out of a silly children’s superstition. ---
**Author:** ![RyanD004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/848f3c/32.png) [@RyanD004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RyanD004)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2003, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-a-wish-at-11-11/172526/4 "2003-05-02T05:23:50Z")
Well…I’ve done it… but thats because I made up the idea myself. I was just bored one night and noticed it was 11:11. 11 happens to be my lucky number and, well, 11:11 is all ones. I’m sure it arises out of something like that. Maybe i’m a little obsessive compulsive myself. Always a good thing to know… especially considering our question about the fuzzy chest feeling was never given an answer either. ---
**Author:** ![Jman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jman/32/4416_2.png) [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2003, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-a-wish-at-11-11/172526/5 "2003-05-02T05:42:40Z")
I make wishes at 11:11 and 22:22. Didn’t really get the opportunity to do the latter until I moved to Europe, where every clock is in 24 hour time, but now that I’m here…I figure what the hell. Jman ---
**Author:** ![Alias](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@Alias](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alias)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2003, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-a-wish-at-11-11/172526/6 "2003-05-02T13:05:43Z")
I do it at 1:11, 2:22, 3:33, 4:44, 5:55 _and_ 11:11. I know it’s nuts, but I’ve done it since I was a kid, and it’s become a habit. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_great_unwashed/32/4791_2.png) [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2003, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-a-wish-at-11-11/172526/7 "2003-05-02T13:29:22Z")
I do it at 7:06, and sometimes at 8:17, I say, “I wish, I really, _really_ wish people would post to the right forum?” ---
**Author:** ![awpti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@awpti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/awpti)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2003, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-a-wish-at-11-11/172526/8 "2003-05-02T14:05:44Z")
[Moment of mindless stupidity] Oh! I make the wish at 6:66.66! [/Moment of mindless stupidity] I tend to do it at: 1:23.45 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TexGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9d8465/32.png) [@TexGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TexGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2003, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-a-wish-at-11-11/172526/9 "2003-05-02T14:15:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Beer Penguin \* > **My ex-girlfriend was psychotically OCD, and she wished on every palindromical and sequential unit of time.** Beer Penguin and I may have dated the same girl. I’d never heard anyone mention it except her, though, so I always assumed she just made it up. She never had a good explanation for it, but she couldn’t really explain why she refused to breathe while driving past a cemetary, either… ---
**Author:** ![idol\_mind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/94ad74/32.png) [@idol\_mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/idol_mind)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2003, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-a-wish-at-11-11/172526/10 "2003-05-02T14:30:47Z")
to the people that do this out of habit…have any of your wishes actually come true? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_great_unwashed/32/4791_2.png) [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2003, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-a-wish-at-11-11/172526/11 "2003-05-02T14:48:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by idol mind \* > \*\*to the people that do this out of habit…have any of your wishes actually come true? \*\* Sadly, no. ---
**Author:** ![dorkusmalorkusmafia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorkusmalorkusmafia/32/7266_2.png) [@dorkusmalorkusmafia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorkusmalorkusmafia)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2003, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-a-wish-at-11-11/172526/12 "2003-05-02T15:05:33Z")
That is so weird. I thought I made up the wish at 11:11. I do it all the time, when I notice the time. I watch the clock for the entire minute making a wish of some kind or another. Idol mind, most of my wishes have actually come true but that is because I follow a pagan mindset on magick and prayer which is essentially what a wish is. ---
**Author:** ![gypsymoth3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@gypsymoth3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gypsymoth3)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2003, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-a-wish-at-11-11/172526/13 "2003-05-02T21:07:23Z")
yeah, my wish at 11:11 has come true once, but then, considering the people i was hanging out with, it was pretty much inevitable. lately (like for the past couple months, i’ve been looking at my watch and it’s always at 11:12. it kinda seems like some kind of symbol that i miss anything good by just one minute. * * * i just did a quick search on google and found [this](http://www.nvisible.com/1111/1111Doorway.html). i have NO idea who these people are or what they’ve been smoking. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2003, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-a-wish-at-11-11/172526/14 "2003-05-03T00:14:48Z")
Hmm… I think I may have dated both TexGuy and Beer Penguin. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Zamboni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@The\_Great\_Zamboni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Zamboni)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2003, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-a-wish-at-11-11/172526/15 "2003-05-03T02:12:04Z")
Beer Penguin vs. The Great Zamboni. A drunk penguin driving a zamboni. Hmmm… ---
**Author:** ![Jman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jman/32/4416_2.png) [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2003, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-a-wish-at-11-11/172526/16 "2003-05-03T22:52:19Z")
I wished that I would marry my fiancee. I made the wish several times about 10-11 years ago, when we were in high school and just friends. We’ll be married in 2 months. ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-a-wish-at-11-11/172526/17 "2003-05-04T00:08:32Z")
OK, I think we now have more than enough evidence that this practice is widely known. Can we transition to some facts about when/how it might have originated? We don’t need any more, “hey, me too!” posts. ---
**Author:** ![Gemstone46](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Gemstone46](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gemstone46)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-a-wish-at-11-11/172526/18 "2003-05-04T02:33:52Z")
I dont know when this tradition of wishing on the moment of 11:11 started but I am pretty sure I know why. When I was very young my mother told me to make a wish at 11:11. When I asked her why she replied that it was the only time (not counting military time) when all four possible spaces were filled up by the same number. It doesnt work with 1:11 or 2:22 ect because they are really 01:11 and 02:22. Juliet ---
**Author:** ![green\_bladder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@green\_bladder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/green_bladder)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-a-wish-at-11-11/172526/19 "2003-05-04T10:41:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gemstone46 \* > \*\*I dont know when this tradition of wishing on the moment of 11:11 started but I am pretty sure I know why. When I was very young my mother told me to make a wish at 11:11. When I asked her why she replied that it was the only time (not counting military time) when all four possible spaces were filled up by the same number. It doesnt work with 1:11 or 2:22 ect because they are really 01:11 and 02:22. > Juliet \*\* What about 22:22? ---
**Author:** ![green\_bladder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@green\_bladder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/green_bladder)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-a-wish-at-11-11/172526/20 "2003-05-04T10:42:55Z")
:smack: Ok \*\* not \*\* counting military time. Sorry. 😃