# People are a superstitious lot. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 6, 2010, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-are-a-superstitious-lot/549437 "2010-08-06T18:47:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![InterestedObserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@InterestedObserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InterestedObserver)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2010, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-are-a-superstitious-lot/549437/21 "2010-08-08T03:13:32Z")
My standard response to the whole 2012 crap is, “COOL! I won’t have to pay off my student loans!” 🆒 (at which point they look at me as if _I_’m insane and I add, “I’m not holding my breath.” :dubious:) OTOH, I DO tend to be a bit superstitious myself, in some small, silly ways. :o I have certain objects which I consider “lucky” or otherwise meaningful, and I keep them close. I have, among the collection of rocks, shells, dried flowers, and assorted shit on my headboard, a stack of 3 flat, grey rocks from the Oregon coast, each smaller than the last, all stacked neatly. I make sure they are in order…if the little one on top falls off, I replace it immediately. Else, my day is BOUND to go wrong. 😛 I also have a lovely little smooth, shiny Japanese river stone I like to take with me when I fly or otherwise travel…I like to stroke it to sooth myself and it has special meaning aside. I KNOW rationally, that it is stupid, but yes, I do it. If those damn rocks topple, I set them to rights before I do anything else. I have certain numbers/dates which hold special meaning for me which I likewise note. (11:11…have had a long history with that particular number combo which I think I’ve shared here before, I have a four-leaf clover I found, at 15, on March 16, which turned out to be the date of my much later son’s birth, am very partial to the number 3, etc…) I don’t let such things run my life (a black cat crosses my path? Big fucking deal…walking under a ladder? Breaking a mirror? WhatEVER :rolleyes:) but I admit that there are certain things I use as talismans, if you will. I feel, whatever works. If setting those little rocks to rights calms me before a big day, or holding onto and rubbing that Japanese rock with my fingers calms me during a flight, so be it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2010, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-are-a-superstitious-lot/549437/22 "2010-08-08T06:35:35Z")
> [@Lacunae\_Matata](#): > > Others, however, don’t make any sense at all - why should a black cat be any more or less “lucky” than any other color cat? Or a broken mirror bring more or less luck than any other piece of glass? A black cat is harder to see at night, so you’re probably more likely to trip over it when it walks in front of you (or winds around your feet). Maybe people noticed that they fell down more often around black cats than other colors? And mirrors were much more expensive than plain glass at one point, I believe Just WAGs as to how a couple of silly beliefs got started. As for why they persist…well, people are silly. When I was a kid, my brother’s family had a black cat who got a hind leg broken in an encounter with a fan belt. While he was in a cast, they brought him to the family shop so they could keep an eye on him during the day. One customer _refused_ to enter the shop. She was terrified of the poor, broken-legged little black kitty. Even after he had healed and was staying home, she never came in without asking if he was around first. Superstition makes people do crazy things. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2010, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-are-a-superstitious-lot/549437/23 "2010-08-08T11:38:11Z")
A couple of weeks ago, I went to the local grocery store to pick up a couple of things. My total came to $6.66. The cashier was actually _urging_ me to buy a pack of gum or something, to change the total! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2010, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-are-a-superstitious-lot/549437/24 "2010-08-08T20:05:06Z")
> [@Balance](#): > > A black cat is harder to see at night, so you’re probably more likely to trip over it when it walks in front of you (or winds around your feet). Maybe people noticed that they fell down more often around black cats than other colors? Also, the colour black has been associated with evil for centuries, and cats have often been popularly thought of as being in some way “otherworldly” – being witches familiars and so on. On the other hand, though, around here, black cats are lucky – or they were when I was growing up, anyway. They were popular as charms and brooches. > [@norinew](#): > > A couple of weeks ago, I went to the local grocery store to pick up a couple of things. My total came to $6.66. The cashier was actually _urging_ me to buy a pack of gum or something, to change the total! :smack: I don’t think that’s even reached the level of superstition over here: my total at the newsagents was £6.66 recently – I made some small joke about it, and the guy behind the counter just looked blankly at me. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2010, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-are-a-superstitious-lot/549437/25 "2010-08-08T21:07:46Z")
Wait, I thought black people loved pork? Sow belly, fatback, chitlins, pork rinds? ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2010, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-are-a-superstitious-lot/549437/26 "2010-08-08T22:48:43Z")
Every Chinese New Year my inlaws pull out a red metal trash can, throw a bunch of “spirit money” in it and set it on fire to bring good luck for the coming year. Indoors. I’ve suggested that they buy a fire extinguisher or at least a damn bucket of sand for such occasions, and they just rolled their eyes at the foreigner, always worrying about the silliest things! ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2010, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-are-a-superstitious-lot/549437/27 "2010-08-09T13:34:21Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Wait, I thought black people loved pork? Sow belly, fatback, chitlins, pork rinds? Well, Zsofia, it’s complicated. Some black folks, especially Southern black folks, love the food you listed (I never did, even when I did eat pork as a child). But there has always been a subset in the black community, usually up north, who spoke against ‘eating swine’. Every young black man who read the Autobiography of Malcolm X probably went through a ‘no pork’ phase. It was just a ‘thing’. ---
**Author:** ![GHO57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df788c/32.png) [@GHO57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GHO57)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2010, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-are-a-superstitious-lot/549437/28 "2010-08-09T13:44:19Z")
> [@norinew](#): > > A couple of weeks ago, I went to the local grocery store to pick up a couple of things. My total came to $6.66. The cashier was actually _urging_ me to buy a pack of gum or something, to change the total! :smack: And you’re sure they weren’t just going for employee of the month? You know… “OMG!, your total is $12.46 That’s a very bad number in ancient Phoenicia, you really should buy some of this stale stuff we’re trying to get rid of” ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2010, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-are-a-superstitious-lot/549437/29 "2010-08-09T14:00:43Z")
> [@InterestedObserver](#): > > My standard response to the whole 2012 crap is, “COOL! I won’t have to pay off my student loans!” 🆒 (at which point they look at me as if _I_’m insane and I add, “I’m not holding my breath.” :dubious:) > > OTOH, I DO tend to be a bit superstitious myself, in some small, silly ways. :o > > I have certain objects which I consider “lucky” or otherwise meaningful, and I keep them close. > > I have, among the collection of rocks, shells, dried flowers, and assorted shit on my headboard, a stack of 3 flat, grey rocks from the Oregon coast, each smaller than the last, all stacked neatly. I make sure they are in order…if the little one on top falls off, I replace it immediately. Else, my day is BOUND to go wrong. 😛 > > I also have a lovely little smooth, shiny Japanese river stone I like to take with me when I fly or otherwise travel…I like to stroke it to sooth myself and it has special meaning aside. > > I KNOW rationally, that it is stupid, but yes, I do it. If those damn rocks topple, I set them to rights before I do anything else. > > I have certain numbers/dates which hold special meaning for me which I likewise note. (11:11…have had a long history with that particular number combo which I think I’ve shared here before, I have a four-leaf clover I found, at 15, on March 16, which turned out to be the date of my much later son’s birth, am very partial to the number 3, etc..) > > I don’t let such things run my life (a black cat crosses my path? Big fucking deal…walking under a ladder? Breaking a mirror? WhatEVER :rolleyes:) but I admit that there are certain things I use as talismans, if you will. I feel, whatever works. If setting those little rocks to rights calms me before a big day, or holding onto and rubbing that Japanese rock with my fingers calms me during a flight, so be it. 🙂 You’re not superstitious, you have OCD! 😃 I’ve always felt a little OCD is a good thing. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2010, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-are-a-superstitious-lot/549437/30 "2010-08-09T14:12:27Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > > [@Zsofia](#): > > > > Wait, I thought black people loved pork? Sow belly, fatback, chitlins, pork rinds? > > Well, Zsofia, it’s complicated. > > Some black folks, especially Southern black folks, love the food you listed (I never did, even when I did eat pork as a child). But there has always been a subset in the black community, usually up north, who spoke against ‘eating swine’. Every young black man who read the Autobiography of Malcolm X probably went through a ‘no pork’ phase. It was just a ‘thing’. Yet another reason for me to avoid the frozen northern wasteland. If their soul food vegetable dishes aren’t at least 30% swine, what is there to live for? ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2010, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-are-a-superstitious-lot/549437/31 "2010-08-09T14:18:54Z")
30 posts and no one’s yet pointed out to the OP that there is the guy was afraid of a “central American myth” which _does not exist_? There’s no such myth; the whole thing is basically the same as some guy being given a 12-month desk calendar at work and automatically assuming that the company will fold on the last day of the calendar. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2010, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-are-a-superstitious-lot/549437/32 "2010-08-09T15:22:54Z")
> [@norinew](#): > > A couple of weeks ago, I went to the local grocery store to pick up a couple of things. My total came to $6.66. The cashier was actually _urging_ me to buy a pack of gum or something, to change the total! :smack: Try buying a copy of the computer game _Diablo_ from a Hispanic cashier at Wal-Mart. She leaned over urgently and asked me if I knew what this means. > [@NinjaChick](#): > > 30 posts and no one’s yet pointed out to the OP that there is the guy was afraid of a “central American myth” which _does not exist_? There’s no such myth; the whole thing is basically the same as some guy being given a 12-month desk calendar at work and automatically assuming that the company will fold on the last day of the calendar. “It’s like this, Jaguar-King: The calendar goes up to 2012 before the next cycle starts. So that’s where we stopped carving. You want us to carve a \*whole 'nother cycle \*on there, you’re gonna have to come up with 300 more goats. My guys don’t work [on spec](http://www.investorwords.com/3426/on_spec.html), Jag-baby!” ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-are-a-superstitious-lot/549437/33 "2010-08-10T01:44:32Z")
Do buildings still skip the ‘13th’ floor? And if they do, are they really doing it for superstition at this point, or is it now more of a tradition? ---
**Author:** ![InterestedObserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@InterestedObserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InterestedObserver)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-are-a-superstitious-lot/549437/34 "2010-08-10T06:45:13Z")
> [@picunurse](#): > > > [@InterestedObserver](#): > > > > My standard response to the whole 2012 crap is, “COOL! I won’t have to pay off my student loans!” 🆒 (at which point they look at me as if _I_’m insane and I add, “I’m not holding my breath.” :dubious:) > > > > OTOH, I DO tend to be a bit superstitious myself, in some small, silly ways. :o > > > > I have certain objects which I consider “lucky” or otherwise meaningful, and I keep them close. > > > > I have, among the collection of rocks, shells, dried flowers, and assorted shit on my headboard, a stack of 3 flat, grey rocks from the Oregon coast, each smaller than the last, all stacked neatly. I make sure they are in order…if the little one on top falls off, I replace it immediately. Else, my day is BOUND to go wrong. 😛 > > > > I also have a lovely little smooth, shiny Japanese river stone I like to take with me when I fly or otherwise travel…I like to stroke it to sooth myself and it has special meaning aside. > > > > I KNOW rationally, that it is stupid, but yes, I do it. If those damn rocks topple, I set them to rights before I do anything else. > > > > I have certain numbers/dates which hold special meaning for me which I likewise note. (11:11…have had a long history with that particular number combo which I think I’ve shared here before, I have a four-leaf clover I found, at 15, on March 16, which turned out to be the date of my much later son’s birth, am very partial to the number 3, etc..) > > > > I don’t let such things run my life (a black cat crosses my path? Big fucking deal…walking under a ladder? Breaking a mirror? WhatEVER :rolleyes:) but I admit that there are certain things I use as talismans, if you will. I feel, whatever works. If setting those little rocks to rights calms me before a big day, or holding onto and rubbing that Japanese rock with my fingers calms me during a flight, so be it. 🙂 > > You’re not superstitious, you have OCD! 😃 I’ve always felt a little OCD is a good thing. Oh, WELL, now that I know it’s a legit medical condition and not some silly superstition, I no longer feel embarrassed. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-are-a-superstitious-lot/549437/35 "2010-08-10T08:24:10Z")
> [@norinew](#): > > A couple of weeks ago, I went to the local grocery store to pick up a couple of things. My total came to $6.66. The cashier was actually _urging_ me to buy a pack of gum or something, to change the total! :smack: In the payday 50/50 draw a year or so ago a co worker won $666.00. At least 1/3of the people who talked about this said “I would NEVER cash a cheque for that amount.” (guess the other 66.6% of us would. Hmmmm) What? You win $666 in a 50/50 draw that you have paid into (the other 50 cents on the dollar goes to the Hospital foundation charity) and you wouldn’t cash the cheque because it has some negative press? Ok, so give a dollar to me and it won’t be so bad. Better yet sign the whole damn thing over to me. For the record, the winner of the draw had no such qualms. ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-are-a-superstitious-lot/549437/36 "2010-08-10T08:49:19Z")
The funny thing about this is that, apparently, in the earliest biblical sources, the “number of the beast” was not 666, but _ **616** _. It seems that it got changed to 666 later… So all those people were fretting about a mere _parvenu_! ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-are-a-superstitious-lot/549437/37 "2010-08-10T13:21:12Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > Do buildings still skip the ‘13th’ floor? And if they do, are they really doing it for superstition at this point, or is it now more of a tradition? Yes, they do. I’ve particularly seen it in hotels, I assume because some people just won’t stay on the 13th floor. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-are-a-superstitious-lot/549437/38 "2010-08-10T15:53:39Z")
East meets West: Some buildings in Asia lack both a thirteenth floor and a fourth floor (the latter being _extremely_ unlucky.) ---
**Author:** ![Heckity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a5b964/32.png) [@Heckity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heckity)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-are-a-superstitious-lot/549437/39 "2010-08-10T16:59:35Z")
And West meets East, **Koxinga** , some Greater Toronto Area locales are allowing residents to remove the number 4 from their addresses. > **[Breaking News - Headlines & Top Stories | The Star](https://www.thestar.com/)** > > thestar.com is Canada’s largest online news site. Live news, investigations, politics, sports and the heartbeat of Toronto, Canada's largest city. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-are-a-superstitious-lot/549437/40 "2010-08-10T17:30:47Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > East meets West: Some buildings in Asia lack both a thirteenth floor and a fourth floor (the latter being _extremely_ unlucky.) I can imagine the 911 call: Hello? My wife and I need help! We’re in separate rooms on the 5th and 14th floors! So. . .is that the 5th floor or the 5th story? And is there a 13th floor in that hotel? Well, the elevator said “5”, so I’m assuming five floors. And I don’t know about the 13th floor. We would have to have this information before we can come help you. It would be rude to barge into, say, room 611 or 411, when you’re not in either of those. And our firefighters absolutely won’t go into a building with a 13th floor. So you’re going to need to verify this with the concierge and call us back. Aaaaarrrrrggghhhhh…::thud:: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-are-a-superstitious-lot/549437.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-are-a-superstitious-lot/549437.md?page=3)