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Personal Superstitions

Big Bill Robins said:
To Jane - 1 is not a prime number. :)

The other day I was flying to Cyprus. I'm not particularly superstitious, but when the lady at the check-in gave me a seat in row 13, I became more and more uneasy. Eventually it got the better of me, and I went and asked for a different seat. 14? she asked. I said that was fine, and breathed a silent sigh of relief. The flight was uneventful.

Bill Robinson
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When we were in Singapore a couple of years ago we stayed with a friend who lived in a high-rise. When we used the lift I noticed there was no 4th floor indicated; apparently the Chinese think 4 is an unlucky number . . .

Carole
 
synthwerk said:
i'm not supersticious in the mythological way...the hoodoo voodoo way...but i am supersticious about betraying thoughts to words, saying things before they happen, etc etc. i'm so strict when it comes to that.
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I'm the exact oppposite on this one.
When it comes to ambitious projects or intentions, I simply HAVE to tell someone what I'm planning. This is not so much a superstition as an incentive. My reasoning is that if I've told someone my plans, then I must follow through with some action. If I keep my plans to myself then no-one is gonna know if they don't come to fruition so I won't push myself to fulfil them.
I hope that makes sense. ;)
 
1 is a prime number ... a prime number is a number that is only divisible by 1 and itself. i.e. any number that is divisible by anything but one or itself, is not prime. As intaglio said, what other number is one divisible by?

By the way, spiritually, what traditionally is the most powerful number?
 
Because it only has a single factor, 1 is not a Prime Number.
It is traditionally excluded from the list of Prime Factors.
Harsh but True. :(
 
James Whitehead said:
Because it only has a single factor, 1 is not a Prime Number.
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Hmm! Prime numbers are divisible by themselves and one. So One is divisible by itself and by one! Both these divisors are one, but are they identical?

There's possibly a long and boring philosophical debate about identity and definitions lurking here, reminiscent of Bertrand Russel's bombshell about the barber who shaved every man in town who did not shave himself - so who shaves the barber?

I think I'll go and lie down now!
 
Susan Bulmer said:
I'm the exact oppposite on this one.
When it comes to ambitious projects or intentions, I simply HAVE to tell someone what I'm planning. This is not so much a superstition as an incentive. My reasoning is that if I've told someone my plans, then I must follow through with some action. If I keep my plans to myself then no-one is gonna know if they don't come to fruition so I won't push myself to fulfil them.
I hope that makes sense. ;)
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That definitely makes sense and, weirdly, I do that too -- but only once the idea is fully formed in my mind (as I said earlier, if I divulge the plan in its formative stages, pfft, that's it).

I think once you've told people, you've commited to an idea, but if you keep it to yourself you can walk away from it. Or something...
 
Sorry, but, in a polite and courteous way, 1 is not a prime. A prime number by definition must be divisible by two different numbers, namely 1 and itself. So if you take a number like 618,970,019,642,690,137,449,562,111 you will find that it's divisible by 1 and...well, I won't bother repeating it.
As the integer 1 has only one integral factor, it is not a prime. Mathematically this is correct. :no-no: Sorry.

Big Bill Robinson
 
Bill, this means there are 3 classes of real, positive integers;
Prime numbers
Non-primes
one

If you allow that, then the theorem that every every real, positive integer >1 is the sum of 2 prime numbers falls at the first hurdle.

You should publish your result, there is still a prize for a final proof/disproof of that one.
 
Unlucky number 4

carole said:
When we were in Singapore a couple of years ago we stayed with a friend who lived in a high-rise. When we used the lift I noticed there was no 4th floor indicated; apparently the Chinese think 4 is an unlucky number . . .

Carole
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Yes you're right. Apparently the number 4 in chinese sounds like the word "death" in most of the dialects and mandarin. So Chinese people avoid it like westerners avoid the number 13.
As for me I avoid both. :)
 
punychicken said:
when walking down the road it is bad luck to step on those manhole covers that come in rows of 3. You know the ones, the most common are the CATV ones put into pavements by cable companies. 3 prefab blocks in the way!!! aargh! can't walk on them!
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Where are you from Puny? My friend from Hampshire taught me that superstition when I was a kid, the cow - I can't stop doing it now.


Breakfast said:
Single magpies make me nervous too- especially as I'm never sure what counts as seeing a single one- is it two in the same field of vision or two that you can see if you turn your head a bit or can you add up a day's magpies? And what if someone studied magpies, would their luck be permenantly changing? Does seeing two magpies negate the luck of seeing one previously and vice versa or does it give you some lucky event as well as the unlucky one?

I worry that I think about that too much, but there are a lot of magpies round our way.
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There's a rhyme with the magpie thing, it's 1 for sorrow 2 for joy 3 for a girl 4 for a boy (my mum taught me this). There is also a way of getting round the bad luck of seeing only one - you say "hello mister magpie" (or hello mr or mrs magpie, which could be further PC'd down to mr, mrs, ms, miss magpie).

My mum also told me this. What was she thinking?
 
Pinklefish said:
There's a rhyme with the magpie thing...
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I'm also familiar with that rhyme. It always makes me laugh. I live near a park where there are a lot of magpies; at the right time you can see trees full of them. The poem doesn't specify exactly what that many magpies signifies (except that the poem probably didn't originate in this area!).
 
Several variations on the magpie rhyme here. Interestingly, when I was very young it was always crows that I was superstitious about; it wasn't until the late '70's and the children's TV programme "Magpie" that the superstition was transferred to our black & white feathered friends. Nowadays, if I see any type of bird I will automatically look around for another of the same species (I'd never make a twitcher - seeing the only Golden Bluebird or whatever ever seen in Britain would drive me crazy!)

As for prime numbers... my dictionary seems to have disappeared through a transdimentional wormhole or something (ie I can't find it!), but I think the definition is that a number is prime if it is not divisible by any number other than 1 or itself. So Bill is right, and I was wrong :)

Jane.
 
I have to say I am a victim of the magpie superstition. However being an Aries Magpies are supposed to be our lucky bird so I try and reassure myself with that.

My nan is incredibly superstitious and so I have inherited many from her.
Always put my right shoe or sock on first.
Never cross knife and fork
If you drop a knife you will have a male visitor to the house. (spoon is child and fork is female)
Touch wood.
Never walk under a ladder.
Never cross on the stairs without crossing your fingers.

There are soooooo many. No wonder I'm worn out!
;)
 
me and my mate will not say the l word i think we got idea from discworld you know wot i mean?

we just say "the lady"
 
Mine is that when I am going to sleep in my house ( never have a problem other places really) I like to have some music/white sound/ nature sounds on my stereo. This started when I was much younger, to block out the assorted sounds that seem to be maginified during the night, such as water in the pipes, settling, etc. I used to swear I had gnomes in my room, but that probably stemmed from finding 1 inch foot prints on the back of a poster I had sitting out in my room one night.:blah:
 
I always walk under ladders because I reckon my luck can't get much worse ...
Years ago I had to walk past a field on my way to the newsagents to pick up my horesy magazines, if there was one magpie in the field my mags wouldn't be there,but if there were two magpies in the field the mags would be there [in the newsagents]. It happened everytime without failure, nowadays I always same "morning mr magpie" when I see a magpie ...
 
LobeliaOverhill said:
Years ago I had to walk past a field on my way to the newsagents to pick up my horesy magazines...
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:confused: HERESY magazines?
WHORES'Y magazines? :madeyes:

Um, it's nothing to do with bestiality, is it? :eek!!!!:
 
damn that non existant spell checker! Horsey, as in equine themed ... I was a teenager at the time :)
 
My BF's mother has one of those ailments which make her fall over if she tilts her head back to look upwards. So he believes that he has to remind her every 2 minutes when he's with her not to look up! I said, stop nagging her, she's a grown woman, do you think she falls down every time you're not there?
And he said it's as if he can stop her falling just by saying it. That MUST be superstition.
 
A very long but interesting article here on Superstition.

Includes:
Football urination stories
Cold reading
Skinner's pigeons

and more!
 
Orbyn said:
Ah yes!

If the digital clock displays XX hours 59 minutes, I have to keep watching until it rolls over to 00.

I suspect that's quite a common one, though...
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Yep, and in a similar vein if I vow to start something or go somewhere at a precise time, say 14:30, I'l always wait until the last seconds of that thirtieeth minute (14:30:59), reasoning that its still two-thirty really.

I've no real idea why, though I suspect its a symptom of my awesome laziness and procrastination skills. :)
 
I always think that if I lie about something for my own gain ('car broke down' or 'Granny was ill') then it will actually happen...
 
Au revoir....

When I'm saying goodbye to someone I always turn away or close my eyes, in the last moment before they disappear from view, or their car disappears round the corner or whatever, because if I actually watch them disappear from view, I'll never see them again.

I have no idea where this came from
 
Developing Superstition

Well, not really, but it is an interesting series of coincidences:

I have a small tray on my desk in which i placed one of those squeeze toys shaped like the Earth. I found a marble, so I put it in as the Moon.

Then I found another marble and put that in as well. Shortly thereafter, scientists announced that the Earth had acquired a second Moon (actually a small asteroid captured by Earth's gravity--it is only temporary).

I put a small figurine of the Buddha in the tray as an experiment. The Second Gulf War ended shortly thereafter, if you can call that an ending.

The small rocket ship bead fell off of my "Marvin the Martian" (TM) bookmark, so I put the small rocket ship into my tray (after all I already had a couple of moons and a planet).

The Columbia Space Shuttle crashed not long after.

I found some more marbles and brought them to work to use in flower vases (they hold the bigger flowers in place). I put them in my tray. Well, it was around the time of the Perseid meteor showers, so that doesn't really count, unless you count the recent Doomsday asteroid (not likely to hit in 2014).

I wonder if the penny I put in the tray was the flying saucer that I saw?

Well, it may be more of a series of coincidences than a personal supersition, but this is the kind of thing that makes one superstitious if one allows it to override one's natural skepticism.

"We" are amused with the microcosm/macrocosm correspondences of our little tray and the last year or so. We'd destroy the "Earth", just to see what happens but not while George W. is President! I guess I am a bit superstitious--why risk the infinitesimal probability that there is some connection between why my microcosm is doing, and what happens in the macrocosm?

I guess maybe I really ought to be locking the thing up at night, just to make sure that nobody steals it. At least until after the 2004 Election. Just to be safe rather than sorry!
 
A world-tray? Cool. Go and put something really weird in it...
 
Inverurie Jones said:
A world-tray? Cool. Go and put something really weird in it...
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Yes, start with a small Moomin character under a pile of banknotes...
 
Not whistling on ship/on stage is the result of bosuns using whistles as a signal to mast riggers ... who also did part-time work on the stage.
Not walking under ladders usually avoids things being dropped on your head such as paint drips, buckets, burglars tools etc.

Most old superstitions started as sensible safety tips. However, there are some that are odd ...

If my missus gets a cup of tea with some bubbles in the middle of the cup after stirring, she says there's money in the cup. Wishful thinking?
 
You asked for it!

Inverurie Jones said:
A world-tray? Cool. Go and put something really weird in it...
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I put the weirdest thing I could find on short notice into the tray: a yellow screwdriver about an inch long (it is one of those eye-glass repair kit screwdrivers, which explains the small size).

Keep your eyes open for a story that involves something to do with screwdrivers, repairs, etc.

Perhaps somebody will invent a nano-technology screwdriver and announce it in the next few days. Or maybe a screwdriver will fall from the sky, like the mysterious piece of metal I was reading about just a moment ago in another thread on the Fortean Times Message Board.
 
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