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Personal Superstitions

wolfie61 said:
I have most of the common ones, saluting/greeting magpies, the ladder thing, etc. I also wont pass someone on the stairs, thanks mum, also the new shoes on the table thing too...that one winds my missus up ( probably why I still insist on it...)
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I've never heard of the saluting/greeting magpies superstition, but oddly enough, it's something I always do. Magpies here have a fearsome reputation for swooping and attacking people particularly around breeding time, but I've found if you talk to them, you never have any problem.
I once had a cockatoo land on a branch near me in our front yard and I said ''Hello'' to it and was quite surprised when it said ''Hello'' back to me.
 
Lord Lucan said:
I've never heard of the saluting/greeting magpies superstition, but oddly enough, it's something I always do.
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I do this, I got it from my maternal grandfather, a countryman.

One greets only a lone magpie with "Good Morning Mr. Magpie" to avoid bad luck, but ONLY before midday. To greet more than one magpie is also bad luck.

To greet the magpie after midday is then more bad luck.
 
LordRsmacker said:
Not the kind of lodgers you want invading your home (erm, the bedbugs, not the experts)
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I dunno though, it's one way to make new friends.

Your advice is sound and I will follow it from now on.
 
Ogdred Weary said:
I believe that if I don't constantly touch my winky the universe will implode.
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All men thing that.

About their own winkies, I mean, although I'm sure there are variations.

When men were first advised to examine their testicles for suspicious lumps Jasper Carrott reckoned it was all a bit unnecessary because, 'Have you ever seen a man keep his hands OFF them for ten minutes?'
 
Schrodinger's Zebra said:
I always have to open a crisp packet the right side up. No idea why, always have done, and Mr Zebra (who cares not one jot about such things) will quite happily sit eating out of an upside-down bag of crisps while I look on in abject horror.

I never like to tell anyone of our plans (e.g. buying house, going on holiday, going to concert) before it happens because I think that will cause bad luck and it won't happen.

I.:boh:
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The crisp packet thing has just triggered a memory for me. I definitely remember it not being 'the done thing' to eat from an upside down packet when we were at school. I can't remember if it was considered unlucky of just uncool.

I'm like that with plans too. Especially overseas travel. I've also just remembered another one which I think is a Manx one. It's unlucky to come in through a different door from the one you started your journey on.
 
Jepra Peld said:
The crisp packet thing has just triggered a memory for me. I definitely remember it not being 'the done thing' to eat from an upside down packet when we were at school. I can't remember if it was considered unlucky of just uncool.
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What kind of barbarian eats crisps from an upside down packet? Has the world gone mad?
 
When pop-tops became ubiquitous, my alcoholic father refused to use them. He'd take a beer can, turn it upside down, and open its bottom with a classic 'church key' (opener).

One morning I came into the kitchen to find him performing this upside-down opening routine, and I went ballistic on him. My central complaint was the a.m. drinking, but I went on to mock his throwback way of opening beer cans and ask him why the hell he did such a dumb thing.

He stopped me in my tracks with a single word ("microfilaments") and proceeded to give me a lecture on how the old-school opening routine reduced, if not eliminated, the risk of generating and ingesting the aluminum microfilaments pop-tops entailed.
 
EnolaGaia said:
When pop-tops became ubiquitous, my alcoholic father refused to use them. He'd take a beer can, turn it upside down, and open its bottom with a classic 'church key' (opener).

One morning I came into the kitchen to find him performing this upside-down opening routine, and I went ballistic on him. My central complaint was the a.m. drinking, but I went on to mock his throwback way of opening beer cans and ask him why the hell he did such a dumb thing.

He stopped me in my tracks with a single word ("microfilaments") and proceeded to give me a lecture on how the old-school opening routine reduced, if not eliminated, the risk of generating and ingesting the aluminum microfilaments pop-tops entailed.
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A smart answer, but there'd probably be just as many microfilaments ingested that way.
 
If I'm in a beer A.M. mood, the last things I'm thinking about are filaments, micro or otherwise.
 
Mythopoeika said:
A smart answer, but there'd probably be just as many microfilaments ingested that way.
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I researched his claims back when (1970's), and they checked out. A church key shears the metal pretty cleanly. Pop-tops (at least the early versions) relied on a previously weakened border around the opening which resulted in 'shredding' of the metal when the top was pulled away along that border. Later generation pop-tops arrived not long thereafter, though few sources mentioned whether this innovation had anything to do with minimizing possible metal debris.
 
EnolaGaia said:
I researched his claims back when (1970's), and they checked out. A church key shears the metal pretty cleanly. Pop-tops (at least the early versions) relied on a previously weakened border around the opening which resulted in 'shredding' of the metal when the top was pulled away along that border. Later generation pop-tops arrived not long thereafter, though few sources mentioned whether this innovation had anything to do with minimizing possible metal debris.
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When you say 'church key', you mean one of those things that punches a triangular hole? Yeah, I suppose that would be cleaner than a pop-top.
 
Weren't the early pop-tops made of steel? I seem to remember that the cans were made of steel or aluminium, but the top plates were steel. Pulling the tab was a bit hit or miss. It wasn't long before the top plates and the ring pulls were made of aluminium, though.
 
Mythopoeika said:
When you say 'church key', you mean one of those things that punches a triangular hole? Yeah, I suppose that would be cleaner than a pop-top.
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Yes - one of these ...

churchkey.jpg

Strictly speaking, this is a 'can piercer'. The term 'church key' originally referred to a bottle opener, but the label migrated forward to be attached to can piercers when cans became common.

I've never encountered anyone using the term 'can piercer' except for mechanics and others who use the more elaborate types with attached spouts.
 
Mythopoeika said:
Weren't the early pop-tops made of steel? I seem to remember that the cans were made of steel or aluminium, but the top plates were steel. Pulling the tab was a bit hit or miss. It wasn't long before the top plates and the ring pulls were made of aluminium, though.
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I don't know if pop-tops / ring-pulls were ever used on a steel (or other metal) top plate. The original pop-top patent (early 1960's) was initially licensed to the aluminum company Alcoa.

The part you pulled off or peeled back was always aluminum, as I recall.
 
EnolaGaia said:
I don't know if pop-tops / ring-pulls were ever used on a steel (or other metal) top plate. The original pop-top patent (early 1960's) was initially licensed to the aluminum company Alcoa.

The part you pulled off or peeled back was always aluminum, as I recall.
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This is true of pop cans. However many older (and not so old) cans (vegetables , fruits, etc.) were made of tin coated - steel and were difficult to crush.
 
Schrodinger's Zebra said:
I always smash the eggshells after eating a boiled egg (much to Mr Zebra's continued amusement) because witches will sail in them and sink ships, apparently (so my Mum told me when I was younger, anyway, and I'd hate to take the risk).
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Yes, yes, yes, Mrs Zebra! We always had to break a hole in the bottom of them so the witches couldn't use them. I am sorry to say that I now extend this to ALL eggshells, which have to be crushed before I put them in the bin.

I never bothered saluting magpies until I had a particularly superstitious colleague who used to do it. I then spent a couple of years proclaiming "Hello, Mr Magpie, how's your wife and family?" to every solitary individual I encountered, until I made the conscious decision to STOP IT! In all the previous years it had never been a problem, so why start now?

The same colleague had a real downer on the song "You get what you give" by the New Radicals. In those days the lab radio was kept beside his workspace, and I have seen him literally throw himself across the lab to turn it off as soon as he clocked the opening bars of that song. He said it guaranteed him a lousy day of lab work.

On the other hand, I don't like new shoes on the table, and although the in-house medic is happy to leave umbrellas up to dry in the porch, it makes me very uneasy - I'd rather leave them in the garage.
 
When I was in Japan, I got into the habit of naming and bowing to the various animals I saw and referring to them by the respectful honorific "san", and they invariably bowed back to me. Even a praying mantis bowed back to me. I even met this dog before he was famous: Shiba Inu sells cigarettes. I'm pleased to say that becoming a celeb has not changed him; he's still a good doggo.
 
AlchoPwn said:
When I was in Japan, I got into the habit of naming and bowing to the various animals I saw and referring to them by the respectful honorific "san", and they invariably bowed back to me. Even a praying mantis bowed back to me. I even met this dog before he was famous: Shiba Inu sells cigarettes. I'm pleased to say that becoming a celeb has not changed him; he's still a good doggo.
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I'm going to try that.

Bowing to animals and calling them 'Cat San' or whatever. Not selling cigarettes, what d'you think I am, a dog?
 
AlchoPwn said:
In Japan it is "Konichiwa Neko San" (or Chan for kittens). Dogs are "Inu San". Crows are "Tenku San".
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Thank you, I'm going to remember that!

'Konichiwa' reminds me of hearing it in the TV shows Tenko and Shogun. Does it mean a sort of respectful 'Hello'?

I also need to hear more about the animals and birds bowing, please.
 
escargot said:
Thank you, I'm going to remember that!'Konichiwa' reminds me of hearing it in the TV shows Tenko and Shogun. Does it mean a sort of respectful 'Hello'? I also need to hear more about the animals and birds bowing, please.
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I always made a point of greeting any animal I met in Japan respectfully in the fashion I have described. As I went to a lot of shrines and temples I met a good few. Strangely, I was greeted with surprisingly civil responses from the animals. Not every cat bowed, or nodded their heads, but I always got at least a meow. Similarly dogs didn't always bow but at least gave me a happy bark. Crows were very respectful and always bowed. I made a point of eye contact so they knew I was speaking to them, but shifted my gaze once they could see me so as not to intimidate them, and bowed. It was great. It really added a dimension of enchantment to my time there. Of course I was not averse to slipping a healthy treat to them either if they seemed receptive. I know that this isn't necessarily a great thing to do, but still, they appreciated it I think.
 
AlchoPwn said:
I always made a point of greeting any animal I met in Japan respectfully in the fashion I have described. As I went to a lot of shrines and temples I met a good few. Strangely, I was greeted with surprisingly civil responses from the animals. Not every cat bowed, or nodded their heads, but I always got at least a meow. Similarly dogs didn't always bow but at least gave me a happy bark. Crows were very respectful and always bowed. I made a point of eye contact so they knew I was speaking to them, but shifted my gaze once they could see me so as not to intimidate them, and bowed. It was great. It really added a dimension of enchantment to my time there. Of course I was not averse to slipping a healthy treat to them either if they seemed receptive. I know that this isn't necessarily a great thing to do, but still, they appreciated it I think.
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That is amazing. Particularly the praying mantis. It just shows how many people in Japan bow to creatures - they've got used to it and somehow understand it.
 
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