to be super shitey-scared of single magpies?

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Or rather the perceived doom that they may convey?

I am not superstitious about anything else. Broken mirrors can fuck off and black cats can do one.

But one single magpie puts the right willies up me as harbinger of ill will.

Someone once told me that if you spit at them it counteracts the potential 'sorrow' Spitting is the most revolting habit available, so instead I just do a little bubble to myself. Only last week I did a full-on dribble down my chin and got a horrified look from a passer-by.

Please tell me what a twat I am and why one magpie spotted on a school run will not lead to my imminent ruin.

I always salute a lone magpie, wouldn't dare not. I may also enquire after its health.

Yes, I'm a loser.

I'm not 'woo' but I do tend to be superstitious! If I see a single magpie when out and about, I'll always discreetly salute it.
I won't walk under ladders either. I'd rather walk into the road if I had to than go under it.

I used to have a problem with the number 13 but then DP got a '13' tattoo, yeah, we're classy.

Is there a magpie support group?

Stupidhead I once considered having a tattoo of a pair of magpies so I could always see them.

No hope for me, is there?

Then you'd have to salute and say good morning every day! Too much stress!

Oh I have to salute. I can walk under ladders, not throw salt over my shoulder, not touch wood.

But Mr Magpie needs to be saluted.

I work on the basis that if a magpie is on its own there's a good chance that this because its mate is sitting on the eggs, which isn't a cause for sorrow at all.

Or that it's allowed to bit of personal space without idiots spitting at it.

This is it, Mouthful. There are loads of them in the field opposite my house.

If there are loads of them then they aren't single are they?

yabu. The sheer lack of logic in these superstitions astounds me. What possible difference can it make to your life whether you happen to see one particular kind of bird rather than two of them? What is the connection there?
Bizarre.

Yes, you are being totally ridiculous. HTH

I didn't think it was possible to see a single magpie and not say hello to it, to ward off impending doom.

My husband despairs and will do even more when he realises I have been training up the 3 year old to do the same

They scare me silly too. And yes, I don't have any other superstitions (although for safety I don't walk under ladders!).

There aren't many up here, but I hate visiting inlaws as there are hordes round by them, but it's either a group of 5+ or a single one.

I blame both sets of grandparents!

Well, I always salute them too, out of habit.

But realistically, if I didn't or couldn't, I wouldn't fear.

Consider the rhyme in full:

One for sorrow
two for joy
three for a girl
four for a four
five for silver
six for gold
seven for a secret never to be told
eight for a lie,
nine for a truth
ten for the secret of eternal youth.

I did see ten once, round a ripped open rubbish bag. I didn't find the secret of eternal youth! I have also seen them in sixes, and did I get a complimentary gold ingot from them? No, I did not.

*four for a boy

Spitting is the most revolting habit available, so instead I just do a little bubble to myself. Only last week I did a full-on dribble down my chin and got a horrified look from a passer by.

^ literally just snorted my tea.

yabu unreasonable op but I am equally unreasonable in various other similar ways so whatever lol

so instead I just do a little bubble to myself.....

Thank God it's not just me who does this!

We always say "Good Morrow, John" to them - no idea why!

i was always told if someone else saw the magpie it wouldn't bring bad luck we have been so unlucky as a family lately our walks out and about are punctuated by the cry MAGPIE!! WHERE?? seen it!

i was not superstitious about them till i was 16/17 and my friend told me about it before that i just thought they were lovely looking birds

The ones in the field like to taunt me by popping up solo, or very far apart. I have decided that for them to be a pair they have to be in my field of vision at the same time. Otherwise doom approacheth.

Since we had a bit of bad luck, dh decided that all magpies are for sorrow and if you see two of them it just means double sorrow.

Yabu ... But so am I...
I say 'morning sir' wherever I see one, I'm not superstitious about anything else either!!

I didn't know Magpies were bad luck. We get them in our yard all the time, and I'll tempt the universe by saying I've been pretty lucky in life so far.

Honestly, how bad luck can a bird be that regularly eats spiders. They're culling the spider population for you. Have some respect lady.

Of course not; all you have to do is cross yourself and salute. (difficult when driving but can be done.)

This is me too! I hate seeing a single magpie, I always look frantically for its mate.

I always say " Break my sorrow, Good Morning/Afternoon, Mr Magpie"

I have to say it three times, and get worried if I can't.

I have a magpie tale.

A few years ago my Dm came home from work to find a dead magpie on the path at the back of the house. It must have flown into the bedroom window above, as the poor thing had left an imprint on it.
Anyway, a couple of weeks later, water started bubbling up from the path, in the same place the bird had landed. A water pipe had burst. All in all the water board had to come back four times, as the bloody thing wouldn't stay fixed .

Coincidence I know, but still strange.