to wonder if people really are superstitious?

[bringincrazyback]

Just that, really. Sparked by discussions just after Christmas about it being 'bad luck' to have your decorations up after 6th Jan etc... I'm not being goady here – I'm genuinely curious, not being superstitious myself. Are many people still superstitious in this day and age?

Not really but the 6th Jan thing is a good way to make people get their decs down and bring some closure to the christmas season .

I'm not. I've been known to flout superstitious stuff deliberately just to wind people up.

I think of two people who are very superstitious

One is in her 80s and as been that way since I've known her (50 years)

The other is mid 30s and suffers from anxiety. She said her mum and nan were superstitious and that has affected her.

Interestingly, I don't know many men who are very superstitious.

Well I wouldn't walk under a ladder. But because I'd be worried about getting something dropped on my head, not because it's bad luck.

I used to manage a team in a call centre, had to move a woman away from the window and to a desk facing into the middle of the room as she would say "Good morning Mr Magpie and how's your wife" every time she spotted one out the window, even if she was on a call to a customer at the time. She really thought that was OK behaviour and that it was a non-negotiable, just something everyone did.

Crazy behaviour.

My mum is.
Still no clue as to why it's bad luck to put new shoes on a table

Not walking under ladders is just common sense.

Or the weird one when I was at school where you were meant to cross your fingers if you seen a gas van. Why?

My grandparents are massively superstitious, which means I never put new shoes on the table or cross on the stairs- more for fear of being shouted at than fear of something going wrong.
I’ve picked up things like touch wood and if I’m alone I’ll salute a single magpie but it’s more habit than anything else.

@Whatsnewpussyhat We're not allowed to put new shoes on the table either.. according to my GM if you do it will cause an argument in the house later in the day... bonkers I know.

It just makes no sense! Old shoes I could understand, again for common sense hygiene reasons.

Think it must be an age thing? My Mil cried because we had pram in the house before baby was born. It wasn't built up, or displayed, was in box in cupboard. It was bought on line in the sale so couldn't be "kept at the shop" as she insisted it should be.

only the wilfully stupid, ignorant or mentally ill.

superstitions are primitive beliefs that should be long gone in a society with universal free education. In my opinion, same as religion although saying that will make this post go pfft.

Well I was going to say my I am and my DH is, then I read mencken's post We are neither stupid, ignorant or mentally ill (FFS), we were just both brought up like that and it's stayed with us.

I see some of it as common sense though as well as superstitious, open umbrellas in the house are wrong because you'll get water everywhere when you close them, if you don't walk under a ladder you're less likely to get a paint pot on your head and if you don't cross on the stairs you're less likely to trip.

Some of it is fear of "jinxing" myself, it may be irrational (rather than ignorant) but show me someone who doesn't have a single irrational trait and I'll show you a liar For this reason I wouldn't, for example, assemble a new cot before a DC arrives (again there may be reasons why this may be "sensible" in someone's mind and it would actually be ignorant to chastise someone for this IMO!)

Some of it is due to luck and simply hoping for good things, like putting a coin in a new purse before you give it to someone. It doesn't harm anyone.

I have to say I don't understand the new shoes on the table thing, or not giving gloves as a present or quite a lot more I was taught as a child, but some are almost just a reflex now, the same way we are taught (for example) etiquette, automatically putting your cutlery at 25 past 5.

My DC sometimes eye roll at me the way I used to eye roll at my parents at their age, but I think they will grow up and, like I do with my mum now, think fondly of me when they're avoiding each other on the stairs

automatically putting your cutlery at 25 past 5

What?

I think new shoes on a table came from or allude to a public execution by hanging.

I'm not advocating superstitions but most people I know who are critical of others' beliefs are often blind to the areas of their own life that have no evidence base.

Some people superstitious are its the same as any other irrational worry. You know its stupid but you can't help having it in the back of your mind.

Not giving gloves as a present? Never heard that one.

Yes I am but I was brought up with the dictionary of superstitions being like some sort of bible. My nan and mother put so much fear into me that if I did x y z the devil would put a curse on you. If you knocked one elbow but didn't knock the other, if you sneezed 3 times and nobody said thank you, if you saw a lone magpie you had to make a cross on the floor with your foot. There was a superstition for everything, it's hard to break away from it but I keep it from the children as much as possible.

Nope I can’t be doing with all that nonsense in my life. I’ve got enough to worry about already!

@SluggishSnail I may be confused, it's a long time since I lived at home , maybe it's half past six, but I mean the position you put your knife and fork in (as if the plate were a clock) when you've finished eating.

I must admit I spent years telling my DC to put their knife and fork together when they've finished eating but I don't insist on the clock position

@Whatsnewpussyhat the gloves as a present thing, apparently it means you won't see each other again.

I don't know, I'm slightly worrying my family just did weird shit and they're not actually common superstitions

You should see my DH and his Complicated Dance of the Magpies

Fortunately my MIL doesn't know this, I bought her nice cashmere gloves for a xmas present this year. At least I don't think she thought I was trying to get rid of her ...

yes - i'm pretty superstitious

Christmas dec's down by 6th of Jan or they have to stay for a year
saying good morning/afternoon to lone magpies
not walking under ladders
not passing people on the stairs (with the exception of big public stair cases)
breaking mirrors
itchy left palm = money coming in & itchy right hand means money going out
crossing fingers for good luck
whistling in the house is unlucky
no Christmas songs or Christmas stuff up before 1st December
I have a lucky number although it is number 13
touching wood

I'm a nurse and we're all superstitious in that we won't say the word 'quiet' and we'll cautiously mention previous 'problematic' patients fearing them being readmitted.

My Grandma is. She thought it was bad luck because I had baby items in my home before my DS was born...

I’d imagine it’s learned behaviour, from your parents or wider family. My family are pretty stoic skeptics and I’d never heard about things like shoes on tables, umbrellas up inside, magpies etc until my teen years when my hormonal classmates used to get all upset about it if it happened. I couldn’t make myself believe in songs about magpies, hence never learned superstition.

Interestingly, in my experience, women are far more likely to be superstitious or believe fervently in “woo” than men are. I wonder why this is.

How do you know if an umbrella works if you don't open it though? And how do you dry it off after use if you "can't" open it in the house?
If someone is up a ladder then I don't walk over it, in case something gets dropped on me, but if nobody is up it, I don't see the problem.