Friggatriskaidekaphobia

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Not something I suffer from - indeed, I got married on April Friday 13th, last year. Tomorrow's only the second Friday 13th since, so kind of an anniversary of sorts for us.

Anyone on OTF superstitious about Friday 13th? Jason voorhees?

[Cal Alamein]

Friggatriskaidekaphobia

I'll show the kids the word tomorrow to see if any know what it means. If not, then I'll show a close up of goalie-masked JV.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Today's the 14th Friday the 13th since I married Signora Rogin on one (see above). And the first one I haven't felt like celebrating.

[Sporting]

My mother was not only superstitious about this but also about walking under ladders, crossing one another on the stairs (why?!) and an odd one (yes, I know; they're all odd) that new shoes should never be put on the table.

[blameless]

Anyone on OTF superstitious about Friday 13th?

No, but it sure feels like we're in a horror movie right now.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

My mum had the one about shoes on tables (and beds) as well. It's something to do with foretelling the laying out of a corpse, isn't it?

[DCI Harry Batt]

Ah, could be. The musical Blood Brothers has it as "new shoes on the table".

[Southport Zeb]

My mother was not only superstitious about this but also about walking under ladders, crossing one another on the stairs (why?!) and an odd one (yes, I know; they're all odd) that new shoes should never be put on the table.

As far as my mum is concerned, shoes never go on the table even if not new.

[Wouter D]

I'm with your mum. I see no reason for shoes being on tables. The sole exception is if you have to polish them. Then they can go on an old newspaper on the table.

[Sporting]

The shoes concerned were in boxes.

[sw2borshch]

Our mam won't cross on the stairs, which is gonna proper knack her if she meets a vampire on them.

[Wouter D]

The shoes concerned were in boxes.

You gotta be kidding me. The four posts preceding mine talking about shoes and tables all managed to omit that part of the clue. It's almost enough to make me start believing in a conspiracy.

If only there was a word for the box that the shoes were in, so that we could concisely describe the thing that is not allowed to be on the table. Surely we can whip up something suitable. How about "shoecontainer" or "shoehyperrectangle"?

[DCI Harry Batt]

I bet empty shoeboxes are allowed though.

[elguapo4]

Sailors have a whole book full of superstitions, Monty Hall said he was standing on the deck of a £20 million research vessel eating a banana, when the captain came up, grabbed it off him, and threw it in the sea ,shouting "you don't eat a banana on deck of a ship "

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Nothing wrong with the one about no women on board unless they're naked, though...

[Balderdasha]

There are some bizarre (to westerners) superstitions in China.

Number 4 is unlucky, because it sounds like the word for 'death'.

Traditionally no-one wore white to weddings, that was what you wore to funerals. Now, many brides will have a white dress as well as a traditional Chinese red and gold outfit for different times of the day, but it would still be frowned upon for guests to wear white.

You can't leave chopsticks sticking up in a rice bowl (looks like incense sticks at a funeral so again links to death).

Don't give someone a clock or a watch as a present, it suggests their time is up.

They're mostly about death really.

Don't unwrap presents in front of the person who gave them to you. That's just considered rude and greedy.

[Sporting]

"In Spanish-speaking countries, instead of Friday, Tuesday the 13th (martes trece) is considered a day of bad luck.

The Greeks also consider Tuesday (and especially the 13th) an unlucky day.Tuesday is considered dominated by the influence of Ares, the god of war (Mars in Roman mythology). The fall of Constantinople to the Fourth Crusade occurred on Tuesday, April 13, 1204, and the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans happened on Tuesday, 29 May 1453, events that strengthen the superstition about Tuesday. In addition, in Greek the name of the day is Triti (Τρίτη) meaning the third (day of the week), adding weight to the superstition, since bad luck is said to "come in threes"

[Wouter D]

There are some bizarre (to westerners) superstitions in China.

Number 4 is unlucky, because it sounds like the word for 'death'.

Traditionally no-one wore white to weddings, that was what you wore to funerals. Now, many brides will have a white dress as well as a traditional Chinese red and gold outfit for different times of the day, but it would still be frowned upon for guests to wear white.

You can't leave chopsticks sticking up in a rice bowl (looks like incense sticks at a funeral so again links to death).

Don't give someone a clock or a watch as a present, it suggests their time is up.

They're mostly about death really.

Don't unwrap presents in front of the person who gave them to you. That's just considered rude and greedy.

And when at dinner you're confronted with an entire fish to eat, you cannot turn it over to get the fish meat on the bottom. You need to pick it off through the bones. If you turn over the fish, the next boat you see will capsize.

At least that's what I was told eleven years ago. I may be wrong on the details.

[Balderdasha]

And when at dinner you're confronted with an entire fish to eat, you cannot turn it over to get the fish meat on the bottom. You need to pick it off through the bones. If you turn over the fish, the next boat you see will capsize.

At least that's what I was told eleven years ago. I may be wrong on the details.

Ah, I wouldn't have picked up on that one because I'm vegetation.

[Sporting]

You are so much more than "vegetation".

[ursus arctos]

What a bizarre auto-correct that was

[treibeis]

Don't light a cigarette using a candle, as it means you'll kill a sailor.

Is that only a German superstition or do other countries have it too?

[ursus arctos]

That sounds very Nordsee to me

I never heard it in FFM, but then we don't smoke

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

I heard the one before about never lighting three cigarettes off one match (in a group). Came from snipers in the war, in the dark they'd see the match for the first one, start to take aim on the second then fire by the third.

[treibeis]

I heard the one before about never lighting three cigarettes off one match (in a group). Came from snipers in the war, in the dark they'd see the match for the first one, start to take aim on the second then fire by the third.

The one about the candle is based on the idea that, if you misuse the candle as a lighter, then the sailor can't see the (candle-powered) lighthouse and then steers his ship onto the rocks and perishes.

(I, personally, think that, if the skipper's going so fast that the two seconds you need to spark up a fag cause a shipwreck, then he shouldn't be in charge of a boat anyway.)

I've had people get very shirty with me about my candle-lighting my fags. Some of them say stuff like "My grandfather was a North Sea fisherman" and expect me to look suitably chastened and then apologise. I think they're basically just looking for a row.