h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

hey yall, ive just been reading the entry on superstitions and found it extremely interesting, and wanted to see what every one else thinks on teh subject... so instead of reviving one of the threads already started on the article i decided to start my own..

to get things started ive got a question... on magpies the threads i just read through said you are to acknowledge a lone magpies presence with "hello mister magpie" odd as i was always told to "salute the devil" if i saw the pies-of-mag whats all this then?

musashi

Hello, where's your mate?

That's my cry when I see lone a magpie...

late at night. Hope I don't look foolish in the morning

hello weres your mate niiiice i like it i might change my own pie call to that if you dont mind... i always say theres nowt like tempting fate to get you started in life... actually thats the first time ive ever said that, and i didnt say it i typed it arrrrgg


any more?

A couple of my nan's favourites:
- Don't put new shoes on the table
- Don't open an umbrella indoors
- Don't cross someone on the stairs

and also theres something to do with throwing a pinch of salt over your left shoulder or its bad luck, but I can't remember what has to happen to make you do that.

If you spill some salt you should throw a pinch of it over your shoulder. Can't remember why exactly, but I'm sure the was involved...

RF

"Don't step on grates."

I was told this by somebody years ago, I always thought that it was a strange superstition. I then found out it isn't a superstitin at all. The person stood on a grate once and it broke. Mangled their leg up and spent the day at the hospital.

I always heard that if you spill salt you should turn 3 times then throw a pinch over your left shoulder to knock the devil off it!

i never put shioes on tables but i have no idea why

When my grandad was in the First war he had a superstition about carrying his silver cigarette case in his breast pocket, after hearing many amazing stories of them preventing people getting shot through the heart.

Unbelievably one day a bullet hit the case, and deflected from it's path, so preventing him getting a bullet in the heart

Admittedly it did richotshet up his nostril and blow his brains out.

A strange one is: 'if you see a funeral hearse you should touch your collar till you see a four legged animal'. Odd that.

On spilling of salt my mum adviced me to throw some salt over my shoulder 'or the devil will come and get you at midnight'.

No harm done in scaring the living daylights out of a little kid then.

>> 'if you see a funeral hearse you should touch your collar till you see a four legged animal'. Odd that. <<

Very odd, especially as, until comparatively recently, hearses were pulled by horses. Which...er...have 4 legs. Each.

RF

Re: Magpies, you are supposed to say Hello Mr Magpie How's your wife and children, it's what I was told to do

Re: Throwing salt over your left shoulder, the is supposed to live on your left shoulder (Don't ask me why)

Breaking a mirror is bad luck because the reflection is supposed to be your soul looking back at you (Which is why Vampires have no refection) and breaking a mirror is supposed to break the soul.

If you spill salt, always throw a pinch over your left shoulder, to blind the devil who sits there.

Never put New Shoes on the table, it will bring bad luck.

Crossed knives mean an arguement.

I'll come back later with others.

I've got loads. How many do you want, and is this for an entry?

Hey! That's my threat! *Shakes fist*

Wait here, I'll come back with otters.

Never eat pigeon pie at the stroke of midnight when you are waiting for someone to return to the house

Otters

Never stroke pigeon pies whilst you are eating someone's house midnight returning

not for an entry just out of interest

never eat a pigeons eyes while buttering your house at midnight?

Best ere pass a eal winding home on edge of battlefield, as younder it descerns thi house a burn.

Never eat a buttered pigeon while painting the midnight house.