Superstions

[corydoras]

I thought she was talking about boats, not buttock floss.

[corydoras]

I'm beginning to enjoy this thread. The French have some weird ones, as well as sharing many of ours.

Touch wood, fingers crossed, 4 leaf clover are all common in France, but not the rabbits foot. (I never quite understood that one, it didn't do the rabbit much good and he had four)

 

Slipping on a piece of fecal matter with ones left foot brings good luck.

 

I remember once wishing good luck to a friend who was going off to hunt sanglier (wild boar). I was told this was bad luck and that I should have wished him"Merde!" (Sh1t!) instead.

[Janet]

Spot on Ayjay!

 

However, I do also possess a small (but perfectly formed!) inflatable dinghy and outboard, which we use to cruise canals and various inland waterways. Not managed to use her for fishing yet though, but I live in hope of persuading my OCM that fishing is actualy an acceptable practice during a boating holiday!

 

We also do at least one hire boat holiday each year, which is always accompanied by several strange superstitions. I don't think we could cast off safely without our little rituals....

 

Janet

[corydoras]

OCM

Don't understand TLA.

[Ken L]

I don't think we could cast off safely without our little rituals....

 

Oh do tell - unless they're to do with "Christening" the boat and unsuitable for a family forum.

[corydoras]

Oh do tell - unless they're to do with "Christening" the boat and unsuitable for a family forum.

I thought she was talking pants again

[Guest Brumagem Phil]

superstitions? I don't have any.......touch wood.

[Vagabond]

Grandmother always broke up empty egg-shells so that witches could not use them as boats to cross water.

 

Not putting shoes on the table does have a bit of rationality to it - especially if it's the left shoe that Cory has used to slip on the doggie's visiting card

 

Norma and I say "White rabbits" on the first of the month - but in a spirit of competition to prove who has remembered the date first. Is that a superstition or a tradition, and where is the dividing line between the two?

 

I frequently wish fellow anglers "good luck" but regard that as a boost to their self-confidence rather than an appeal to any gods in charge of angling.

 

Can't say I have noticed any effect on my catch rate based upon the number of magpies seen or whether or not a black cat has crossed in front of me.

 

No I am not superstitious.........

 

...but I do like the bit in The Old Man and the Sea where Santiago, struggling with the giant marlin, says "I will say twenty Our Fathers and a hundred Hail Marys that I may land this fish - but Father, I cannot say them now!"

 

Know just how he felt!

[Ken L]

superstitions? I don't have any.......touch wood.

I think I'm going to have a hyper sensitive day trying to catch myself doing stuff like that or saying "Bless you", things that you're barely aware that you're doing.

I'm sure that I'll catch myself out at some point - and then no doubt smile and try to pretend that I was doing/saying it in a post modern and ironic kinda way

[DavyR]

or touching wood (the wood of the true cross - as in a "relic")

 

Ah, superstitions - one of my favourite subjects! You'll be sorry you ever started this one, Ken...

 

A lot of ancient superstitions acquired a sort of "religious gloss" as Christianity gradually took over from Paganism in the British Isles. People were reluctant to give up the old ways, but at the same time didn't want to upset the Church, so "touching wood" - originally probably a means of placating the spirit of the tree before you chopped it down - became "touching for luck" and associated with the True Cross.