Umbrella superstition?

Question

A shop that I just started working at sells umbrellas, and so I opened one up for a customer. She yelled at me and insisted that it was bad luck to open an umbrella indoors. I just laughed. Is she right?

Answer 1

People have been saying so! But didn't u ask that lady that if u didn't open the Umbrella how wud she select one? Or wouldn't it have been better if she went to an umbrella shop which was in open???

Answer 2

An umbrella, according to popular superstition, should never be open indoors or you will bring bad luck on all the people residing in the building. It is thought that this superstition originates back when the purpose of the umbrella was to act as a sunshade. If opened indoors the action may be construed as a direct insult to the sun, which was revered in many societies.

Umbrellas also have other superstitions attached to them, most often those that bring bad luck.

It is bad luck to give an umbrella as a gift.
If you drop an umbrella, do not pick it up. Instead, have someone else do it for you, or you will be the recipient of bad luck.
If a single woman drops an umbrella, she will never marry.
If an umbrella is opened outside when it is not needed, rain, and other bad weather, will follow.

Answer 3

are superstitions ever right? I'd say it does not make sense to open an umbrella indoors since it never rains, but it does make sense to show a customer the umbrella, and does not make sense to go all the way outside to do it. Plus, if a fire alarm were to go off and the sprinkler systems were set off, it would be a good idea to use the umbrella indoors. So I'd say to rule out the superstition as mere nonsense.

Answer 4

Often, old wives tales contain cautionary elements. You want to teach a kid to be thrifty, you make up a superstition that "see a penny, pick it up, all the day you'll have good luck." If you don't want people opening an umbrella in the hallway on their way out, and thereby breaking Aunt Martha's vase, you say that it is bad luck to open an umbrella indoors.

Answer 5

I was told it was bad luck to open an umbrella inside.
Because if the room is full of people & you open the umbrella with out caution, you could poke someone in the eye with the metal clips that hold the fabric to the wire frame.
Hope this helps.

Answer 6

No, she's not right. What it comes from probably is because if you opened up an umbrella inside it usually would get water, or what ever else was on it all over the place or knock something onto the floor because of the canopy causing you to take up a larger area than your use to and not being able to move around like normal.

Answer 7

It's a load of bunk, like most superstitions. And I'm afraid my tolerance for superstition-paranoia is practically zero. But as these folk tend to panic easy and take offence even easier, you might have been lucky the customer didn't raise a stink with your boss.

I have always stood wet umbrellas open to dry whenever I can without inconveniencing anybody else. It's one way I make them last years and years.

Answer 8

I refuse to have an open umbrella in my home.
I always heard that it brings bad luck, and I have enough of that.
Better safe than sorry.

Answer 9

Don't worry, my Grandmother used to tell me off for doing the same thing. I have no idea Y its supposed to be bad luck but the older generations tend to be fairly insistent on this one.

Answer 10

any means of covering your head indoors , such as wearing a hat and as you mentioned opening an umbrella indoors is considered being bad luck. as to whether wat exactly the repercussions are , i am unaware of