old wives tales regarding bad luck?

Question

my nan always says you shouldn't get married on a friday.

you should never whistle in the house

never play cards on a sunday

are there any others?

mother bear it wasn't me who gave thumbs down by the way. or anyone elses if you get them

edit ; mother bear just want to say thanks for the link, ill prob spend all day looking at it now. lol...and some things do seem to ring true.

Answer 1

Don't break mirrors

Don't walk under ladders

Don't count your money at the card table

Black cats crossing your path (though in some cultures that is *good* luck)

Stepping on a crack

An acorn should be carried to bring luck and ensure a long life.

An acorn at the window will keep lightning out

If you cut an apple in half and count how many seeds are inside, you will also know how many children you will have.

http://www.corsinet.com/trivia/scary.html

Answer 2

Don't open an umbrella in the house.(Bad luck....actually this makes some sense because homes that were small in the old days,you ran the risk of someone getting bumped with the pointed bits on the edge.)
Don't put a hat on the bed.(death in the family....I don't know about the death part, but if someone had head lice...which was far more common in the old days, even before your nan...it could spread that way)
Don't walk under a ladder ( in a practical sense you could get splashed with paint or window washing water!)
A Black Cat crosses your path( witch craft symbol)
While walking together with a friend, don't be separated by one person going around one side of an obstacle and the other person go around the other side. You will argue and lose them as a friend.
Break a mirror and seven years of bad luck. (in the old days, again, mirrors were expensive and it took seven years to save up for another one!)
Wear black to a wedding.
Invite thirteen to a dinner party and seat them together.
Step on a crack...you'll break your Mother's back.
Kill a spider, it will rain.
If you drop a fork, a woman is coming
If your drop a knife, a man is coming
If you drop a spoon, a child it coming.
If you remove a long thread,(one on them by accident) from someone's clothing, you will get a letter.

Answer 3

You can't wash on certain days or it washes one out of the family, according to my mother in law. She told me this after I had spent all day washing bedding and towels, nobody has died and that was years ago.

Then the magpies thing, one for sorrow, two for joy. Apparently if you see one magpie, you're going to learn of something bad or something bad will happen in the family.

When you're getting married, its supposed to be bad luck to see your other half before the ceremony. Didn't do me any harm, although I wanted to make him wait!!

I have heard one about if you see a black cat on a night with a full moon, its supposed to mean your cards marked?! How often do you see a pure black cat without any white on it though?

The only one I believe is about the number 13. There's a story why too... Back on the 13/01/03 (notice the positive numbers make 13 13), when I was living in number 13, I went to work and had someone run into the back of me at 9:13 in the morning. I kid you not, I didn't even believe in this stuff before that accident. My car reg was N2 '13' as well. I ended up losing my job due to being badly injured and still suffer from it 4 years later, so I'd call that bad luck! Spooky eh?! The only thing was, it was a monday not a friday the 13th...

Answer 4

Don't break a mirror ( = 7 years bad luck)

If you spill the salt it's bad luck (unless you throw some over your right shoulder)

A bird flying in through an open window is a bad omen.

Never walk under ladders.

Bad luck always comes in threes.

Getting separated when walking down the street ( like by a lamppost)

Passing people on the stairs.

According to my husband black cats crossing your path ( but I was always told that was GOOD luck !!)

If you buy someone a purse (or wallet) you have to put some money in it.

Bad luck to buy yourself a purse.

Putting shoes on the table will bring bad luck.

Wearing an item of clothing inside out is good luck (if it's accidental) if you take it off and turn it round it's bad luck)

Never throw bread in the fire.

Upside down horseshoe represents bad luck.

Never open an umbrella in the house.

Never bring lillac flowers into the house.

Answer 5

Hi katie, well here we go again... back in time !! Ha!Ha!
Always seemed to be my Nan's & 1 Great nan who were the most superstitious in our family... as a child i used to write them in an exercise book .... wish i had kept it think i would have made a pretty penny having it published!! Here goes:
Unlucky 13 .. especially Friday coz that's when public hanging took place & they had to climb 13 steps to the noose!! Many Hospitals & airports believe it to be unlucky so they omit these numbers!
Itching;
right hand - receive
left hand - pay out
Nose - in for a suprise
Feet - travelling to strange land(True for me this one ,my feet itched a lot as a child & i've lived in Egypt for the last 22years-left England at 19yrs of age)
Ears - left for love
Right - for spite (also applies if their burning)... supposedly!!
Apple a day keeps the doctor away
Bird in the house sign of death
Never step on cracked pavements
Never walk under ladders
Touch blue your wish comes true
Always refuse the third light
Rabbits foot & four leaf clovers for luck
Crossed knives sign of an argument at the table
Plus those that others have mentioned!!
Oh & musn't forgert ... Pot of gold at the end of the rainbow...... They Must be all over England at the moment!! LOL!!
Can hear my Great nan say "If your find a pot of gold Nelson will get his eye back"!! she had some amazing sayings!!
Another idea for a Question!!

Answer 6

Correction to Nortybirdy and others - it should be:

Never put 'old' shoes on the table.

This dates back to the days when we had a mining industry in this country. When there was a mining disaster and people were killed, rather than tell a wife that she was widowed a fellow miner would take the boots off his dead comrade and place them on the table of his former home. New shoes just mean that nobody has started wearing them yet, they are therefore without personality.

Answer 7

oh my yeah

right things I don't because of those old wives ( lol my gran)

I dont:
cut my nails on a sunday
put an umbrella up in the house
dont eat gum ( takes 7 years to get out of your body)
swim within an hour of eating
go outside with wet hair ( no cold for me thank you)
dont crack my knuckles
never look in a mirror by candlelight
never wear any jewellery that isnt my birthstone
put new shoes on tables or furniture
never sleep with my head southwards


oh my goodness I didnt realise how surperstitious I was :-O

Answer 8

Never cut you nails on a Friday. Visitors should leave by the door they came in by. No lilac in the house. Songs before breakfast, tears before tea. Never look at the New Moon through glass.

Nan's eh?

Answer 9

Horses with pig or stone eyes might desire to be prevented because of the fact of their undesirable attitudes. I actual have chanced in this to be honestly real, BTW. Edit - i do no longer believe the dis approximately chestnut mares. I actual have a chestnut mare with 4 white socks/hoofs who has ft in simple terms as reliable as the different horse and he or she has in no way been something yet candy, sort and thoroughly honest. She even packed a rank beginner into the mountains and stood her floor while the beginner rode her right into a floor hornets nest. Now it relatively is a robust horse!

Answer 10

Never stand on a black beetle, it'll rain. (somebody somewhere must have stood on a lot of beetles!!)
Never say 'pig' on a Friday.
Never whistle on a boat, it'll whistle up the wind.
Never put new shoes on a table.
If you see one Magpie say 'hello' to it, it's supposed to break the bad luck.
I know loads more just can't think of them at the moment.