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Superstitions, Why?
30 Answers
I really don't understand why people would believe in them.
Can someone please explain how these silly superstitions came about and why people would believe them.
I can understand people not walking under a ladder because something may fall on you or the ladder may fall on you but superstition seems to take safety to a different level.
How/why do some think that walking under a ladder is unlucky?
At work women wont pass on stairs, apparently they will fall pregnant, what a load of tosh, it just irritates me, I just run past them when they aren't looking or expecting it, some times they get a bit touchy about it.
What ever is wrong with people, why would they believe in something like that in this day and age?
Can someone please explain how these silly superstitions came about and why people would believe them.
I can understand people not walking under a ladder because something may fall on you or the ladder may fall on you but superstition seems to take safety to a different level.
How/why do some think that walking under a ladder is unlucky?
At work women wont pass on stairs, apparently they will fall pregnant, what a load of tosh, it just irritates me, I just run past them when they aren't looking or expecting it, some times they get a bit touchy about it.
What ever is wrong with people, why would they believe in something like that in this day and age?
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Rowan, so do you use the word "Luck" if so how would you define it. I use it but I actually dont really attach any significance to it, its just a word that we all use without thinking about. I dont really believe in good or bad luck, so I dont think the word should even exist.
Does any of that make sense? I know what I mean :)
Does any of that make sense? I know what I mean :)
-- answer removed --
RATTER15, have you ever been injured or inconvenienced as a result of going against the superstitions? If not, then I believe that your scientific study has proven they are a load of nonesense. Is a black cat lucky or unlucky? If people disagree on this, then i feel that no superstition should have creedence.
The way I view the definition of the word, the word luck needs to exist,
We have no way of knowing with perfect accuracy or calculating the consequences of what is presently happening so even in a deterministic universe we have no obvious knowledge of what is to come. And so whether good or bad things happen to us becomes a matter of chance as far as we are concerned.
We find a need to distinguish between good things occurring to us despite no reason we can see for it to do so, so we call it good luck, and bad things occurring to us which we call it bad luck. We have not deliberately engineered any obvious cause so it is all down to luck by definition.
The thing is that throughout the ages and cultures folk have believe they have found something that seems to influence the luck they have, and so these things can become superstitions. As to whether any of it works, that is a matter of opinion.
We have no way of knowing with perfect accuracy or calculating the consequences of what is presently happening so even in a deterministic universe we have no obvious knowledge of what is to come. And so whether good or bad things happen to us becomes a matter of chance as far as we are concerned.
We find a need to distinguish between good things occurring to us despite no reason we can see for it to do so, so we call it good luck, and bad things occurring to us which we call it bad luck. We have not deliberately engineered any obvious cause so it is all down to luck by definition.
The thing is that throughout the ages and cultures folk have believe they have found something that seems to influence the luck they have, and so these things can become superstitions. As to whether any of it works, that is a matter of opinion.
I was once doing a job up a ladder in a very narrow street in Exeter, my ladder went from one side of the street to the other, to walk up the street you had pass under the ladder. You would never believe the amount of people that refused to go under it.
Even when I was sat beside the ladder having my lunch people were trying to insist I removed the ladder. Someone even called the Police saying I was blocking the road, the Police was on my side, people had a perfectly good walkway under the ladder. The ladder stayed where it was until I finished the job, about 5 hours.
Even when I was sat beside the ladder having my lunch people were trying to insist I removed the ladder. Someone even called the Police saying I was blocking the road, the Police was on my side, people had a perfectly good walkway under the ladder. The ladder stayed where it was until I finished the job, about 5 hours.
I think superstitions are a lot of nonsense.
But for those who do believe in them, there are a good many here:-
http://www.corsinet.com/trivia/scary.html
Ron.
But for those who do believe in them, there are a good many here:-
http://www.corsinet.com/trivia/scary.html
Ron.
Superstitions are all rooted in life much earlier, when people believed far more in portents, omens, and so on - so the time was ripe for someone to make up a superstition about anything at all - and with word of mouth, it would spread around a village, and from village to village, and then to towns.
Remember, life was hard, brutal and short, and people were far more concerned with what may happen to them through pregnancy, births, illnesses, and so on, all day-to-day occurences - al ripe for someone to invest a coincidence with 'something' which makes the originator appear to have some secret knowledge, and a person to be believed.
Some - like the famous 'ladder' one, are firmly rooted in experience. In medeval times, justice was somewhat more arbitrary, and a lynch mob may throw a ladder against a wall to hold a quick execution. Anyone heading under the ladder could have been seen as inteferring, and may well suffer the same fate - so in that case, the warning not to walk under ladders has a safety basis, which is why it is one of the most remembered, and passed on.
Of course, modern society has no need of portents and omens, so we largely ignore them, but some are passed down to people who know intellectually that there is no truth, but they still 'wonder', and pass the superstitions on.
So, it boils down to ratrional modern thought versus ancient supersitions ominous and porentious times - and we have not entirely outgrown those earlier days.
The reason is simple - everone learns superstitions from their parents or close family while growing up - people whom you subconciously trust to tell you the truth - even when they don;t, and you know they don't. Superstition thirves on fears and ignorance, and in a few generations, they will be gone completely.
Remember, life was hard, brutal and short, and people were far more concerned with what may happen to them through pregnancy, births, illnesses, and so on, all day-to-day occurences - al ripe for someone to invest a coincidence with 'something' which makes the originator appear to have some secret knowledge, and a person to be believed.
Some - like the famous 'ladder' one, are firmly rooted in experience. In medeval times, justice was somewhat more arbitrary, and a lynch mob may throw a ladder against a wall to hold a quick execution. Anyone heading under the ladder could have been seen as inteferring, and may well suffer the same fate - so in that case, the warning not to walk under ladders has a safety basis, which is why it is one of the most remembered, and passed on.
Of course, modern society has no need of portents and omens, so we largely ignore them, but some are passed down to people who know intellectually that there is no truth, but they still 'wonder', and pass the superstitions on.
So, it boils down to ratrional modern thought versus ancient supersitions ominous and porentious times - and we have not entirely outgrown those earlier days.
The reason is simple - everone learns superstitions from their parents or close family while growing up - people whom you subconciously trust to tell you the truth - even when they don;t, and you know they don't. Superstition thirves on fears and ignorance, and in a few generations, they will be gone completely.
andy.... I would agree with all you say if it were not for your last remark..."in a few generations, they will be gone completely".
Superstitions have been around for hundreds of years and it is unlikely that they will disappear in a few generations.
I am interested in the reasoning behind superstitions and can follow the logic behind 'going under a ladder'. Also the one about not picking up a glove which one has dropped, because, in the days when challenges to a duel was a slap across the face with a glove which was then thrown to the ground and to pick it up was an acceptance of what could be fatal.
Ron.
Superstitions have been around for hundreds of years and it is unlikely that they will disappear in a few generations.
I am interested in the reasoning behind superstitions and can follow the logic behind 'going under a ladder'. Also the one about not picking up a glove which one has dropped, because, in the days when challenges to a duel was a slap across the face with a glove which was then thrown to the ground and to pick it up was an acceptance of what could be fatal.
Ron.
We must agree to diagree ron - I possess no supersitions, nor does my wife, and as a result, none of my children posses them either - such is the way forward - and I know i am not alone in not believing them, even though my mum warned me about shoes on tables, ubrellas open indoors, and so on, I simply politely ignored these notions.
I also disagree that superstitions will be gone in a few generations. Some cultures are very superstitious (the Chinese for example) and have been carrying on their beliefs for centuries. I can`t see that changing in any great way. Ancient superstitions might die out but new (personal ones) replace them. How many sports people are superstitious about rituals before important events? Quite a lot. Superstitions are quite often a way for people to feel they have some control while in potentially disastrous situations - seafaring superstitions being one example.
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