Superstitions

Taken from the The Amazing Book of Useless Information by Noel Botham.

This awesomesauce. It's only this one book though, I still have five others. =) 

So basically, what are superstitions? Easy, old wives tales woven into fanciful sentences to give something a mythical aura about them.

Take this for an example: black cats walking under the ladder symbolize bad luck. 

Haha! Some poor sod must have had a bad fall while on a ladder while a car just randomly passed through and somehow associated this with the cat. Hey, it is very natural for people to blame on something when bad things happen.

In essence, we associate some significant events to elemental surroundings. Pretty medieval if you ask me.

Superstitions are fun really but I believe behind it, there are very logical explanations.

Mr.Spock agrees. 

Allow me to take a few from the Amazing Useless Information Book and give my own (logical) interpretation. 

Sedap betul uncle nih tidur...

1. You will have bad luck if you don't get out of the bed the same way you got in. 

Random Reader(that's you): I'm calling bull on this one.

You should. I'm going to use science to explain this one. You see, when the body lays down on the same side for a long period of time, it gets numb and loses sensation temporarily. When relieved, the body goes into a minor pain and the rapid blood flow from the heart to the numb area makes the head a little tipsy. This tipsiness hence makes one in an irritable mood and what does one do when in a bad mood? We find fault on everything and channel our anger on things that has nothing to do with your condition. Your whole day is ruined due to the pain and hence this thing came up. Make sense now?

2. Make a wish should you meet a chimney sweep by chance, it brings good luck.

Random Reader: ...whut?

You see, chimney sweep are often thin scrawny little boys who are small enough to fit in the hole of the chimney to clean our all those soot. And these little boys are expected to do their job secretly like a ninja and make sure they don't bother the house inhabitants with their ruckus. Small children have yet to develop their motor skills and that leads to them sometimes slipping occasionally and dangle in the chimney pod. Therefore, these little ninjas are considered good luck because only very rarely these chimney sweeps slip from their 'workplace'.

  Pictured here: a jackass.

3. It is bad luck to open umbrellas indoors.

Random reader: I dont even...

Haha! Well, it makes sense really, a typical house those days are lighted by oil lamps dangling from ceiling. What happens when the oil lamp falls to the floor. Hint: those days, houses were made of wood. Yup, you guessed it.You can say goodbye to your house. So picture this scenario: you open an umbrella indoors, accidentally hit an oil lamp, it falls on the floor. Oh boy.

Pretty, no? <3

4. All windows should be opened the moment someone dies so their soul can leave.

Random Reader: .....

Right. I will use science to explain this again. You see, a few hours after a person dies, the stomach juices start to digest the body. Yes, we get eaten by our own body. This is what we call natural decomposition process and mark my word, the human rotting flesh gives a foul odor when it's lipids are broken. So to prevent that from happening, why not we take precautionary step and open the window so the stench doesn't waft in the room and save the trouble of making everyone uncomfortable?

Perfectly fitting song from my childhood.

5. Make a wish at the sight of a shooting star.

Random Reader: I have always wanted to know this.

Well you, see. Shooting Stars are just comets. A meteoroids traveling in space in such high speed that one only gets a quick glimpse! This rare phenomena happens only once every 78 years. Yes, that much of a gap. So yes, we can't help but think such a rare occurrence holds such a mystical value to it, solely because it's rare.

6. If you sweep out a room occupied by an unwanted guest, they are not likely to return again.

Random Reader: This might come in handy. Mrs.Moores from across the street is becoming such a pest nowadays.

Haha, this is common sense. When you have a guest, you don't clean the house or make a fuss in the room. You want the guest to feel as welcome as possible. When you sweep, clean or dust in front of a guest it shows disrespect of the highest form. It's as if you're pretending they're not there and continue to go about your business. This makes the guest uncomfortable, making them think they have come in at the wrong time and would think twice before visiting again, eventually not coming at all.

7. Itchy left palm, money coming in. Itchy right palm, money goes out. 

Random Reader: My head just exploded.

Well, this is one superstition I will agree upon because it has happened to me countless times and so far I have never been wrong. So yeah, I'm letting this one off the hook.

 

8. Starting a trip on a Friday will be met with misfortune.

Random Reader: Well, that sucks. 

No, no, it makes perfect sense. After a long and tiring weekend, we want to unwind and rest. Many people make trips in the weekend. Like-minded people on the road with the same intention begs one to want to hurry up and reach their destined holiday area. When people are impatient whilst driving, what happens? Car accidents on various fatality degrees. Therefore, it makes a lot of sense to NOT be out and about in the road in the weekends.

A-choom!

9. Place a hand over your mouth while sneezing.

Random Reader: Well, that's a given-

Shush! I'm the one telling stories here! *ahems* . You see, when you sneeze, millions of microbes and bacteria will shoot as fast as 160km per hour. If sneeze uncovered, you will risk infect others with your sickness and oh that's just rude and disgusting. I DON'T WANT your saliva on my body!

10. Leaving the house by a different door than the one you used on entry brings bad luck.

Random Readers: This requires some explanation.

You see in my culture, people enter from the back door after coming back from a funeral. Why? Because front house entry is said to bring good luck and entry from the backdoor is said to leave bad luck outside the house. So funeral is considered a bad luck so we leave the bad luck 'outside' of the house by entering through the back door. Simply put, front door = welcome, back door = not welcome. =)

Right, this ends here because my head hurts from thinking all those (logical) explanations explanations.

Stay and read the rest of the blog, you scum.

Random Reader: OK! OK! Just don't kill me. T^T