Belief(s)

[Daemon99]

Do you have any strange/funny belief(s), rational or irrational, in your society/country?

I have many in my country. For example, people don't start a journey when some one sneezes just before going out. It's not considered good when a cat crosses your path. It's not considered good to involve in financial transactions on a Friday.

What made me ask this question is a movie I saw a couple of days ago. It's based on a superstition that's prevalent in a village.

A young man gets a high fever which couldn't be cured by normal medicine. A witch doctor says that it's a fever that's caused when a man romances a woman older than him.

The medicine for such a fever is blood from the thigh of that woman. Some of the educated people in the village shrug it off saying that it's a superstition.

But the young man's parents want to give it a try. They suspect a woman and convince her to give her blood. They give it to their son, and the young man is immediately cured.

Creepy, ain't it?
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Non-native speaker of English
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I intend to live forever - so far, so good.

[Ralf]

Hi deamon,

Where are you from?
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[NinaZara]

I practically grew up with A LOT of superstitions.

I'm even on one right now. I am wearing a ring that is suppose to prevent me from becoming a spinster. In my family, if a younger sister gets married before I do, the family from the groom has to give me a ring, partly to compensate me for getting married before I do.

In older days, I think the younger sisters must wait until the older ones get married so I think people came around with this idea because the custom is so darn incovenient.

Another sister just got married in February, and I just got a new ring. Seriously I don't mind this superstition. The only thing I regret is they never listen to me when I said I want it with at least a 5 carat diamond.

Yeah right, who am I kidding?

[Daemon99]

Ralf,

I am from India.

NinaZara,

If you had 10 younger sisters and all of them got married before you did, would you get 10 rings? (just kidding)
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Non-native speaker of English
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I intend to live forever - so far, so good.

[NinaZara]

I doubt it. By the third or fourth time, I'd put some sense into them that what ever measures they are trying to take isn't just working.

On second thought...I might as well play along and tell them that maybe they should give me rings with bigger stones to make the charm/formula works.

[NinaZara]

Oh yes, a famous one in every part of Malaysia is if a girl sings in the kitchen while cooking or doing the dishes, she'll marry an old man. My mother always used this one on me.

[Prezbucky]

some of the traditions in the USA:

- Don't work on Sunday (mildly followed these days, generally)
- Don't walk/stand over/on a person's grave
- Don't close your eyes while driving, aside from normal blinking
- Don't mix the colors with the whites (laundry)
- Don't spit into the wind
- Don't trust used-car salesmen (sorry, salespersons/salespeople)
- Don't trust lawyers
- Don't trust politicians
- Don't "stick" your tongue to metal -- outdoors -- during the winter (in cold climates; yes, pun intended)
- Don't yell "fire" in a movie theater
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Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[Prezbucky]

The third one is a joke, of course (probably everyone follows that one. lol)
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Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[Prezbucky]

LOL, Nina, did your mom's yarn (about marrying an old man if you sang in the kitchen) work?
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Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[NinaZara]

[Prezbucky]

nooooooo... i mean your mom said that to discourage you from singing in the kitchen, thinking that if she made you think about old men, that thought process would bring your spirits down (yuck!) and bring the singing to an end.


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Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[NinaZara]

Well, it did. For a while, a minute maybe. Then I started singing again.

That was then, now she knows better. Because I'll sing louder.

[Prezbucky]

that shows your ability to bounce back from setbacks (whether mental or physical) ... and your independent spirit.

both are good attributes, imo. (maybe "good" is redundant here. Is there such a thing as a bad attribute?)


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Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[Lost_Soul]

Don't light three on a match. (a good one)
Don't walk under a ladder.

[Lost_Soul]