Hello everyone,

kind of following the cultural superstitions thread, are there any individual habits/rituals/opinions you have?

For example, I have this elaborate number thing with 12 and 7 (those being the day and month of my birth) by which it was so typical that I got 12 points in my exam yesterday and 1.7 for my Abitur overall.
Also, I'm kind of apprehensive about going to Cardiff University (if they accept me now, that is) because I've never lived in a city that hasn't started with a B.

Maybe I'm just strange, but do feel free to add your own if you have any.
Charlotte

Stupid me, just saw that I misread - it's cultural supersitions of course, not cultural superstitions, silly me. Well, then this is a totally new thread.

Yup I have loads They are all immensely stupid

I'm not a particularly anti-13 person, but I refuse to have 13 songs on my mp3 player

If I bang my elbow, I have to casually bang the other one too. If I turn on the spot spot or spin something one way I have to turn/spin it the other way to balance things out.

I can't play Hisaishi's Summer before an exam or I'll fail.

I used to, lower down the school have a thing about drawing smiley faces in the corners of exam papers. I HAD to put an odd number of smiley faces (none on the top left corner) on an odd number of pages of the paper, and on pages that I didn't like. Weirdly enough, I got really good marks for all the ones I did that for. This habit lasted from about year 7 to midway through year 10

Mine is the same as CPPF's. If someone touches me say, on my arm, I have to touch the other arm in exactly the same place otherwise it just feels weird.

And ALWAYS before I play my horn, I empty out every single tuning slide just in case there's a tiny bit of water in there. This is annoying, because usually there isn't.

If someone starts walking on one side of me, they can't change sides. UNLESS we cross a road and they distract me to the point that I've forgotten which side I was to start off with OR we stop and I forget which side I'm on.

If I'm laying out glasses at work for them to be washed, they all have to be upside down or the right way up, they can't be a mixture

I touch wood quite a lot and make everyone who's near me do it too, even if they weren't involved!

If I go to a different room in the house when it's dark and there's no lights on, I have to check over my shoulder when I leave the room, and when I get to my door. It's the same in other people's houses too

Similarly when I go to the toilet, the shower curtain can't be pulled over the bath, I have to be able to see behind it (although that's coz I jumped out and scared my brother one day about 10 years ago, and I'm still worried he'll do it to me!)

If I set an alarm clock, my Dad has to check it, I won't ever let my mum check it. And with him watching, I have to set it twice, then when he's not watching, I check it 4 times - and when I'm at uni, I either get my friends to chck it, (one of which is v good and patient!) or I'll ring my dad up and tell him what I'm doing over the phone!

There's more, but you'll all think I'm a freak if I carry on!

I do that as well! Especially when its silent, and ESPECIALLY when I'm doing my teeth. I have a horrible fear of people being behind me.

Its the same that I can't actually work or type at the PC if there is somebody walking or standing behind me.



Choddy: Woo, glad someone knows what I mean!

me too!

Haha I do that too! If someone switches sides, I say "No you're supposed to be on the right hand side." Or vice versa.

Oh, and when I'm in the house alone, and in the bathroom, I always lock the door. In fact, I shut all the curtains and lock all the external doors and have my TV on really quiet so I can hear if anyone is outside my room.

They don't even get told which side they need to walk on, I usually just grab their arm, move them across and say "wrong side!"

And a really annoying thing. When my dad comes down for breakfast in the morning, he opens the fridge to get the milk out, and leaves it open while he's walking around the kitchen. I always shut it and he moans. And he has an obsession with opening curtains so that the sun blinds me while I'm eating. AND the first thing he does when he gets downstairs is put Radio 3 on. I was there first!!

Yeah, it's the whole symmetry thing, you have to have your body feeling equal right and left... as I'm one of the clumsiest people imaginable, I'm always grazing my hands and legs and stuff, so I always have to accidentally scratch the other leg or hand and sometimes I end up with symmetrical cuts or bruises without realising it!

Especially when I'm doing coursework! My dad gets annoyed because all he's trying to do is walk and I scream and stop until he passes by and sits down coz I can't work!!



Oboemeister- yeah, symmetry sounds about right....i swear my bruises are always like that too

I do that loads as well. One other thing I do is I have to touch this particular tree on the way home from school, even though it involves crossing the street and then crossing back over again . I've been doing that for years, and it started when we still living on the other side of the street.

I remember when I was little where I would touch everything I see in the supermarket. I would pick up fruit and put it down but I had to do the same thing with the other hand.

Yes, I don't like touching metal on trolleys, and I hate touching peaches.

I cant work on the computer if anyone is stodd behind me.
I cant look in the mirror when i brush my teeth because im always afraid ill see someone or something behind me.
And I absolutlely cannot stand even the thought of having cotton wool (or any other fabric, but that is the worst) im my mouth, even the thought of it gives me goosebumps.
When im walking to school I always get a shiver down my spine at exactly the place everyday for the last 5 years hmmmmmmmm

I never touch metal if I don't have to because I'm scared I'll get a little static shock.

Ditto - the thought of it makes me shudder and squirm.

Also I can't stand it if I don't peel a raw carrot, then I eat it and get a tiny stone or clump of soil between my teeth - similarly sand, grissle, fat, etc. It makes me wretch.

My ex best friend used to insist I avoided walking on a row of 3 grids in the pavement, if you accidentally walk across them, you have to retrace your steps backwards and then walk round it! Old habits die hard eh!

when i'm peeling an orange, i have to peel the skin in one go so that theres only one bit otherwise i can't eat it.
I can't walk over writing at all
if i bite one of my nails of by accident, i have to say nail 100 times. ( i started this when i was about 5 and trying to stop biting my nails!)
I can't sleep if theres a tiny bit of light coming in through a gap in the curtains or something or if there's a noise like a ticking clock.
i still never step on cracks on the pavement and when i'm walking with someone i always try and get our feet to move at the same time!

I'm afraid of looking into a mirror in the dark. Somehow just seeing my shadow scares me!

Shadow??

Often when I am in my room I have to look all around me to check there is noone behind me -although that could be because my parents have a habit of entering my room without knocking.

I keep checking that my phone is in range in my room (even when I'm not expecting a phone call or message) just in case I have one.

People seem to think that my family has a curse on the age of 26. My grandfather, uncle and great-uncle all died at the age of 26.

I used to refuse to walk on concrete in bare feet or in the case of when at school at all.

Everytime I show my work to teachers or receive any results,
I've to cross my fingers.
I don't know whether it helps or not, but my results have always been quite okay. :-x

Well, you know, not literally shadow, just dark shape/outline. Scary!

Goodness, I used to be like that too and I just thought I was really weird. I've pretty much gotten over it though. Glad to know I'm not the only one!

When I wash my eye makeup off I get a little creeped out because I'm afraid something will happen and I'll have to open my eyes but I won't be able to see because I'll get soap in them!

Mirrors scare me sometimes when I'm alone. Especially if I've just seen a scary movie...

When I brush smoething, I have to scratch it. It works to the degree that if someone brushes something, it can sometimes really annoy me if they don't scratch it. I can get quite agitated at it.

And, of course, seven is an absolutely fantastic number...

3 is my favorite number. I'm not sure exactly why. I think it's partly because if you write "3" backwards it looks like "E" which is my initial.

That general thing does numerous things in the world of mathematics. Especially in group theory...