Friday the 13th and Other Superstitions

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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC, and we will end today with a little 10-minute Friday the 13th call-in on the question, what's a superstition that you don't actually believe in but you live by it anyway? What's a superstition that you don't actually believe in, but you live by it anyway? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. Call or text. I don't believe in any superstitions, but I have one I abide by anyway. I'll share it in a minute. Think about some of the things like this out there in the world. How many buildings don't have a 13th floor? Do you think architects and developers, really a lot of them think it would be bad luck for someone to live there or work there? No, but maybe in that case it's about property values because other people who don't actually believe it's bad luck won't want to live or rent there. Maybe they could offer a 13th floor discount. What about for you? Would you live on the 13th floor? What's a superstition that you don't actually believe in but you live by it anyway? That's the question. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. Call or text.

Few people I know contributed ones knowing I was going to do this today. One person wrote, "The one that I find myself doing, I have no idea really why or where I learned it, is you kiss your hand and tap the roof of the car if you're driving and you go through a yellow light. I think it's a tiny wish for good luck," they wrote. Someone else, "Ever since watching Drugstore Cowboy, in which the superstition against a hat on a bed plays a part and does lead to death, I found myself avoiding that. I'd never heard of it until the movie, but I guess it's a thing," writes that person.

Listeners, what about you? What's a superstition that you don't actually believe in on this Friday the 13th, but you live by it anyway? Mine is that I shouldn't say out loud that I almost made it safely somewhere or sometimes to say, "See you tomorrow." You've probably never heard me say, "Talk to you tomorrow," at the end of the show, because I almost never say it. I don't really believe it's bad luck, but somewhere in a weird corner of my brain, I think I'm jinxing myself if I say that and something might happen to me between now and tomorrow if I'm so cavalier about my existence that I make that assumption.

Similar one is that I rarely will say things like, "I almost made it through flu season." I won't say that out loud much. What about yours? 212-433-WNYC, your Friday the 13th superstitions that you don't believe in, but you abide by them anyway. We'll take your calls and text right after this.

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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Okay, now to your Friday the 13th superstitions that you don't believe in, but you live by them anyway. We're getting so many and so many that I never heard of. We'll start with a text listener wrote, "When I spill salt, I always throw some over my shoulder." Here is Elise in Mineola. Hi, Elise, you're on WNYC.

Elise: Hi, Brian. How are you today?

Brian Lehrer: Good. What's your superstition that you don't believe, but you live by it anyway?

Elise: I think a lot of us do. I cannot bring myself to buy anything for a baby before he or she is born. Baby showers, can't do them. I can't do it.

Brian Lehrer: You wouldn't give the gift or you wouldn't even buy it?

Elise: I can't do either. If I need to go to the shower for whatever reason, I'll go, I'll bring a card wishing them all the luck in the world and let them know that a beautiful gift's coming when the baby comes.

Brian Lehrer: I know there are a lot of you out there who feel the same way or at least act the same way. Alba in Westfield, you're on WNYC. Hi. What's yours?

Alba: I have two, actually. One of them is that you don't cut your nails at nighttime because my entire life I've been told that something bad will come of it. Then the second one is that you don't wear the same clothes that you are wearing during the day because you'll have bad dreams.

Brian Lehrer: Alba, thank you very much. Anita in Park Slope, you're on WNYC. What's yours?

Anita: Hi. I almost tried to never open an umbrella indoors.

Brian Lehrer: Does it rain a lot in your house?

Anita: Which can be a problem because-

Brian Lehrer: Yes, go ahead.

Anita: Excuse me?

Brian Lehrer: No, I was just asking if it rains a lot in your home. I'm just joking.

Anita: No. Which can be a problem because if I go to a store to buy an umbrella, I want to test it, but I will never do that.

Brian Lehrer: Wow. Anita, thank you very much. David in Hopewell, you're on WNYC. Hi, David. What's yours?

David: Hi, Brian. Scary day today, the 13th. If you see a coin on the ground and it's tailed, don't pick it up, look away. Very bad karma associated with that.

Brian Lehrer: Oh, really? Interesting. Thank you very much. The sports world and theater world have a lot of these. Apparently a common theater one I've heard is that you never say, "Macbeth," out loud in a theater unless it's in dialogue during a rehearsal or a show. It's bad luck and will curse the whole production. People say you only refer to it as the Scottish play. I've seen this on Reddit and a few other places. Let's see. Jeanette in Manhattan, you're on WNYC. Hi, Jeanette. What's yours?

Jeanette: Oh, my gosh. Walking underneath a ladder. Don't do it.

Brian Lehrer: Really? That's such a classic one.

Jeanette: Something could fall on you, and especially in New York City, the ladders underneath all that scaffolding, the whole scaffolding could come down.

Brian Lehrer: That's a pragmatic concern about infrastructure. That's not a superstition, right?

Jeanette: Oh, no, that's my superstition.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you very much. Let's see. Oh, here's an EMT, a paramedic who has one similar to mine. "As an EMT or paramedic-" person writes, "You never say, 'It's quiet out there.'" I don't say, "Oh, I almost got through flu season and I didn't get the flu." Who else? Stephanie in Manhattan, you're on WNYC. Hi, Stephanie.

Stephanie: Hi. I'm a physician and I agree with the EMT, but mine is that I never put my purse or handbag on the ground because I could lose money, not lose money, but I will have the misfortune of not having money in the future.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you very much. Listener writes, "Sakti from Brooklyn. There's a superstition in the airline crew community. We always tap the aircraft we're about to work on before we enter the aircraft we're about to work on every single flight," writes that person who works in the airline industry. Let's see. Melissa in Stamford. I think it's going to be the last one. Melissa, you're on WNYC. What's yours?

Melissa: Mine has to do with feng shui. Hi, Brian.

Brian Lehrer: Hi.

Melissa: There's of course, the bed one. You always put your head north, but there's also the one where always close the top of the toilet because if you don't, then money goes down the drain. I follow people around the house and I'm like, "Make sure you close the top of the toilet or else we're going to lose money."

Brian Lehrer: Melissa, thank you very much. All right. We could have done this for longer based on what's still coming in, but thank you for your Friday the 13th superstitions that you don't believe in, but you live by them anyway. Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Talk to you Monday. There, I did it. Stay tuned for Alison.

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