The Baboon Congress

Nervous About Numbers

55 Comments
Header photo by Dave Bleasdale on Flickr/Creative Commons 2.0
Today’s post comes from tim
The fear of the number 13 has been given a scientific name: “triskaidekaphobia“; and on analogy to this the fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskevidekatriaphobia, from the Greek words Paraskeví (Παρασκευή, meaning “Friday“), and dekatreís (δεκατρείς, meaning “thirteen”)

way back when dale was first looking for a guest blogger or two when he was going to be away i was assigned was friday the 13th as my date and dale suggested that i do a friday the 13th blog to go with it.

i was thinking i had something else important to say so i used another topic and figured someone would get to it soon.  i didnt and while it surprised me that a couple of friday the 13th’s a year have come and gone without a blog on it, it remains a model of the trail that the stuff we have at our fingertips is what we discuss.
friday the 13th is a day of infamy that comes around on average 2 times a year. it is a day to avoid. i have canceled flights changed plans and done things differently when i realize that friday the 13th is where it is falling. i am funny with numbers.
666 is an automatic no no, i will run like a white tailed deer when i hear the number. i have a guy in new jersey who is a drummer who is a picky picky picky hat guy who has a phone number with 666 in it. it is less obvious  that some others it is a number where the first 3 numbers end in a 6 and then the first 2 on the last 4 are 66 so i guess it is possible that he really never did notice but wow… how could you not? i admit it i am superstitious. i will not walk under a ladder step on a crack or allow 666 in my life. (by the way, he never buys a hat he just makes me answer questions in detail and then decided he really didnt want to spend that much money anyway.)
i had a drivers license issued back whenever it was that minnesota handed out new numbers that had 666 right smack dab in the middle of it. i went to get it changed and was told it could not be done. i stayed on the phone talking to supervisor after supervisor until i got one who said they understood and would deal with it. i hung up the phone feeling better but when i checked back in months later i discovered that nothing had been done or would be done. i went in search of an answer and found one that i plugged in right away. it took over a year to rid myself of the dreaded 666 in my wallet but it is done now.
all worthwhile things take time. if you want to get a deal on your airplane tickets or find shorter lines and the popular restaurants try making a reservation on friday the 13th.
where do you stand on superstition and hows it working out for you?

55 thoughts on “Nervous About Numbers”

  1. Morning all. I won’t walk under a ladder either, but not because I’m superstitious but because it doesn’t seem very safe to walk under a ladder!

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    1. I can’t think of a single instance in my life where whether or not to walk under a ladder was a choice I had to make, where the underside of a ladder stood between where I was and where I needed to go. It’s a good policy in principle, but abstract. Likewise, I never stand under dangling grand pianos or anvils.

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      3. Well, Bill, I cannot resist. Next time I see you, I will pull out an anvil and piano from my pocket to dangle over your head, then I will closely observe your reactions!

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  2. Rise and Shine Baboons! (she admonishess, sitting at the foot of the Superstition Mountains in AZ)

    I am disinterested when it comes to superstitions. Usually. I gotta say, though, I don’t fly on Friday the 13th. I also don’t think the airlines have evidence of danger on those days.

    However, I am not interested enough in superstitions to notice Friday the 13th is happening, then pen a blog about it. (thanks tim). I am with VS about walking under ladders–seems dangerous to me. I notice black cats, but I think they are pretty. Having broken a few mirrors, I tracked my luck thereafter, and found the same old, same old luck as ever.

    In grade school, my peers were carrying rabbits’ feet for good luck. All I could think about was the rabbits without feet. Eeow. Compared to limping rabbits, “good luck” seemed silly.

    But then, in my childhood, I walked all over town chanting,
    “Step on a crack,
    break your mother’s back
    Step on a hole,
    break the sugar bowl.”

    I really seemed unduly pre-occupied with that one, especially when I was mad at my Mom (a lot!) and stomped on every crack and hole available. Then I would rush home and check on Mom’s back and the sugar bowl. Both were always fine.

    The last election was held on a Tuesday. The results were worthy of Friday the 13th.

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  3. OK, I just snorted my tea! I looked at the calendar so I could record my office voicemail and realized that we’re talking about superstitions because TODAY is Friday the 13th. I didn’t have a clue. Doh.

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  4. Tim, I’m surprised a smart guy like you is so nervous about numbers, but there you go. Everyone’s different. Like Jacque, I don’t put much stock in most superstitions and never noticed any different luck in my life.
    However, one must never say the word “Macbeth” in a theater as that is decidedly bad luck and has been proven true. Theater folks always refer to *that play* as the “Scottish Tragedy” or something similar. Weird things happen when that play is produced and that’s just a fact. 🙂

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    1. Matter of fact, we’re in rehearsals for Macbeth at the college.
      So far, so good with all the cast and me.
      I feel it’s OK to say Macbeth when used in actual context of the play.
      Another theater in town did the play many years ago and yes… there was a few accidents. Or ‘accidents’… but I can’t honestly say they were related or coincidence.
      We open in February so I’ll keep you informed.

      I walk under ladders often. Sometimes standing under a step ladder is simply the best place from which to carry it.

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  6. Not into superstition at all, other than acknowledging the “possibility” of certain superstitions coming into play on the golf course. Even then, I usually mention them in jest. The big one is “Don’t count the money.” That means never assume you’ve won the hole, the match, or the bet before the last shot is holed by all players. But I think that superstition’s accuracy is more a product of random chance (all golfers hit the occasional great shot) combined with mind over matter (If you think you’re going to make a good/bad shot, you probably will.)

    Chris in Owatonna

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    1. Chris – your answer makes me realize that I guess I do have an area where I adhere to a superstition – it’s that old adage “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.” This is one I take to heart.

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      2. I should correct myself. The way we say it on my golf course is “Don’t TOUCH the money.” Some players actually go into a mild panic when anyone brags about a certain shot that might possibly win the hole or match. Pretty funny sometimes.

        But yes, VS, it’s pretty much the same as “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.” 🙂

        C in O

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  7. Not one I can think of.
    Walked under ladders many times. Hard to avoid when constructing or Demoing. But one does not do it when some one is on the ladder. They might have a Bill in their hand and drop him.
    As a child was afraid to say or even think about what I wanted for fear it would jinx it. Later found out this is a common Jewish superstition. I am not sure from where I got it. Dropped it long ago.
    My mother spouted them as a joke and flaunted them. She knew s many domesticate ones. Drop a dish rag and company will come, well, no I thing it means they are coming, not causing it.

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      3. A friend just emailed this to me:
        February has 4 Sundays, 4 Mondays, 4 Tuesdays, 4 Wednesdays, 4 Thursdays, and 4 Saturdays. This only happens once every 823 years. This has gotta mean something, doesn’t it?

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        1. Bad idea. The towing service could have refused to take his payment in pennies. He would have had to pick them all up and still wouldn’t have retrieved his car.

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  9. I used to scoff at superstitions, then I bought a “lucky fishing cap” that turned out to be cursed. When I figured out how totally toxic that cap was I took it off and fled. Guess what? I left the cursed cap in the basement of my bungalow when I moved to Oregon because I wasn’t gonna touch it long enough to throw it away. Guess what again? The evil mendacious troll who bought my bungalow demolished it. Cap and all.

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  10. I love Friday the 13th, my husband and I had our first date on that day and we have been married nearly 35 years. I also have a few other good things on that day, but won’t elaborate. By the way as for a penny and it’s value. Pick them up, the US spends far too much each year to replace the ones that people throw out because they have no individual value. At one point it was not million but billion in cost to remint, so pick them all up and put them back into circulation to save us a few $$$. Happy Friday the 13th to all, may those of you searching find your true love today!!

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    1. Congrats on your first date anniversary!! Do you still celebrate your first date anniversary?

      Agree about the pennies. We really should discontinue them – they actually cost more to produce than they are worth.

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  11. I stayed in several hotels in Japan that didn`t have floors 4 or 13. (four is bad luck in Japan- I think the word sounds like death in Japanese but don`t quote me, that could be completely wrong)

    I will change directions if it looks like a black cat is about to cross my path. I can`t help it. It`s a completely involuntary reaction.

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  13. Funny, tim, especially about the license plate. How do you feel about 2s? – our old phone number was 522-2822, and then our zip code was 55422… I’ve wondered if that had any significance.

    I’ve read somewhere that the number 13 originally was considered lucky… I think it’s hilarious that some buildings don’t have a floor called 13 – come on people, there is a 13th floor, but it’s called 14.

    I like to think I don’t believe any of the common superstitions, but then will hear myself say not to wash the car because it’ll rain.

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  16. I’m either to airheaded or dyslexic to notice Fridays on the 13th, buildings without that floor etc.
    Einstein quote…”Scientific research can reduce superstition by encouraging people to think and view things in terms of cause and effect.”
    I’m not sure I understand, but it sounds good to me…I will, no doubt, continue to not notice Fridays on the 13th…😳😱🙃

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  17. A friend just emailed this to me:
    February has 4 Sundays, 4 Mondays, 4 Tuesdays, 4 Wednesdays, 4 Thursdays, and 4 Saturdays. This only happens once every 823 years. This has gotta mean something, doesn’t it?

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      1. YES.

        VS is right. All it means is that it’s not leap year. And it happens a lot more often than every 823 years (like every year that it’s not leap year – 3 out of every 4 years). So, CB, you might want to check why your friend is so amazed by this.

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  18. I’m a baseball fan, particularly a mn. twins fan. so I have some superstitions. Like if a pitcher on your team is throwing a no-hitter, don’t say that they’re throwing a no-hitter because it will jinx it. And sometimes, if I watch a game, that means the twins will lose, so I better not watch. So you would think that when the regular tv stations stopped broadcasting the twins’ games on sundays, thus cutting my only time to watch them, they would start winning more. Take a look at the Twins’ record the past few years and you can see how well that worked out. I haven’t been able to test the no-hitter jinx thing either, since most of the pitchers this past season would give up at least one hit in the first inning before I could even think of the possibility of a no-hitter.

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