Avoiding walking under ladders is the top UK superstition, according to a recent OnePoll survey of 1000 UK adults. Whilst this superstition seems quite logical, the top ten list contained some far more irrational superstitions, proving that even in this modern day and age, weird and wonderful superstitions live on.
The infamously unlucky number 13 came in at just 10th in the top ten list, with breaking a mirror, avoiding opening umbrellas indoors and touching wood being more commonly believed superstitions. Indeed, last week’s third Friday 13th of the year probably went unnoticed by many, as 72% of people said that the supposedly unluckiest day would not affect their plans. However, there are certainly some hard-core Friday 13th fearers among us, as 1 in 20 said they wouldn’t even leave the house on the day!
Lucky emblems and rituals don’t seem to be so popular with UK adults, with just over a quarter claiming to have a lucky number, but only 7.3% having any lucky rituals, and 6.2% having a lucky pair of underwear!
Many of our most commonly held superstitions are hundreds, if not thousands of years old – the fear of walking under a ladder, for example, originated in ancient Egypt. Despite this, 18-24 year olds were actually the most superstitious of those surveyed, suggesting that these ancient superstitions are not likely to die out any time soon.
Although 4 in 10 of those polled said they felt superstitions are stupid, perhaps they should have second thoughts – as people describing themselves as superstitious were two thirds more likely to say they were lucky. Amazingly, a quarter of those polled even said they have seen a superstition come true, and 1 in 10 see superstitions come true ‘almost everytime’! So who knows, maybe we should all be a bit more careful to adhere to superstitions, and don’t make any plans for Friday 13th September 2013, it might not be your lucky day…
Are you superstitious? Or do you think it’s all a load of codswallop? Have your say below….
For a copy of the full report – please contact OnePoll info
Inthink that superstition is all in the mind and conditioning with no foundation in fact at allk!