August 13, 2025 • 25 mins
Very superstitious, ladders 'bout to fall. René and Shawn explore a few of the most common superstitions.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Welcome to another Curveball production. We are getting close to Halloween. Okay,
at least that's what Target tells.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Us, right, we are a couple of months from Halloween,
but yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
The stuff's out there, and with Halloween comes Fall, very
much so, and for us up here, it's also football season.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
That makes me happy.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Yes, we just we watched the first preseason game today.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Seriously, though, and I don't think that this is like
fashionable or trendy. Don't you think fall is just superb?
I mean, have you ever met somebody who says I
hate Fall.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
I don't think I have.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Even if you're not a pumpkin spice person, correct, you
can get behind the cool, crisp weather and walks outside,
and even if you're not a football fan, I think
it was I think.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
It's well documented on our podcast that we are big
fans of fall.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
We are. We watched our summer although honestly, I'm I'm
getting exhausted of the humidity.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Yeah, it's it's been a little brutal lately.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
But as our listeners know, I did get that new
AC unit back in May, so we are recording in comfort.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
And you know, part of getting into Fall. I think
We've discussed about this as well. From a sports perspective.
We're Twins fans. We like go to Twins games. We
went to one last night, and even though the Twins
are out of it and they sold off their players,
there was a new batch, new crop of players that
were playing, and there's some energy and it was fun.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
It was actually a very entertaining game. But for the humidity. Yes,
And Tanner said, and I didn't tell you this, but
I'll tell you this now. Tanner went with us to
the game and he said, I think that last night's
game was the hottest Twins game I've ever been to
from a comfortability standpoint. And he equates it to the
(02:06):
coldest football game at lambeau Field when he went to
see the Vikings play by Packers. Those are the bookends
for hot and cold for sporting.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Of that, that's that, and that is quite accurate.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
The due point was like seventy six. And I know
we've talked a lot about feels like temperature, but it
was just gross.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
We had decent seats that we didn't really sit in
because it was just it was just you couldn't do it.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
We did meet some lovely people from Milwaukee.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Oh yeah, it was. We had fun.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
It was a good time. But that's not what this
podcast is about. I hijacked it. I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
We no, Yes, What I was getting at before that
was how we've always kind of we've discussed about how
we're a big fan of sports in Minnesota because we look, look,
we like our teams to be relevant until the next
team takes over. The Twins are falling a little short
of being relevant up until football season. But there's all
(03:00):
being fun, but it is football season. And one of
the things that comes about when you watch football with
me and with my boys are superstitions.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
I think that's true with a lot of sports fans.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Very much so. It's the sports are rife with superstitions.
Uh Noah is a specific to some his own superstitions.
The jersey's gotta be worn all the time, if he
if the if they play well, he has to sit
in the same spot every game.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
And it's just it's really unnerving at the beginning of
the season to watch football with you guys, because I'm
always nervous that I will be present for a loss
or a particularly bad game and then be voted off
the island for the rest of the season.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
It's either you would either be voted off the island
or if you were going to watch it with us,
it need to be in a different venue, right, and
then we can redo it and then we start to
piece it together. Okay, maybe was it you? Maybe perhaps
it was where we were watching.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Because we have that kind of power we do.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
We have it's an incredible ability that the ability we
have for evil in sports not necessarily good.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
But we doesn't say evil, that sounds terrible.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
It's superstitions fair so it's evil.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
So back to superstitions.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
So we so then we got to put our brains
together and said, you know what, there's a lot of
superstitions out there that we just don't know why they're superstitions,
how they came about, what's the origin of them. And
so we decided, you know what, let's look into some
of the some of the superstitions that are more general,
kind of talk about individual superstitions that we have.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Does your family have a lot of superstitions?
Speaker 1 (04:47):
I don't know that they do. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
I think some families think it's sort of sacrilegious. My
family does not. I mean, they don't think it's sacrilegious.
We have all sorts of superstitions, right, and my brother
and I work together again, so that has been pretty
funny because growing up in the same home we have,
we share some of the same superstitious belief superstitions.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Okay, such as well.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
We're jumping ahead, but the opening an umbrella indoor. We
were at a like a meet and greet when we
purchased the company he was working at, and as we
were walking outside during the rain, one of our colleagues
opened her umbrella indoors and as she started to do it,
my brother and I it was like a slow motion
of event of us trying to reach for her umbrella
(05:34):
and tell her, and we both were like no and
tried to get her to not open the umbrella, and
she thought we were nuts, and we probably are, but
my dad is like super superstitious about the umbrella thing,
and so we just do for starters. Why open an
umbrella inside? Now you have to try and navigate that
thing through a door. And what I think we found
(05:55):
out when we did our preparation for this podcast is
back in the day, the reason opening an umbrella indoor
became a thing was because that really stiff springs and
it could cause an injury to somebody near you. There's
another theory that the inside home spirits might find it
to be offensive if you brought an outdoor object inside.
(06:18):
But I'm guessing, like a lot of superstitions, they're based
in a grain of truth. So if you could injure
somebody by opening an umbrella indoor, that would be considered
bad luck.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
That goes right into the superstition of walking under.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
An ladder, right right, exactly, another great one.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
And that goes back the superstition I guess goes back
to ancient Egypt. Yes, where the Egyptians had an affinity
to the triangle. And if you had a ladder up
against the wall, it forms a natural triangle. If you
were to walk underneath that ladder, you would break that triangle.
(06:58):
You would pierce the triangle.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Well, bad luck, yep, So you're interrupting that energy.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Yes, Now again it comes to the practical part of
it is you know something might just be on the
ladder and it might fall on you you're walking there.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
To the umbrella situation, I so I am. When I
was when I was a kid, I bought into these
superstitions a little bit more because my parents were like,
don't walk under a ladder. I really don't know if
at that moment it was superstitious or if it was
for my own safety. But as I've gotten older, I've
even started to open an umbrella inside, like inside my car,
(07:35):
and I've had this like argument with myself in my car,
like is this considered inside or am I outside? Am
I breaking some rule? Am I risking certain doom because
I'm trying to get it open as I'm getting out
of the car? Am I cutting this too close? But
I think it's important that we talk about, like what
the definition of a superstition is before we get too far?
(07:55):
Fair enough, backtrack, backtrack. So basically, it's the belief or
practice ba based on fear, coincidence, or magical thinking. But
like we've discovered a lot of it's rooted in a
grain of truth somewhere back in history.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Right and and because there is some some mythics parts
to it, there's some truth to it. I think a
lot of us, even if we don't consider ourselves superstition superstitious,
if we walk, when we walk through some of these things,
I bet you a lot of our listeners will still
go yeah, I'm still kind of avoid those things, right,
(08:31):
just because well.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
I mean, think about it, most buildings don't have a
thirteenth floor, right, right, Yeah, So I mean they're more
embedded in our society and in our norms than we
want to admit. And I do think it's that just
in case mentality. It's like, look, you know what, why
take chances?
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Right? I mean getting back to the evil concept. There's
a series on unfortunately its own last and four seasons
really good. It's called Evil Oh, and it's about out
of the psychological side of things versus the spiritual side
of things and are there demons and are demons real
(09:10):
or are they or psychological aspect to them? Really good show.
How the the the way it's usually starts out is
when they roll their credits at the bottom of the screen,
there will be a little, uh, a little subtitle and
it will say if you skip these opening credits, because
you know, when you're watching TV on demand now you
(09:32):
can skip the opening credits. It'll come up there say
if you skip this, this will happen to you, and
it'll just name off something that'll nothing terrible, but I
just camels yes, yes, something similar to that. And one
of them said, uh, just don't even think about skipping it.
Do you want to take that chance? And that's true
(09:55):
because I was watching it. That's and I find it funny.
But I never skip the open credits of that show
simply because I don't want to take the chance, even
though I know nothing's gonna happen.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Well, and I get nervous when I'm around people who
are reckless with superstitions like that, though, you know, like
if I see that, I'm really annoyed. And here's here's
the difference between you and I. I'm done watching that show.
You're not gonna mess with the juju of the world
and threaten me to watch your show, I'm done, okay.
But if I'm next to you and you're like, oh,
it's fine skip now, I'm like, that's like when somebody
(10:30):
says something like kind of well sacrilegious, and I'm like, okay,
I'm gonna step over here, so when that bolt of
lightning comes down, I'm not hit Like I do not
agree or identify with whatever you just said. So it
is kind of interesting. But a lot of people and
I do this all the time, which is super funny.
But knock on wood. People say, oh, knock on wood,
(10:52):
as like that's going to prevent you from certain doom.
I say, knock on wood. I used to always look
around and find an actual piece of wood, like obsessively,
like it'll distract my entire conversation, because I would have
to find a thing of wood. But now I found
a little bit of humor in it. I'm a little
bit older, and I'm a little more willing to test
(11:17):
the waters, so I usually make a knocking motion towards
my own head.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Right, how many I'm willing to guess that pretty much
everybody listening has done that, right, knocked on their own head.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Right exactly. It's like I need something made of wood.
But if you knocking on wood, that actually goes back
to Celtic cultures and they believe that there were spirits
in the trees, and so they would knock on the
trees to awaken the spirits for protection. And that's what
you're doing when you knock on wood. You're protecting yourself
(11:49):
against the thing that you hope doesn't happen, which is
what you were just talking about, right.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
It's and you did the what was the one we
were just talking about previous to but before we got
on air, Oh, stepping on a crack when you were
when you were a kid, you don't step on a
crack break your mother's back. And again you then as
a kid, you'd be like, okay, never step on the crack.
And again the practical part of it is, okay, just
(12:18):
be careful where you're walking because you might trip, and
pay attention where you're going. Nowadays, everybody's on their phone,
staring at their phones or stepping on cracks all over
the place, poor moms.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Well, and I wonder if step on a crack break
your mother's back is a superstition or if it was
a sing song rhyme, you know, because it rhymed like yeah,
but wasn't there was We didn't look, we didn't do
good enough preparation for this, because I don't know if
that was considered a superstition or if that's just one
of those childhood.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Is it on our Superstition podcast, Yes, the superstition.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
It is, oh fair enough superstition. Black Cats I.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Brought a Halloween and you know black cats anonymous Halloween,
and that goes back to witches. I mean, witches were
the black cat was a synonymous with a witch. Okay,
and they just were bad luck.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
Because I'm a card carrying member of the overthinking society.
I've always struggled with this one because I had a
black cat growing up, but it did have white boots,
so from the knee down it had white legs. And
so every time I encounter a black cat, I'm like, well,
there's a little bit of white on the tail. Does
(13:37):
that qualify for a black cat crossing my path? Does
it have to be entirely black? Or I know these
are the type of things that keep me thinking.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Well that or or it helps you because as the
cat goes across and you're crossing then that black cat's path,
you can look and you can simply say, oh, there
had to be white, had to be something fair enough,
And so it wasn't. Twice. I don't feel like.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
And I almost just said that this is crazy. I
was going to say, I feel like I've lived a
pretty darn good, blessed, lucky life, and then I was
going to say knock one. I really was like, it's
so a part of my I bet I say it
every single day. That's crazy. So, and I do believe
I've encountered some black cats walked under some ladders and
done some pretty sketchy stuff like.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
That, right, But I mean, if you.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Ever had to hold the ladder, sometimes holding it from
underneath is actually better. Well not really, but.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
I don't Yeah, well I don't know.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
It depends on where you're trying to fit in to
hold the darn thing. A good point anyway, good point.
We should move on to the next one.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
Fair enough, we certainly can. Let's see, so we've the
black cat Halloween kind of fits in with the whole
Friday the thirteenth motif. Sure, Friday the thirteenth. I think
it's lost some of it's unlucky luster. I don't know
that many people they.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Even trendy to be like I like Freda the thirteenth.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Possibly, possibly, but it's it's it comes a lot of
that comes from the Bible.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Well, there's there's kind of two trains. According to what
we looked into Norse mythology, Loki was the thirteenth uninvited guest. Okay,
but then if you go to Christianity, Jesus was crucified
on a Friday, therefore making Friday unlucky, and there were
thirteen disciples at the Last Supper, therefore Briday the thirteenth, right,
(15:31):
I mean, I mean, I don't know there's a but
there's one of like religious superstition, which, like I said earlier,
I think in general that's considered not religious to be
assigning powers to some of these things that don't exist.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Correct, there is that, well in Christianity a little bit sure,
But in your in your Romans, your Greeks, your mythologies,
superstitions abound.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Right. Well, I thought it was interesting because there are
even like numbers that mean certain things in certain parts
of the world, and and that can really get I
don't know, that can get crazy too, Like if a
number is good in one part of the world and
bad in another part of it's complicated.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Well, and the black cats, the black cats are not
unlucky in the UK and in Japan in fact, they're
actually good luck.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Yeah, didn't they say that? Was that the thing that
was bringing good luck to single women's black cats?
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (16:28):
And so if you're a crazy cat lady, you should
surround yourself with black cats and then you're good to go.
Not then you have to be crazy to have cats.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
The of course, then you when you're talking numbers, six
six six. I mean, that is it. It is the
according to the preparation, because it just sounds great. The
number of the beast.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Well, it's from revelations, well understood. I mean there's some Yeah,
I don't. I mean I do not like it when
that number comes up on a receipt or anything like that.
I mean, do I do anything about it? Sometimes I'll
leave a penny, Like I'm not paying a bill that
six hundred and sixty six dollars. I'll pay six hundred
and sixty seven dollars, maybe leave an extra dollar. I
(17:14):
know that sounds crazy, but at the very least I
get the hebgb's about it.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
Yes, yeah, again, it's one of those where even if,
even if you people out there listening do not think
of yourself as superstitious, I could almost guarantee if that
number pops up somewhere you look at it and go, oh,
just give a little.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
A little pause. Whether you're Christian or not, there's something
about it step aside. You don't typically see it on
license plates or signage. I mean it's yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
One thing that I've that I'm still a little fuzzy
on is the spilling of the salt. Now is it
unlucky if you spill salt? Or is it lucky if
you spill No?
Speaker 2 (17:57):
No, no, it is unlucky to spill the salt. However, you're
supposed to throw a little salt over your left shoulder.
I think it is, I can't remember, and that gets
salt in Satan's eye and then that way he can't
do his evil deeds. So that's like a form of protection.
But you know, tossing salt over your shoulder just a
(18:18):
pinch is a lot different than spilling the salt. But
they say that that one's rooted in practical terms as well,
because salt was really really expensive, so if you spilled it,
it was bad luck because now you're out a really
expensive product.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
I just thought of something quick aside. So whenever you
have there's cartoons or or shows and you have the
devil on one shoulder and the angel on the other. Okay,
devil is always on the left shoulder.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Isn't it, boy? I don't know.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
It just seems to me that that's do you watch well,
have you ever watched Tom and Jerry? Yes, they would
have devil in the the time. I mean, we had
the conversation about cartoons when we were growing up, and
how really really really curveball here where one of the
(19:08):
baseball players. His favorite cartoon growing up was SpongeBob, and
that made Reday and I feel very old.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Well, it made you feel very sorry.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
So made me feel very old because that's what my
kids were watching. And then I thought, you know what
cartoons I grew up with, where Tom and Jerry, Bugs,
Bunny road Runner.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
You know, we learned that. You know, you could have
an anvil fall on your head and you just get
up and shake it off.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
Yeah, you check out. Some birds would tweet above your
head and call it a day.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
I think it's important for our listeners to note that
I did not allow my children to watch SpongeBob.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
Oh fair enough.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
My kids still give me grief about it, and they'll
be like, hey, mom, I'm watching South Park, which is way, way,
way way worse than SpongeBob. But you know, now that
they're like twenty and stuff, I can't say anything about that.
One thing I thought was a really big deal growing up,
and still my dad still freaks out about it. Breaking
a mirror, like seven years bad luck if you break
(20:03):
a mirror, right, And I thought it was interesting because
back in the day they believed that I don't remember
who they were, my nephew Jacob was it. The Romans.
They believed that your soul was in that mirror, like
a fraction of your soul was in the mirror. So
if you broke that mirror, you fractured your soul as well,
(20:23):
and it would take you seven years to renew your soul.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
And that's why when the still pictures first came out,
people are very afraid of getting their picture taken because
that was stealing of the soul.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
That's why they wouldn't look at you at the fun fashion.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
Another fun fact about the old timey pictures, if you
ever see some of those from way back when it'd
be like a whole family, they wouldn't be smiling, right
he smiled in them. The reason behind that is because
when the pictures were taken back then, it took so
long for the actual photo to get in to the camera.
(21:00):
It'd be like thirty forty five seconds. So they would
have to sit there that entire time and not move
and you couldn't smile that long, so they didn't smile.
They just stood there with a stir look on their face.
Because they had to help to hold that pose for
that long. Right, that's why they don't smile in the
old time, I.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Could smile for seconds.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
I'm sure you could. It would look weird, but yes,
good anyway, so that's the reason.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Anyway, So do you cross your fingers? Like I feel
like I haven't done this, and tost I still say that,
you know, like, oh, cross my fingers for good luck
or you know, if you're hoping or wishing for something.
As a kid, we actually did cross our fingers when
doing such a such a wish or a hope. I
thought that that was interesting because that actually is rooted
(21:48):
in Christianity as well. It was like for the protection
from the cross, so your fingers were crossed much like
the cross. However, ironically, it also can be used to
nullify a promise, you know, like if I say, right,
I promise I'm going to make tacos for dinner tonight,
(22:09):
and then later on I say I had my fingers crossed.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
The that is actually that's a good thought. It works
both ways.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
Yeah, So I don't know. That's a weird superstit like,
I don't know how it and I couldn't get enough
information as to why you know there's two totally different schools.
A thought on this another podcast, Perhaps sure I deep
dive into finger crossing, but but it is.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
It's interesting how from a psychological perspective, superstitions are a
lot of are rooted in just in control to give
us the illusion that we have a little control over
what's going to happen. So we follow these superstitions knowing
that Okay, if I knock on wood, then it'll be
it'll be good luck. If I toss that salt spilled
(22:55):
salt over my shoulder, then I've nullified everything. I've now
got control back. And a lot of those, a lot
of the superstitions are about that, controlling games. I mean,
that's what sports, superstitions and sports is all about. You
be able to control what's going to happen.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
As if we could really do that well, I mean,
I mean, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
I mean, like I said, if I have control, that
I'm doing it all wrong right, because it just is
not working out at all.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
I think it's funny that there are just some random things,
and I'm sure I would love it if people would
write in with their own superstitions that aren't as widely
practiced or that we didn't mention on this podcast because
I find it intriguing and I do think that in
different cultures and families, they're just things that people, you know,
I mean when in Rome, nature versus nurture. Right, if
(23:45):
your family believes that, say you live in Mexico and
you sweep a broom over someone's feet, you've doomed them
never to marry. Now, I can think that a lot
of women or men might just head to Mexico right
now and be begging for somebody to take a broom
to their feet.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
But that's it. Hey, that is a pretty specific and
harsh superstition, is I mean it is?
Speaker 2 (24:06):
And why can you imagine like somebody coming after you
with a broom?
Speaker 1 (24:11):
I know, no, because I'm not sure where that would
come from me. They'm not to check that out to
say exactly where that particular ones come from.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
In Turkey they say chewing gum at night, Supposedly it
turns into the flesh of the dead.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Yeah, gross, yes, but that's not going to keep me
from chewing gum at night.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
No, probably not. I think this has been kind of fun.
There's lots of quirky, weird superstitions, and at least we
know that, you know there's some basis to something behind
most of them.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
Then, And I'll still contend that even if you find
yourself you think of yourself as not a superstitious person,
I think you do. When something that it looks to
be a superstition comes your way, you try to avoid.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
It, unless you're one of those people like are just
like I don't believe in that. You need to deliberately
do it.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Here's a ladder I'm walking underneath.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Yeah, yeah, well, good luck to you.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
That's all I got, is exactly.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
This has been another Curveball production
Welcome to another Curveball production. We are getting close to Halloween. Okay,
at least that's what Target tells.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Us, right, we are a couple of months from Halloween,
but yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
The stuff's out there, and with Halloween comes Fall, very
much so, and for us up here, it's also football season.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
That makes me happy.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Yes, we just we watched the first preseason game today.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Seriously, though, and I don't think that this is like
fashionable or trendy. Don't you think fall is just superb?
I mean, have you ever met somebody who says I
hate Fall.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
I don't think I have.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Even if you're not a pumpkin spice person, correct, you
can get behind the cool, crisp weather and walks outside,
and even if you're not a football fan, I think
it was I think.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
It's well documented on our podcast that we are big
fans of fall.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
We are. We watched our summer although honestly, I'm I'm
getting exhausted of the humidity.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Yeah, it's it's been a little brutal lately.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
But as our listeners know, I did get that new
AC unit back in May, so we are recording in comfort.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
And you know, part of getting into Fall. I think
We've discussed about this as well. From a sports perspective.
We're Twins fans. We like go to Twins games. We
went to one last night, and even though the Twins
are out of it and they sold off their players,
there was a new batch, new crop of players that
were playing, and there's some energy and it was fun.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
It was actually a very entertaining game. But for the humidity. Yes,
And Tanner said, and I didn't tell you this, but
I'll tell you this now. Tanner went with us to
the game and he said, I think that last night's
game was the hottest Twins game I've ever been to
from a comfortability standpoint. And he equates it to the
(02:06):
coldest football game at lambeau Field when he went to
see the Vikings play by Packers. Those are the bookends
for hot and cold for sporting.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Of that, that's that, and that is quite accurate.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
The due point was like seventy six. And I know
we've talked a lot about feels like temperature, but it
was just gross.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
We had decent seats that we didn't really sit in
because it was just it was just you couldn't do it.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
We did meet some lovely people from Milwaukee.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Oh yeah, it was. We had fun.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
It was a good time. But that's not what this
podcast is about. I hijacked it. I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
We no, Yes, What I was getting at before that
was how we've always kind of we've discussed about how
we're a big fan of sports in Minnesota because we look, look,
we like our teams to be relevant until the next
team takes over. The Twins are falling a little short
of being relevant up until football season. But there's all
(03:00):
being fun, but it is football season. And one of
the things that comes about when you watch football with
me and with my boys are superstitions.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
I think that's true with a lot of sports fans.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Very much so. It's the sports are rife with superstitions.
Uh Noah is a specific to some his own superstitions.
The jersey's gotta be worn all the time, if he
if the if they play well, he has to sit
in the same spot every game.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
And it's just it's really unnerving at the beginning of
the season to watch football with you guys, because I'm
always nervous that I will be present for a loss
or a particularly bad game and then be voted off
the island for the rest of the season.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
It's either you would either be voted off the island
or if you were going to watch it with us,
it need to be in a different venue, right, and
then we can redo it and then we start to
piece it together. Okay, maybe was it you? Maybe perhaps
it was where we were watching.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Because we have that kind of power we do.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
We have it's an incredible ability that the ability we
have for evil in sports not necessarily good.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
But we doesn't say evil, that sounds terrible.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
It's superstitions fair so it's evil.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
So back to superstitions.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
So we so then we got to put our brains
together and said, you know what, there's a lot of
superstitions out there that we just don't know why they're superstitions,
how they came about, what's the origin of them. And
so we decided, you know what, let's look into some
of the some of the superstitions that are more general,
kind of talk about individual superstitions that we have.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Does your family have a lot of superstitions?
Speaker 1 (04:47):
I don't know that they do. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
I think some families think it's sort of sacrilegious. My
family does not. I mean, they don't think it's sacrilegious.
We have all sorts of superstitions, right, and my brother
and I work together again, so that has been pretty
funny because growing up in the same home we have,
we share some of the same superstitious belief superstitions.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Okay, such as well.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
We're jumping ahead, but the opening an umbrella indoor. We
were at a like a meet and greet when we
purchased the company he was working at, and as we
were walking outside during the rain, one of our colleagues
opened her umbrella indoors and as she started to do it,
my brother and I it was like a slow motion
of event of us trying to reach for her umbrella
(05:34):
and tell her, and we both were like no and
tried to get her to not open the umbrella, and
she thought we were nuts, and we probably are, but
my dad is like super superstitious about the umbrella thing,
and so we just do for starters. Why open an
umbrella inside? Now you have to try and navigate that
thing through a door. And what I think we found
(05:55):
out when we did our preparation for this podcast is
back in the day, the reason opening an umbrella indoor
became a thing was because that really stiff springs and
it could cause an injury to somebody near you. There's
another theory that the inside home spirits might find it
to be offensive if you brought an outdoor object inside.
(06:18):
But I'm guessing, like a lot of superstitions, they're based
in a grain of truth. So if you could injure
somebody by opening an umbrella indoor, that would be considered
bad luck.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
That goes right into the superstition of walking under.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
An ladder, right right, exactly, another great one.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
And that goes back the superstition I guess goes back
to ancient Egypt. Yes, where the Egyptians had an affinity
to the triangle. And if you had a ladder up
against the wall, it forms a natural triangle. If you
were to walk underneath that ladder, you would break that triangle.
(06:58):
You would pierce the triangle.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Well, bad luck, yep, So you're interrupting that energy.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Yes, Now again it comes to the practical part of
it is you know something might just be on the
ladder and it might fall on you you're walking there.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
To the umbrella situation, I so I am. When I
was when I was a kid, I bought into these
superstitions a little bit more because my parents were like,
don't walk under a ladder. I really don't know if
at that moment it was superstitious or if it was
for my own safety. But as I've gotten older, I've
even started to open an umbrella inside, like inside my car,
(07:35):
and I've had this like argument with myself in my car,
like is this considered inside or am I outside? Am
I breaking some rule? Am I risking certain doom because
I'm trying to get it open as I'm getting out
of the car? Am I cutting this too close? But
I think it's important that we talk about, like what
the definition of a superstition is before we get too far?
(07:55):
Fair enough, backtrack, backtrack. So basically, it's the belief or
practice ba based on fear, coincidence, or magical thinking. But
like we've discovered a lot of it's rooted in a
grain of truth somewhere back in history.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Right and and because there is some some mythics parts
to it, there's some truth to it. I think a
lot of us, even if we don't consider ourselves superstition superstitious,
if we walk, when we walk through some of these things,
I bet you a lot of our listeners will still
go yeah, I'm still kind of avoid those things, right,
(08:31):
just because well.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
I mean, think about it, most buildings don't have a
thirteenth floor, right, right, Yeah, So I mean they're more
embedded in our society and in our norms than we
want to admit. And I do think it's that just
in case mentality. It's like, look, you know what, why
take chances?
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Right? I mean getting back to the evil concept. There's
a series on unfortunately its own last and four seasons
really good. It's called Evil Oh, and it's about out
of the psychological side of things versus the spiritual side
of things and are there demons and are demons real
(09:10):
or are they or psychological aspect to them? Really good show.
How the the the way it's usually starts out is
when they roll their credits at the bottom of the screen,
there will be a little, uh, a little subtitle and
it will say if you skip these opening credits, because
you know, when you're watching TV on demand now you
(09:32):
can skip the opening credits. It'll come up there say
if you skip this, this will happen to you, and
it'll just name off something that'll nothing terrible, but I
just camels yes, yes, something similar to that. And one
of them said, uh, just don't even think about skipping it.
Do you want to take that chance? And that's true
(09:55):
because I was watching it. That's and I find it funny.
But I never skip the open credits of that show
simply because I don't want to take the chance, even
though I know nothing's gonna happen.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Well, and I get nervous when I'm around people who
are reckless with superstitions like that, though, you know, like
if I see that, I'm really annoyed. And here's here's
the difference between you and I. I'm done watching that show.
You're not gonna mess with the juju of the world
and threaten me to watch your show, I'm done, okay.
But if I'm next to you and you're like, oh,
it's fine skip now, I'm like, that's like when somebody
(10:30):
says something like kind of well sacrilegious, and I'm like, okay,
I'm gonna step over here, so when that bolt of
lightning comes down, I'm not hit Like I do not
agree or identify with whatever you just said. So it
is kind of interesting. But a lot of people and
I do this all the time, which is super funny.
But knock on wood. People say, oh, knock on wood,
(10:52):
as like that's going to prevent you from certain doom.
I say, knock on wood. I used to always look
around and find an actual piece of wood, like obsessively,
like it'll distract my entire conversation, because I would have
to find a thing of wood. But now I found
a little bit of humor in it. I'm a little
bit older, and I'm a little more willing to test
(11:17):
the waters, so I usually make a knocking motion towards
my own head.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Right, how many I'm willing to guess that pretty much
everybody listening has done that, right, knocked on their own head.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Right exactly. It's like I need something made of wood.
But if you knocking on wood, that actually goes back
to Celtic cultures and they believe that there were spirits
in the trees, and so they would knock on the
trees to awaken the spirits for protection. And that's what
you're doing when you knock on wood. You're protecting yourself
(11:49):
against the thing that you hope doesn't happen, which is
what you were just talking about, right.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
It's and you did the what was the one we
were just talking about previous to but before we got
on air, Oh, stepping on a crack when you were
when you were a kid, you don't step on a
crack break your mother's back. And again you then as
a kid, you'd be like, okay, never step on the crack.
And again the practical part of it is, okay, just
(12:18):
be careful where you're walking because you might trip, and
pay attention where you're going. Nowadays, everybody's on their phone,
staring at their phones or stepping on cracks all over
the place, poor moms.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Well, and I wonder if step on a crack break
your mother's back is a superstition or if it was
a sing song rhyme, you know, because it rhymed like yeah,
but wasn't there was We didn't look, we didn't do
good enough preparation for this, because I don't know if
that was considered a superstition or if that's just one
of those childhood.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Is it on our Superstition podcast, Yes, the superstition.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
It is, oh fair enough superstition. Black Cats I.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Brought a Halloween and you know black cats anonymous Halloween,
and that goes back to witches. I mean, witches were
the black cat was a synonymous with a witch. Okay,
and they just were bad luck.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
Because I'm a card carrying member of the overthinking society.
I've always struggled with this one because I had a
black cat growing up, but it did have white boots,
so from the knee down it had white legs. And
so every time I encounter a black cat, I'm like, well,
there's a little bit of white on the tail. Does
(13:37):
that qualify for a black cat crossing my path? Does
it have to be entirely black? Or I know these
are the type of things that keep me thinking.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Well that or or it helps you because as the
cat goes across and you're crossing then that black cat's path,
you can look and you can simply say, oh, there
had to be white, had to be something fair enough,
And so it wasn't. Twice. I don't feel like.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
And I almost just said that this is crazy. I
was going to say, I feel like I've lived a
pretty darn good, blessed, lucky life, and then I was
going to say knock one. I really was like, it's
so a part of my I bet I say it
every single day. That's crazy. So, and I do believe
I've encountered some black cats walked under some ladders and
done some pretty sketchy stuff like.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
That, right, But I mean, if you.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Ever had to hold the ladder, sometimes holding it from
underneath is actually better. Well not really, but.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
I don't Yeah, well I don't know.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
It depends on where you're trying to fit in to
hold the darn thing. A good point anyway, good point.
We should move on to the next one.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
Fair enough, we certainly can. Let's see, so we've the
black cat Halloween kind of fits in with the whole
Friday the thirteenth motif. Sure, Friday the thirteenth. I think
it's lost some of it's unlucky luster. I don't know
that many people they.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Even trendy to be like I like Freda the thirteenth.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Possibly, possibly, but it's it's it comes a lot of
that comes from the Bible.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Well, there's there's kind of two trains. According to what
we looked into Norse mythology, Loki was the thirteenth uninvited guest. Okay,
but then if you go to Christianity, Jesus was crucified
on a Friday, therefore making Friday unlucky, and there were
thirteen disciples at the Last Supper, therefore Briday the thirteenth, right,
(15:31):
I mean, I mean, I don't know there's a but
there's one of like religious superstition, which, like I said earlier,
I think in general that's considered not religious to be
assigning powers to some of these things that don't exist.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Correct, there is that, well in Christianity a little bit sure,
But in your in your Romans, your Greeks, your mythologies,
superstitions abound.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Right. Well, I thought it was interesting because there are
even like numbers that mean certain things in certain parts
of the world, and and that can really get I
don't know, that can get crazy too, Like if a
number is good in one part of the world and
bad in another part of it's complicated.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Well, and the black cats, the black cats are not
unlucky in the UK and in Japan in fact, they're
actually good luck.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Yeah, didn't they say that? Was that the thing that
was bringing good luck to single women's black cats?
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (16:28):
And so if you're a crazy cat lady, you should
surround yourself with black cats and then you're good to go.
Not then you have to be crazy to have cats.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
The of course, then you when you're talking numbers, six
six six. I mean, that is it. It is the
according to the preparation, because it just sounds great. The
number of the beast.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Well, it's from revelations, well understood. I mean there's some Yeah,
I don't. I mean I do not like it when
that number comes up on a receipt or anything like that.
I mean, do I do anything about it? Sometimes I'll
leave a penny, Like I'm not paying a bill that
six hundred and sixty six dollars. I'll pay six hundred
and sixty seven dollars, maybe leave an extra dollar. I
(17:14):
know that sounds crazy, but at the very least I
get the hebgb's about it.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
Yes, yeah, again, it's one of those where even if,
even if you people out there listening do not think
of yourself as superstitious, I could almost guarantee if that
number pops up somewhere you look at it and go, oh,
just give a little.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
A little pause. Whether you're Christian or not, there's something
about it step aside. You don't typically see it on
license plates or signage. I mean it's yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
One thing that I've that I'm still a little fuzzy
on is the spilling of the salt. Now is it
unlucky if you spill salt? Or is it lucky if
you spill No?
Speaker 2 (17:57):
No, no, it is unlucky to spill the salt. However, you're
supposed to throw a little salt over your left shoulder.
I think it is, I can't remember, and that gets
salt in Satan's eye and then that way he can't
do his evil deeds. So that's like a form of protection.
But you know, tossing salt over your shoulder just a
(18:18):
pinch is a lot different than spilling the salt. But
they say that that one's rooted in practical terms as well,
because salt was really really expensive, so if you spilled it,
it was bad luck because now you're out a really
expensive product.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
I just thought of something quick aside. So whenever you
have there's cartoons or or shows and you have the
devil on one shoulder and the angel on the other. Okay,
devil is always on the left shoulder.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Isn't it, boy? I don't know.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
It just seems to me that that's do you watch well,
have you ever watched Tom and Jerry? Yes, they would
have devil in the the time. I mean, we had
the conversation about cartoons when we were growing up, and
how really really really curveball here where one of the
(19:08):
baseball players. His favorite cartoon growing up was SpongeBob, and
that made Reday and I feel very old.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Well, it made you feel very sorry.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
So made me feel very old because that's what my
kids were watching. And then I thought, you know what
cartoons I grew up with, where Tom and Jerry, Bugs,
Bunny road Runner.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
You know, we learned that. You know, you could have
an anvil fall on your head and you just get
up and shake it off.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
Yeah, you check out. Some birds would tweet above your
head and call it a day.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
I think it's important for our listeners to note that
I did not allow my children to watch SpongeBob.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
Oh fair enough.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
My kids still give me grief about it, and they'll
be like, hey, mom, I'm watching South Park, which is way, way,
way way worse than SpongeBob. But you know, now that
they're like twenty and stuff, I can't say anything about that.
One thing I thought was a really big deal growing up,
and still my dad still freaks out about it. Breaking
a mirror, like seven years bad luck if you break
(20:03):
a mirror, right, And I thought it was interesting because
back in the day they believed that I don't remember
who they were, my nephew Jacob was it. The Romans.
They believed that your soul was in that mirror, like
a fraction of your soul was in the mirror. So
if you broke that mirror, you fractured your soul as well,
(20:23):
and it would take you seven years to renew your soul.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
And that's why when the still pictures first came out,
people are very afraid of getting their picture taken because
that was stealing of the soul.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
That's why they wouldn't look at you at the fun fashion.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
Another fun fact about the old timey pictures, if you
ever see some of those from way back when it'd
be like a whole family, they wouldn't be smiling, right
he smiled in them. The reason behind that is because
when the pictures were taken back then, it took so
long for the actual photo to get in to the camera.
(21:00):
It'd be like thirty forty five seconds. So they would
have to sit there that entire time and not move
and you couldn't smile that long, so they didn't smile.
They just stood there with a stir look on their face.
Because they had to help to hold that pose for
that long. Right, that's why they don't smile in the
old time, I.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Could smile for seconds.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
I'm sure you could. It would look weird, but yes,
good anyway, so that's the reason.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Anyway, So do you cross your fingers? Like I feel
like I haven't done this, and tost I still say that,
you know, like, oh, cross my fingers for good luck
or you know, if you're hoping or wishing for something.
As a kid, we actually did cross our fingers when
doing such a such a wish or a hope. I
thought that that was interesting because that actually is rooted
(21:48):
in Christianity as well. It was like for the protection
from the cross, so your fingers were crossed much like
the cross. However, ironically, it also can be used to
nullify a promise, you know, like if I say, right,
I promise I'm going to make tacos for dinner tonight,
(22:09):
and then later on I say I had my fingers crossed.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
The that is actually that's a good thought. It works
both ways.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
Yeah, So I don't know. That's a weird superstit like,
I don't know how it and I couldn't get enough
information as to why you know there's two totally different schools.
A thought on this another podcast, Perhaps sure I deep
dive into finger crossing, but but it is.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
It's interesting how from a psychological perspective, superstitions are a
lot of are rooted in just in control to give
us the illusion that we have a little control over
what's going to happen. So we follow these superstitions knowing
that Okay, if I knock on wood, then it'll be
it'll be good luck. If I toss that salt spilled
(22:55):
salt over my shoulder, then I've nullified everything. I've now
got control back. And a lot of those, a lot
of the superstitions are about that, controlling games. I mean,
that's what sports, superstitions and sports is all about. You
be able to control what's going to happen.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
As if we could really do that well, I mean,
I mean, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
I mean, like I said, if I have control, that
I'm doing it all wrong right, because it just is
not working out at all.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
I think it's funny that there are just some random things,
and I'm sure I would love it if people would
write in with their own superstitions that aren't as widely
practiced or that we didn't mention on this podcast because
I find it intriguing and I do think that in
different cultures and families, they're just things that people, you know,
I mean when in Rome, nature versus nurture. Right, if
(23:45):
your family believes that, say you live in Mexico and
you sweep a broom over someone's feet, you've doomed them
never to marry. Now, I can think that a lot
of women or men might just head to Mexico right
now and be begging for somebody to take a broom
to their feet.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
But that's it. Hey, that is a pretty specific and
harsh superstition, is I mean it is?
Speaker 2 (24:06):
And why can you imagine like somebody coming after you
with a broom?
Speaker 1 (24:11):
I know, no, because I'm not sure where that would
come from me. They'm not to check that out to
say exactly where that particular ones come from.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
In Turkey they say chewing gum at night, Supposedly it
turns into the flesh of the dead.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Yeah, gross, yes, but that's not going to keep me
from chewing gum at night.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
No, probably not. I think this has been kind of fun.
There's lots of quirky, weird superstitions, and at least we
know that, you know there's some basis to something behind
most of them.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
Then, And I'll still contend that even if you find
yourself you think of yourself as not a superstitious person,
I think you do. When something that it looks to
be a superstition comes your way, you try to avoid.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
It, unless you're one of those people like are just
like I don't believe in that. You need to deliberately
do it.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Here's a ladder I'm walking underneath.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Yeah, yeah, well, good luck to you.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
That's all I got, is exactly.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
This has been another Curveball production
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Cardiac Cowboys
The heart was always off-limits to surgeons. Cutting into it spelled instant death for the patient. That is, until a ragtag group of doctors scattered across the Midwest and Texas decided to throw out the rule book. Working in makeshift laboratories and home garages, using medical devices made from scavenged machine parts and beer tubes, these men and women invented the field of open heart surgery. Odds are, someone you know is alive because of them. So why has history left them behind? Presented by Chris Pine, CARDIAC COWBOYS tells the gripping true story behind the birth of heart surgery, and the young, Greatest Generation doctors who made it happen. For years, they competed and feuded, racing to be the first, the best, and the most prolific. Some appeared on the cover of Time Magazine, operated on kings and advised presidents. Others ended up disgraced, penniless, and convicted of felonies. Together, they ignited a revolution in medicine, and changed the world.