Paraskevidekatriaphobics



Go and check the calendar.It's friday the 13th.Asian does not really believe in this superstition.But,Western does.Very much.

I don't realised too,until she reminds me.I was just having another great chatting with her through YM then she told me that she feels a little creepy since today is her birthday and its her Birthday.Poor her.I told her that there's nothing to worry about.It's just another superstition that spice up people's life.kan?


Here's some interesting facts around the globe about this freakin' superstition.

+ Paraskevidekatriaphobics — people afflicted with a morbid, irrational fear of Friday the 13th — should be pricking up their ears about now, buoyed by seeming evidence that the source of their unholy terror may not be so irrational after all. But it's unwise to take solace in a single scientific study, especially one so peculiar. I suspect these statistics have more to teach us about human psychology than the ill-fatedness of any particular date on the calendar.

+ Friday the 13th, the most widespread superstition

+ The sixth day of the week and the number 13 both have foreboding reputations said to date from ancient times, and their inevitable conjunction from one to three times a year (there happen to be three such occurrences in 2009, two of them right in a row) portends more misfortune than some credulous minds can bear. According to experts it's the most widespread superstition in the United States today. Some people won't go to work on Friday the 13th; some won't eat in restaurants; many wouldn't think of setting a wedding on the date.

+Early nursery rhymes stated there were thirteen months in a year because of the natural moon cycle that was used to count the lunar year. In England, a calendar of thirteen months of 28 days each, plus one extra day, known as "a year and a day" was still in use up to Tudor times.

+It was suggested by Charles A. Platt writing in 1925 that the reason 13 is considered unlucky is that a person can count from 1-12 with their 8 fingers, two thumbs and 2 feet, but not beyond that, so the number 13 is unknown, hence frightening, hence unlucky. This idea discounts the use of toes or other body parts in counting.

+In Scotland, there is no gate 13 in any airport, instead there is a gate 12B.
Inside of a Lufthansa plane with row numbers going straight from 12 to 14.
Some airplanes skip a row 13, going straight from 12 to 14.

+Some tall buildings have resorted to skipping the "thirteenth floor", either by numbering it "14" or as "12a".

+In some forms of motor sport, for example Formula One, there is no number 13 car.

+In many cultures, getting married on any day of the week that falls under number 13 is highly discouraged. There is a superstition that should thirteen sit at a table to dine, one will die in the next year. This prompted the formation of The Thirteen Club to debunk it.