Are you superstitious about Friday the 13th?

[DarthTom]

Well it's Friday the 13th and invariably I and likely you will hear people who are superstitious about the day come out and claim that tragic/horrible things always happen to them on this day.

So are you superstitious about Friday the 13th, why or why not?

Me: Since I was born on the 13th of December I'd be an idiot to be superstitious about the day so for pragmatic reasons and rational reasons of course, no I'm not.

I do find the history of the superstition as noted below to be fascinating.

And some of the examples are hilarious:

Airplanes have no 13th aisle.

Italians omit the number 13 from their national lottery.

More than 80% of high rises lack a 13th floor

Huffington

Today is Friday, May 13, 2011 -- the only Friday the 13th of 2011.
Friday the 13th happens at least once a year due to the modern calendar. Like last year, there's just one this year, but watch out: there are three in 2012 (January, April, July).
When you combine an historically unlucky day (Friday) with an unlucky number (13), all sorts of weirdness is bound to ensue. Hence the obsession with Friday the 13th.
Historically, some unlucky events are believed to have occurred on the day too. French King Philip IV rounded up hundreds of monks and tortured them for heresy on Friday, October 13, 1307. Some say Jesus Christ was crucified on Friday the 13th. More recently, on Friday, March 13, 1992, an earthquake in Turkey killed nearly 2,000 and left 50,000 homeless.
The No. 13 itself has driven people crazy for centuries, in large part due to Friday the 13th. Some people are so obsessed that triskaidekaphobia was born -- the fear of the number 13.
That fear has led the human race to make some strange decisions. Here are 13 examples. Vote on the most ridiculous and be extra careful today!

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I didn't even realize it was "Friday the 13th" until I saw someone posting about it on Facebook. I really care, I tell ya.

 

[{ Emilia }]

I hadn't even realized it's Friday the 13th until I saw your post.

Thanks for jinxing it. I'll blame you if anything bad happens.

 

[PlainSimpleJoel]

I didn't even realize it was "Friday the 13th" until I saw someone posting about it on Facebook. I really care, I tell ya.

Likewise. And what made me laugh about it, is that I only saw it a few hours ago. Not really important. Plus it's over here now.

 

[TerokNor]

No, am not superstitious. The only thing I fear on Friday the 13th are superstitious people. Imagine, you sit in the plain that day and your pilot believes something really bad will happen today, so he gets all nervous and then because of the self fullfilling profecy he does crash into the Atlantic...

TerokNor

 

[Sean Aaron]

I entertain certain superstitions (my daughter being born on the Summer Solstice seems particularly auspicious), but nothing to do with the number 13.

I noted the date out of curiosity nothing more. As to why not, well, I'd say for superstition "why" is a more important question.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

I actually kinda like Friday the 13th. In my head it got turned into a lucky day. I figure that's a much better way to look at it.

 

[BlobVanDam]

Not in the slightest bit supersititious. There is nothing at all to give it credit, so why would I let myself be guided by such a baseless notion such as a number being "bad"?

 

[B.J.]

When you combine an historically unlucky day (Friday) with an unlucky number (13), all sorts of weirdness is bound to ensue.

How is Friday unlucky? I'd image a lot of people (in modern times, anyway) would tend to view Friday as lucky.

In any case, the 13th has been pretty lucky for my wife & I. We met on a 13th, got engaged on a 13th (this one was a Friday), and got married on a 13th. None of that was intentional, BTW.

 

[iguana_tonante]

I hold no superstition. About 13 or anything else. I won't go out of my way to do supposedly unauspicious things every time, but I do it often, and without a thought.

Italians omit the number 13 from their national lottery.

That's patently untrue. Not only the number 13 has its place among the numbers of the national lottery (just like any other number between 1 and 90), but in Italy the unlucky number is 17, not 13. In fact, 13 is considered a lucky number. So it's doubly fake.

I suppose it's one of those things that English-speaking people suppose those wacky Italians would be doing, and it has gone around as an urban legend. Not biggie, but I thought it would be nice to point it out.

 

[Jadzia]

I hold no superstition. About 13 or anything else.

I'm not superstitious either.

I remember when I was at school, our teacher once asked us all what our lucky numbers were. When I said I didn't have one, her reaction made me feel strangely uncomfortable, as though I should choose one.

Then she started asking us all again, what were our unlucky numbers.

 

[Pingfah]

That's patently untrue. Not only the number 13 has its place among the numbers of the national lottery (just like any other number between 1 and 90), but in Italy the unlucky number is 17, not 13. In fact, 13 is considered a lucky number. So it's doubly fake.

I suppose it's one of those things that English-speaking people suppose those wacky Italians would be doing, and it has gone around as an urban legend. Not biggie, but I thought it would be nice to point it out.

Also, maybe some planes miss out the 13th aisle, but it's hardly standard. BA planes all have an aisle 13 for a start.

 

[Naira]

Well, being a Greek I am supposed to be afraid of Tuesday the 13th. However, I am not superstitious so I don't really care.

 

[B.J.]

That's patently untrue. Not only the number 13 has its place among the numbers of the national lottery (just like any other number between 1 and 90), but in Italy the unlucky number is 17, not 13. In fact, 13 is considered a lucky number. So it's doubly fake.

I suppose it's one of those things that English-speaking people suppose those wacky Italians would be doing, and it has gone around as an urban legend. Not biggie, but I thought it would be nice to point it out.

Also, maybe some planes miss out the 13th aisle, but it's hardly standard. BA planes all have an aisle 13 for a start.

It depends on the airline. Here's a good article on it. It also notes that Lufthansa aircraft don't have a 17th row because it's unlucky in Italy (as iguana_tonante pointed out) and in Brazil.

 

[mari]

I like to spend the day freaking out people who ARE superstitious.

The last time I flew Delta, I sat in 13-B. Completely uneventful flight. My ear was plugged up for three days afterward, but that's most likely because I was flying with a sinus infection.

 

[Snaploud]

Friday the 13th is going fairly well for me so far. I just finished my grad school finals yesterday, and I had a big final round interview (at a big four auditing firm) today that seemed to go well. It's a beautiful day (nice and sunny), and I am now officially done with my responsibilities for a while...nothing to do but relax.

 

[{ Emilia }]

So... do any of you know anybody who's actually superstitious enough to care about Friday the 13th?
Just seems weird to me but maybe I live in an exceptionally reasonable environment.

 

[iguana_tonante]

I live in an exceptionally unreasonable environment, but our wackyness is completely directed at different stuff.

 

[{ Emilia }]

I live in an exceptionally unreasonable environment, but our wackyness is completely directed at different stuff.

My cousin always wears the same shirt whenever Juventus is playing an important match.

That's completely reasonable obviously.

 

[iguana_tonante]

To my eternal shame and scorn, I confess I'm a supporter of Juventus, too. It's more due to family tradition than to a real interest in football, tho.