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Knocking On Wood Can Undo Perceived Jinx


Still Waters

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Knocking on wood is the most common superstition in Western culture used to reverse bad fortune or undo a "jinx." Other cultures maintain similar practices, like spitting or throwing salt, after someone has tempted fate. Even people who aren't particularly superstitious often participate in these practices.

A new study from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business finds that these superstitions actually do "reverse" perceived bad fortune.

http://www.scienceda...t Science News)

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Thats in my country when people knock on wood they say:

Da ga ne ureknem!-To not curse/jinx him!

Ne ureklo se! To not jinx!

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Sympathetic magick perhaps?

I'm superstitious because it's the only way I'm used to being.

I watched Tony Robinsions Gods and Monsters programe that came on a few weeks ago on.. c4, if I recall right. There was a segment about sympathetic magick and the cunning folk. During this segment of the programe, there was a psychologist that gathered high brow science students that were well pretty much on the same par as Vulcans. She placed a copy of a picture of their family members on a cutting board in front of them. And also placed a knife beside the picture and asked them to stab the picture.

Everyone of them said that they couldn't. Tony Robinson said, 'But it's just a picture, there could be 20 copies of the same picture. Nothing would happen to your family members if you stabbed the pictures. They are just pictures.'

Regardless of this, none of the science students picked up the knife. And as they explained or tried to explain why they couldn't, their body reactions were very telling, they were physically positioning their body away from the knife.

Personally, I found the whole display quite interesting.

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That because the Goddesses hears the knocking, so she knows you are reaching out to her for help. (Not really.) I need to try this myself now.

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I think knocking, no, BANGING on the wooden heads of Congress might undo a jinx.

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I would say knocking on wood has exactly as much validity as the jinx itself. 0.

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Well what would Murphy do if every one was constantly knocking on wood, play the Utube channel for the song to drown them out?

Still, its best to avoid the jinx by what ever means you use isn't it...just to be 'safe'.

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I think one needs to realize these avoidant actions do not equate with avoidance. In the latter case, avoidance can lead to isolation thus rewarding the event precipitating the action. In effect, this action becomes a more established behavior which then leads to yet further avoidance. Keep your fingers crossed and you should be just fine.

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It can if it's psychological and if you're an idiot and if knocking on wood makes you think more positively about something.

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interesting perhaps there is something to that superstition.

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Jinx rituals are played out seasonally by sports fans. Watching games with their "lucky" socks, shirt, whatever. It's funny how seriously it's taken. Then I wondered if I have any unconscious rituals to prevent/get rid of bad luck. Does it count if before I leave the house, I hop in a circle, on my left leg in a westerly direction while chanting, flee, flee, flee from me all that is bad woo wee. Then I walk backwards toward the door and lock it while clucking like a chicken. All that doesn't count though, because it works.

:rofl:

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Classic example of altering your perception to "change your fortune". A person believing themself to be under a jinx or curse, will naturally focus on and remember the bad things that happen to them coincidentally. This will reinforce the presumption of being under a jinx or curse.

The 'countering' of the jinx via some ritual is designed to alter the perception of the believer into a more neutral, or even positive state. Thus they will no longer focus on the bad things that happen coincidentally - they may even notice more of the good things that coincidentally happen.

It's the same effect as the "11:11" phenomenon.

Edited by Leonardo
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Classic example of altering your perception to "change your fortune". A person believing themself to be under a jinx or curse, will naturally focus on and remember the bad things that happen to them coincidentally. This will reinforce the presumption of being under a jinx or curse.

The 'countering' of the jinx via some ritual is designed to alter the perception of the believer into a more neutral, or even positive state. Thus they will no longer focus on the bad things that happen coincidentally - they may even notice more of the good things that coincidentally happen.

It's the same effect as the "11:11" phenomenon.

I've never heard of the "11:11" phenomenon. What it is?

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When one knocks wood it is because one is boasting, and when the gods hear you boast they will punish you, so knock on some wood to appease them.

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I use to think I was a jinx. Every time I would go to a ballgame of my college, they would lose.

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I've never heard of the "11:11" phenomenon. What it is?

People sometimes post on here reporting that whenever they look at a clock, the time is 11:11 (or 3:33, etc.) The claim is that this is a 'paranormal/supernatural ability or occurrence'.

Obviously, the real reason is that times which are palindromic, or have a pattern, register much more in our consciousness because our brains are designed to recognise patterns. So, rather than "only look at clocks when the time is 11:11", the claimants are actually only remembering when they looked at a clock at that time. They 'forget' all the other times they looked at a clock and did not register what the time was.

It's a form of bias, similar to how our believing we are under a curse or jinx biases what we remember regarding events that occur.

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People sometimes post on here reporting that whenever they look at a clock, the time is 11:11 (or 3:33, etc.) The claim is that this is a 'paranormal/supernatural ability or occurrence'.

Obviously, the real reason is that times which are palindromic, or have a pattern, register much more in our consciousness because our brains are designed to recognise patterns. So, rather than "only look at clocks when the time is 11:11", the claimants are actually only remembering when they looked at a clock at that time. They 'forget' all the other times they looked at a clock and did not register what the time was.

It's a form of bias, similar to how our believing we are under a curse or jinx biases what we remember regarding events that occur.

Oooh... ok, thanks for the answer. I have heard of that. I've readl threads.

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My Gran used a lot of superstious actions,knock on wood was a favourite but she also used to throw a pinch of salt over her left shoulder to get rid of bad luck,strangely enough it worked. i still dont walk under ladders, but then you stand a chance of getting run over by a passing vehicle...oh well thats the way the cookie crumbles.

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A common Vietnamese good-luck practice is urinating on a wall; nowadays that gets you a $50 fine so it isn't such good luck any more.

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I use to think I was a jinx. Every time I would go to a ballgame of my college, they would lose.

I used to think the same thing about my favorite sports team, then I realized that they just sucked and I had nothing to do with it, lol. :)

My Gran used a lot of superstious actions,knock on wood was a favourite but she also used to throw a pinch of salt over her left shoulder to get rid of bad luck,strangely enough it worked. i still dont walk under ladders, but then you stand a chance of getting run over by a passing vehicle...oh well thats the way the cookie crumbles.

My grandmother is VERY superstious. If a black cat darts out in front of her car, she will do a U Turn. Lol...

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It seems to me, with quantum physics lending weight to the old adage, "mind over matter", that these superstitious actions work simply because one believes they will.

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  • 1 month later...

Like wat everyone says if thats true there be no unlucky person in this world

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