[jim barnes]

as we all know Friday 13th is one of the most known unlucky times or superstition, do you now any others like i think Aberdeen fishermen not wearing white sea boots surely there will be more and do we believe them or prefare not to chance it?

[edward]

my son edward was born on friday 13th luckiest lad on this planet. regards edward.

[benjidog]

Mrs Benjidog sincerely believes that if you do washing on New Year's day you risk "washing someone out of the family" and has to do all the washing the day before. Personally I think it is unlucky to do it at all so I am quite happy to let her get on with it for the other 364 days.

[william dillon]

What a load of B******s.

[Coastie]

Friday the 13th has always been a lucky day for me, but then I've always been awkward!

[jim barnes]

Originally Posted by william dillon

What a load of B******s.

remember Dakar Bill??

[Phill]

Friday the 13th....Ask my young boy, he decided to break his leg and put him self in 6 weeks of traction, just by doing the long jump at school, he didn’t go to School today

Cheers Phill

[cynter]

I got engaged to my present wife on Fri 13th just 45 years ago....

Is that lucky or not..??????

Cheers... cynter.

[vix]

A brother-in-law of mine was a deep-sea fisherman...he used to go crazy if anyone mentioned RABBITS within earshot...had to be referred too as underground pigs!! vIX

[oldbosun]

I must say that I agree with William Dillon.

As a seaman, the only thing that I knew about Friday the 13th was that it was an unlucky day to sail, and that in the olden days, many ships Captains did not sail that day and that was with the approval of the Owners who were equally as superstitious.

But that was way back, before greed took over and ships sailed regardless.

The mention of the word "Rabbits" I never heard of at sea in any context to cause any problem,and neither did I EVER see anybody wearing white seaboots. White seaboots indeed!!

Of course, superstition prevails in this thing about Friday the 13th, and that's all it is........superstition.

[Oz.]

It was always an unlucky day, never mind the date, when the third mate had pinched my beers from the fridge!!
Unlucky for him too !!.

[Mike O'Rourke]

"Aharrrrrr Me Lads.... It'll ne them wot diez that'll be the Lucky ones....every Finger a marlin spike and evert thumb a Fid.....soses to you Jim Lad."

Aye
Mike......

[Gulpers]

Originally Posted by william dillon

What a load of B******s.

Billy,

Got it! "Bollards" is the word, isn't it?
This new Quiz Forum's great!

[gerbil]

Well i had a maths exam yesterday (Friday 13th) so i'll let you know in a couple of weeks if it was unlucky or not.

[benjidog]

Vix,

Is there any chance your brother-in-law came from the Isle of Portland in Dorset? They have a thing about the word RABBIT down there and recently there was a campaign to stop the film people putting up adverts for the Wallace and Gromit film "The curse of the Were-rabbit" - the word is banned on Portland. They call the creatures "underground mutton" or other euphemisms.

I know this sounds like complete b******s but check it out at the Times website at this link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...815040,00.html

[william dillon]

Originally Posted by jim barnes

remember Dakar Bill??

Ooops !! Forgot about that Jim........................

[Mad Landsman]

It is supposed to be unlucky to say 'rabbits' on Portland not for any seafaring reason, but by quarrymen. When a rabbit was seen out in the open in the quarrys it often preceeded a rock fall (the rabbits having noticed a problem). The person would call "Rabbits" and everyone went home & lost a days pay - hence unlucky!
The big problem with this is that until about 70 or 80 years ago they used to call them coneys,(a rabbit being a young coney)

MIG.

[fredkinghorn]

If the new month had an R in it, my old Mother used to say " rabbits " on the first day. On the second day they would come and take her away again !

fred.

Could be the start of a beautiful friendship Louis.

[Coastie]

Fred.

Your Mother too eh?

[trotterdotpom]

Originally Posted by vix

A brother-in-law of mine was a deep-sea fisherman...he used to go crazy if anyone mentioned RABBITS within earshot...had to be referred too as underground pigs!! vIX

Wash your mouth out Vix! 'Pigs' are unlucky too - "grunters" are Ok. Rabbits were 'underground chicken'.

John T.

[R651400]

Sky-pilots had to stay indoors when Scottish east coast fishermen put to sea.
If a skipper spotted a man of the cloth on the way to his boat, he would turn round and go home.
Similarly pigs were unmentionable and still referred to as guffies even today.

[bsturrell]

I believe the myth of Friday 13th dates back to Philippe IV of France when he had a go at the Knights Templars back in 1307.

Quote:-

Philippe set up an operation which would have impressed the Nazi SS or Gestapo. Issuing sealed and secret orders to his seneschals throughout the country and where they were opened simultaneously, all Templars in France were seized and placed under arrest by the King's men, their goods confiscated, and their preceptors placed under royal sequestration. Despite this great surprise at dawn on Friday, October 13, 1307, Philippe's primary interest -- the order's immense wealth -- eluded him. It was never found and what became of the fabulous "treasure of the Templars" remained a mystery

[moaf]

My wife is from Portland, she refers to rabbits as bunny's. The outlaws still live there, and they've got a pet bunny - securely locked in a cage!

[Phill]

“RABBITS"
Naval slang name given to articles taken, or intended to be taken, ashore privately. Originally "rabbits" were things taken ashore improperly (i.e. theft or smuggling - the name arose from the ease with which tobacco, etc., could be concealed in the inside of a dead rabbit) but with the passage of time the application of the word has spread to anything taken ashore; an air of impropriety nevertheless still hangs over the use of the word, whether or not this is justified (it seldom is). Hence the phrase "Tuck its ears in", often said to an officer or rating seen going ashore with a parcel.

Honest this info, was taken from the Royal Navy site.

Phill

[benjidog]

The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea describes a gruesome superstition that is said to go back to classical times. According to the superstition, to be successful, a warship must taste the blood of a live person during its launching. It goes on to say that when a galley was launched, a slave was tied down so that his body was crushed and the blood splashed all over the vessel as it slid down into the sea. The victim's head was later mounted on the vessel's stemhead.

As far as I know we do that any more but, even in these enlightened times, we still offer a libation (in the form of a bottle of champagne) on a ship's launch and this also dates back to classical times - it was a libation to the gods of the sea.