Very superstitious

Today’s G2 in the Guardian features a mind-boggling collection of traditional superstitions, but what interests me is where they find their origin.

For example, it’s lucky if a black cat crosses your path but unlucky to view it from behind.

How exact is this? I mean, what if you see the cat from a 130 degree angle? Does that mean a fortuitous morning followed by kangaroos falling onto your head from the sky in the afternoon? Or did this one just arise when someone saw a black cat from the back too late to stop it from crapping on his shoes?

Then there’s the terrible peril you’re likely to incur if you walk into the house carrying a hoe. Exactly what a hoe is or why I should want to bring one into the living room is a mystery to a city boy like me.

But I’m more interested in the cure. Apparently you must walk backwards out of the house carrying the hoe to exorcise the bad luck demons. They don’t mention the bad luck incurred by stepping backwards onto a rake and impaling your foot. Perhaps that isn’t unlucky, just painful.

But my personal favourite is ‘Never give a knife as a housewarming present or the recipient will become your enemy.’

I don’t know about anyone else, but anyone who gives a knife as a housewarming present is probably a psychopath who wants emotional counselling, or failing that, locking up. What would this hypothetical person consider as an appropriate gift for a christening, an Uzi 9mm? Very odd.

NB Anyone attempting to follow the G2's advice to cut your hair in a storm for good luck, please use plastic scissors.