Paraskevidekatriaphobia Sufferers Are Having a Bad Year

[xchrom]

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2012/01/paraskevidekatriaphobia_friday_the_13th.php


Paper cuts are the worst.

Today is a day that strikes fear in the hearts of some and general amusement or even glad tidings in the hearts of stauncher types. It is Friday the 13th. If you are one of the terrified, you suffer from "paraskevidekatriaphobia," a potentially crippling disorder that means you are among plenty of people who cannot possibly pronounce that word and are also afraid of Friday the 13th. Which is, as we mentioned, today.

For the record, fear of Friday the 13th is also called "friggatriskaidekaphobia," which is equally hard to say and terrifying.

This is an especially terrifying year, whatever you call it, as it will contain three Fridays the 13th (Friday the 13ths?)! Last year, there was only one. Why are you so testing us, God?

These Friday the 13ths, which you don't have to mark on your calendar because they already are (creepy) happen today, April 13, and July 13 -- each one falls 13 weeks apart. And, it's a leap year, which is even more creepy and unusual, says Tom Frensler, a/k/a, "Dr. 13," a man who pronounces 95 percent of the world superstitious and the rest full of it.



*** i see friday the 13th as a lucky day if you wear your underwear backwards.
but woe unto you if you don't.

[HopeHoops]

1. If you're too hung over to notice, it might just happen.

[treestar]

2. Wonder what the origin is

Wikipedia has this:

One theory states that it is a modern amalgamation of two older superstitions: that thirteen is an unlucky number and that Friday is an unlucky day.

In numerology, the number twelve is considered the number of completeness, as reflected in the twelve months of the year, twelve hours of the clock, twelve gods of Olympus, twelve tribes of Israel, twelve Apostles of Jesus, the 12 Descendants of Muhammad Imams, etc., whereas the number thirteen was considered irregular, transgressing this completeness. There is also a superstition, thought by some to derive from the Last Supper or a Norse myth, that having thirteen people seated at a table will result in the death of one of the diners.

Friday has been considered an unlucky day at least since the 14th century's The Canterbury Tales,[3] and many other professions have regarded Friday as an unlucky day to undertake journeys or begin new projects. Black Friday has been associated with stock market crashes and other disasters since the 1800s.[6][7] It has also been suggested that Friday has been considered an unlucky day because, according to Christian scripture and tradition, Jesus was crucified on a Friday.[8]

One author, noting that references are all but nonexistent before 1907 but frequently seen thereafter, has argued that its popularity derives from the publication that year of Thomas W. Lawson's popular novel Friday, the Thirteenth,[9] in which an unscrupulous broker takes advantage of the superstition to create a Wall Street panic on a Friday the 13th.[4] Records of the superstition are rarely found before the 20th century, when it became extremely common.

[Xipe Totec]

3. Since the 14th century? Don't you mean the 1300's?