WEBVTT

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Are you afraid of black cats?

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Would you open an umbrella indoors?

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And how do you feel about 
the number thirteen?

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Whether or not you believe in them,

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you're probably familiar with a few
of these superstitions.

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So how did it happen that people
all over the world

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knock on wood,

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or avoid stepping on sidewalk cracks?

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Well, although they have no basis
in science,

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many of these weirdly specific beliefs
and practices

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do have equally weird
and specific origins.

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Because they involve supernatural causes,

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it's no surprise that many superstitions
are based in religion.

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For example. the number thirteen was
associated with the biblical Last Supper,

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where Jesus Christ dined 
with his twelve disciples

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just before being arrested and crucified.

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The resulting idea that having thirteen
people at a table was bad luck

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eventually expanded into thirteen
being an unlucky number in general.

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Now, this fear of the number thirteen,
called triskaidekaphobia,

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is so common that many buildings around 
the world skip the thirteenth floor,

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with the numbers going straight from
twelve to fourteen.

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Of course, many people consider
the story of the Last Supper to be true

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but other superstitions come from 
religious traditions

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that few people believe in
or even remember.

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Knocking on wood is thought to come from 
the folklore of the ancient Indo-Europeans

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or possibly people who predated them

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who believed that trees were home
to various spirits.

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Touching a tree would invoke 
the protection

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or blessing of the spirit within.

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And somehow,

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this tradition survived long after 
belief in these spirits had faded away.

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Many superstitions common today
in countries from Russia to Ireland

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are thought to be remnants of the pagan
religions that Christianity replaced.

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But not all superstitions are religious.

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Some are just based on unfortunate
coincidences and associations.

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For example, many Italians fear
the number 17

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because the Roman numeral XVII
can be rearranged to form the word vixi,

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meaning my life had ended.

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Similarly, the word for the number four

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sounds almost identical 
to the word for death

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in Cantonese,

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as well as languages like Japanese

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and Korean that have borrowed 
Chinese numerals.

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And since the number one also
sounds like the word for must,

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the number fourteen sounds
like the phrase must die.

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That's a lot of numbers for elevators
and international hotels to avoid.

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And believe it or not,

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some superstitions actually make sense,

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or at least they did until we 
forgot their original purpose.

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For example, theater scenery used to
consist of large painted backdrops,

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raised and lowered by stagehands
who would whistle to signal each other.

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Absentminded whistles from other people
could cause an accident.

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But the taboo against whistling backstage
still exists today,

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long after the stagehands started using
radio headsets.

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Along the same lines, lighting three
cigarettes from the same match

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really could cause bad luck
if you were a soldier in a foxhole

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where keeping a match lit too long
could draw attention from an enemy sniper.

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Most smokers no longer have to worry
about snipers,

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but the superstition lives on.

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So why do people cling to these bits
of forgotten religions,

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coincidences,

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and outdated advice?

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Aren't they being totally irrational?

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Well, yes, but for many people,

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superstitions are based more
on cultural habit than conscious belief.

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After all, no one is born knowing to avoid
walking under ladders

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or whistling indoors,

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but if you grow up being told
by your family to avoid these things,

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chances are they'll make 
you uncomfortable,

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even after you logically understand
that nothing bad will happen.

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And since doing something like knocking
on wood doesn't require much effort,

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following the superstition is often
easier than consciously resisting it.

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Besides, superstitions 
often do seem to work.

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Maybe you remember hitting a home run
while wearing your lucky socks.

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This is just our psychological 
bias at work.

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You're far less likely to remember 
all the times you struck out

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while wearing the same socks.

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But believing that they work
could actually make you play better

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by giving you the illusion of having
greater control over events.

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So in situations where that confidence
can make a difference, like sports,

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those crazy superstitions might not
be so crazy after all.