Sunday, August 15, 2010
Paraskevidekatriaphobia
I feel bad I didn't get around to commenting on this yesterday, but here it is now.
Friday the 13th. Boo! Did you feel scared? How about this, did you change your behavior at all yesterday because of the date? Believe it or not, as many as 21 million people did. In Canada alone, hardly known for being a particularly superstitious country, it's estimated that between 700 and 800 million dollars in business is lost every Friday the 13th from people deciding not to shop, travel, etc. on that day.
I wish I were amazed by this. Sadly, I'm not. Sadly, it doesn't appear we're getting any smarter about this sort of thing. While only 13% of people admit to believing that the date is unlucky, 30 percent of 18 to 24 year-olds think it is. Not a good sign.
Hopefully you made it through your Friday without any major calamity. If you didn't, I'd say it's probably because you didn't pray hard enough and didn't carry a lucky rabbit's foot with you all day. Go ahead, prove I'm wrong!
Friday the 13th. Boo! Did you feel scared? How about this, did you change your behavior at all yesterday because of the date? Believe it or not, as many as 21 million people did. In Canada alone, hardly known for being a particularly superstitious country, it's estimated that between 700 and 800 million dollars in business is lost every Friday the 13th from people deciding not to shop, travel, etc. on that day.
I wish I were amazed by this. Sadly, I'm not. Sadly, it doesn't appear we're getting any smarter about this sort of thing. While only 13% of people admit to believing that the date is unlucky, 30 percent of 18 to 24 year-olds think it is. Not a good sign.
Hopefully you made it through your Friday without any major calamity. If you didn't, I'd say it's probably because you didn't pray hard enough and didn't carry a lucky rabbit's foot with you all day. Go ahead, prove I'm wrong!
