Astrology believers?

[Steeveeo]

Mechadon said:

Oh yea, how could I forgot the awesome Chinese Zodiac? I'm reminded of it everytime I eat chinese food...I'm a Tiger rawrg.

I believe the Chinese Zodiac is utter crap....mainly because according to it Im a frikkin sheep...

[Butts]

i dont actually believe in it.

i was born in the year of the ram. i am a libra.

[Mechadon]

Steeveeo said:

I believe the Chinese Zodiac is utter crap....mainly because according to it Im a frikkin sheep...

Awww...but sheep make tasty lamb chops! Erm, no I guess lambs make tasty lamp chops :S

*Mek the Tiger eats Steeveeo the Sheep-chop*

[Zaldron]

I am frequently amazed at certain similarities in behaviour from people born under the same sign, but I attribute this to social conditioning. I have no acquaintances that were born and lived in complete disregard/ignorance in Astrology as to further this line of thought, though.

[lupinx-Kassman]

Don't believe in it myself, but I am pisces if you must know.

[Sharessa]

I'm a Pisces. Also, a wood rat in Chinese astrology, and a willow in Celtic astrology. I'm not sure about astrology. I was born dead center in the middle of Pisces, and everyone who is into astrology says I'm a textbook Pisces, but every horoscope I read has absolutely nothing to do with my life. I do, however find people have different temperaments depending on the time of year they were born. People born in the Winter seem to be calmer and more introspective while those born in the summer seem to be more energetic and flighty. Also, most of my good friends were either born in Februray, March, August, or Setember. I figure the temperaments thing has to do with the weather around your birthday. It seems to always be cold and rainy on my birthday, with people sick around it all the time, which I guess would disappoint me after a while, making me more Pisces-like. I don't know.

[Enjay]

When I was younger, my best mate used to insist that he was attracted to Aquarius girls. To be fair, most of the girls he went out with were Aquarius so it seemed that there could be something in it. The strongest evidence that he would present for this was that the girl he'd gone out with on and off over a number of years, the girl he just couldn't get over and who eventually became a longer term partner was an Aquarius. The theory came crashing down, however, when they decided to go abroad on holiday and she had to get a passport for the first time. To get it, she had to get a copy of her birth certificate and her parents had to "'fess up" that they'd been lying about her age to cover-up a premarital pregnancy for the last 24 years or so. The girl was actually 6 months older than she thought she was and not an Aquarius at all. :D

[BoldEnglishman]

Hmm, well it's interesting to read like a little paragraph on what is apparently going to happen to me in the next week/month, but 10 minutes later, and I'll forget what it said anyway.

I'm a pisces (of all the things I wanted to be - they had to choose a fish!)

[Richo Rosai]

I hate that superstitious bullshit so much that I made it a point never to look up what my birthday falls under. When I see a chart or something that would give me such knowledge I avert my eyes and avoid it like spoilers or scat porn.

I refuse to even talk to anyone who wants to know my blood type (the Jappo equivalent of astrology) when they meet me.

And I have to live in room 5 right next to room 3 because 4 is an unlucky number. And I have to hear the murmur of dozen boothed "licensed" psychic mediums in the department store, telling people what to name their babies and and what jobs to take. And the other day somebody forcibly took my hand and covered up my thumb when a hearse drove by because if it wasn't covered my parents would die.

GOD DAMN IT, when I retire I'm going to research which countries/cultures have the fewest superstitions and infantile believers therein.

[GreyGhost]

Artillery said:

Call me a superstitious old witch, if you like.

I'm a Leo and your a superstitous old witch.

[Snarboo]

Richo Rosai said:

GOD DAMN IT, when I retire I'm going to research which countries/cultures have the fewest superstitions and infantile believers therein.

Good luck with that. :p If they exist, they are a proud minority.

[Artillery]

GreyGhost said:

I'm a Leo and your a superstitous old witch.

I'm a Libra and it's nice to meet you.

[Sharessa]

Richo Rosai said:

GOD DAMN IT, when I retire I'm going to research which countries/cultures have the fewest superstitions and infantile believers therein.

Well problem #1 is that you're living in Japan, which is the most superstitious country right after India and remote parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. Pretty much goes to show you that technology and civilization doesn't get rid of weird beliefs.

[Remilia Scarlet]

Richo Rosai said:

I refuse to even talk to anyone who wants to know my blood type (the Jappo equivalent of astrology) when they meet me.

And I have to live in room 5 right next to room 3 because 4 is an unlucky number. And I have to hear the murmur of dozen boothed "licensed" psychic mediums in the department store, telling people what to name their babies and and what jobs to take. And the other day somebody forcibly took my hand and covered up my thumb when a hearse drove by because if it wasn't covered my parents would die.

You forgot that you're not supposed to stick your chopsticks into your rice when you're not using them because it symbolizes death.

[fraggle]

I think the only thing more laughably preposterous than astrology is probably numerology. It's incredible the complete and utter bullshit people will kid themselves into believing.

[Enjay]

Richo Rosai said:

And the other day somebody forcibly took my hand and covered up my thumb when a hearse drove by because if it wasn't covered my parents would die.

So, thumbing a lift from a hearse would definitely be out in Japan then? ;)

[Infinite Ammunition]

Enjay said:

So, thumbing a lift from a hearse would definitely be out in Japan then? ;)

not really, these bad boys do the job just fine:

[Richo Rosai]

DJ_Haruko said:

You forgot that you're not supposed to stick your chopsticks into your rice when you're not using them because it symbolizes death.

No, it's just that I respect this kind of dinner etiquette since the goal is to avoid bringing something unpleasant to mind--hell, even I don't want to think about a funeral while I'm wolfing down mah fried chikinz and azn rice (given their obvious connection with the hastening of my own eventual demise, heh).

See, I don't mind things that have some practical purpose rooted in the observable world, and I'm always happily observant of rituals whose mechanisms can be explained to me. So, shoes off because we're fucking retarded and make the floors out of rubber or straw = yes; don't cut your fingernails at night because it means you won't be with your parents when they die = fuck you.

On the other hand, I never eat in front of people, and I never, ever use chopsticks, so that particular item doesn't ever come up.

Enjay said:

So, thumbing a lift from a hearse would definitely be out in Japan then? ;)

Heh. But since it's your own parents you'd be dooming, I don't see the problem.

[Enjay]

Richo Rosai said:

don't cut your fingernails at night because it means you won't be with your parents when they die = fuck you.

Another parents and death one! O_O

I haven't even heard of that one either. Funny how, living outside Japan, we can do these things and not have our parents dying left, right and centre in our absence. LOL. I'm going to have to track down a site with Japanese superstitions. It sounds like you've got some amazing ones.

[Sharessa]

But if you step on a crack, you break your mother's back lol.

[Richo Rosai]

Enjay said:

Another parents and death one! O_O

I haven't even heard of that one either. Funny how, living outside Japan, we can do these things and not have our parents dying left, right and centre in our absence. LOL. I'm going to have to track down a site with Japanese superstitions. It sounds like you've got some amazing ones.

Well, those two are fairly common if you live here, and are both listed on the "Japanese superstitions" page at wikipedia. The others I see there that I've actually encountered are:

A cold mid-section will cause diarrhea (Although this sounds more like a wive's tale/folk medicine than a supersition)

Stepping on the cloth border of a tatami mat beings bad luck (I heard that children are told that if they sit on the border of a mat a Samurai will come up from under them and stab them)

When you are nervous, write "human beings" ("ningen")in Japanese on your palm three times and pretend to swallow them. It will help you to relax.

If you see a spider in the morning, it means good luck so you shouldn't kill it, but if you see one at night, it means bad luck so you can kill it. (Who in the hell decided to make this one so confusing?)

The best one (although it's more a matter of etymology than contemporarily believed superstition) is Answer a telephone call with the phrase “moshi moshi” to ensure that you’re not a shape-shifting fox in human disguise because foxes can’t say “moshi moshi”

I would say there are equally stupid ideas enjoying credibility in the West, but sometimes I wonder if a truly objective comparison would show that.

The other day someone invited me to throw beans on the ground and say "ogres out, happiness in" for good fortune. With my trademark asshole sarcasm I said I was good and would take my chances with unhappiness and ogres, but I tempered it with the acknowledgment that it wasn't that dissimilar from something like modern Easter. On the other hand, I realized, at least when everyone is finished jerking off over Jesus' corpse I can have deviled eggs, whereas throwing beans on the filthy ground is a waste of perfectly good food.

[myk]

Richo Rosai said:
The other day someone invited me to throw beans on the ground and say "ogres out, happiness in" for good fortune. With my trademark asshole sarcasm I said I was good and would take my chances with unhappiness and ogres, but I tempered it with the acknowledgment that it wasn't that dissimilar from something like modern Easter. On the other hand, I realized, at least when everyone is finished jerking off over Jesus' corpse I can have deviled eggs, whereas throwing beans on the filthy ground is a waste of perfectly good food.

During my teens I lived in the country, and we had a gaucho to watch the farm that would go outside and sprinkle salt around on the grass when a storm could be coming. In the west throwing rice at newly-weds is also common, of course. Curiously rice is mostly from the east... so I wonder where that came from.

[Chow Yun Thin]

Richo Rosai said:
[i]A cold mid-section will cause diarrhea

That does happen to me, but I think it's more about the power of suggestion. My mom said the same thing to me when I was young, so it adds to the folk medicine angle. In my case, it depends on circumstances; it only happens when I wake up and expose my gut to the cooler air after it was covered in warm blankets. It's a good thing it doesn't happen when I'm in a swimming pool.

The best one (although it's more a matter of etymology than contemporarily believed superstition) is [i]Answer a telephone call with the phrase “moshi moshi” to ensure that you’re not a shape-shifting fox in human disguise because foxes can’t say “moshi moshi”

Okay, I'll bite: Are shape-shifting foxes something to worry about in Japanese culture?

I've always thought the thing about sticking chopsticks in a bowl of rice was a mockery of the incense ritual, and thereby of those for whom the ritual is being performed.

My mom always told me to eat every last grain of rice in my bowl, lest my future spouse be ugly and pockmarked. Of course, then I realized she was getting me to not waste food. She could have just said so instead of going about it in a subtle way.

My mom also told me not to leave the rice bowl upside down because it means a fight will happen. Either this was a non-verbal cue she noticed when she was young or she didn't want crap spilled onto the table after dinner was done.

[Artillery]

My grandpa used to tell me I should never sit at the corner of the square table, 'cause that meant I'll never get married. It's a superstition in my country.

But, alas, that wasn't why this thread was started. Nevermind.

[Zaldron]

Artillery said:

My grandpa used to tell me I should never sit at the corner of the square table, 'cause that meant I'll never get married. It's a superstition in my country.

But, alas, that wasn't why this thread was started. Nevermind.

Same here in Argentina, along with many others I routinely mock.

[Sharessa]

HWGuy said:

My mom always told me to eat every last grain of rice in my bowl, lest my future spouse be ugly and pockmarked. Of course, then I realized she was getting me to not waste food. She could have just said so instead of going about it in a subtle way.

My mom just told me that kids were starving in China, which always made me wonder why we didn't give our food to them in the first place. She also threatened to invite homeless people from Seattle over for dinner if I wasn't gonna eat all my food. Ironically, she ended up dating a homeless guy from Seattle years later. Dinner that night was rather awkward. o_o

[Enjay]

Richo Rosai said:

The best one (although it's more a matter of etymology than contemporarily believed superstition) is Answer a telephone call with the phrase “moshi moshi” to ensure that you’re not a shape-shifting fox in human disguise because foxes can’t say “moshi moshi”

I absolutely love that one. It's just brilliant. I mean, where do you start? As has already been asked, how much of a problem are shape shifting foxes in Japan? But then there is the question about how recent this superstition is. It seems like a silly old one that has persisted for what ever reason, but the telephone hasn't been around for that long so...? Also, how serious would the threat be from a shape shifting fox on the other end of a phone line? Is there a reason that foxes can't say "moshi moshi"? How are they with the rest of the Japanese language? And about half a dozen other questions that are leaping around in my head.

Fantastic. You've made my day. :D

[Hellbent]

MasterSyphadias said:

You may enjoy these videos:

I have links for downloads also if you need:

The Esoteric Agenda

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1131942400352901009

Zeitgeist

http://zeitgeistmovie.com/

!

Not all the world sleeps.

I'm a Scorpio.

[MasterSyphadias]

Oh yes, I forgot...

...I'm a Goat. ;)

[Richo Rosai]

Enjay said:

I absolutely love that one. It's just brilliant. I mean, where do you start? As has already been asked, how much of a problem are shape shifting foxes in Japan? But then there is the question about how recent this superstition is. It seems like a silly old one that has persisted for what ever reason, but the telephone hasn't been around for that long so...? Also, how serious would the threat be from a shape shifting fox on the other end of a phone line? Is there a reason that foxes can't say "moshi moshi"? How are they with the rest of the Japanese language? And about half a dozen other questions that are leaping around in my head.

Fantastic. You've made my day. :D

Well, as I meant to imply, this is just the origin of the word and not something people consciously worry about today. If you think of it as kinda like Japan's batshit insane equivalent of the handshake originating to prove that you weren't hiding a weapon in your sleeve, it's not that strange.

I don't know for sure, but I think the phrase was used before the telephone. If you yell it out into a presumably empty room, it has a slightly archaic ring with the meaning "are you there/is anyone there?", maybe along the lines of "I say!" in English.

As for why foxes can't say it, I'm pretty sure it's because foxes can't say gitaigo or similar words.

Gitaigo are mimetic words consisting of a repetition of two syllables (all you poketards out there will no doubt be familiar with "pika pika").

To go even further off topic, I truly hate gitaigo because it sounds to me like I'm speaking some ancient tribal language (ooga-booga?). Luckily there are plenty of synonyms for all of them, or failing that you can usually just change the last two syllables to "tto" for the exact same meaning.