Just bad luck?

By Smriti Daniel

Friday the 13th is just around the corner. Death and destruction lie quietly, ruthlessly in wait. Knowledge is power – see if you know enough to protect yourself from a very painful and no doubt abrupt end.

1. There's a black cat about to cross the road in front of your car. You:

a)Trust instinct and yank your steering wheel sharply to the left. It always works out fine in the movies.
b)Stop. There might be a witch just behind the cat.
c)Accelerate. A dead black cat doesn't count.

2. You think that paraskevideka- triaphobe is a Greek word thatrefers to:

a)Someone who picked up some revolting disease on yet another seafaring voyage.
b)The terrible anxiety that would overcome the populace when faced with a paragraph from Plato's The Republic.
c)Someone who had an irrational fear of Friday the 13th.

3. It's Friday the 13th and you need something new to wear because your friend is throwing what promises to be the party of the year.

a)You go shopping. After all, what's the worst that could happen?
b)You don't go shopping. You might die in a shopping centre cave in, or worse, come back with a polka dot dress.
c)You are paralysed and unable to choose – should you get out the body armour? Should you barricade yourself in your room?
Decisions, decisions.

4. You’re regretting inviting your friend over for dinner… she can't seem to stop throwing salt over her shoulder. You think

a) She's hinting that you haven't put enough salt into the soup.
b) She's trying to ward of bad luck.
c) She's trying to cover up the curry stain she made on your precious carpet.

5. You can feel a yawn coming on. Almost automatically, your hand comes up to cover your mouth. This is because:

a) You are afraid your soul will escape through your mouth.
b) You want to spare your boring date the final humiliation – an inerasable glimpse into the cavern that you call a mouth.
c) It's what your mama taught you.

6. You'd go way, way out of your way to avoid the number 13. Your rationale is:

a) It's an odd number. Odd numbers are odd. Odd things must be avoided at all costs.
b) You watched the movie Friday the 13th and now you're a believer.
c) You're planning on living a long, healthy life and since association with the number 13 has frequently led to death and destruction, you'd rather just stay away.

7. While you were looking into your mirror, it suddenly cracked down the middle. This is because:

a) You're UGLY. It's such an extreme condition that it can only be expressed in capitals.
b) Your soul, as represented in the mirror, is being corrupted.
c) The construction crew your mother hired are a bit too free with their hammers.

8. There's a ladder leaning against a wall, crossing over the pavement. Why won't you go under it?

a) You don't want to be hanging around under a bored man on a ladder. There's no knowing what he might do.
b) Duh. Everybody does it…and no you wouldn't jump into the well if I told you to!
c) Evil spirits linger there.

Got a pen handy? The table below lists the correct answers. It would be safe to assume that you might survive this Friday if you have a score of either 7 or 8; a score of either 4 or 5 will be cutting it fine, but if it's any less…goodbye my friend. It's been nice knowing you.

Scoring Table:

1. b) Black cats have long been considered witches' familiars. Since the witch hunts of the middle ages, they have been believed to be intimately connected to evil. You really don't want to get too close to one of these.

2. c) Paraskevi is the Greek word for Friday, and dekatria is how Greeks say 13. Phobe, as you might have guessed, relates to phobia.

3. b) Paraskevidekatriaphobia is an established condition – a billion dollors worth of commerce won't happen on Friday the 13th, because people are afraid to fly, travel, and shop.

4. b) At one time salt was a rare commodity and thought to have magical powers. It was unfortunate to spill salt and said to foretell family disarray and death. To ward off bad luck on the other hand, all one had to do was throw a pinch over one’s shoulder and all would be well.

5. a) People actually used to think that their souls would rush out of their bodies if they issued an unprotected yawn.

6. c) History supports your stance. A Norse myth has it that a great dinner party with 12 guests was ruined when a 13th crashed the event and killed the god of joy and gladness. There were also 13 guests at the Last Supper of Jesus Christ, who was crucified on a Friday. Finally, a correctly tied hangman's noose has 13 knots, and executions used to happen on Fridays too.

7. b) An ancient myth our ancestors believed was that the image in a mirror is our actual soul. A broken mirror represented the soul being astray from your body.

8. c) In the days before the gallows, criminals were hung from the top rung of a ladder and their spirits were believed to linger underneath. Common folklore has it to be bad luck to walk beneath an open ladder and pass through the triangle of evil ghosts and spirits.