baker's dozen
At my father's house, Friday the 13th meant doughnuts for breakfast. There were five kids on that side of my family -- the four oldest clumped in in an age span of not quite five years, and our half-sister, the caboose baby, trailing many years behind. To limit our demands for doughnuts, the inviolable rule in that household was doughnuts for breakfast on Friday the 13th and only on Friday the 13th. Which meant that we had doughnuts between one and three times a year..
Doughnuts aside, there are several theories about why Friday the 13th is considered unlucky: there were 13 at the Last Supper, which fell on a Friday, it was the day that king of France started his campaign against the Knights Templar. But I think the truth is that no-one's really sure exactly how the superstition (which is apparently of relatively recent origin) arose.
There's a related superstition that if you have 13 letters in your name, you'll have what's called "the devil's luck." Though I know that the luck of the devil is traditionally extraordinarily good luck, it would make more sense if it were luck that, on the surface, seemed good, but, when examined more closely, turned out to be hollow. Like the three wishes in fairy tales that inevitably recoil on the wisher. Or the gifts of the Greek gods that ultimately turn into curses. Apollo couldn't take back the gift of prophecy he had given Cassandra, but he could make sure that no-one ever believed her.
In any case, I have 13 letters in my real name, assuming you count only first and last names. And I have 13 letters in my pseudonym. Well, that is, if when you're adding up the letters in Niobe of Thebes, you include my middle name: "of."
14 comments:
I think you are cheating there, with the selective way of counting letters. Maybe just a little. :)
Anyway, in my typical contrary manner, I always liked 13, and it has been good to me, in the sense that I can't remember anything bad that happened to me that is in any way associated with 13.
I laughed when I read Julia's comment, because that's exactly what I thought! But then I also thought, who has 13 letters in only their first name? That would be one loooong name. So perhaps you are right to group your first and last name. However, adding the "of" in your pseudonym, seems a little cheaty. :)
So far, this Friday the 13th is turning out lucky for me since I was able to get a haircut appointment at the last minute. I really need one!! Let's hope it isn't dangerous to get your hair cut on Friday the 13th!
C'mon people. Haven't you ever heard that old joke?
Q: What do Smokey the Bear and Attila the Hun have in common?
A: They both have the same middle name.
Okay. I admit it. I am so cheating.
But if the name was in another language wouldn't the "of" count, like in Leonardo da Vinci or Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec?
Thanks Niobe,... I've got 13 in my first and last name. But since it's my first name and maiden name, I choose to believe I've .... crap! I've also got 13 in my first and last married name. And I've got no choice about adding a middle name. I have no middle name. My mother thought middle names were pretentious so I didn't get one. Well there is always divorce and re-marriage.
I just counted it out on my fingers, and I have 13 letters in my name. (First name + last name -- and my parents did not give me a middle name.) I didn't change my name when I got married, but if I had ... well, it would still be 13.
I also live in a household of 13 creatures (6 people and 7 cats).
I think this is a sign that I get doughnuts for breakfast.
i have thirteen letters in my first and last name. hmmm.
the post made me laugh at myself, because first i added up my children's names - superstitious though i'm SURE i'm not, right...whatever - and thought oh, great, didn't give them 13. then, with that last name in mind, i added Dave's letters, and thought, nope, twelve, just like Oscar. then i thought "whewwwww, good thing i kept my own name, because my first name has six letters and if i'd changed my name i'd have 13...but whilst i was busy patting myself on the back my silly brain kept on counting and i realized my bloody OWN last name has seven letters too.
oops.
Wow, I neither knew it is Friday nor that it is the 13th. That's what I get for not having a job!
Heh. This reminds me of being a writing tutor in college, and having as a student Princess Alexandra of Greece. She was filed as "Greece, Alexandra of."
Did you at least have doughnuts this morning? I think it is a cool tradition.
I am just glad its Friday regardless of the date it falls on.
What interesting things I learn from blogging.
I had no idea that so many other people had 13 letters in their names. I had no idea that so many people didn't have middle names. And, especially, I had no idea that there were reasonably well-educated people other than me who had so much trouble counting.
Basilbean, you have a point. On a tangentially related subject: I'm sure there's a rule for it, but alphabetizing those kind of names (and Spanish double last names) always messes me up. And not because (or not only because) I can't remember whether R comes before or after S without singing the ABC song.
Great idea, My Reality. I'm going to reinstitute that tradition at my house. Now, I just have to figure out when the next Friday the 13th is.
I love that I learn something nearly every time I visit your blog - it may be some sort of "trivia" (sliced bread! who knew??) or some sort of heartfelt truth of life, but it's always something
I was born on friday 13th, so I have no superstition about it. But nb the last supper was not on a friday, it was on a wedsnesday. Trial was on a thursday, crucifiction, death and burial was on friday, he rose again on sunday. (none of that timeline would work in every day life, but it's what's in the bible).
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