Walking under a ladder

Have you got a black cat by any chance? For Gods sake don't break any mirrors.

Just cross your fingers and hold your hand behind your back. Not sure it works of course.

It's ok as long as you walk back under the same ladder to undo the bad luck

Don't fret VQ, it's all a load of nonsense( but check for any falling objects first!) hold onto a lucky rabbits foot while you go under the ladder though,as long as the rabbit doesn't mind of course.

Yes, I would check that there wasn't anyone up the ladder balancing a pot of paint or bucket of water before walking underneath!

The ladder, the wall and the ground formed a triangle that symbolised the Trinity. If you walked under it, you were breaking the Trinity. I don't suppose that anyone who avoids walking under a ladder knows of this tradition or would care if they did! I generally avoid it for health and safety reasons.

I didn't know that anno - it's true what they say about never being too old to learn .

hihi I will always walk under a ladder... on principle, because I am not superstititious ( ;) )

What about ' you can't teach an old dog new tricks' though?

It's funny too how some superstitions are very strong in some countries, or parts of countries, and not others. Our cleaning lady came in one day and was horrified and in a total panic because I had placed a big bouquet of lilac from the garden in the house.

She was a Geordie- other friends and neighbours in Leicester had never heard about this.

That's interesting, anno, and not something I knew either. I've always wondered how the superstition arose, what was behind it. I wonder how many other superstitions have their origins in religious beliefs. Some may come from before CE.

The celts had many superstitions. Ireland carries on the tradition.
gj like you, I don't try to avoid walking under a ladder but I do check to see if there is a paint pot dangling from it. My mother would never put shoes on the table, and if the shoes are my grandchildrens' I wouldn't either. I used to avoid cracks on the pavement but I think lots of children do that. I won't walk up or down 13 steps and sometimes have to step on the same one twice to make it 14. Ive no idea why I count them in the first place.

I am not superstitious but would avoid sleeping in a bed with 12 other people.

I always say how ridiculous to be superstitious but then I don't walk under ladders, always put my right shoe on before my left one (no idea where that came from). In fact I have lots of little superstitious rituals

My mother was the queen of superstitions. She had my sister and I saluting magpies to ward off bad luck and my son still does it! Never wash blankets in May - you'll wash someone away. Watch out for the folds in sheets - there may be a coffin shape in there. Don't let a black cat or spider walk across your path in front of you - again the harbinger of bad luck or worse. The anxiety all this stuff engendered in us as children was ridiculous! I have had to re-educate myself to think rationally and ignore such things. I'm still working on my son! Mm, however, walking under ladders might be different - depends how careful the person up the ladder is with paint, tools, muck etc. In fact it turned out for me that the awful happened not walking under a ladder but actually falling off one and breaking my leg. Good job no-one was under the ladder at the time!

I don't know about superstitions, but as a nurse I have known or heard of numerous injuries of people walking under a ladder or scaffolding and something being dropped on their head. I think the key is to look up, and be sure it is safe before you walk under anything like that!
On another note, I did not know about the superstition of not putting new shoes on the table. I was teaching college a few weeks before I was to be married, and excitedly put my wedding shoes on the table in class to show the girls. They got quite hysterical re my faux pas, and sure enough, the groom cancelled the wedding, ON THE DAY.

That's another one. I never put new shoes on the table after seeing the musical Blood Brothers. How daft am I?

Isn't it strange that black cats can be either lucky or otherwise, perhaps depending on where you live. We were always pleased if a black cat crossed our path, though I can't remember any instance when it brought us either good or bad luck. I suppose these superstitions stem from the idea of witches having black cats as 'familiars'.

An update on the OP.

1. The electrician pulled out the cable that ran the outside electrics because it would affect the putting on of the insulation. Today we found out that it shouldn't have been moved and spent over an hour trying to thread it back through the wall. Finally I had to disconnect the under sink pipes to get the space to manouvre the cable through. Of course that meant that dirty water from the u bend poured into the under sink cupboard and had to be dried up with towels.
2. The men disconnected the outside waste pipe but didn't tell me so yesterday dirty water flooded the yard outside the back door.
3. We had to pull the washer out in order to rethread the cable. Somehow we loosened the water pipe as we pushed it back so the kitchen flooded. More towels soaked as we mopped up the water.
4. Due to the disconnected waste pipes I can't use the washer so I have a pile of soggy towels on the kitchen floor and no way of washing them.
5. I can wash up but I have to empty the waste water down the toilet.
6. The men are working directly outside the bathroom window and although it's got that sort of bubbly bathroom glass in it you can still make a lot out when you're close so I've had to block the window from the inside.

At the moment I would say the evidence is in favour of walking under a ladder being unlucky

Employing such useless tradesmen seems to be even more unlucky.

I didn't employ them. They're working for my landlord. They're doing a lovely job of the walls it's just everything else

Doing one job and making three more? Do they have friends that they would love to recommend for doing the jobs they are creating?