Almost every second German is superstitious

And almost every fifth is feeling uneasy today on Friday 13th.

This can also serve as a nice example for biased choice of words – since Statista titles (in German; my translation) “Friday 13th spreads only little fear”, based on the same number of 17.9% (see here (German); by the way, 22.3% of women say they’re “especially careful”).

The latter numbers are from a different poll (2007 Germans aged 14+, GfK, June 2008) than the one asking for particular objects or situations of superstition that is the basis for this post’s title (2000 Germans 16+, Allensbach, Nov. 2000):

Top to bottom: four-leaf clover; shooting star; chimney sweeper; black cat; the number 13; finding a horseshoe; cuckoo calling; spider in the morning; swallow’s nest; Friday; clock stopped ticking; the number 7; bad luck when a little owl calls; borrowing salt means bad luck; knife’s edge at the top brings quarrel: sheeps to the left; walking back when stumbling; door opens by itself; rain on bridal veil; touch a hunchback.

It’s of course hard to tell this way if those not believing in clover do believe in other stuff, so there may actually be more than 43% who decided to give their brain some time off in favor of their superstition.

Addendum: Julia reminded me about the extreme superstitions of US presidential candidate McCain and, to a much lesser extent or maybe not at all, Obama.