{"id":1278,"date":"2013-06-18T09:23:48","date_gmt":"2013-06-18T13:23:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/?p=1278"},"modified":"2013-06-18T09:24:35","modified_gmt":"2013-06-18T13:24:35","slug":"knock-on-wood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/2013\/06\/18\/knock-on-wood\/","title":{"rendered":"Knock On Wood"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As one of the world\u2019s oldest and most dangerous occupations, seafaring has a long history of events that have given way to superstitions. The origins of many of these beliefs are based on the perils of sailing, and luck naturally became associated with the risks. \t<\/p>\n<p>For instance, the expression to \u201cknock on wood\u201d is rooted in the belief that when a sailor thumped on the hull of a vessel, it should sound solid rather than rotted. Every sailor wants a boat that will hold together during a voyage, after all. If a ship is strong and sound, then it is declared to be \u201cship shape.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In essence, the life of a sailor is all about fortune \u2014 good or bad. Here are some more examples of the superstitious nature of sailors. Heed them or not at your own peril.<\/p>\n<p>Good luck<\/p>\n<ul>\tChristening a ship for protection as it embarked upon the vast and mysterious sea<\/ul>\n<ul>\tHaving a woman as a figurehead at the bow to provide guidance and calm seas<\/ul>\n<ul>\tSpitting into the ocean prior to setting sail or casting coins into the sea as a toll to King Neptune<\/ul>\n<ul>\tNailing a horseshoe to the mast to turn away storms<\/ul>\n<ul>\tGetting tattoos to ward off evil or gold piercings to bring good fortune<\/ul>\n<ul>\tHaving a cat on board (probably because it could kill disease-carrying vermin)<\/ul>\n<ul>\tSighting seabirds, which were believed to possess the souls of dead sailors<\/ul>\n<p>Bad Luck<\/p>\n<ul>\tNaming a ship after an engaged woman, which will make the ship jealous<\/ul>\n<ul>\tChanging the name of a vessel without the proper ceremony (see our post 04\/2012)<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/2012\/04\/09\/keep-poseidon-appeased-renaming-ceremony\/\" target=\"new\">Renaming ceremony<\/a><\/ul>\n<ul>\tSighting a shark behind the ship, a sign of inevitable death<\/ul>\n<ul>\tHaving women or redheads aboard, both of which could distract the crew<\/ul>\n<ul>\tStarting a voyage on a Friday or the first Monday in April <\/ul>\n<ul>\tCutting one\u2019s hair, beard or nails at sea<\/ul>\n<ul>\tBringing bananas on board<\/ul>\n<ul>\tWhistling into the wind could summon up bad weather, or \u201cwhistle up a storm\u201d<\/ul>\n<ul>\tSaying the words \u201cdrown\u201d or \u201cgoodbye\u201d or \u201cgood luck\u201d on a ship<\/ul>\n<p>I&#8217;m sure there are more superstitions.  Let us know yours, even if not marine related.  <\/p>\n<p>United Marine Underwriters is more than just <a href=\"http:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\"><u>boat insurance.<\/u><\/a>  Browse our <a href=\"http:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/boatbrowser\"><u>Boats For Sale<\/u><\/a> at BoatBrowser or our <a href=\"http:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/lakebrowser\"><u>Lake Resource Guide<\/u><\/a> at LakeBrowser or share your fishing stories and photos at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/fish_tales\"><u>True Fish Tales<\/u><\/a> \u2013 the ones that did not get away.<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As one of the world\u2019s oldest and most dangerous occupations, seafaring has a long history of events that have given way to superstitions. The origins of many of these beliefs are based on the perils of sailing, and luck naturally became associated with the risks. For instance, the expression to \u201cknock on wood\u201d is rooted [&#8230;]<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[241],"tags":[89,5,152,312,323,329],"class_list":["post-1278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life-on-the-water","tag-boating","tag-boating-buzz","tag-boating-insurance","tag-boats-for-sale","tag-lake-resources","tag-superstitions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1278"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1304,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1278\/revisions\/1304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}