spilled salt
Shaker's white accident
Spilled salt is traditionally considered bad luck, a superstition stemming from salt's historical value and preservative importance.
The customary remedy is to throw a pinch over your left shoulder, supposedly into the eyes of the devil lurking there: She spilled the salt and immediately tossed some over her shoulder.
The superstition persists even among people who don't really believe it.
- scatteredSpread irregularly about
- superstitionBaseless belief in omens
- old wives taleUnverified traditional belief
- bad luckUnfavorable chance events
- shakerVessel for mixing drinks
grains · white · table · crystals · shoulder · toss · pinch · mess · seasoning · unlucky · omen · counter · dinner table · sweep · granules · pour · accident · sodium
- Old Wives' Talescracking knuckles, full moon madness, broken mirror, walking under ladder, hair of the dog
- superstitionblack cat, broken mirror, Friday the 13th, walking under ladder, evil eye
- superstitionssuperstition, superstitions, hexes, black cats, broken mirror
- omensomens, omen, portent, portents, signs
- food folkloreapple a day, watermelon seeds, bread crusts, forbidden fruit, magic beans
spilled saltfour-leaf clover
Rare fortunate plant variant
lucky penny · horseshoe · rabbit's foot · wishbone · shooting star
spill, spilled, spilt, spills, spilling, spillage, salt, salts, salted