oh .... how I love this list : )
thanks Jacqueline, that's really useful (and fast), and there was a
particularly British slant on things that day, so it kind of makes sense : )
seventeen? heck.....
best
dave
----- Original Message -----
From: "jacqueline simpson" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, January 05, 2008 9:34 PM
Subject: Re: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] Magpie folkore query
> Most magpie rhymes only go to 10, but Iona Opie and
> Moira Tatem, 'A Dictionary of Superstitions' (p.236)
> quotes one from Harland & Wilkinson 'Lancashire
> legends' (1873) which ends 'Nine for a burying, ten
> for a dance, / Eleven for England, twelve for France'.
> So your magpies were being very patriotic (if you like
> in England, that is). I once saw 17 feeding in a field
> -- no idea what that portended!
>
> Jacqueline
>
>
>
>
> --- D E <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> happy new year all
>>
>>
>> a query here for our several awesome folklorists,
>> plus any others that may be able to help
>>
>> I presume many of you are familiar with the common
>> rhyme about Magpies: "one for sorrow, two for
>> joy...." etc
>>
>> but does anyone know if it goes as far as eleven?
>>
>> reason is, i one had eleven magpies laughing at me
>> from the same tree, on a very auspicious day
>> (academically) and it has always bugged me, as i've
>> been unable to find a reference anywhere that gives
>> the rhyme up to eleven
>>
>> thanks in advance for any comments
>>
>>
>> Dave e
>>
>> (the custom of saluting Magpies is something i'm
>> also interested in)
>
>
>
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