posted
Didn't know where to post this one. As popularized by the media and in jokes told by many, an ugly person who stares into a mirror or other reflective glass surface will break it.
Long answer: Mirrors have no awareness, and "ugly" is in the eye of the (human) beholder. To insentiate glass and silver backing, a reflection is a reflection, no matter of what. Ugly is powerless to affect non-sentient inanimate objects. Sound waves and vibrations can break mirrors and other glass, of course, but not ugly people.
And, really, who is to say what is ugly? Beauty is transient, beauty is superficial, beauty is only skin-deep--but ugly goes all the way to the bone. Love an ugly person, and you have a lover for a lifetime. Love a beautiful person, and you take your chances on tomorrow.
-------------------- "No hard feelin's and HOPpy New Year!"--Walt Kelly Hear what you're missing: ARTC podcasts! http://artcpodcast.org/ Posts: 7581 | From: Gainesville, Georgia | Registered: Jun 2000
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-------------------- "For me, religion is like a rhinoceros: I don't have one, and I'd really prefer not to be trampled by yours. But it is impressive, and even beautiful, and, to be honest, the world would be slightly worse off if there weren't any." -Silas Sparkhammer Posts: 3239 | From: Ontario, Canada | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
To ask a question and receive an answer, I presume.
-------------------- "No hard feelin's and HOPpy New Year!"--Walt Kelly Hear what you're missing: ARTC podcasts! http://artcpodcast.org/ Posts: 7581 | From: Gainesville, Georgia | Registered: Jun 2000
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posted
There is one way... That the person looking into the mirror has such a low sense of self esteem, sees their reflection and snaps, and physically breaking the mirror in the process. Thats about it.
But since a mirror is an inanimate objectand can't respons to something that has no standard for objectivity, it just can't be true. This is an Old Wife Tale that really doesn't warrent much discussion.
-------------------- W.W.F.S.M.D? But this image of Bush as some sort of Snidely Whiplash tying the fair maiden to the railroad tracks is beyond the pale. - Joe Bentley Posts: 2311 | From: Minnnesota | Registered: Mar 2004
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Moth-ruti
The Red and the Green Stamps
posted
I'd hate to disagree with Brad et al, but now you know why I've not posted on this thread, while everyone else has.
mo "saving throw vs Petrification" ruti
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quote:Originally posted by Moth-ruti: mo "saving throw vs Petrification" ruti
I always loved forcing my GM to roll for horror factor. I rarely create a character that doesn't have one.
On topic, though, I wonder where this came from. The mirror concept that comes to mind is that breaking a mirror leads to seven years of bad luck. Anyone know the origins of this? I figure it comes from that elusive "old belief" that something that has your image has your soul as well. Maybe if a mirror contains the soul of an ugly person, it destroys itself in despair...
It just seems to be a strange image to have embedded itself so deeply in our culture. The ugly person grins a smile with a few missing teeth at an old mirror, which subsequently cracks outward from the middle. We accept it as making perfect sense, even though... it really doesn't. Hm.
terraliones
-------------------- "I never liked Hemingway." "I never liked you." Posts: 543 | From: Brooklyn, NY | Registered: Jan 2002
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posted
I think the breaking of mirrors goes hand in hand with spilling salt, walking under ladders, black cats, 13 being an unlucky number - all supsersitions that were believed to be bad luck. We as humans tend to come up with tales to explain what we don't understand.
Wild 'I'm not unlucky, it's just not my day' Otaku
-------------------- Tom, we're flying a giant robot into space! "Safe" isn't the first word that springs to mind! - Colleen, Last Hope, Vol.2 Posts: 2710 | From: Meet me in St. Louis | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
Are people actually taking this post seriously?
Posts: 479 | From: Owosso, MI | Registered: Jun 2003
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Deciduousblonde
The Red and the Green Stamps
posted
Maybe it can happen...has anyone else noticed that if you look at yourself in the mirror for a very long time you appear really ghoulish looking? so darned ugly that I have been tempted to break the mirror
deciduous'but maybe I am just ugly'blonde
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posted
Yes, it's true - ugly faces can break mirrors. But for best results, lower your head a little and get a running start.
-------------------- When my chin is on the ground I pick myself up, dust myself off and start all over again. Posts: 1765 | From: Greensboro, NC | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
I don't know, and am far too lazy to do the research, but I suspect that it all has to do with "doubles." Around in these parts, it's still sometimes a custom in rural areas to cover all the mirrors in a house when a person has died in the house...because evidently when mirrors first came into use, people had the odd notion that they reflected one's soul as well as one's outward abode of clay, and that a mirror could somehow capture the soul of the dearly departed unless covered.
Now, if one's soul were nasty and evil, then the superstition could begin that the person was so "ugly" that his or her warped, twisted soul would strain the glass and break the mirror.
Against this, the earliest mirrors were made of metal, not of glass. Maybe back then the superstition was that a person could be so ugly that when he or she gazed into a mirror, it would instantly tarnish to utter opacity. And that is why, children, when you see an ugly person, you involuntarily exclaim "Tarnation!"
If mirrors can trap souls, perhaps damaging, breaking a mirror if you will, can reciprocally cause damage to the soul, so that breaking a mirror will injure the soul so badly that it takes seven years to heal, allowing all sorts of evil influences to interfere and bring about bad fortune during the interval.
Or, and in my opinion this is far more likely, all this could be a load of dingo's kidneys.
Brad "too lazy to look it up, but man do I MAKE it up" from Georgia
-------------------- "No hard feelin's and HOPpy New Year!"--Walt Kelly Hear what you're missing: ARTC podcasts! http://artcpodcast.org/ Posts: 7581 | From: Gainesville, Georgia | Registered: Jun 2000
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quote:Against this, the earliest mirrors were made of metal, not of glass. Maybe back then the superstition was that a person could be so ugly that when he or she gazed into a mirror, it would instantly tarnish to utter opacity. And that is why, children, when you see an ugly person, you involuntarily exclaim "Tarnation!"
Brad, that could be a legend all on it's own! Now I'm all hot under the pants to find out what the origion of tarnation is, since you admit to making that up. Here it is, tarnation. It could also be translated as Hell.
Oh Brad, I liked your origion better, and I'm inclined, in a most malevolent way, to spread it around like butter and see how many people belive me.
resE"evil laugh, mwahaha"Lution
Posts: 2286 | From: Washington State | Registered: Aug 2002
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Phildonnia Form PD1040 Schedule A
The Red and the Green Stamps
posted
quote:Originally posted by Brad from Georgia: ... Beauty is transient, beauty is superficial, beauty is only skin-deep--but ugly goes all the way to the bone. Love an ugly person, and you have a lover for a lifetime. Love a beautiful person, and you take your chances on tomorrow.
And if you wanna be happy for the rest of your life, Never make a pretty woman your wife...
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posted
I never thought it was some deeply entrenched part of our culture. I don't think anyone actually believes someone that is ugly could ever break a mirror.
I've ALWAYS thought it was just a sight gag, supposed to really get it through that the person is ugly. You know, something similar to someone screaming "MY EYES!".
Posts: 958 | From: United States | Registered: Dec 2000
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quote:Originally posted by Phildonnia Form PD1040 Schedule A: And if you wanna be happy for the rest of your life, Never make a pretty woman your wife...
Yeah, mon!
Brad "even if she a crob, mon!" from Georgia
-------------------- "No hard feelin's and HOPpy New Year!"--Walt Kelly Hear what you're missing: ARTC podcasts! http://artcpodcast.org/ Posts: 7581 | From: Gainesville, Georgia | Registered: Jun 2000
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posted
Well, I like Mike Warnke's jokes. He talks about how ugly he is- one comment being "I asked my brother, and he said 'man, you could make a train take a dirt road.'"
Posts: 479 | From: Owosso, MI | Registered: Jun 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Deciduousblonde: Maybe it can happen...has anyone else noticed that if you look at yourself in the mirror for a very long time you appear really ghoulish looking? so darned ugly that I have been tempted to break the mirror
deciduous'but maybe I am just ugly'blonde
Acutally, I though I took on a more animalistic look..like a feline than ghoulish. I think that can be attributed to the minds eye and whether or not we see what we're seeing and what we want to believe what we see.
Wild 'yep, just me rambling again' Otaku
-------------------- Tom, we're flying a giant robot into space! "Safe" isn't the first word that springs to mind! - Colleen, Last Hope, Vol.2 Posts: 2710 | From: Meet me in St. Louis | Registered: Mar 2004
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