posted
Comment: I have been hearing for years that white cigarette lighters are bad luck. I work at a gas station, and if someone wants a lighter and I hand them a white one, sometimes they won't even touch it. Could you possibly find the origins, or even the rationale behind this rumor? I haven't been able to find anyone who could adecuatly explain to me why white lighters are supposed to be bad luck.
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ranran yousei
The Red and the Green Stamps
posted
That's an odd superstition. I usually reach for a purple lighter or one with a pretty pattern, not for "luck" but because I like purple and pretty pictures. So, if I was handed a white lighter, I'd decline.
It's rather pointless to try and avoid a white lighter because of bad luck, since most lighters (well, Bic lighters, at least), are white underneath (except the clear ones) if you peel off the colour or picture, so it's a white lighter no matter what anyway.
(EDIT: Whereas in the past I've had coloured lighters in the past that I could peel the colour off of, and I mean solid non-patterned colours, I just realized that my current lighter is molded plastic and the colour isn't a decal. So, not all are white underneath, not even my current Bic. )
Anyone else thought the title of this thread was about the angels in the TV show 'Charmed'?
posted
I've never heard that supersitition before but I would also decline a white lighter. All my disposable lighters are red. I have a small child in the home so and for some strange (non-luck/supernatural based) reason I like having red lighters. First, since I hate the colour red, they stand out and I can imediately see if I left one laying around. Its just easier if they always look about the same, then I know what to keep my eye out for. Also the kid understands that red often means "stop" or "danger" and he knows he is not supposed to touch lighters.
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What is the use of women?" Steve W. from JREF's 'This is no fun' Posts: 7622 | From: North Carolina | Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
I first heard about this last semester during a break between classes. Some guy in our class needed a light and my sister in law handed him her lighter but he wouldn't take it because it was white. He then proceeded to tell us that he knew a guy who used a white lighter and got in three car accidents in a week. I asked around and apparently its a pretty popular UL here. Some people carry white lighters and grin while lighting a cigarette saying ... "I like to live dangerously", though I would wager the cigarette is more harmful than a white lighter would be. Heh.
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CD
The Red and the Green Stamps
posted
Hmmm... I've never heard this before, but I know that more often than not I possess a white lighter. And my luck is impeccibly bad. Coinsidence?
In fact, most lighters with the pattern are a sticker. If you peel the sticker away, you will find a white lighter. Conspiracy?
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posted
Odd. When you first mentioned white lighters being considered bad luck, the first thing I thought of was, "Well, maybe they think sunlight and heat can seep through it more than a colored/pattern lighter, and will spontaniously explode or something." But no one seems to view it that way. Consider me puzzled, this is the first time of heard of this.
Trish "I use the cheap lighters my brother gives me for Christmas" DaDish
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posted
Never heard this about white lighters, but I remember in High School it was commonly believed that if you saw three white cameros in one day, you'd get laid that night. sheesh.
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posted
I thought it was going to be a relgion rant about modern day witches who consider themselves "white lighters" or the whole, "good" magic schpeal.
As for the color of a lighter being bad luck, it's the first time I have heard about it, and I've hung around a lot of superstitious smokers here in WA state, USA.
Since we're on the subject of lighter superstitions, I knew punks who would take the metal heads of lighters and squeeze them onto the sides of their jackets. I never knew what that ment, if anything.
Posts: 2286 | From: Washington State | Registered: Aug 2002
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quote:Originally posted by resEggLution: Since we're on the subject of lighter superstitions, I knew punks who would take the metal heads of lighters and squeeze them onto the sides of their jackets. I never knew what that ment, if anything.
Heh, I did that too. I don't think it really meant anything other than just decoration. The more badges, spikes, whatever you had on your leather jacket, the better I suppose.
-------------------- "Look at the size of Tifa's breasts! They're destroying our childrens future!" Posts: 92 | From: San Francisco | Registered: Aug 2004
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posted
I've known a couple of guys in the Army who always used pink lighters. The idea was that no man would steal a pink lighter...
-------------------- "My neighbor asked why anyone would need a car that can go 190 mph. If the answer isn't obvious, and explaination won't help." - Csabe Csere Posts: 1225 | From: Wichita, Kansas | Registered: Nov 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Delta-V: I've known a couple of guys in the Army who always used pink lighters. The idea was that no man would steal a pink lighter...
Hey...it worked. I was one of those guys with a pink lighter. It didn't work on "In the Butt Bob" though...he collected stolen lighters...had a huge bacardi bottle full of them. But the pink lighters were safe from anyone else.
pinqy
-------------------- Don't Forget! Winter Solstice Hanukkah Christmas Kwanzaa & Gurnenthar's Ascendance Are Coming! Posts: 8671 | From: Washington, DC | Registered: Feb 2000
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quote:Originally posted by resEggLution: I thought it was going to be a relgion rant about modern day witches who consider themselves "white lighters" or the whole, "good" magic schpeal. .
I thought the very same thing. Major bummer to find out it was about things I light cigarettes with. (also funny because the one I'm using right this minute is white *grin*)
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posted
A Google seach on this turns up all sorts of anecdotes. It seems to be a prevalent superstition among those who smoke, um, things that aren't tobacco. The "bad luck" is that white lighters will cause you to get busted. Sample quote "I'd get rid of that lighter if I were you. White lighters are bad luck and a lot of people end up having encounters with the police when they have one in their posession. It's just a superstition, but we need all the luck we can get when it comes to the cops."
-------------------- The plural of "anecdote" is not "data." Posts: 4255 | From: Sacramento, CA | Registered: Feb 2000
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festus
The Red and the Green Stamps
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It's kind of like in seventh grade when no one would sit in a yellow chair. Am I the only one who remembers this?
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posted
We didn't have the thing about Yellow chairs, But i do vaguely remember something about yellow snow...
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CD
The Red and the Green Stamps
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Well this thread has altered my life. I needed to buy a lighter today and I reached past the white one to grab a black one.
-------------------- "British English speakers point to Americans adding more syllables so that they can make even more noise without actually saying anything." Llewtrah
Posts: 2235 | From: Sussex , UK | Registered: May 2004
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posted
I am new to this and when I saw this topic I also assumed "Charmed"...but this might be because I have a white lighter and for fun and identification ( lighter theives ) I wrote "LEO" on it in black marker.
-------------------- "I'm not dumb...your dumb." Junior-Lonestar State of Mind
"It eats you, starting with your bottom." Andrew-BtVS
posted
I know for a fact white lighters are bad luck because I once dropped one at a friend's house and couldn't find it, then later we heard a loud pop and the dog began crying. Turned out the dog had found it and chewed on it until it exploded. (She was fine.)
Ok so even though it's a true story it obviously doesn't validate the legend and I still have no idea where the myth came from (hadn't heard it, actually) so, as you were.
ETA: Heh I think it's official...I'm invisible.
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*flips his brushed brass #1 in the air, self-lights it, and walks out whistling*
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posted
Wait, wait - around here, I've always heard that YELLOW lighters were the ones to avoid. I've never heard the white lighter thing, though.
-------------------- and it's 1 - 2 - 3, what are we fighting for? don't ask me, I don't give a damn Posts: 1319 | From: Florida | Registered: Dec 2002
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ranran yousei
The Red and the Green Stamps
posted
No no, it's the yellow snow.....
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Here's a cigarette superstition along the same turns...when my friends smoked in high school, for the longest time we would flip one cigarette out of a new pack upside down. This was deemed the "lucky". It was supposed to be the last cig out of the pack that was smoked, and if it wasn't it was bad luck. Of course, the bad luck usually was realizing that you lit the lucky from the filter end when you lit one up in the dark-- Especially while driving.
mrs.hi-smoking is bad"C
-------------------- This song has no title...just words and a tune.
quote:Originally posted by mrs.hi-c: Here's a cigarette superstition along the same turns...when my friends smoked in high school, for the longest time we would flip one cigarette out of a new pack upside down. This was deemed the "lucky". It was supposed to be the last cig out of the pack that was smoked, and if it wasn't it was bad luck. Of course, the bad luck usually was realizing that you lit the lucky from the filter end when you lit one up in the dark-- Especially while driving.
mrs.hi-smoking is bad"C
I remember that one from high school. Although I never did it, the flipped, "lucky", cigarette was supposed to have something to do with luck for getting lucky. At least around here that's what people said.
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ranran yousei
The Red and the Green Stamps
posted
Every pack, I flip one upsidedown, and I don't even really know why. It's saved for the last of the pack, but it's more of a tradition, rather than for luck. I suppose back in my "soft pack" days it was a challenge, since the likelihood of accidently grabbing that one, and lighting the wrong end is greater. Now it's just a holdover, with no real meaning.
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posted
When I worked for a tobacconist, I'd often run accross folks with an aversion to white lighters. This was in Burlington, VT, and the superstitious white-lighter-avoiders were usually college kids.
Damn. I shoulda done my thesis on *that* phenomenon.
BathTub "I will not buy this record, it is scratched" Adventurer
Posts: 37 | From: San Francisco, CA | Registered: Nov 2003
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posted
You're supposed to smoke the lucky last, and make a wish when you do.
(Im not even a smoker and I've heard this stuff.)
-------------------- and it's 1 - 2 - 3, what are we fighting for? don't ask me, I don't give a damn Posts: 1319 | From: Florida | Registered: Dec 2002
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Marmite
The Red and the Green Stamps
posted
what if you use an unlucky white lighter to light your lucky last cigarette?
Mar "I can't really smoke it, but it's comforting to hold it" Mite
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(also funny because the one I'm using right this minute is white *grin*)
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