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A "Jonah" is a long-established expression among sailors, meaning a person (either a sailor or a passenger) who is bad luck, which is based on the Biblical prophet Jonah. Clergymen are considered bad luck, as they are all of Jonah's ilk. Redheads and women are also to be avoided as passengers. [2]
Breaking a mirror is said to bring seven years of bad luck [1]; A bird or flock of birds going from left to right () [citation needed]Certain numbers: The number 4.Fear of the number 4 is known as tetraphobia; in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean languages, the number sounds like the word for "death".
By English tradition, ships have been referred to as a "she". However, it was long considered bad luck to permit women to sail on board naval vessels. To do so would invite a terrible storm that would wreck the ship. [citation needed] The only women that were welcomed on board were figureheads mounted on the prow of the ship. In spite of these ...
Three on a match (also known as third on a match or unlucky third light) is a purported superstition among soldiers during the Crimean War to World War II.The superstition goes that if three soldiers lit their cigarettes from the same match, one of the three would be killed or that the man who was third on the match would be shot.
But during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, it proved especially hard to maintain a sense of moral balance. These wars lacked the moral clarity of World War II, with its goal of unconditional surrender. Some troops chafed at being sent not to achieve military victory, but for nation-building (“As Iraqis stand up, we will stand down”). The ...
By contrast, the navies of the Republic of China (Taiwan) [citation needed] and of South Korea refrain from using the number 4 when assigning pennant numbers to their ships. While in Mandarin-speaking regions in China, 14 and 74 are considered unluckier than the individual 4, because 14 (十四, pinyin: shí sì) sounds like "is dead" (是死 ...
The recruits came at a trot down the Boulevard de France at the storied Marine Corps boot camp at Parris Island, S.C., shouting cadence from their precise parade ranks. Parents gathered on the sidewalks pressed forward, brandishing cameras and flags, yelling the names of the sons and daughters they hadn’t seen in three months.
The USS Mitscher, a modern guided-missile destroyer, escorting a reproduction of the 18th-century French frigate Hermione.. A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions.