--- title: Lucky socks and Grandma's superstitions — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Lucky socks and Grandma's superstitions», a lesson of the world course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Grandad wears his "lucky" red socks for every big match. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/161-lucky-socks-and-grandmas-superstitions/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [World](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/) / Lucky socks and Grandma's superstitions # Lucky socks and Grandma's superstitions Lesson 161 of the world course of Mova's primary school: 23 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/world/161-lucky-socks-and-grandmas-superstitions/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/161-lucky-socks-and-grandmas-superstitions/0/) — Grandad wears his "lucky" red socks for every big match. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/161-lucky-socks-and-grandmas-superstitions/1/) — When his team wins he says, "See? - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/161-lucky-socks-and-grandmas-superstitions/2/) — The socks did it." When they lose in the same socks, he finds an excuse: "they were in the wash the day before." He remembers the hits and forgets the misses. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/161-lucky-socks-and-grandmas-superstitions/3/) — A superstition is a rule with no reason behind it that people keep anyway: black cats, ladders, umbrellas indoors, broken mirrors, the number 13, touching wood. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/161-lucky-socks-and-grandmas-superstitions/4/) — The big trap is "it happened after, so it was caused by it". - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/161-lucky-socks-and-grandmas-superstitions/5/) — Nan drops a jar of jam after a black cat crosses the road, but coming first is not the same as causing. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/161-lucky-socks-and-grandmas-superstitions/6/) — Jars drop when hands are full or slippery. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/161-lucky-socks-and-grandmas-superstitions/7/) — The fair test is counting: every match with the socks and every match without, every day with a crow cawing and every day without. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/161-lucky-socks-and-grandmas-superstitions/8/) — Counted honestly, the lucky thing makes no difference at all. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/161-lucky-socks-and-grandmas-superstitions/9/) — Families take the mickey (tease and make fun) out of the reasoning, not the person: "Grandad, the players can't even see your socks, mate." Grandad can love his socks and still laugh along. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/161-lucky-socks-and-grandmas-superstitions/10/) — A superstition is a belief that an object, action or number brings good or bad luck, with nothing that really connects them. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/161-lucky-socks-and-grandmas-superstitions/11/) — "It happened after, so it was caused by it" is a trap; grown-ups call it post hoc. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/161-lucky-socks-and-grandmas-superstitions/12/) — Coming first is not the same as causing. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/161-lucky-socks-and-grandmas-superstitions/13/) — Remembering the times that fit your idea and forgetting the times that don't is called confirmation bias. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/161-lucky-socks-and-grandmas-superstitions/14/) — A fair test of a lucky charm counts all the cases, with it and without it; tested like that, lucky socks, touching wood and cawing crows make no difference. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/161-lucky-socks-and-grandmas-superstitions/15/) — A rule that explains every result, good or bad, can never be wrong, so it tells you nothing; inventing a new excuse each time it fails is called moving the goalposts. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/161-lucky-socks-and-grandmas-superstitions/16/) — Black cats are ordinary cats; in Britain and Japan a black cat is often called good luck, which shows these "rules" are made up and differ from place to place. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/161-lucky-socks-and-grandmas-superstitions/17/) — The one sensible reason not to walk under a ladder is safety: a tool or a paint pot could fall; stepping into a busy road to avoid it is more dangerous. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/161-lucky-socks-and-grandmas-superstitions/18/) — Opening an umbrella indoors can knock a lamp or poke an eye, so care is sensible, but it cannot make anything happen a week later. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/161-lucky-socks-and-grandmas-superstitions/19/) — Renaming a floor does not change its height: in a hotel whose lift buttons go 12, 14, the floor marked 14 is really the 13th floor. - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/161-lucky-socks-and-grandmas-superstitions/20/) — In any week some bad luck happens to everyone, so a "curse" can always find something to blame. - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/161-lucky-socks-and-grandmas-superstitions/21/) — Better marks come from practice, not from mirrors, shoes on tables or the end of a curse. - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/161-lucky-socks-and-grandmas-superstitions/22/) — Words people use: "aye" means yes (Scotland and the North), "didnae" means didn't and "no'" means not (Scotland), "pure" means really (Glasgow), "Ammamma" is grandma in Malayalam (Kerala, India), "Abuela" is grandma in Spanish, and "big brain moment" and "absolute weapon of a plan" are sarcastic ways to call an idea silly. - ← previous: [Screen time, wasted time, and putting it all together](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/130-screen-time-and-putting-it-together/) - next →: [Who stole the remote? Jumping to conclusions at home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/162-who-stole-the-remote-jumping-to-conclusions/) - ↑ back to [World](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/)