“If you sit on the edge [corner] of the table it means you will never get married. It’s cause you’re on the outside—excluded.”

“I laugh at it. It’s really funny. But at the same time, I avoid it.”

The informant is from Poland. She is currently attending university in Los Angeles, CA. She has been studying in the United States for the past four years.

The superstition may stem from the fact that you’re not directly sitting next to anyone. It is typically the man and woman who sit at the heads of the table and those single who sit at the longer edges to mingle. By positioning yourself at the corners, you are not in either of the social categories; it places one at a liminal space which is neither single nor taken.

It falls into the category of homeopathic magic, for sitting at the corner of the table is said to result in one not getting married; like causes like.