Main Piece: KK: My family is VERY strict on jinxes, and if you say something like, “oh it’s been so nice out today, the sun’s been out all day”, or like “we’ve been really lucky today, no traffic!” we have to recount what we say or else we WILL have traffic. Basically, it’s any instance where you say that you’re lucky about something, that’s like bad luck. To fix it, you either have to knock on wood, or say “don’t jinx it!”, you just can’t say it and then not fix it, because if you don’t recount what you said then something bad will happen.

Context: This practice is done frequently in KK’s household, as she said, her family is very strict on curses and jinxes.

Background: KK grew up in a household full of folk medicine, folk songs, and countless fun little traditions, so it only makes sense that this same family would also be extremely superstitious in their actions.

Analysis: Jinxes are quite common bits of folklore, and interestingly enough when KK began to tell this story, she stopped because she said “Oh no, everyone does this, that’s not cool enough,” and I had to tell her that the whole point is that other people should do versions of this as well! Because “jinxing it” is so common in our society, it is easy to forget that it isn’t real, and is actually a piece of folklore, and isn’t just something that humans do.