Staying at my grandparents
Whenever me and my siblings stayed with our grandparents, we would always walk to the shops with my granny. On the way the following rituals had to be observed:

Never step on a crack in the pavement or the bears will get you!

Always take the short-cut on a particular corner or you'd risk falling down a huge nonexistent hole leading to nowhere

Always hold your breath when approaching or passing the fishmonger (something I still do to this day)

When passing a particular strange building, we'd all run up the steps and wait by a really old fashioned lift, before collecting our nonexistent umbrellas and continuing with them extended.

Strange.
(Roopy all is not what it seams, Thu 20 Nov 2008, 22:04, 11 replies)

In some cultures that's referred to as
OCD :P
(TheManWithThePlan cussed your mum on, Thu 20 Nov 2008, 22:10, closed)

I always was told that
"Never step on a crack in the pavement or you'll get bad luck for a week!
(Dante licked your nipple on, Thu 20 Nov 2008, 23:34, closed)

Mine was
"Never step on a crack or you'll break your mother's back"
(bamboozled Can hear you getting fatter, Fri 21 Nov 2008, 12:05, closed)

Bears and cracks
I've never come across anyone who knows the bears will get you rule when you step on the cracks... all my friends thought i was a complete loony!
(jeaneye, Fri 21 Nov 2008, 2:34, closed)

I know it
and at least one of my friends

isn't it from a book or something?
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Fri 21 Nov 2008, 8:53, closed)

it's AA Milne...
... 'Now we are six' I think. I may be hallucinating though.... and my copy of it is at my parents' house, so I can't check!
(Celebgil, Fri 21 Nov 2008, 11:49, closed)

IT IS!
"bears.. bears, look how I'm walking in all of the squares!"

I now find it really hard to walk on the cracks as well!
(Beer Elf Thought this was like a campfire, anyhow, on, Fri 21 Nov 2008, 14:52, closed)

In my family
you hold your breath while passing by a graveyard or the dead people will get jealous and steal it from you.
(TheWonderfulWombat It came to me in a dream., Fri 21 Nov 2008, 5:04, closed)

MrKitty still sometimes asks why I'm walking funny
I can't step on cracks and there can only be 1 step in each section of paving. Equal steps must be taken on the sunny and shady sections of the pathway- equal in total and equal each foot to the other.

It looks like I'm skipping around like a loony, but once I start I can't stop.

Keep in mind though that I wash my hands at least 50 times a day (whenever I touch something, have eaten or am about to eat) and have a weird shaking my hands in front of me to clean them unconcious gesture that increases in frequency with stress.
So yes, I am OCD, but I am a firm believer that every one has their own OCD, just to different levels.

Should suggest that as a QOTW- What's your OCD?
(misskitty reeks of sex and turpentine; laudanum afternoons, Fri 21 Nov 2008, 5:07, closed)

Of course
I thought everyone knew about the bears.

Bring on the OCD chat.
(picmaestress, Fri 21 Nov 2008, 16:42, closed)

I remember it from when I was a kitten
like this and it looks like we aren't alone.

In the sense that there's more than one of associating pavement cracks with misfortune as opposed to me believing in Extra Terrestrial Intelligence.

Or something.
(tinypod will never learn. Ever., Fri 21 Nov 2008, 7:37, closed)