31st December
We all watch "S lehkim parom" (Russian).
(Aquabeast, Thu 28 Jul 2005, 12:47, Reply)

segue from last QOTW
every time I like a girl she fucks off with someone else the very moment I think it - it's my own tradition!

bitter bitter bitter, also dram q
(bloodyHassocks, Thu 28 Jul 2005, 12:46, Reply)

I have a tradition or 2...
I work in a shop in england and never accept scotish £10 notes.

Also, some nights i work as a bouncer. Never let people in with trainers on.
(HoBag (TM) <-- Fookin' legend, Thu 28 Jul 2005, 12:46, Reply)

what's wrong
with being a scouser bloodyHassocks?

Not now but when I was about 10: my tradition (or was it an obsession) was to find out, before going to sleep, whether I still had my 10 fingers and if my heart was beating well.
Honest.
A bit disturbed then...
Don't bother having traditions anymore.

Not too bad for a first post...
( liverbird, Thu 28 Jul 2005, 12:45, Reply)

Traditional?
Whenever I see a QOTW, I try to think of some witty anecdote and post it.

So far, no good.


No apologies about fruitiness, I have no length.
(CdrVimes, Thu 28 Jul 2005, 12:45, Reply)

tricked
As kids, the only relatives we visited regularly meant a motorway journey from Carlisle to Telford. Parents used to get us to 'count the bridges' as tradition. we fell for it too.
(bloodyHassocks, Thu 28 Jul 2005, 12:45, Reply)

Tradition
OK - I will get it over with now.

I have a tradition that when i run out of ice cream I play the music on the van.....
(anthorin, Thu 28 Jul 2005, 12:42, Reply)

Handbag
When we were children, whenever Mum sang 'Rock a bye baby' to my brother and me, we would shout 'Handbag! Handbag!' as loudly as possible.
(woohoo, Thu 28 Jul 2005, 12:38, Reply)

Every bloody sunday
I had to go to this big house at the end of the road, drink a bit of wine, (cool) eat a bland round bit of cardboard-y biscuit, (bad) and think about some dude who snuffed it a few thousand years ago.

JUST because it was Sunday! Wacko!
EDIT: I'm now humming "Happy happy joy joy happy happy joy..."
( Grrrmachine the indifference engine, Thu 28 Jul 2005, 12:35, Reply)

Please correct your spelling of "weird". (Edit: Ta!)
My weird tradition is also being a pedant. Seeing the word "millennium" misspelt on so many cheap t-shirts when 1999 became 2000 (which, for pedantry's sake, was wrong ANYWAY) made me take photos of anything with it spelt with one "n".

Mod Edit: Oops. Sorry about that. It takes a real mental effort to type weird properly. Writing it is fine. And, with you on the Millennium thing.

Shed Edit: Thanks everso. My eyes are recovering. I'll take a photo of a "Donor" kebab sign to celebrate. =)
( Irregular Shed is trying to remember what it is he does, Thu 28 Jul 2005, 12:33, Reply)

not
yelling obscenities when bored in public places, why? 'tradition'

bollunts, I say
(bloodyHassocks, Thu 28 Jul 2005, 12:33, Reply)

Wierd Traditions
When making a cup of tea for me and Mrs Splurgle, if I reach into the tea caddy and pull out, say 3 instead of 2 teabags, then I must use the 2 that are still connected together by a whisper of teabag paper. It feels odd to do otherwise.

Edit: Probably more ideosyncratic than tradition, I am such a twat
(urgle-splurgle molesting small goats since, Thu 28 Jul 2005, 12:32, Reply)

In honour of something or other
Once a year the whole school would line up in swimming gear, then one at a time we would run round the school grounds, jump in the pool and swim a length (or be dragged along by a pole, if you couldn't swim), then climb out of the pool, run up a hill back to where we started, and then stand around shivering to death until everyone had finished.

No, I don't know why. I never dared ask.
(><(((">, Thu 28 Jul 2005, 12:32, Reply)

animal noises
I like to impress my kids with a stunning array of wrong animal noises. Nothing makes a five year old laugh as much as when I point at a cow and say "look a sheep"..."oink, oink". Can't help myself. Its traditional.
(dukefukem, Thu 28 Jul 2005, 12:25, Reply)

magic
I live in Liverpool (see previous post), and in Toxteth no less. Because John Lennon once walked his dog down my street, we get the 'Magical Mystery Tour' bus down my way quite a lot. It's a tatty old thing that looks smelly and is always populated by tourists who look miserable (presumably too late for a refund) and a bit sacred to 'get out of the boat'. I make it a tradition to wave like an excited 6 year old to them, as it either cheers them up, scares the hell out of them, or confirms to them that they've been conned and we all know it :)

FYI: 30, not a scouser
(bloodyHassocks, Thu 28 Jul 2005, 12:23, Reply)

Yuletide
Any mention of the c-word (the day that ickle baby Jesus was born in a mangle, not the other c-word) in my parents house before 1 December attracts a 20p fine. Last year they bought a tree and a case of wine with the proceeds of the previous two years.

Actually, I rather like the idea, so maybe not so weird.

Sorry to have wasted your time.
(Throbbe, Thu 28 Jul 2005, 12:20, Reply)

saddo
Taken from my school days, when I pass under a road sign (you know the ones I mean, the tall big ones that have two poles) I always say the name of someone I love.

At the moment I am not in love so I just say "Jade and Kyle" who are my neice and nephew.

Jesus just writing that down makes me wanna go get a life! lol.
(Fran, Thu 28 Jul 2005, 12:20, Reply)

ambulances
made my goth female mate have to sing a little song for luck (bit like the actors in Blackadder who have to sing if someone mentions macbeth). It was a genuine compulsion which made her very embarrassed, what with loss of goth cool etc. How we laughed and kept phoning them

On the other hand, that is about the right, healthy, level of insanity for aynone - I fear and suspect people with no apparent hang-ups/shortcomings/eccentricities - for they are the walking timebombs on our very streets!

Apart from those guys who are literally that - ho ho I don't live in London.
I live in lovely Liverpool (we have bomb scares too, I had one on my street last week, true!)
(bloodyHassocks, Thu 28 Jul 2005, 12:15, Reply)

Live in a society where needless bureacracy is King
Fuck you all!
(SSSSS, Thu 28 Jul 2005, 12:11, Reply)

Watching
"The Snowman" on christmas eve every year and adding humerous commentry...everyone does it surely...
(Pigmash, Thu 28 Jul 2005, 12:10, Reply)

4.45pm
Quick tug in the bogs.
(spastic_lequeer, Thu 28 Jul 2005, 12:07, Reply)

I have the
tradition of being a shameless pedant

foible foible
(saltydogstar, Thu 28 Jul 2005, 12:05, Reply)

Wierd?
surely you mean weird?

Mod Edit: Yes we do. Oops. Fixed now.
(saltydogstar, Thu 28 Jul 2005, 12:03, Reply)

My mum told me...
...never to cut my toenails on a Thursday. I was too WTF to obey or even find out why it was. But then, my mum's the superstitious type - she's got tons like this one and the explanations are usually stranger that the principles themselves - better to just WTF and leave well alone.

She's a big fan of the lone magpie one-for-sorrow/'morning major' thing too, which was also a firm favourite of a particularly nighmarish GF whom I was with for just too fucking long during my formative years, pretentious luvvie cnut that she was. I have amended this tradition in my adulthood in her honour by treating every lone magpie I see to a 'fuck you' finger - suprisingly satisfying :)
(thatblokeoverthere not quite as much an arsehole as I thought, Thu 28 Jul 2005, 11:53, Reply)

Local weird traditions
I live in Woodstock, North Oxfordshire, and as a small town it's pretty cool, loads of pubs, restaurants, and a handy back passage into Blenheim palace so you can wander the gardens for free when hammered.
However, these people are obsessed with tradition, what with the Duke of Marlborough living a few yards away, everyone thinks they are minor royalty. I'm telling you, someone looking down their nose at you when you're trying to buy a loaf of bread is just not cricket.
Anyway, I digress.
The tradition they do here is the Mock Mayor, which dates back to the 18th century, when the local peasants got bored of the town officials and decided to have their own elections.
So, what do they get to honour this?
Yup, loads of drunken toff twats elect each other, drink pimms, and then throw each other into a stream, whilst braying as loud as they can. Oh, and there's a greasy pole too.
Woo.
No wonder this place is a Tory stronghold.
( gadjie, Thu 28 Jul 2005, 11:38, Reply)

Not wierd really but
1-have a picture taken in front of the christmas tree each year.
2-Buy my dad bourneville at fathers day and toffee with a hammer on birthday. (i went against the grain this year and got Montisumo chocolates - Sussex shop)
3-Each birthday I reflect on how much of an eff up the last year has been.
4-Skive as much as possible. Daily.

Crap answer...crap question.
(Oops....did I say that out loud cos I really bloody want to., Thu 28 Jul 2005, 11:26, Reply)

It is my own little tradition
to do fuck all at work before 10:30am.

It's mad, but I like it (and stick to it religiously)
( Zak McFlimby Twibbling @McFlimby, Thu 28 Jul 2005, 11:22, Reply)

ah, rural life
A particular tradition in the area where I grew up saw me dressed as a giant omelette at the age of five. It was made of foam rubber and I remember little bits of green capsicum sticking out of the sides.

That is all. I dare not reveal more, lest The Village Elders find out I've been flapping my trap to The Outsiders.
(Mabel DelTaco, Thu 28 Jul 2005, 11:20, Reply)

Moooo!
Whenever a phone rings, the gf and I shout "Teff-e-lone!" Not sure where this came from but her Mother's picked up on it, but gets it wrong and shouts "Telephone" at her bemused looking cat.

Also, we have a fridge with an ice maker and when we hear the fridge make another load of ice cubes we shout "Thanks fridge!"

Whenever the gf's mother and aunt come back from putting flowers on reletives graves the standard question was "How was it up there?" To which the answer should be "Dead quiet" but they've got this slightly wrong and now announce that everyone there is "Still dead."


I have to shout "COW!", say "Mooooo!" whenever we see Cows in a field on a road trip... Like the ad for dairylea light we move our front hooves like the floaty cow...

Edit:2nd...Not Bad...
(Wallilay has been bored of this shit since, Thu 28 Jul 2005, 11:15, Reply)

Miltrary is grand for Tradition
And I was fortunate to be in the oldest surviving Army Regiment in the world, namely the Honourable Artillery Company. Our lot beat the retreat (snigger) at Oliver Cromwells Funeral, so it gives you an idea of just how old they are.

Now the fun thing about the TA is they don't teach you always everything and you have to learn it as you go - things like asking the Senior officer permission to join him for a drink, just to be allowed in the PSI Bar, or saluting the roll of honour. But by the strangest of them all was a decision making process for cleaning up spent shells when on exercise. We were in Germany on manouvres and had just shot a few thousand rounds between us, with spent cartidges littering up the shooting bays. The method of deciding which half of the squad had to clean them up was simple - all the grunts would lie on their backs, kick their legs in the air and the first one to fart would be the team who got first back to the NAAFI for tea, whilst the rest would be on their hands and knees for the best part of an hour picking up spent ordanance.

Happy days....
(Waynster James Joyce is fucking my sister!, Thu 28 Jul 2005, 11:14, Reply)