I think superstitious beliefs are old wives' tales. A superstition is a belief, not based on fact or logic, that certain things will bring good luck or bad luck. The expression "old wives' tale" has a similar meaning to the word "superstition". A tale is a story. An old wives' tale is a common belief passed down from long ago that is not based on facts and is often untrue. Many people believe misfortunes never come singly, but others say this is an old wives' tale or a superstition. The expression "misfortunes never come singly" means bad things always happen in groups. For example, if you lose your wallet in the morning, lose your cell phone in the afternoon, and lose your job that same evening, you can say misfortunes never come singly.
In the afternoon of New Year's Eve, ATV told me my TV show Hot Topic on the Chinese channel will be cut because of financial problems. That same evening, ATV told me I no longer had to write commentaries for ATV Focus. The next day, New Year's Day, ATV told me my TV show Newsline on the English channel will also be cut because it has no money to pay me. I did not believe in superstitions and old wives' tales before but now I believe misfortunes never come singly because I had three bad things happen to me at the same time.
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你可有甚麼迷信思想（superstition，名詞）？亞洲人跟西方人都各有自己的迷信（superstitious，形容詞）觀念。許多中國人相信八是幸運的數字，迷信的（superstitious）中國人與西方人則相信十三不祥，西方人相信十三號的星期五不祥。他們也相信，一隻黑貓在面前經過會帶來霉運。另一個西方的迷信（superstition）是，人若能一口氣吹熄生日蛋糕上的所有蠟燭，將有好運降臨。我認為這是可笑的，因為你年紀愈大，你的生日蛋糕上就有愈多的蠟燭。若你已經五十歲，要一口氣吹熄全部五十支蠟燭將會很困難。
我認為迷信（superstitious）思想是無稽之談（old wives' tales）。Superstition就是認為某事物會帶來好運或厄運，並不依據事實或邏輯的迷信。習語 old wives' tale跟superstition 的意思相近，tale就是故事，an old wives' tale就是從遠古流傳下來、沒有事實依據的信念，而且通常都是虛假的。許多人相信禍不單行（misfortunes never come singly），但也有人說這不過是無稽之談（old wives' tales）或迷信（superstition）。習語misfortunes never come singly解作禍不單行。譬如，你在早上丟失了錢包，下午丟失了手機，傍晚連工作都給丟了，那你可以說misfortunes never come singly。
在大除夕的下午，亞視告訴我，因為財務問題，我在中文頻道的電視節目 Hot Topic要停播。在同日傍晚，亞視告訴我，我不用再為ATV焦點撰稿了。翌日，亞視再告訴我，我在英語頻道的節目《時事縱橫》也得停播，因為他們沒有錢可以付我了。我從前不相信迷信（superstitions）或者無稽之談（old wives' tales），但現在我信，人真的會禍不單行（misfortunes never come singly），因為這三件壞事同時間發生在我身上。
mickchug@gmail.com
中譯:七刻
Michael Chugani 褚簡寧
Source: http://news.stheadline.com/dailynews/headline_news_detail_columnist.asp?id=315887§ion_name=wtt&kw=126