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A jinx, in popular superstition and folklore, is: Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... Look up jinx in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The number 13 is often avoided in public buildings, also floors, doors and this Santa Anita Park horse stall. ... Folklore is the body of expressive culture, including tales, music, dance, legends, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, customs, material culture, and so forth within a particular population comprising the traditions (including oral traditions) of that culture, subculture, or group. ...

• A sort of curse placed on a person that makes them prey to large numbers of minor misfortunes and other forms of bad luck;
• A person afflicted with a similar curse, who, while not directly subject to a series of misfortunes, seems to attract them to anyone in his general area.
• An object or animal that brings bad luck.
• A common slang term used when two people say the same thing at the same time (said as a game amongst the young and young hearted which suggests some kind of spooky supernatural interference).
• Also an internet store that sells clothing for geeks, gamers, hackers, and nerds. Includes WOW and Digg Store.

The superstition is sometimes used when talking about a future event with too much confidence. A statement like "We're sure to win the contest!" can be seen as a jinx by tempting fate. After such a statement, failure would be ironic. For the human mind, the irony makes it all the more likely. This therefore brings bad luck: it is a "jinx". Look up Curse in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article is about good and bad fortune. ... A jinx, or personal jinx, is when two kids say the same word or words at the same time. ... Irony, from the Greek εἴρων (eiron), is a literary or rhetorical device, in which there is a gap or incongruity between what a speaker or a writer says and what is generally understood (either at the time, or in the later context of history). ...

The etymology of the word is obscure. Not to be confused with Entomology, the study of insects. ...

• It may come from Latin iynx, that is, the wryneck bird, which has occasionally been used in magic and divination and is remarkable for its ability to twist its head almost 180 degrees while hissing like a snake. The Jinx bird is found in Africa and Eurasia.
• It may be the plural of jink treated as singular.

The earliest use of the word "jinx" to refer to something other than the bird seems to have been in the context of baseball; in Pitching at a Pinch (1910), Christy Mathewson explained that "a jinx is something which brings bad luck to a ball player." Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... Species The wrynecks (genus Jynx) are a small but distinctive group of small Old World woodpeckers. ... “Aves” redirects here. ... The Sorceress by John William Waterhouse Magic and sorcery are the influencing of events, objects, people and physical phenomena by mystical, paranormal or supernatural means. ... This article is about the religious practice of divination. ... blue: sea snakes, black: land snakes Superfamilies and Families Henophidia Aniliidae Anomochilidae Boidae Bolyeriidae Cylindrophiidae Loxocemidae Pythonidae Tropidophiidae Uropeltidae Xenopeltidae Typhlopoidea Anomalepididae Leptotyphlopidae Typhlopidae Xenophidia Acrochordidae Atractaspididae Colubridae Elapidae Hydrophiidae Viperidae For other uses, see Snake (disambiguation). ... A world map showing the continent of Africa Africa is the worlds second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. ... Eurasia African-Eurasian aspect of Earth Eurasia is the Earths largest landmass covering about 21215121321km² compared with the Americas (approximately 42,000,000 km²), Africa (approximately 30,000,000 km²), and Antarctica (approximately 13,000,000 km²). Eurasia comprises the traditional continents of Europe and Asia. ... A view of the playing field at Busch Memorial Stadium, St. ... 1910 (MCMX) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Sunday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar. ... Christopher Christy Mathewson (August 12, 1880 - October 7, 1925), nicknamed Big Six, The Christian Gentleman, or Matty, was a right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball. ...

Barry Popik of the American Dialect Society suggests that the word should be traced back to an American folksong called Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines, which was first popular in 1868. One verse in one version goes: According to its web site, the American Dialect Society, founded in 1889, is dedicated to the study of the English language in North America, and of other languages, or dialects of other languages, influencing it or influenced by it. ... Folk music, in the original sense of the term, is music by and of the people. ... 1868 (MDCCCLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Friday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ...

The first day I went out to drill

The bugle sound made me quite ill,

At the Balance step my hat it fell,

And that wouldn't do for the Army.

The officers they all did shout,

They all cried out, they all did shout,

The officers they all did shout,

"Oh, that's the curse of the Army."

The reference to various misfortunes and a curse lend plausibility to this explanation.

The Online Etymology Dictionary entry for jinx states that the word was first used, as a noun, in American English in 1911. It traces it to a 17th century word jyng, meaning "a spell", and ultimately to the Latin word iynx[1]. For other uses, see American English (disambiguation). ... 1911 (MCMXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar). ...

African American blues songs make many mentions of jinxes, far more than are found in Anglo-American usage. As in earlier sports references, it may be spelled jinks, and some blues singers treat the word as a plural ("these jinks"): An African American (also Afro-American, Black American, or simply black) is a member of an ethnic group in the United States whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Africa. ... Blues is a vocal and instrumental form of music based on the use of the blue notes and a repetitive pattern that typically follows a twelve-bar structure. ... See Anglo-America for the term denoting mixed English and American influence or heritage or those parts of (or groups within) America which have a tie to or which are influenced by England or simply English-speaking America. ...

• Papa Charlie Jackson sang in 1926 that a "bad luck woman is a jinx and a worry too."^[1]
• Blind Lemon Jefferson recorded a song in 1928 in which he said "that brown in Chicago have put that jinx bug on me."^[2]
• Buddy Moss recorded "Jinks Man Blues" in 1934, with the lyrics, "I'm just a mistreated man, and the jinx is on poor me."^[3]
• Peetie Wheatstraw was in double trouble in 1934 as he sang, "Last Sunday I had the blues, last Monday night I had the jinx."^[4] and in 1936 he complained "Somebody's put a jinx on me, oh well, well, and I can't have no luck at all."^[5]
• Bo Carter, a Mississippian, claimed in 1936 that his girlfriend was so powerful that "she can stand in Memphis, man, and put the jinx on me."^[6]
• Johnnie Temple had better luck, for he sang about his girlfriend, "Jinkie Lee", who took the jinx off of him.
• Will Weldon sang, "Well, the jinx on me, I can't see the reason why; but seem like these jinx sure oughta pass me by."^[7]
• Charley Jordan recorded in 1936, "I woke up this mornin', baby, with the jinx all over me."^[8]
• Son House recorded the definitive two-part "Jinx Blues" in 1942, beginning with the line, "I woke up this morning with the jinx all around my bed."^[9]

Papa Charlie Jackson was an early male bluesman to record. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Peetie Wheatstraw Peetie Wheatstraw (December 21, 1902 - December 21, 1941) was the name adopted by singer William Bunch, a greatly influential figure among 1930s Delta Blues singers. ... Armenter Bo Carter Chatmon Armenter Bo Carter Chatmon was born March 21, 1893 in Bolton, Mississippi & died in Memphis, Tennessee on September 21, 1964. ... Charley Jordan (January 1, 1890 - November 15, 1954) was a Saint Louis blues singer, songwriter and guitarist, as well as a talent scout, originally from Mabelvale, Arkansas. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

External links

• Discussion of the word's origin by World Wide Words
• Blues lyrics and Hoodoo by catherine yronwode at luckymojo.com