Love and hate, what a beautiful combination

[venta]

[Poll #1598358]

Please vote before reading on!

According to me, such shivers are caused by a goose walking over your grave. ChrisC insists that this is nonsense, and that the mother exspelunca probably made it up (this is his reaction to approximately 85% of the things I say).

The other day Claudia - who is distressingly Continental, speaking around ten languages competently, and conversing fluently in English, her third language - shivered and blamed it on a goose walking over her grave. See! Colloquial English, as taught in the best Continental schools, was there to back me up! I began planning my victory dance. Depressingly, under questioning, Claudia cracked and admitted she'd got the phrase from me and was thus inadmissible as evidence.

At dance practice last night, I posed the question in the above poll. The crossing of graves was generally mentioned, but with the exception of one other person there was a lot of "A goose? A goose? Don't you mean ghost?"

Except for our youngest new recruit, who looked puzzled and said she wasn't dead yet, thus didn't have a grave. I've always presumed it actually refers to a goose crossing the future site of my burial (as yet unknown to me - or indeed to anyone except, apparently, goosekind).

Incidentally, if anyone has any non-grave-related explanations or, even better, any explanations from non-English-speaking countries I'd love to hear them. Despite her extensive education, Claudia was unable to produce any other countries' explanations. "I don't know. I guess you'd just say you shivered."

I ask you. Don't these Continentals have any imagination?

Comments

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

@sushidog - I promise I typed that without reading your answer! Spooky! ;-)

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

Why would you bury a body where geese walk around? Wouldn't it contaminate the river?

I've heard "somebody walked over your grave" before, but not a ghost, goose, goat or any other being specifically beginning with g.

[phlebas.livejournal.com]

The goose has taken an early lead!

[huskyteer.livejournal.com]

I can imagine 'goose' being 'corrected' to 'ghost', a ghost making more sense in the context.

[valkyriekaren.livejournal.com]

Mine is definitely grave-related, but just 'someone' walking over the grave, not specifically a member of the family Anatidae.

[lnr]

I hedged my bets with person/goose, but goose was the first thought!

[lnr]

Oh look, perfect photo:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28537042@N06/2915277934/in/pool-mementomori

[howlin-wolf-66.livejournal.com]

I've never heard of a goose... Whenever I've encountered it, the legend has always been non-fowl related...

[drdoug.livejournal.com]

Of course it doesn't make perfect sense. But it does have a certain logic to it.

Start with the idea that it's somehow bad to walk over a grave. Not too wacky an idea - it's (close to?) a human universal to be respectful around the dead, and walking on a person would be bad, so walking on a dead person is probably bad too. So, people avoid walking over graves. Except they can't see where your grave is, or rather, is going to be, so they don't know to avoid it. That's probably bad (though not hugely), and not too ridiculous to imagine some subtle effect being felt by you if you believe there's a tenuous connection between the next world and this one: some inadvertent disrespect to your future eternal resting place might well have some funny effect.

Goosebumps are when you get a bit cold or shivery and your hairs stand up - and they're *goose*bumps because your skin looks a bit like plucked gooseflesh.

Now, imagine you feel a slightly spooky shiver for no apparent reason, causing you goosebumps. "A goose walked over your grave" isn't quite so completely bonkers as an explanation.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Almost certainly not relevant: a rather pompous-sounding 19thC chap (http://www.jstor.org/pss/3014222) reckons the Ancient Britons held it a crime to kill and eat goose.

Apparently geese also go in for astronomy, and are good at weather.

Also (still according to the same chap) they're very long lived, so could, er, be relied upon to outlive you and walk on your grave[*]. Except they're doing it now. So they don't need to. Er...


[*] I should point out, this conclusion is mine, not his.

[leathellin.livejournal.com]

Well neither my nor my mother (who is practically northern) think geese have anything to do with it.
So there :-)

[j4.livejournal.com]

Definitely a goose! I've read it in books, next time I spot it I'll try to remember to tell you. :-)

I wonder if it is the same sort of goose that goosebumps come from...

[cardinalsin.livejournal.com]

Strangely enough, I nearly wrote "a goose walking over your grave" but then thought nahhh... that's silly, I must be misremembering.

[exspelunca.livejournal.com]

I voted before reading on, as requested and before I realised I'd have to have words with ChrisC. Re "someone" - isn't it considered a grave breach of etiquette to walk over a burial place? Maybe the discourtesy makes you shiver.

[ringbark.livejournal.com]

It doesn't make sense, goose or no. Where is my grave? AFAIK, I'm not in it yet, so anybody or anygoose walking over it won't matter yet.

Yes, I'm well aware it doesn't make any common sense. Can someone help me on this bit of uncommon nonsense?

[zotz]

Geese?

You're all weird.

[ulfilias.livejournal.com]

I've heard of someone walking over my grave, but never a goose !

[onebyone.livejournal.com]

Easy enough to test. Find people with relatively predictable future burial sites (e.g. with a spouse). Chuck a few geese over their probable grave. Check for shivers. Repeat with rabbits. Wait until everyone is dead, and compare two groups who did, and didn't, end up buried where expected.

Checking the ghosts is trickier, but if you phone Mythbusters and Most Haunted I'm sure they can get it done.