Setting:
A sunny Saturday morning in Sydney. Emma and Jack are making brunch together in Emma’s kitchen. The kettle whistles in the background while Jack chops vegetables.
Emma: (gasps) Oh no! Jack, you just spilled the salt!
Jack: (looks at the counter) Yeah, a bit. I’ll just wipe it—
Emma: Wait! Don’t! You have to toss some over your left shoulder, or we’ll have bad luck all day.
Jack: (chuckles) Emma, come on. You don’t really believe that, do you?
Emma: Of course I do! It’s one of the oldest superstitions in the book. My gran swore by it. She said it wards off bad spirits that linger over your left shoulder.
Jack: (grinning) Bad spirits? I think the only spirit here is the one that needs coffee.
Emma: I’m serious, Jack! Last time I forgot to toss the salt, I had the worst week ever. My car broke down, I got drenched in the rain, and my boss yelled at me for being late.
Jack: That sounds like coincidence, not cosmic punishment from a sodium spill.
Emma: Coincidence? Please. The same thing happened to my mum once. She spilled salt, didn’t toss it, and that very evening she tripped over the cat and broke her favorite mug.
Jack: (laughs) Maybe your mum should’ve just trained the cat better.
Emma: Oh, you’re impossible. So, what’s your explanation then, Mr. Science?
Jack: Okay, here’s the logical version. Back in ancient times, salt was valuable—almost like currency. Spilling it was wasteful, and tossing a pinch over your shoulder was a symbolic gesture to show respect for what was lost. Somewhere along the line, people added the “bad luck” part for drama.
Emma: Hmm. So you’re saying it’s just… history?
Jack: Exactly. No dark forces, no angry salt gods. Just old traditions carried forward without question.
Emma: But don’t you ever feel like some things can’t be explained? Like, when something bad happens right after you ignore a superstition?
Jack: Sure, it feels that way. Our brains love patterns. It’s called “confirmation bias.” You remember the times the superstition seems to work and forget the times it doesn’t.
Emma: (tilts her head) So when I spilled salt last month and still had a good day, that doesn’t count?
Jack: Exactly. But when you spilled salt and your car broke down, your brain went, “Aha! Proof!”
Emma: (smiles reluctantly) I suppose that makes sense. Still, I’d rather not risk it.
Jack: (hands her the saltshaker) Then be my guest. Toss away.
Emma: (grinning) Thank you. (throws a pinch over her left shoulder dramatically) There. Now we’re safe.
Jack: (laughs) If your aim was any better, you’d have hit me in the face.
Emma: Maybe that’s how the superstition really started—someone got smacked with salt and decided to call it “warding off evil.”
Jack: (laughs) That’s the best theory I’ve heard all morning.
Emma: You can mock all you like, Jack. But when we win the trivia night later, I’m saying it’s because I tossed that salt.
Jack: And when we lose, I’ll say it’s because you wasted it.
Emma: Deal. Now pass me the eggs before you start analysing those too.
Science Vs Superstition 
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