Several beliefs cluster around soap. For example, the idea that soap slipping out of one's hand means a forthcoming death (N&Q 5s:4 (1875), 9; 5s:6 (1876), 323), or that ‘Two persons, more especially if they are sisters, must not pass soap from hand to hand, it should be put down by the first, so that the other can take it up’ (Leather, 1912: 87). Opie and Tatem also report the notion that it is unlucky to give soap as a present, and a belief from the theatre that you should not leave soap behind at the end of a run, or you will not return to that venue.
Bibliography
The full bibliography list is available here.
- Opie and Tatem, 1989: 366-7
