> > I don't understand the difference between the two first choices in today's poll. How is a penny heads up worth any more than a penny tails up? It can be turned over, can't it?
>
> It may be a cultural thing... there's a superstition here that says if you find a penny heads' up and pick it up, you'll have good luck for the rest of that day... but if you find a penny heads' down and pick it up, you'll have bad luck.


The superstition is:
"See a pin and pick it up
All the day you'll have good luck
See a pin and let it lay
Bad luck you'll have all the day."
(or sometimes the last lines become "See a pin and let it lie / you'll want a pin before you die")

It dates back to when a penny (and I mean an actual penny, not the American coin that is called that for reasons that escape me) was worth a significant amount of money, so picking one up would be worth your while, regardless of associated good luck.

I have no idea why a pin became a penny, when it migrated to America...

winter"But Americans are weird"mute