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    An old superstition says you never light up the cigarettes to three people in a row. Why?

    Question #4477. Asked by leo. (Jul 20 00 2:57 PM)


    Gandolf

    		During World War I, soldiers found having a match illuminated that long at night gave snipers a chance to get an accurate fix on their target. The last one usually bought it.

    http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/3/messages/117.html

    [Link added March 23, 2008 -- Zbeckabee]

    Jul 20 00, 3:06 PM
    zbeckabee

    		Three on a match (also known as third on a match) is a supposed superstition among soldiers during World War I.

    There was in fact no such superstition during the First World War. The superstition was alleged to have been invented about a decade later by the Swedish match tycoon Ivar Kreuger in an attempt to get people to use more matches but it appears he merely made very shrewd use of the already existing belief which may date to the Boer War.

    Theories follow at:

    http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/3/messages/66.html

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_on_a_Match_(superstition)

    Mar 23 08, 7:45 PM

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