Do Good Luck Charms actually work?

And now, it’s time for who’s smarted. Hey, smarty pants, today I’m at a garage sale. I was driving by and saw someone had a lot of cool looking stuff in their driveway and I just had to stop. I’m glad I did because there’s so much great stuff for sale.

So far, I bought a pocket watch, an antique cheese grater, a set of bocce balls, and, ooh, haven’t seen one of these in a long, long time.

Why, it’s a good luck troll for one dollar. Right.

It’s a smiling little troll doll with fuzzy green hair. I had one as a kid. I named him Mr. Fuzzy and I used to rub his hair on my test papers for good luck.

And, uh, did that work? It must-

I got pretty good grades. Hmm, I could use some more good luck. I think I’ll buy this troll. How much did you say it is?

I was asking for a dollar, but, uh, for you, I’ll make it 50 cents. Deal.

I can feel my luck getting better already! Or is it? Was it good luck from the troll that helped me get good grades? Or was it because I studied a lot? Hmm, all this talk is making me curious about good luck charms!

Like what makes something good luck? What kinds of good luck charms do people use around the world? And are the items you think of as good luck charms really lucky? And just so you know, I paid for this troll doll with two quarters so I didn’t need to use my lucky penny!

I can help answer your question. Whoa, who said that? It’s me, Sapphire, your new good luck troll. Did you know your lucky penny is good luck because coins are associated with being wealthy? I did.

And even no good luck trolls could talk, Mr. Fox.

Fuzzy never did. Consider it a who -smarted upgrade. No offense to Mr. Fuzzy, of course.

None taken. More importantly, it sounds like it’s time for another whiff of science and history on…

Who’s smarted? Who’s smarted? Who’s smart? Is it you? Is it me? Is it science? Or history? Listen up! Everyone, we make smarting lots of fun! But who’s smarted?

This message is sponsored by Greenlight. As a Who Smarted fan, you know how much I love helping kids build independence and learn crucial life skills. With the new school year approaching, that’s exactly why I recommend Greenlight and why millions of parents and kids use it every day.

Greenlight is a debit card and money app for families where kids learn to save, invest, and spend wisely while parents monitor their progress. The Infinity Plan offers even more, including family location sharing, SOS alerts, and crash detection for young drivers, and peace of mind for parents.

With features like chore management and rewards, Greenlight makes it easy to establish fall routines. It’s the convenient way for smarty parents like you to raise financially savvy smarty pants and navigate life together.

Sign up for Greenlight today and get your first month free when you go to greenlight .com backslash smarted. That’s greenlight .com backslash smarted to try Greenlight for free. Okay, smarty pants, tell me.

Do you have any strange or unique or cool good luck charms? Maybe it’s a lucky pencil you use for tests with or without a troll on it, or maybe a special pair of socks you wear for big games. Maybe you don’t wash your socks if you win a big game so the good luck will still be on them.

Go ahead, shout out any good luck items you have. Uh -huh. Uh -huh. Huh, I’m hearing some really interesting answers.

But not enough choles. Come on, people. Check out my hair.

Your hair always brought me luck. Which brings me to my first question. As a good luck charm, can you tell me and the smarty pants, what about you makes you lucky? After all, on the surface, you’re just a small plastic doll with a wrinkly face, big eyes and crazy hair.

No offense.

None taken, trusty. In fact, a good luck troll’s unusual looks are the source of our good luck.

Ah, now we’re getting somewhere. So how does it work?

According to Scandinavian legend, nothing bad can happen to you if you’re laughing. So having a funny looking troll doll like me, or Mr. Fuzzy, can bring you good luck. Hey!

that’s pretty cool. Smarty Pants, how long do you think people have been using good luck charms? Have they been around since ancient times? 100 years ago? Or the 1990s? If you said ancient times, you’re correct!

While the ancient Romans didn’t have troll dolls, they did believe in the powers of good luck charms like amulets and pendants.

That’s too bad, because it’d be pretty funny seeing a gladiator rubbing a troll doll’s hair.

Come on Fuzzy, bring me back to battle!

Of course, trolls aren’t the only good luck dolls around. There was a doll that British, Australian, and American soldiers used for good luck during World War I.

Hmm, I’m not sure I know that one. Smarty Pants, any ideas? Yep, me neither.

Those dolls were called thumbs -ups, after the lucky thumbs -up gesture, which they gave with both hands. Their heads were made of wood that they could touch when their arms were raised, since touching or knocking on wood is believed to be good luck.

And soldiers carry them into battle?

Come on, soldiers! Grab your thumbs -ups and charge that field! Let them have it!

Like other lucky charms, thumbs -ups could be worn on a chain or attached to a button.

Smarty Pants, even if you don’t have a troll or a thumbs up, there’s a good luck charm you may be able to find in nature. It’s green, and you probably hear it talked about near St. Patrick’s Day, or if you eat Lucky Charms cereal.

Go ahead and shout it out if you know what it is. Did you say a four -leaf clover? Nice job! Apparently they’re very lucky, and magically delicious!

Why? The reason four -leaf clovers are considered lucky is because they’re so hard to find. Smarty pants.

true or false? There’s only one four -leaf clover for every 10 ,000 three -leaf clovers. The answer is…

Whoo! Finding something so rare makes you lucky by default and makes the rare object you found a good luck charm.

9 ,998 three -leaf clovers, 9 ,999 three -leaf clovers, aha! A four -leaf clover! Finally, I am the luckiest person in the world! And it only took me a week.

That might be a little too much of a time commitment for most people. Is there anything else lucky in nature?

Acorns are a symbol of good luck in England because they’re believed to protect health.

Oh, and acorns are a lot easier to find than four -leaf clovers. What are some other good luck charms, smarty pants? Did anyone say, horseshoes? Ah! Are horseshoes good?

Good luck, Sapphire. A horseshoe is only good luck if it ends point up, like the letter U. But if it’s upside down, like a lowercase letter N, your good luck will run out of the bottom.

Smarty Pants, what animal’s foot is sometimes used as a good luck charm? Is it A, a duck’s foot, B, a rabbit’s foot, or C, a dinosaur’s foot? Well, a dinosaur’s foot would be pretty rare and make a really cool good luck charm.

The answer is actually B, a rabbit’s foot.

But why? The Lucky Rabbit’s Foot tradition is a long history, dating back to the Celtics in 600 B .C. For some reason, rabbits were considered lucky. Not the ones who lost their feet. If you don’t want to feel bad for the rabbit whose foot you’re carrying around, you can just say the word rabbit three times on the first day of the month, and that is also said to bring good luck.

And no rabbits were heard in the process.

Smarty Pants, you’ll also be happy to know that today many rabbit’s foot keychains are made of synthetic or human -made materials. That means they didn’t really come from a rabbit. Plus, you could get them in lots of cool colors.

Speaking of colors, did you know some colors are considered to be good luck?

Oh yeah? Which ones? Smarty Pants, any guesses?

In many cultures, green is considered a lucky color.

Probably because green is associated with what? Did you say money?

that’s right red is also viewed as a lucky color but i always say if your favorite color makes you happy then it can be good luck for you my blue troll hair feels pretty lucky to me

Smarty Pants, there’s also a number many people consider to be good luck. Is it 1, 7, or 13? If you said 13, you may be thinking of some bad luck superstitions related to this number. But if you said 7, it’s your lucky day!

Seven is a lucky number because there are seven days in the week, seven colors in the rainbow, seven notes on a musical scale, seven seas, and seven continents.

Whoa. That’s a lot of sevens. But eight is actually my lucky number. Why eight? That’s the number of slices in a pizza. Nom, nom, nom, nom.

different places and cultures have their own good luck charms painted wooden horses called dolla horses are good luck charms in sweet

Their horseshoes must be especially lucky.

Absolutely, the truth is many people in cultures view horses as good luck, but they’re not the only lucky animal out there

Hm, smarty pants, see if you can guess another lucky animal. Is it A, an elephant, B, a mouse, or C, a hippopotamus? If you said an elephant, you’re right.

Elephants are considered lucky in Thailand, India, and many other places, particularly if the elephant’s trunk is pointing up.

Smarty Pants, can you think of any other lucky animals?

Yep, pigs are a symbol of good luck and wealth.

That’s why there are piggy banks. Lucky animals are really cool, but I’m ready to pig out. Are there any lucky foods? There sure are. Great. We’ll learn all about them right after this quick break. Hey, parents.

Trusty here. I love making it easy for people to learn new things. Shocker, right? So when my friend told me he was about to spend almost $1 ,000 on language lessons to get ready for his trip to Spain, I said, hold on there.

Why don’t you try using the language learning app, Babbel? I told him he’ll save enough money to practically pay for his plane ticket. Less than a month later, he was ordering tapas and sangria like a Barcelona native and telling me, gracias, Trusty.

Babbel’s 10 -minute lessons, designed by over 200 language experts, fit perfectly into his busy schedule. Their speech recognition technology even helped him nail that tricky Spanish R. R, R. Oof, I need to use Babbel.

And so do you. It’s awesome. Choose from 14 award -winning language courses, all backed by a 20 -day money -back guarantee. I love Babbel so much that they’ve agreed to make an exclusive offer for our listeners.

Get up to 60% off your Babbel subscription at B -A -B -B -E -L .com slash sparted. That’s babel .com slash smarted. Rules and restrictions may apply. Start your language journey today. Hey, smarty parents.

I know the struggle of wanting to create the best future for the children in your life. That’s why I’m thrilled to share my experience with IXL Learning. Recently, the eight -year -old child of one of our main Who Smarted writers started struggling with math.

They tried everything and felt helpless. Then I told them about our partner, IXL, and it changed everything. IXL is an online learning program that covers math, language arts, science, and social studies from pre -K to 12th grade.

What sets it apart is how it adapts to each child’s needs. His daughter loves the positive feedback and fun challenges. And the best part, IXL’s research -backed approach has made a world of difference in her confidence and her grades.

It’s like having a personal tutor but at a fraction of the cost. A month of IXL costs less than one hour with a tutor even before our Smarty Family 20% discount. Don’t let your child fall behind. Join the millions of families benefiting from IXL.

Visit IXL .com slash Smarted and get 20% off your membership. That’s IXL .com slash Smarted for 20% off. Give your child the gift of learning with IXL. Hey there, trusty here. This episode is brought to you by Squarespace, the all -in -one website platform that’s revolutionizing how we create our online presence.

Recently, a friend of mine who does nutrition coaching was stressing out over needing to set up a website. She couldn’t afford a web designer and had no idea how to code. I said, stop stressing, start Squarespacing.

You should have seen her face light up when I showed her Squarespace’s new blueprint AI. It’s like having a personal web designer in your pocket. Sarah chose a layout and style that she liked and boom, a stunning unique website that perfectly captured her vibe.

But the best part is that Squarespace isn’t just a pretty face. Their integrated search tools are helping Sarah get discovered by clients all over the world. And the Squarespace site even makes it easy to sell courses and coaching plans right from the site.

Wanna bring your passion to life online? Head to squarespace .com for a free trial. And when you’re ready to launch, go to squarespace .com backslash Smarted to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.

Trust me, it’s a game changer. Now back to who’s smarted. Okay, as all the smarty pants listening probably know, I love to eat. But are there any foods that are considered lucky?

Absolutely! In some countries, like Slovakia and Poland, Carp is a traditional Christmas dinner. But don’t throw the scales away! Many people keep Carp scales in their wallets until the following Christmas to bring good luck in the coming year!

Interesting, but what about something I mentioned earlier?

Shut up to me lucky charms, just a new old cereal with marshmallows.

bits and lucky shapes. While eating a big bowl of oat cereal with marshmallows, bring me good luck.

Lucky Charms cereal was first available in 1964, so it doesn’t have the long history of other good luck charms. However, the marshmallows are shaped like popular good luck symbols such as horseshoes, blue moons, unicorns, rainbows, and four -leaf clovers.

Sounds good to me. Say, what about good luck charms with really long histories?

A good luck charm that’s been popular since ancient times is none other than the Evil Eyes.

The evil eye? That doesn’t sound lucky to me.

Maybe not, but the evil eye is one of the oldest good luck charms in the Mediterranean region. It’s not actually evil, it’s a pendant with a blue glass bead that looks like an eye and protects its wearer from people with envy and bad intentions.

Sounds pretty powerful, so do good luck charms actually have any power?

Well, lots of people think they do. In fact, nearly one in four Americans carries a good luck charm, at least for occasions when they might need some extra good luck. Or, when visiting new places, travelers usually pick up good luck charms as souvenirs.

Every time I board an airplane, I give it a nice pat before I get on. Nice plane. Nice plane.

If it feels good, do it, but just know the power of good luck charms is more in the minds of the people using them than the objects themselves.

That’s why I carried Mr. Fuzzy around, and why I’m going to buy you, sapphire, extra-

Actually, after listening to all of that, I think I’ll hold on to this troll. I could use some good luck.

Oh, well. Got any Lucky Charms? Today’s shout -out goes to Levi in Austin, Texas. We’re so glad to hear that Who’s Smarted keeps everyone happy on long road trips, including one from Texas to Vermont!

Wow, that is a lot of driving and smarting. Thanks so much for being part of our Smarty family, y ‘all! This episode, Good Luck Charms, was written by superstitious Sarah Sweetek and voiced by Langley, Lucky Charms McCarroll.

Max, Green Clover Kamaski, Adam, Rabbit’s Foot Davis, and Jerry Kolber. Technical direction and sound design by Josh, Mr. Fuzzy Han. Who’s Smarted is recorded and mixed at the Relic Room Studios. Our associate producer is Max Kamaski.

The theme song is by Brian Rainbows Suarez, with lyrics written and performed by Adam Tex Davis. Who’s Smarted was created and produced by Adam Tex Davis and Jerry Kolber. This has been an Atomic Entertainment production.

Who’s smarted?

Darglow!

Recent Episodes