Do Americans generally believe in the concept of the evil eye?

r/

The reason I’m asking is that in many cultures, if you express amazement or admiration for someone’s possessions or good health, something bad is believed to befall them. To ward this off, some people perform simple rituals, carry talismans, or recite religious texts.

I’m wondering if this is a common belief in American culture?

Comments

  1. Asparagus9000 Avatar

    Most probably haven’t even heard of it in my experience. 

  2. sendme_your_cats Avatar

    Can’t say I’ve ever heard of that here.

    They do in Mexico though! The call it The Eye “El Ojo”

  3. BrightGuyEli Avatar

    Yeah, no. Some people go “eww rich people” and most people go “Ooooh rich people, that’ll be me someday” (Spoiler alert, it won’t).

  4. Diet-Cola-King Avatar

    No, it’s just something they slap on tourist crap to us.

  5. Murderhornet212 Avatar

    No. I’m sure it is in some subcultures though.

  6. chococrou Avatar

    Not really. You will find some people wearing evil eye jewelry or charms because they think they’re cool, though.

  7. Argument_Enthusiast Avatar

    Idk about common but Ive heard the evil eye exactly as you described as a common superstition. In America, we knock on wood when the evil eye is invoked.

  8. OldCompany50 Avatar

    No, evil president and regime at the moment

  9. Kevincelt Avatar

    No, it’s not a common belief. It’s popular for some people to wear jewelry with the motif for it, particularly among Jewish and Muslim populations, but overall belief in the evil eye is not common at all.

  10. TwainVonnegut Avatar

    No, being envious of others’ health/possessions is as American as apple pie!

  11. StarSpangleBRangel Avatar

    Not about things like that, but when I was an EMT, commenting on how slow it was tonight, or worse, saying the Q word, was grounds for throwing you out the back of the ambulance. I’ve heard similar stories from people in a variety of industries, and frankly I still don’t like tempting fate about how much work I have to do, even though logically I know it’s nonsense.