Uh-oh. Finance boss tempts superstition on eve of 2014 budget unveling.
Awww. How sweet. The province's treasury boss is buying new shoes for his grandkids instead of following the quaint photo-op tradition of finance ministers buying their own new shoes on the eve of new budgets being passed.
Is one pair a Lego brand? Oh my goodness, those little shoes are just so cute. He's a grandpa and a provincial budget boss.
Gosh, that Doug Horner is such a kind-hea...... OH NO. No Doug don't put them on the ... NO. Nooooooo. Doug - Not. On. The. Table ... it's considered very bad lu.... ahh crap.
Alberta's Tories have had a hard enough time fending off attack after attack from opposition members over the last several weeks regarding spending practices and their budget math. But Doug may as well have invited the media to photograph him breaking a mirror while crossing the path of a black cat as it slinks under a ladder. You don't put new shoes on the table, Mr Finance minister. It's an age-old Engish saying, and as a country of the Commonwealth, those old English sayings are part of our heritage.
Although no other media channels have picked up on the superstitious slip-up, a collective gasp of, "Oh, bloody hell," must have gone up from old wives and English ex-pats living in Alberta who know the centuries-old tale of woe and hardship associated with new shoes going onto a table.
For those not familiar with the widely-practiced addage that dates back to the 1500s and the Elizabethan era, here's the details from a more current source - www.ask.com
Why Is It Bad Luck to Put New Shoes on the Table?
Answer: According to British superstitions, it is bad luck to put new shoes on the table because it invites one's imminent demise. In ancient times, a miner's family was usually informed of their death through placing the miner's shoes on the table which is why putting shoes on the table was seen to be a sign of tempting fate. This superstition came about during the Elizabethan era.
Imminent Demise? Wow, that doesn't sound good. Especially when you consider that in Elizabethan times, the Black Plague was an example of imminent demise.
By putting the new shoes on the table, Minister Horner, may just have shoed-away any hope of tabling an Alberta budget that walks us into the right direction.
