1 00:00:04,320 --> 00:00:06,400 Speaker 1: Hey, and welcome to the short Stuff. I'm Josh, and 2 00:00:06,440 --> 00:00:09,840 Speaker 1: there's Chuck and Jerry's here too, giving us the evil 3 00:00:09,920 --> 00:00:13,440 Speaker 1: eye for all the trash we've ever talked about her. 4 00:00:13,480 --> 00:00:17,880 Speaker 1: And frankly, it's working because I just blew a tire 5 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:19,280 Speaker 1: on the way here to work. 6 00:00:19,680 --> 00:00:20,880 Speaker 2: Is that a euphemism? 7 00:00:22,600 --> 00:00:27,320 Speaker 1: No, a blue attire? And I lost my check book. 8 00:00:27,960 --> 00:00:31,920 Speaker 2: M you were at the grocery store, they rang everything up. 9 00:00:33,080 --> 00:00:35,160 Speaker 2: You're standing there looking and they were and they said 10 00:00:35,159 --> 00:00:36,920 Speaker 2: you have to pay now, and you went, oh, and 11 00:00:36,960 --> 00:00:39,880 Speaker 2: you reached in your purse to get your check book out. 12 00:00:40,120 --> 00:00:42,559 Speaker 1: I reached in my front pocket, in my shirt. 13 00:00:42,760 --> 00:00:45,199 Speaker 2: And then you're like, does anyone have a pen? And 14 00:00:47,080 --> 00:00:50,800 Speaker 2: twelve people under the age of seventy five behind you 15 00:00:51,040 --> 00:00:55,360 Speaker 2: rolled their eyes inside. 16 00:00:53,880 --> 00:00:56,040 Speaker 1: And they had a pen, but it leaked all over 17 00:00:56,080 --> 00:00:56,480 Speaker 1: my hand. 18 00:00:56,760 --> 00:00:59,959 Speaker 2: They gave you the evil eye. Big thanks to our 19 00:01:00,080 --> 00:01:03,760 Speaker 2: pal Dave Brus and the old folks at houstuffworks dot 20 00:01:03,760 --> 00:01:07,000 Speaker 2: com for this bit on the evil eye what we 21 00:01:07,120 --> 00:01:08,560 Speaker 2: in our house call the stink eye. 22 00:01:09,800 --> 00:01:14,039 Speaker 1: Yes. Also thanks to Antonio Peglia Rulo, who is the 23 00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:16,000 Speaker 1: author of a book on the evil Eye. The Evil 24 00:01:16,040 --> 00:01:19,000 Speaker 1: Eye colin the History Mystery and Magic of the Quiet Curse. 25 00:01:19,880 --> 00:01:22,600 Speaker 1: Dave talked to a lot about this, because not only 26 00:01:22,920 --> 00:01:28,640 Speaker 1: did Antonio write that book, his grandmother was an evil 27 00:01:28,840 --> 00:01:32,720 Speaker 1: eye do her away with practitioner when he's growing up. 28 00:01:33,600 --> 00:01:35,880 Speaker 2: That's right. If you don't know what we're talking about, 29 00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:38,560 Speaker 2: we're talking about what turns out to be a very 30 00:01:38,680 --> 00:01:42,120 Speaker 2: very old I don't know what you call a tradition. 31 00:01:42,280 --> 00:01:46,759 Speaker 2: What isrus some super tradition. Yeah, all those things where 32 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:49,720 Speaker 2: someone will give you the evil eye, someone will shoot 33 00:01:49,760 --> 00:01:51,680 Speaker 2: you a glance. We call it the stink eye again, 34 00:01:52,560 --> 00:01:55,320 Speaker 2: and it's it's wordless. You don't have to say a thing, 35 00:01:55,360 --> 00:01:58,280 Speaker 2: You don't have to have a what a the little 36 00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:00,760 Speaker 2: a voodoo doll all I Usually. 37 00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:03,400 Speaker 1: There's a big there's a quick cello sting going on 38 00:02:03,440 --> 00:02:05,400 Speaker 1: in the background while it's happening. 39 00:02:06,760 --> 00:02:09,720 Speaker 2: You got to take that small string section around with you. 40 00:02:11,080 --> 00:02:13,720 Speaker 2: It means basically, well, originally I think it was sort 41 00:02:13,760 --> 00:02:17,400 Speaker 2: of came from jealousy or envy, but can also be 42 00:02:17,520 --> 00:02:20,799 Speaker 2: just someone's angry or they resent you, or maybe they're 43 00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:26,560 Speaker 2: being greedy or something. And it's generally always intentional. But 44 00:02:26,840 --> 00:02:30,480 Speaker 2: I was surprised to learn from our friend here who 45 00:02:30,520 --> 00:02:33,240 Speaker 2: wrote that book that it can be unintentional. 46 00:02:33,760 --> 00:02:37,320 Speaker 1: I didn't realize that, but I mean, I guess, I 47 00:02:37,320 --> 00:02:41,760 Speaker 1: guess if you're coveting something, or you're jealous of somebody 48 00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:44,600 Speaker 1: to the left of the person, you accidentally look at 49 00:02:44,680 --> 00:02:46,960 Speaker 1: and give the evil eye. That's the best I can 50 00:02:46,960 --> 00:02:49,080 Speaker 1: come up with for unintentional evil eye. 51 00:02:50,080 --> 00:02:52,239 Speaker 2: This goes all the way back to the Greeks and 52 00:02:52,320 --> 00:02:53,680 Speaker 2: possibly before right. 53 00:02:53,639 --> 00:02:56,919 Speaker 1: Oh, yeah, long before the Greeks. But Plutarch was maybe 54 00:02:56,960 --> 00:02:59,760 Speaker 1: the first person to actually write about it. He was 55 00:02:59,760 --> 00:03:02,520 Speaker 1: a lost for a historian, as everybody knows, and he 56 00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:06,400 Speaker 1: wrote some essays that were collected into something called Moraleia, 57 00:03:06,680 --> 00:03:08,840 Speaker 1: and he talked about the evil eye in that. His 58 00:03:08,919 --> 00:03:12,320 Speaker 1: whole jam was that your eyes are a source of 59 00:03:12,480 --> 00:03:16,560 Speaker 1: energy that shoot out, that shoot the energy out into 60 00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:19,240 Speaker 1: the world around you. And that reminded me, Chuck of 61 00:03:19,280 --> 00:03:24,560 Speaker 1: our stereoscopic episode where that one of those ancient physicians 62 00:03:24,880 --> 00:03:29,040 Speaker 1: had their Their theory was that we see by shooting 63 00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:32,600 Speaker 1: beams out at stuff, and that's how we see. And 64 00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:34,320 Speaker 1: I guess that's kind of what it was based on. 65 00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:39,240 Speaker 2: Yeah, totally. Basically, the body fills up with that jealousy 66 00:03:39,440 --> 00:03:43,200 Speaker 2: or rage or whatever, and it clouds the mind and 67 00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:44,840 Speaker 2: then the eyeballs are right there in front of the 68 00:03:44,880 --> 00:03:48,520 Speaker 2: mind to sort of display for the world whatever the 69 00:03:48,520 --> 00:03:50,440 Speaker 2: mind is thinking, and in this case it's evil. 70 00:03:50,760 --> 00:03:53,320 Speaker 1: Yeah, and he goes bby boo when you shoot the 71 00:03:53,440 --> 00:03:55,920 Speaker 1: evil eye out of your eyes. That was Plutarch's take, 72 00:03:55,920 --> 00:03:59,120 Speaker 1: and apparently that was the popular take of it. Yeah. 73 00:03:59,160 --> 00:04:02,800 Speaker 2: And depending on what culture you are from and your 74 00:04:02,960 --> 00:04:07,400 Speaker 2: your ancestry is sort of about, you might have a long, 75 00:04:07,560 --> 00:04:14,320 Speaker 2: rich tradition of evil eye shooters or blaming everything that 76 00:04:14,640 --> 00:04:17,520 Speaker 2: happens to you that's bad on an evil eye that 77 00:04:17,600 --> 00:04:18,279 Speaker 2: was shot your way. 78 00:04:18,640 --> 00:04:22,479 Speaker 1: Yeah, Because it's not just stuff that happens to you directly, 79 00:04:22,560 --> 00:04:25,720 Speaker 1: like injury or an illness. It can also be things 80 00:04:25,720 --> 00:04:27,880 Speaker 1: that happen to the things you depend on, like your 81 00:04:27,880 --> 00:04:31,360 Speaker 1: smartphone exploding in your pocket. You remember what that used 82 00:04:31,360 --> 00:04:36,080 Speaker 1: to happen? Yeah, they are blowing attire smartphones? 83 00:04:36,120 --> 00:04:38,279 Speaker 2: Did They didn't catch on fire? 84 00:04:38,360 --> 00:04:38,560 Speaker 1: Right? 85 00:04:38,680 --> 00:04:39,680 Speaker 2: Am I making that up? 86 00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:43,120 Speaker 1: There were like mild explosions with some I want to 87 00:04:43,120 --> 00:04:46,599 Speaker 1: say an android at some point in time, Yeah, blowing 88 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:48,320 Speaker 1: up in people's pockets. 89 00:04:48,080 --> 00:04:52,279 Speaker 2: And everyone's like, ah, boy, remember when that was the thing. Yeah, 90 00:04:52,360 --> 00:04:53,920 Speaker 2: And now they're right back in our pockets again. 91 00:04:54,320 --> 00:04:56,599 Speaker 1: Back in the oughts. Yeah, everybody's like, I don't care. 92 00:04:56,680 --> 00:05:00,280 Speaker 1: I love smartphones so much, I'll just take the risk. Right. 93 00:05:01,320 --> 00:05:05,120 Speaker 2: So back to Antonio who wrote the book The Evil Eye. 94 00:05:06,440 --> 00:05:10,400 Speaker 2: He is Catholic and Italian, and he said, you know, 95 00:05:10,440 --> 00:05:13,760 Speaker 2: we don't even have like baby showers over here, like 96 00:05:13,800 --> 00:05:16,880 Speaker 2: that's considered bad luck to have a baby shower, like 97 00:05:16,920 --> 00:05:20,120 Speaker 2: you're tempting fate or something like that. Yes, so it's 98 00:05:20,160 --> 00:05:23,960 Speaker 2: a you know, sort of a superstitious danger and over there. 99 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:26,720 Speaker 2: And this is kind of true anywhere in any culture 100 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:30,200 Speaker 2: that has an evil eye history, they will have protections 101 00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:32,960 Speaker 2: against evil eyes, like amulets and things like that, And 102 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:36,120 Speaker 2: pregnant women would wear amulets in Italy apparently at least 103 00:05:36,120 --> 00:05:38,560 Speaker 2: in his family, and they would say these special prayers 104 00:05:38,600 --> 00:05:39,680 Speaker 2: to ward off the evil eye. 105 00:05:39,960 --> 00:05:43,680 Speaker 1: Yeah. And the reason why having something like a baby 106 00:05:43,680 --> 00:05:47,280 Speaker 1: shower would tempt fate and maybe attract an evil eye 107 00:05:47,640 --> 00:05:50,000 Speaker 1: is that it could be taken as like a boast 108 00:05:50,560 --> 00:05:54,080 Speaker 1: or something, and boasting can generate envy, your jealousy, and 109 00:05:54,360 --> 00:05:56,400 Speaker 1: be your jealousy can shoot out of your eyes as 110 00:05:56,440 --> 00:05:59,039 Speaker 1: the evil eye, and then your smartphone blows up in 111 00:05:59,080 --> 00:06:00,760 Speaker 1: your hand during the baby shower. 112 00:06:01,120 --> 00:06:01,599 Speaker 2: Look at me. 113 00:06:01,720 --> 00:06:05,640 Speaker 1: I made a human and in particular, babies, children, pregnant women, 114 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:08,320 Speaker 1: and animals are the most vulnerable to the evil ey, 115 00:06:08,320 --> 00:06:12,600 Speaker 1: although it can happen to anybody. But there's different traditions 116 00:06:12,640 --> 00:06:16,080 Speaker 1: and customs for protecting against the evil eye depending on 117 00:06:16,120 --> 00:06:18,520 Speaker 1: where you are in the world. Like you said, in Turkey, 118 00:06:19,120 --> 00:06:21,800 Speaker 1: when you are a newborn baby, you're going to get 119 00:06:21,800 --> 00:06:25,640 Speaker 1: what's called a nazar, which is a dark blue circle 120 00:06:26,120 --> 00:06:28,960 Speaker 1: with a white circle inside it, and a dark blue 121 00:06:28,960 --> 00:06:31,880 Speaker 1: circle inside the white circle, and it's meant to be 122 00:06:32,240 --> 00:06:35,000 Speaker 1: an eye. And Chuck, I say, we take a break 123 00:06:35,040 --> 00:06:37,680 Speaker 1: and we'll come back and tell everybody whose eye it is. 124 00:06:37,920 --> 00:07:07,800 Speaker 1: After this, ooh, Horace, it's the eye of Horace. 125 00:07:08,040 --> 00:07:12,560 Speaker 2: Oh wow, that was quick. Yeah yeah. And like you said, 126 00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:14,640 Speaker 2: depending on where you are, you might have different traditions 127 00:07:14,640 --> 00:07:17,040 Speaker 2: for warding this thing off. A lot of these countries 128 00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:22,640 Speaker 2: are Middle Eastern or somewhere around the Mediterranean Sea. I 129 00:07:22,680 --> 00:07:27,440 Speaker 2: believe Dave even said in his own family, his grandmother 130 00:07:27,520 --> 00:07:32,280 Speaker 2: and the Jewish tradition would tie ribbons on cribs and 131 00:07:32,320 --> 00:07:34,240 Speaker 2: things like that to ward off the evil eye or 132 00:07:34,280 --> 00:07:37,000 Speaker 2: potential bad luck for newborn babies. Isn't that right? 133 00:07:37,240 --> 00:07:40,360 Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure. In India they'll put some coal, a 134 00:07:40,440 --> 00:07:44,040 Speaker 1: black dot on the infant's face, and all of these. 135 00:07:44,120 --> 00:07:47,080 Speaker 1: The point of these, the nizar, the red ribbon, the 136 00:07:47,280 --> 00:07:51,080 Speaker 1: black dot on the face, they're meant to protect. They're 137 00:07:51,120 --> 00:07:55,800 Speaker 1: basically amulets or talisman that can protect against the evil eye. 138 00:07:56,320 --> 00:07:58,800 Speaker 1: And one reason why they based that on the Eye 139 00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:01,160 Speaker 1: of Horace is because Nhi and Egypt, the Eye of 140 00:08:01,200 --> 00:08:04,320 Speaker 1: Horace was painted on homes, painted in tombs, and it 141 00:08:04,440 --> 00:08:08,800 Speaker 1: offered protection from evil or mal intent or all sorts 142 00:08:08,840 --> 00:08:11,280 Speaker 1: of problems even back then, and so it kind of 143 00:08:11,320 --> 00:08:15,680 Speaker 1: got you know how they take like logos, if you 144 00:08:15,720 --> 00:08:18,040 Speaker 1: look at the evolution of a logo over the course 145 00:08:18,080 --> 00:08:22,080 Speaker 1: of a century, it goes from really ornate to like 146 00:08:22,200 --> 00:08:25,280 Speaker 1: really stylized and simple. That's basically what happened to the 147 00:08:25,280 --> 00:08:27,080 Speaker 1: Eye of Horace when it became the nizar. 148 00:08:27,760 --> 00:08:28,840 Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a good. 149 00:08:28,680 --> 00:08:29,200 Speaker 1: Way to say it. 150 00:08:29,400 --> 00:08:32,200 Speaker 2: Well, thank you, and our book author also, like you 151 00:08:32,240 --> 00:08:37,480 Speaker 2: mentioned his grandmother, Paglia. Rulo's grandma would keep a bowl 152 00:08:37,520 --> 00:08:40,640 Speaker 2: of water in her kitchen and pour little drops of 153 00:08:40,640 --> 00:08:42,439 Speaker 2: olive oil in there and look at the shapes and 154 00:08:42,480 --> 00:08:45,560 Speaker 2: the patterns that the oil would take and apparently that 155 00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:48,719 Speaker 2: would inform her on the evil Eye and if there 156 00:08:48,760 --> 00:08:51,400 Speaker 2: was like someone in her family that was potentially in danger, 157 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:55,440 Speaker 2: or a neighbor or something that possibly will be or 158 00:08:55,559 --> 00:08:57,720 Speaker 2: was stricken with the evil Eye. And I thought that 159 00:08:57,760 --> 00:09:00,640 Speaker 2: was really interesting. I don't know if it literally like, hey, 160 00:09:00,679 --> 00:09:06,160 Speaker 2: that looks like Gary our neighbor, right, or if it's 161 00:09:06,240 --> 00:09:08,480 Speaker 2: just you know, kind of reading the tea leaves. 162 00:09:08,440 --> 00:09:11,240 Speaker 1: Right up at the olive. O is so good too, 163 00:09:11,800 --> 00:09:15,120 Speaker 1: Oh boy, oil. So you said that this all kind 164 00:09:15,120 --> 00:09:16,800 Speaker 1: of came out of the Mediterranean, did you not. 165 00:09:17,160 --> 00:09:17,600 Speaker 2: Yes, sir. 166 00:09:17,960 --> 00:09:21,640 Speaker 1: They've traced it back at least five thousand years ago 167 00:09:21,880 --> 00:09:25,560 Speaker 1: to tell Brock, which is a city of Mesopotamia, which 168 00:09:25,600 --> 00:09:28,720 Speaker 1: is Telbrock is a modern day Syria right now, and 169 00:09:28,760 --> 00:09:31,320 Speaker 1: they've found tiny figures that all kind of bear a 170 00:09:31,320 --> 00:09:34,480 Speaker 1: resemblance to one another. They call them ie idols, and 171 00:09:34,480 --> 00:09:37,319 Speaker 1: that they think that these offered protection as well. Did 172 00:09:37,360 --> 00:09:40,040 Speaker 1: you look up the eye idols of Telbrock? Oh? 173 00:09:40,040 --> 00:09:40,439 Speaker 2: I didn't. 174 00:09:41,080 --> 00:09:44,160 Speaker 1: If ET is not based on that, I will eat 175 00:09:44,200 --> 00:09:49,120 Speaker 1: my hat. Okay, it's identical to eat. It's crazy how 176 00:09:49,160 --> 00:09:52,040 Speaker 1: much it looks like ET. Man. There's nobody who's seen 177 00:09:52,040 --> 00:09:54,360 Speaker 1: ET and would see one of those and be like, 178 00:09:54,480 --> 00:09:57,400 Speaker 1: I don't know, like it looks exactly like ET. 179 00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:01,240 Speaker 2: All right, I'm looking it up, and that is ET. 180 00:10:01,760 --> 00:10:04,520 Speaker 1: Yeah, in that nuts, that is ET. 181 00:10:04,840 --> 00:10:07,320 Speaker 2: I mean, that is unmistakably an ET head. 182 00:10:07,960 --> 00:10:11,520 Speaker 1: Right. But also even the body resembles ET. The proportions 183 00:10:11,559 --> 00:10:12,079 Speaker 1: and everything. 184 00:10:12,400 --> 00:10:14,440 Speaker 2: Yeah, that's true. I don't see any arms and legs, 185 00:10:14,440 --> 00:10:15,960 Speaker 2: but it does have that big squatty body. 186 00:10:16,080 --> 00:10:17,960 Speaker 1: Well, thank god I don't have to eat my hat 187 00:10:18,000 --> 00:10:22,400 Speaker 1: today because that just pile on everything else bad that's happened. 188 00:10:22,800 --> 00:10:26,120 Speaker 2: Was it like a sweaty old baseball cap salty? 189 00:10:26,360 --> 00:10:28,240 Speaker 1: You know, it's got the white salt streaks that will 190 00:10:28,240 --> 00:10:28,840 Speaker 1: never come out. 191 00:10:29,120 --> 00:10:33,320 Speaker 2: No, thanks, So I guess that's about it. 192 00:10:33,440 --> 00:10:36,440 Speaker 1: Huh for the evil eye, I got nothing else. Yeah, 193 00:10:36,600 --> 00:10:38,959 Speaker 1: there's all sorts of amulets and talisman you can use 194 00:10:38,960 --> 00:10:41,520 Speaker 1: to protect yourself. If you feel like somebody gave you 195 00:10:41,520 --> 00:10:43,719 Speaker 1: the evil eye. You can also say please don't look 196 00:10:43,760 --> 00:10:45,440 Speaker 1: at me like that anymore. I don't know what's wrong 197 00:10:45,520 --> 00:10:48,960 Speaker 1: with you. That will also dispel the magic too, That's right, 198 00:10:49,360 --> 00:10:51,480 Speaker 1: Chuck said, that's right. Everybody. So, I mean short, stuff 199 00:10:51,520 --> 00:10:51,800 Speaker 1: is out. 200 00:10:55,320 --> 00:10:58,200 Speaker 2: Stuff you should know is a production of iHeartRadio. For 201 00:10:58,280 --> 00:11:02,480 Speaker 2: more podcasts, My heart Radio, sit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, 202 00:11:02,600 --> 00:11:04,400 Speaker 2: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.