If you’re not a Southerner, you may not get that joke. In the old days, salt wasn’t exactly cheap. So spilling the table salt wasn’t exactly a small deal.
Well, back then, Americans had tons of superstitions that we’ve eventually forgotten about. One of them was throwing salt over your left shoulder when you spilled the salt.
You see, everyone has a guardian angel on their right shoulder. This guardian angel looks over you and tries to prevent you from doing something naughty.
You also have a little devil on your right shoulder who tries to get you into trouble. Like spilling salt for instance. That’s why you’ll see a Southerner take a pinch of the salt and throw it into her little devil’s eyes, to teach that little devil a lesson.
Evil Witches are naughty
Well, we all know evil witches are naughty. I’m not talking about the good witches like your fairy godmother. I’m talking about the bad ones. You know, the ones that are trying to trick you out of your earnings, or even trying to trick your kids into their ovens.
Contrary to popular opinion though, bad witches don’t eat kids. They’re feeding their familiars. That’s another thing those old fairy tales get wrong.
Anyways, evil witches still like to eat. And they still have salt shakers on their tables.
Do you think evil witches can be careless and accidentally knock over the salt? Why of course! Why do you think clever kids are always outsmarting them? They got their minds on too many things. (There might be a life lesson there for you and me).
So when an evil witch knocks over the table salt, they take a pinch and throw it over their right shoulder to teach their guardian angel a lesson. After all, why punish the one to help improve your naughtiness?
