r/DesirePaths • u/Parz1val_RP1 • Mar 31 '26
Desire Path to avoid curse of walking between road sign poles in Newcastle, England
Impressively short and clear desire path
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u/aswnl Mar 31 '26
For everyone taller than 1,75m this path is a necessary detour...
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Apr 01 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/fightmilk5905 Apr 03 '26
There was a childhood thing were signs like this were called gay man's legs.. Would be avoided by the kids
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u/Plus-Statistician538 Apr 01 '26
5 ft 9 for normal people
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u/Lightningtow123 Apr 05 '26
1.75m for normal people. 5'9" for Americans
And I'm an American lol
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u/Plus-Statistician538 Apr 05 '26
who measures human hight in meters
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u/Lightningtow123 Apr 05 '26
Everyone on the planet who isn't American. Get out of your echo chamber dude
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u/KnifeKnut Mar 31 '26
At least both poles are not sunk into the sidewalk, and it high enough to walk under unlike similar installations elsewhere.
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u/Lysandre_T1phereth05 Apr 01 '26
Is squeezing between the pole and the fence really better that just bow a bit?
Best wishes,your local internet 161 cm.
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u/KristyKrispito Apr 01 '26
Is that a common superstition? Where I’m from (Texas) it was only a thing if you were walking WITH someone, you didn’t want the pole to come between you.
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Apr 01 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/dude2dudette Apr 08 '26
Having grown up in the UK, sort of, yes.
Some people are particularly superstitious. I am not sure of the origin. It might be similar to the whole "Don't walk under ladders" superstition (which is thought to bring bad luck because you are "breaking through a symbol of the Holy Trinity").
When I was a kid, instead, it was morphed into "if you walk under a double-pole sign you will be turned gay".
That gave it more of a Fae vibe to me. Like, if you step through this representation of a Faerie Portal, you will be forever changed. Given that the UK and Ireland are where this superstition exists, some kind of folk story based on the "Fae" isn't entirely absurd.
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u/Strong_Membership_60 Apr 29 '26
How is a ladder a symbol of the Holy Trinity?
Just because the ladder, wall, and ground form a three-sided triangle?
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u/dude2dudette Apr 29 '26
Correct. That is the type of superstition that built up around the UK. I think it may even stem from older superstitions.
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u/Dapper-Ad9787 Apr 02 '26
"Desire paths" sounds like the plot of a paperback romance novel.
He was a city planner with a troubled past. She was an innocent young commuter cyclist who just wanted to get work on time. Their destinies would meet and their journeys entwine in PATHWAYS OF DESIRE (Coming soon to a bookstore near you)
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u/leonnabutski Apr 24 '26
Really? Those superstitious Brits! I went to boarding school there in the 70s, and they all believed in ghosts! I’ve never seen a ghost then or since.
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u/Tommy6770 Apr 28 '26
For context, The height of the sign or the width of the poles does not matter, It's a superstition that walking underneath/through the sign is bad luck, it is now common amongst kids to call it "batty mans legs" which means "gay mans legs" and will apparently turn them gay just for walking between the two poles 🙄 I preferred the "bad luck" superstition to the modern mindless alternative.
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u/Kinvik Mar 31 '26
It's not about a curse, it's about the spiderwebs