Sitting at the corner of a table
Sitting at the corner of a table is said in Hungary and Poland to keep you from marrying, students told a folklore archive. A Peruvian family passed the same warning to its daughters.
What it may mean
The corner seat is where the last person squeezes in. The table was set for six, an extra guest arrives, someone drags over a stool at the angle between two sides, and that person spends the meal with a table leg against one knee, half in two conversations and fully in neither. In Hungary and Poland, students told folklore collectors, sitting there means you will never marry; a Peruvian family told its daughters the same. A student from Poland explained it as being on the outside, excluded. The belief puts a finger on something real about crowded tables. Whoever ends up at the corner is often the one who arrived last, or the one who never asks for better. Hosts and families can notice who keeps landing there, and make room on a proper side next time.
Depending on how you saw it
Told only to the girls
A woman raised by a Peruvian family remembered that the corner warning was given only to the girls, never to the boys. Which warnings in your family were given to only some of the children, and why do you think that was?
Talking to two people at once
A corner seat does have one advantage: you sit at an angle to two neighbors and can chat with both without turning your back on either. Where in your life does an awkward position give you an unusual view?
Moving anyway, half laughing
A student from Budapest said that no one really believes it, yet nobody sits at the corner, because you never know. What would it take for you to sit where everyone else refuses to?
Why it happens in nature
At a square or rectangular table, a corner seat puts the table's edge or leg against your knees and leaves you between two sides rather than facing one. It is usually the seat added for a late or extra guest, so the person in it is often a newcomer or the youngest at the meal.
What folk beliefs say
Hungary
Some people in Hungary believe that if a girl sits at the corner of the table, she will never get married; a student from Budapest said nobody truly believes it, but nobody does it either.
Source: Joshua Kaestner (collector), Hungarian Superstition (USC Digital Folklore Archive) (2015), folklore.usc.edu. View the page
Poland
A student from Poland said that if you sit on the corner of the table, you will never get married, because you are on the outside, excluded.
Source: Melanie Grindle (collector), Folk Belief – Polish (USC Digital Folklore Archive) (2011), folklore.usc.edu. View the page
Peru (family tradition)
A woman raised in a Peruvian family was told never to sit at the corner of a square table, or she would not get married; the warning was given only to the girls.
Source: Brianna (collector), Sitting at the Corner of the Table (USC Digital Folklore Archive) (2021), folklore.usc.edu. View the page
To reflect on
When a table is full, are you more often the one who squeezes in or the one who makes room?