A 4th Storey in a Singapore apartment block.In our Chinese culture, the number 4 is considered an unlucky number. I was told it is an unlucky number in Korean, Vietnamese and Japanese cultures too. It has the same pronunciation as the word 'death' in some languages.
Some interesting finds about the number 4 :
Nokia cell phones have no series beginning with a 4.
Palm PDAs and Canon PowerShot G has G3 and G5 series only.
In the early 2000s, Alfa Romeo introduced a new model 144 in Singapore. They had to change the model number when nobody bought it. :P
In Hong Kong and some parts of Asia, some buildings do not have a 4th floor. Particularly in some high-rise residential buildings in Hong Kong, ALL floor numbers with "4", (e.g. 4, 14, 24, 34 and all 40-49 floors ) are left out.
Although it is superstition, I do try to avoid the number '4' if I can. :)
Have a great weekend!
PhotoHunt
photohunt
First commenter - Mojo
Well that explains a lot. In numerology, four is my ruling number.
ReplyDeleteI guess it's good that I'm not Asian!
How interesting! A little like many countries avoid the number 13.
ReplyDeleteMojo,
ReplyDeleteOne man's meat is another man's poison. :)
Congrats! You are my first commenter for this post.
*confetti*
A.
ReplyDeleteOn the contrary, Chinese like number 13 because it is auspicious.
The digit 1 in the tens place sounds like the word 'definite' (shi) in Mandarin and Cantonese; while the digit 3 sounds like life, living or birth.
So the number 13 can mean 'definitely succeed' or 'assured growth'. :)
I didn't know that about #4!!! Very interesting. My photo hunt for this week isn't posted yet, so I hope you'll return tomorrow sometime to view.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the visit with me today, and leaving such a wonderful comment.
Alamak you make me scared lah!LOL!
ReplyDeleteI didn't know about this.
Fortunately Chanel didn't call her perfume No.4!
I'm not superstitious as such BUT I do pay attention of course LOL!
I think the Christians' fear of the number 13 causes less havoc than with the Chinese who I know can be very superstitious.In fact as I write this its FRIDAY the 13th!!!Here its the day when the Loto ticket sales explode as people think its lucky to gamble today.An odd irony of the sort.
Another interesting article ECL.Wishing you a nice weekend.
I didn't realize four was an unlucky number. Interesting post.
ReplyDeleteTo answer your question on mine, I lucked out when looking through my archives. I shot the 3 seagulls and then another flew up and I took that shot. This was last summer but it worked for the theme.
I'm late by two hours to be FC!
ReplyDeleteAll the buildings that the company I work for built have no floors with 4 in it. That means no 4th, 14th, 24th or 34th floor.
Hootin' Anni,
ReplyDeleteNow you know a little more about our Chinese culture. :)
I'll visit you again tomorrow.
Wah! Jean, you're so beautiful! hehehe....
ReplyDeleteChanel has no number 4 leh.
I'm not too superstitious but being around Chinese businessmen I have to be sensitive.
No black colour;
no unlucky numbers;
no inauspicious words;
too bad I'm a woman, cannot change that. haha...
Yes, it's Friday the 13th and it's my 19th Wedding Anniversary today. Lucky number though. haha....
Have a great weekend, Jean!
Carver,
ReplyDeleteLucky you! It suit the theme very well.
Lina,
ReplyDeleteYou were having a long dinner. :)
buildings have no floors with 4 in it
Serious!? In Malaysia!? Wow!
That's very interesting. Here the n° 13 is considered as a bad number and a lot of hotels don't have rooms with the n° 13, apparently it brings misfortune. And even worse is Friday 13, which is today, but I am still alive !
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, I forgot I've been told 4 is unlucky number or any combination that adds up to 4.
ReplyDeleteGattina,
ReplyDeleteI think we don't have both 13th and 14th floor in our hotels.
haha.... I've survived Friday the 13th! It's Saturday morning here now. :)
Photo Cache,
ReplyDeleteSo you do know about this superstitious belief. :)
ECL,
ReplyDeleteserious! Even the hotels too. Usually it is conveniently labeled as 3A, 13A and so on. The Chairman & MD are superstitious people, I think. :D
You know, when we shifted office also consult Feng Shui Master for an auspicious time & date!
ReplyDeleteLina,
ReplyDeleteWhoa! I didn't notice that when I was staying in Malaysian hotels. I'll keep a look out next time. :)
Lina,
ReplyDeleteAre your Bosses Chinese?
It's not important ... because I know 3 ang mo friends who consult my Feng Shui Master. :)
As far as I know the number 4 in Korean and Japanese has exactly the same pronunciation as "death". Haha XD
ReplyDeleteOn another note, Friday the 13th just passed. XD
Wow! That's interesting! The funny thing is, 4 is one of my favorite numbers! I love 4's, and especially like writing the number 4 when I write numbers, because I make such a fancy, cute one!
ReplyDeleteI will have to remember this when I finally get to go to China! :)
Very interesting! No superstitions about 4 here in the USA but people worry about 13 (and 1+3=4, but I don't know if it's connected or not). Today is Friday the 13th which worries some people but not me. :O
ReplyDeleteGreat take on the theme!
Very interesting - this was new to me!
ReplyDeleteGreat take on the theme.
Happy weekend.
This is the most interesting post I've read today! I never knew 4 was not good. My first two numbers of my address are 44??.. I have always thought 13 was an unlucky number and would never accept 666 as a number for me... but a four... well, I learn something new everyday! LOL
ReplyDeleteHow about this! I thought it was only nr. 13! my lucky number is seven :)
ReplyDeleteHappy hunting and happy weekend, dear friend
now I learned something here this week
ReplyDeleteThese are very interesting facts, thanks for sharing. There are some high-rise buildings too that don't have 13th floor because it's unlucky as well ;-) Anyway, I guess I won't take my kid near any elevators yet so he won't get confused learning his numbers and how to count, LOL, LOL. Mine will be up later.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I have heard about that too from my Chinese friends. Those are really great bits of info. Happy weekend!
ReplyDeleteOkay, I invite you to Norway for the third time then - don't let me do it one more time :lol:
ReplyDeleteHappy Weekend!
PS: I tagged you in my last post :-)
Gosh that's interesting. I don't like the number 7 but have no problem with 4.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting post for this week!
ReplyDeletehttp://lesliesmyers.blogspot.com/2008/01/lavena-cafe-piazza-san-marco.html
Yes, it is not my favourite either. I will try to avoid it.
ReplyDeleteThese days the number 4 is pretty hot, I know of a friend that paid a hefty sum for the car plate 4444. It's sounds like hei hei hei hei in cantonese.
ReplyDeleteI hope he'll really hei after spending that kind of $ though :P
My cell no also end with double hei lol!!
Have a good weekend with good weather(I hope)!!!
I too, had no clue that the 4 was considered unlucky in some cultures. interesting!
ReplyDeletehappy weekend.
I think it's just superstition. In feng shui, the number 4 may be a prosperous number and is not associated with death.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, combining the number 4 with certain numbers are good eg. 4848, 3354, 1148 etc. : )
I will play those numbers in the lottery, foongpc! I will let you know if I win! ;)
ReplyDeletehahaha I second the Fitness Diva. Go buy 4D afterwards. XD
ReplyDeleteOh this is my first time I heard that..In our country its the Friday is a bad luck and they think that anything can happened in Fridays. Thanks for that info..Happy weekend. Mine is also up.
ReplyDeletePersonally i warned the car salesmen I would refuse to accept my car if my registration plate contained the number four. He was shocked. In the end, he went to a lot of trouble n came up with a nice number.
ReplyDeleteAlthough my mother tongue is one of those for which just a different tone can change the pronouncing of the word "four" to "death", had never thought much of it -- and even had four as the chosen number on my soccer team jersey (because favorite players had that too) -- until I came over to Hong Kong... where 4 is a number to be even more avoided than 13! ;b
ReplyDeleteI love the number 4 ECL!! it has always brought me good luck!!
ReplyDeletesurprise! 4 is MY number. Go read!!!
ReplyDeleteMy car's plate number is 6464. Some of my Chinese friends said that means "alive, dead, alive, dead". LOL. I am not sure whether it's the truth or they were just playing with my head (and apparently my dead or alive matter) :D
ReplyDeleteHappy Weekend ECL!
Wow i did not know this either. I know it the USA that some people think 13 is bad. Have a great weekend ECL
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize that buildings in HK don't have a 4th floor, I always thought they didn't have a 13th floor. Maybe unlucky 13 is a western superstition.
ReplyDeletelucky 4 may be unlucky for some but i think, it's one lucky number for you uconsidering you've got a PR4 blog.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. Thanks for that local information. I like four.
ReplyDeleteWonderful information! I had no idea the number 4 could be unlucky.
ReplyDeletehi ECL! what a coincidence! marzie & i were talking how tak ada ong this number 4 is. :)
ReplyDeletegreat to hear abt it here! :)
Happy Weekend!
for most Asians, the number 4 is avoided just like the number 13 in parts of the Western countries.
ReplyDeleteLots of 4's!
ReplyDeletenice photo of 4's theme this week. Here's mine,
ReplyDeletehttp://www.langging.com/2009/03/photo-hunter3-four.html
I always try to avoid the number 4!! btw, Happy 19th Wedding Anniversary ECL ;-)
ReplyDeleteHow interesting! I like learning about other cultures.
ReplyDeleteChristians don't fear the number 13.. I think that number became a "bad" number during the Dark Ages, like black cats and sneezing. All superstitious!
I moved my Photo Hunters to my new photo blog. Please visit if you can!
http://ilovenewyorktravel.net/photo-hunters-4/
Have a great weekend!
I never knew that about 4. I invite you to come see my backcountry take on four. - Margy
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that four was an unlucky number. Cool shot! Thanks for the visit :)
ReplyDeleteGreat pic... and thanks for all those interesting tid bits..
ReplyDeleteThanks for the explanation, now I'll know to avoid this number ;-)
ReplyDeleteThank you for visiting and have a great week!
Same here, I also try to avoid that number as possible. My MIL told me that it's an unlucky number according to Chinese beliefs.
ReplyDeleteI'm not superstitious about numbers. But it appears that unlucky numbers, however different from each other, are present in many cultures.
ReplyDeleteIn the Philippines, most building won't have a 13th floor. I am however aware of the superstitious #4 as well.
ReplyDelete