Happy Friday the 13th!

Fear of numbers is a fascinating thing, and it seems to permeate many cultures in different forms. A friend sent me a compendium of helpful hints the other day, and it included this:

I don’t think the information is accurate, nor do a lot of online skeptics.  But what’s more interesting than that is the absence of fours in the elevator panel. The building has no floors numbered 4, 14, or 24, and that is because of tetraphobia:

…an aversion to or fear of the number 4. It is a superstition most common in East Asian and Southeast Asian regions such as China, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Korea and Vietnam.^[3]

The Chinese word for four (?, pinyin: sì, jyutping: sei³), sounds quite similar to the word for death (?, pinyin: s?, jyutping: sei²), in many varieties of Chinese. Similarly, the Sino-Japanese, Sino-Korean, and Sino-Vietnamese words for four, shi (Japanese – other four is Yon), sa (?, Korean) and t? (Vietnamese), sound similar or identical to death in each language (see Korean numerals, Japanese numerals, Vietnamese numerals).

Special care may be taken to avoid occurrences or reminders of the number 4 during festive holidays, or when a family member is sick, especially in Chinese culture. Similarly, 14, 24, 42, etc. are also to be avoided due to the presence of the digit 4 in these numbers. In these countries, these floor numbers are often skipped in buildings, ranging from hotels to offices to apartments, as well as hospitals. Table number 4, 14, 24, 42, etc. are also often left out in wedding dinners or other social gatherings in these countries. In many residential complexes, building block 4, 14, 24 etc. are usually replaced with block 3A, 13A, and 23A.

Fascinating. And it’s at least as rational as Triskaidekaphobia:

fear of the number 13; it is a superstition and related to a specific fear of Friday the 13th, called paraskevidekatriaphobia or friggatriskaidekaphobia.

I enjoy phobias, but seriously, paraskevidekatriaphobia is carrying things too far. Aand there’s no frigging way that I’ll be frightened by friggatriskaidekaphobia.

We have nothing to frigging fear except the frigging fear of friggatriskaidekaphobia itself!

MORE: According to an estimate by the Otis Elevator Company, 85% of elevators have no 13th floor button. But this is not because the manufacturers are superstitious; it’s because the customer is always right.

What? You expect capitalists to do the responsible thing and promote only rational truths rather than cater to popular superstitions?