I've Got Your Number

smartling HI! I'VE GOT www.SMARTLING.COM NEGATIVE MEANINGS & NUMERICAL SUPERSTITIONS AROUND THE GLOBE Numbers like 13 and 666 have connotations familiar to many Westerners, but what about unlucky numbers in other parts of the world? Whether you're traveling to a foreign country or marketing to international customers, use the guide below to navigate numerical danger zones! 13 38 4303 2059 55555 2059 50 16 45 Ing 46 U6 93 U6 9 29 410 2173 6725 Un CUJJ 6164 6725 6725 8 78 5 30 01 9& 147 981473959 81 03 13 43 59 43032 56 138 43 4 4. 1697 138 4 205- 169 "167 878 50 2227 27 1659 8130 16 0 3? 138 4 138 Ever heard of tetraphobia? It's the fear of the number four. In Chinese, the word for 4 sounds like the word "death." CHINA Many product lines skip the number 4, such as Nokia cell phones and Canon PowerShot G series - after G3, there is a G5, but no G4. If you repeat the number 5 several times, it replicates the sound of crying, and is sometimes used in internet slang to convey sadness, just like this emoticon in the West: :.( In Mandarin, 7456 sounds like "to make me angry," and is sometimes used as shorthand slang on the internet. The number 250 can mean "imbecile" if read a certain way, and can be used as an insult. JAPAN Like in Chinese, in Japanese, the number 4 is pronounced shi, which is also the word for "death." Gifts, such as sets of plates or silverware, are never given in sets of four - but in sets of three or five. Hospitals and hotels in Japan often do not have levels or even rooms with the numbers 4 and 9 in them. The room number 43 is avoided in hospitals in Japan, especially in the maternity and newborn care wards. When pronounced aloud, it can sound like "still birth." The number 9 is often pronounced ku, which means "suffering." • When learning to count aloud, Many people avoid purchasing houses with addresses that contain these numbers too. ren are taught to use words shi and ku. In Hong Kong, some high-rise buildings that have a 50th floor may only have 35 floors. Some buildings remove not just the 4th floor, but every floor that contains the number 4 (4, 14, 24, 34, and floors 40-49). HONG KONG When spoken aloud, combinations like 167, 169, and 1679 are dirty jokes in Hong Kong culture. The words for 7 and 9 in Cantonese sound similar to insulting words for male genitals, and the word for 6 sounds similar to another impolite word. II Many buildings also lack a 13th floor due to Western beliefs that 13 is unlucky. For some Vietnamese, it's considered bad luck to have VIETNAM 3 people in photos. The person in the middle will supposedly die. 39 In some parts of Afghanistan, the number 39 is considered unlucky. Many Afghans with the number 39 in their cell phone numbers will block people from seeing their numbers when they call, or switch numbers altogether. AFGHANISTAN XX-XX Cars with license plates containing the number 39 are mocked in Kabul. To avoid being ridiculed, some 39-year-olds will tell people they are "one less than 40." NIGERIA CHAD 7 BENIN KENYA In all of these countries, any number that ends in 7 is considered unlucky. AFRICA 17 What is heptadecaphobia? The fear of the number seventeen. VIXI When viewed in Roman numeral form, XVII, it can be changed anagrammatically to vixi, which in Latin means "I have lived," implying that the person is dead. The word was found on ancient tombstones. In Italy, Renault sold its R17 model as R177, due to heptadecaphobia, ITALY the fear of the number 17 in Italian culture. In the 2006 Winter Olympics, the track used for the luge and bobsleigh called the 17th turn Senza Nome, which means "without name," instead of referring to its number. Looking for the 17th floor? You won't find one in many Italian buildings. In some parts of Italy, the number 13 is considered lucky. 66 Six hundred and sixty-six is considered synonymous with the devil, due to it being listed as the number of the beast in the Christian bible. However, in Asia, the pronunciation of 666 sounds like the phrase, "things going smoothly" and is considered to be very lucky. People often put this number over their door or window for good luck. No one really knows why the number 13 is considered unlucky. Some believe it is because of a Norse legend in which 12 gods sit down to a banquet, when the 13th uninvited god shows up, killing one of the other gods. Likewise, many believe that Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus, was the 13th man to sit down at the Last Supper. Others believe that the number 13 is unlucky because of pagan traditions observing a calendar of 13 lunar months per year. While the number 13 is common for many highways, 13 in Ontario, Canada, Route 13 was skipped. Many airlines do not have a row number 13 in their planes. Many buildings in the West either skip the 13th floor or give it an alternate designation such as "12A" or "M" (the thirteenth letter of the Latin alphabet). Others close public access to the 13th floor. In contrast, Ancient Egyptians and Ancient Greeks believed that 13 was a lucky number. Friday the 13th is considered a bad luck day in many western cultures. In most of Latin America, it isn't Friday the 13th, but Tuesday the 13th that is considered unlucky. The same is true in Romania, Greece, and some parts of Spain. П II Il || IIII IIII II **** **** ===- 13