Thursday, July 14, 2005

'4' means die ?

4 means die (in Cantonese) ?

I was in Kula Lumpur (KL) recently and noticed that there was no 4th floor optoin in several elevators. The numbers ran like this: 2, 3, 3A, 5.. I asked around and was told that the number 4 is unpopular amongst Chinese because in Cantonese four means die. So, the buildings that are owned by Chinese generally avoid number 4.

I was told by my Chinese friend that, in Cantonese

  • Four means die
  • Fourteen means Sure die
  • Twenty Four means Easy die
  • Thirty Four means Live & die
  • Forty Four means Die die
  • Fifty Four means No die

This brought back the memory of a similar scenario in US. In the old IBM office building in Columbus, OH was there was no 13th floor. It simply ran 11, 12, 14, 15..

Now, what's the unlucky / unpopular number amongst Indians? Is it Number 8?

7 comments:

  1. and all this in developed countries of the world :) can't help but laugh.

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  2. Funny....I've also heard this..! But you have proof now..!!
    with the photo.!

    Crazy people - Mooda nambikkaigalukku alave illai.!!!

    Thank god..they build these floors atleast.! Imagine a building in China with all the 4/14/24/...etc floors just empty I mean only the columns.!

    Wonder what the Chinese would do if someone was born on the 4th 14th 24th? etc.

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  3. Saranyan

    These kinds of belief systems seems to prelevant across the world in various forms..


    Narayanan

    I wonder if this was the reason Chinese didn't bid for 2004 Olympics ?

    Ram Viswanathan

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  4. I was talking to Bin Shu - My Taiwanese colleague here and he says only 4 is Bad.!

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  5. Narayanan

    hmm.. Interesting..

    Is it possible, the 'meaning' vares by region ? 'cause I spoke to few of my Chinese colleagues to confirm this before I posted..

    Ram Viswanathan

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  6. 8 is considered very lucky by the chinese. Lucky draw prizes could be $888 or $8888. i guess 2004 might not be as bad as 4. 4 doesn't mean Die in Mandarin (the popular dialect of Chinese) but the Mandarin equivalent of 4 and the word Die (in Mandarin) are rhyming words.

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  7. Kaps

    Yes.. i have heard about the 8 being the lucky number..

    Thanks for shedding more light on the number 4 thing..

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