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March 29, 2004

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Luck

My apartment building slavishly avoids bad luck by not having a 4th, 13th or 14th floor. In Cantonese the number 4 sounds very similar to the word for death. Not good. 13 is unlucky for Westerners. And 14 sounds like 'certain death' to Cantonese ears. But in fact the poor people on what is called the 5th floor are actually on the 4th, and those on the 16th shouldn't buy lottery tickets, being on the 13th. Those on the 17th shouldn't make long term plans at all, being on the very unlucky 14th.

You can't trick Feng Shui, even if you play with the numbers.

 posted by Simon on 03.29.04 at 12:18 PM in the




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Comments:

Depends - if you think #'s are artificial constructs of man and do not exist in nature, then for Feng Shui it all really doesn't matter. You live where you live regardless of what # you call it.

In Roman numerals you live on the XIII floor. And in Spanish the 4th floor is cuatro - sounds nothing like "four" or the Cantonese word for "death".

Which is why I am not superstitious - knock on wood...

 posted by: kennycan on 03.29.04 at 05:43 PM [permalink]




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