Obviously this thing with posting weekly didn't work out.
I have recently moved to Asia, and a couple of things here made me wonder/think so I decided to share them!
First post from this part of the world is about elevators. I am residing in a 30-something storey building and working on the 19th floor of an office building. Obviously that means a lot of elevator buttons. Here is a photo of a building's elevator buttons:
Do you notice anything peculiar?
There is no number 4 on those buttons. Why? The answer is tetraphobia (from Greek tetras - four and phobos - fear).
Tetraphobia is the fear of number 4. It is a superstition most common in East Asian and Southeast Asian countries like Malaysia, Singapore, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Korea and Japan.
The reason behind that is that the word for 4 in Chinese sounds quite similar to the word for death.
Similarly 14, 24, 34, 42 etc. are also to be avoided due to the presence of the digit 4 in these numbers.
In Malaysia so far I have seen replacement of the digit 4 (example 3A, 13A and 23A are respectively the 4th, 14th and 24th floors) and from what I've gathered in China they would just skip the feared digit and by simply looking at the elevator's buttons (unaware of tetraphobia) you might think that those floors are missing.
I have recently moved to Asia, and a couple of things here made me wonder/think so I decided to share them!
First post from this part of the world is about elevators. I am residing in a 30-something storey building and working on the 19th floor of an office building. Obviously that means a lot of elevator buttons. Here is a photo of a building's elevator buttons:
Do you notice anything peculiar?
There is no number 4 on those buttons. Why? The answer is tetraphobia (from Greek tetras - four and phobos - fear).
Tetraphobia is the fear of number 4. It is a superstition most common in East Asian and Southeast Asian countries like Malaysia, Singapore, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Korea and Japan.
The reason behind that is that the word for 4 in Chinese sounds quite similar to the word for death.
Similarly 14, 24, 34, 42 etc. are also to be avoided due to the presence of the digit 4 in these numbers.
In Malaysia so far I have seen replacement of the digit 4 (example 3A, 13A and 23A are respectively the 4th, 14th and 24th floors) and from what I've gathered in China they would just skip the feared digit and by simply looking at the elevator's buttons (unaware of tetraphobia) you might think that those floors are missing.
yes in the far east they believe that number 4 brings no luck
ReplyDeletethat is why nokia never had model with 4 BMW also step avoid to do it some times
that's the mysteries and wonders of the modern marketing
yeah, it is quite interesting! things that marketers have to do : )
ReplyDeleteWrite more posts!!!! RS
ReplyDeleteI have posted a couple after this one, and there is one on the way and a couple of new ideas, so stay tuned.
ReplyDelete