Is the Number 13 Really Unlucky?

[Adam's Apple]

The following are excerpts from articles I found on the internet about the number 13. How many positive things can you think of that are associated with the number 13 (i.e., baker's dozen, 13 original American colonies, etc.)

UNLUCKY 13 – Herald-Tribune

The best known unlucky number is 13. Some historians claim two U.S. presidents, Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt, never allowed 13 people to share a meal. If true, both men suffered from triskaidekaphobia or fear of the number 13, and they aren’t alone.

The Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in Asheville, N.C., estimates American businesses lose more than $800 million each Friday the 13th because some people will not travel to go to work.

Different nations have different unlucky numbers and days.

If you lived in a Spanish-speaking country, Tuesday the 13th or any Tuesday would be an unlucky day. A Spanish proverb says “en martes, ni te cases ni te embarques” (On Tuesday, neither get married nor start a journey.)

The Japanese do not like the numbers four and nine because they pronounce four as “shi,” which is the same pronunciation as the word for death. Nine is pronounced “ku,” which has the same pronunciation as the word for agony. Many Japanese hospitals do not use four or nine as room numbers, and we’ve heard there are no seats numbered four or nine on any All Nippon Airways airlines.

The number four is so unlucky in China that the cartoon the Simpsons was originally unpopular because Bart has only four fingers on each hand.

Friday the 13th
By Jon Bowen for slate.com

…engineers and architects go to great lengths to soothe our superstition. Skyscrapers and hotels have no 13th floor; airplanes have no 13th aisle. But the joke is on triskaidekaphobics, of course, since the 13th aisle is sitting right there behind the 12th, obviously -- it's just labeled as 14 to hoodwink you into relaxing.

So where does the fear of 13 come from? Its origins can be traced to Norse mythology and a dinner party at Valhalla, home of the god Odin, where Odin and 11 of his closest god-friends were gathered one night to party. Everyone was having fun, but then Loki, the dastardly god of evil and turmoil, showed up uninvited, making it a crowd of 13. The legend goes that the beloved god Balder tried to boot Loki out of the house, and in the scuffle that followed he suffered a deathblow. From that mythological start, the number 13 has plowed a path of devastation through history.

There were 13 people at Christ's Last Supper, including the double-crossing Judas Iscariot. The ill-fated Apollo 13 lunar mission left the launching pad at 13:13 hours and was aborted on April 13. Friday hasn't been much kinder to us. Friday was execution day in ancient Rome -- Jesus was crucified on a Friday. Put it all together, and Friday the 13th spells trouble for triskaidekaphobics. It's a testament to the phobia's prevalence that Hollywood was able to parlay our fear into a hugely successful series of slasher movies starring a hockey-masked guy named Jason.

But triskaidekaphobia isn't an exclusively American affliction. Italians omit the number 13 from their national lottery. There is a hush-hush organization in France whose exclusive purpose is to provide last-minute guests for dinner parties, so that no party host ever has to suffer the curse of entertaining 13 guests.

 

[Merlin1047]

I was born 13 Oct. I had my 13th birthday on FRIDAY the 13th.

If 13 is really unlucky, I should have melted into a small puddle by now.

 

[Said1]

I was born 13 Oct. I had my 13th birthday on FRIDAY the 13th.

If 13 is really unlucky, I should have melted into a small puddle by now.

I'm November 13th.

 

[freeandfun1]

Here in Vegas, some of the hotels go from floor 39 to floor 50! lol

Most Chinese try to avoid the number 4, because 4 sounds the same as “death” (sie) in Cantonese. Character wise, 4 is written as though the sun is being obscured by a cloud, so pictorially, it stands for a cloudy day and bad luck. The Chinese do not like to have a house or a car with the number 4 or a combination like 14 “must die”, 24 “easily dying”, 44 “dying and dead” and 74 “surely dead”. The only time 4 is considered auspicious is when it is used with a 5 or an 8, for example 54 sounds the same as “shall live forever and will not die”. Forty-eight sounds the same as “sure to prosper” and 84 sounds the same as “forever prosperous” and hence they are acceptable to the Chinese.

 

[Adam's Apple]

Good gracious, Merlin, you sound like Apollo 13 in the above article. (The ill-fated Apollo 13 lunar mission left the launching pad at 13:13 hours and was aborted on April 13.) :teeth:

 

[no1tovote4]

The whole Friday the 13th thing associates to the attack made on the Knights Templar. The Knights Templar had fallen out of favor with Pope Clement V, and he created plans to destroy the order.

In order to be able to get all of the Knights Templar it was necessary to attack in one coordinated effort on the same day. I am sure you can guess what particular day it was.... I will give a hint. It was the same day and month in which Merlin1047 was born...

The leader of the order or the Grand Master at that time was Jacques DeMolay, he was drawn into a meeting with the Pope under false pretenses and was arrested on October 13th 1307 at the same time attacks were made on the order across Europe thus creating "Black Friday".

DeMolay was later executed for heresy, before his death it is said that he predicted that he would meet both the King of France and the Pope who presided over his death within the year in Heaven. Both men did die in 1314, less than one year after the death of the Grand Master in 1314, burned at the stake.

Here is the story of DeMolay, for some reason the site leaves out the attacks on the rest of the order.

http://astrology.about.com/od/traditionalhistory/l/aa101300a.htm

If you read the French explanation on this site you will get the story that I am talking about... In this story however it blames the entire thing on the French King, however most historians tend to think it happened between the King who had financial issues and the Pope with whom the order fell out of favor.

http://www.crystalinks.com/friday13th.html

And one more site...

http://www.coolquiz.com/trivia/explain/docs/friday13.asp

 

[Adam's Apple]

Thanks for the link to coolquiz.com. Neat site. I like trivia, quizzes, etc.

 

[no1tovote4]

Thanks for the link to coolquiz.com. Neat site. I like trivia, quizzes, etc.

Nyet problemma, droog!