The fear of numbers is called numerophobia or arithmophobia which is the exaggerated, constant and often irrational fear of numbers. The website fearof.net says: “Arithmophobic might fear all kinds of numbers, especially complex mathematical computations. Just the thought of solving a difficult arithmetic equation in school or doing calculations in day-to-day life could cause intense panic in the sufferer.” I wish I would have known about this phobia in high school, I would have tried to get a doctor’s note to excuse me. There are some theories to where the superstition of numbers has come from. It all points back to the number 13. One theory is the Judas theory. This has to do with Judas, the disciple who betrayed Jesus. Allegedly
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In the National Geographic, there was an article by Jaclyn Skurie, called Superstitious Numbers Around the World. She tells the reader about five numbers from different countries that are presumably unlucky. In China, they believe the number 4 is unlucky because fours pronunciation is similar to their word for death. To which, many buildings skip a fourth floor. In Japan the number 9 sounds like the word for torture or suffering. While in Afghanistan, they say the number 39 translates into morda-gow, which means “dead cow.” Also it is a well-known slang term for a procurer of prostitutes. Lastly she talks about how Italians are superstitious about Friday the 17th because when the Roman numeral XVII is rearranged it can create VIXI, which translates from Latin to mean “my life is over.” After reading how other countries fear numbers as well, it makes me feel better knowing, Americans are not the only ones who fear them. There is an abundance of countries that fear the number four, so much that it is called tetraphobia. Tetraphobia is the practice of avoiding instances of the number four. Tetraphobia is most common is East Asian and Southeast Asian regions. Each region takes different precautions. Some areas they don’t use the number 4 in license plates, houses, they don’t have major events and parking lots even skip the number. Tetraphobia is such a big deal that Nokia did not release some phones with a 4 in it to be considerate of their Asian customers. Also Samsung phones stopped using model codes containing the number 4. Even Canon cameras serial numbers do not contain the number 4. I do find it fascinating how companies have adapted to the number 4. It is rather smart managing on their
In the National Geographic, there was an article by Jaclyn Skurie, called Superstitious Numbers Around the World. She tells the reader about five numbers from different countries that are presumably unlucky. In China, they believe the number 4 is unlucky because fours pronunciation is similar to their word for death. To which, many buildings skip a fourth floor. In Japan the number 9 sounds like the word for torture or suffering. While in Afghanistan, they say the number 39 translates into morda-gow, which means “dead cow.” Also it is a well-known slang term for a procurer of prostitutes. Lastly she talks about how Italians are superstitious about Friday the 17th because when the Roman numeral XVII is rearranged it can create VIXI, which translates from Latin to mean “my life is over.” After reading how other countries fear numbers as well, it makes me feel better knowing, Americans are not the only ones who fear them. There is an abundance of countries that fear the number four, so much that it is called tetraphobia. Tetraphobia is the practice of avoiding instances of the number four. Tetraphobia is most common is East Asian and Southeast Asian regions. Each region takes different precautions. Some areas they don’t use the number 4 in license plates, houses, they don’t have major events and parking lots even skip the number. Tetraphobia is such a big deal that Nokia did not release some phones with a 4 in it to be considerate of their Asian customers. Also Samsung phones stopped using model codes containing the number 4. Even Canon cameras serial numbers do not contain the number 4. I do find it fascinating how companies have adapted to the number 4. It is rather smart managing on their