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The thing about the number four also applies in Cantonese. You know how 13 is an unlucky number in some cultures? In Hong Kong the majority of people are Chinese, but there's a lot of western influence too, so there are buildings that skip both 4th and 13th floors. I often joked that if they do this for all the numbers that are considered unlucky by different cultures, there won't be any floors left. xd

Once I was talking to someone about this (this person does not speak Cantonese) and I explained that 四 (four) sounds like 死 (death) [both pronounced "sei" in Cantonese but with different tones], and before I could say that's why Chinese buildings often skip that floor, he said "that's why you don't say". xd That sounded really funny at the time.


No, the 4th floor and the 9th floor would be the 5th floor and the 10th floor respectively. Personally I think this is pointless because there are still that number of floors by different names.

There's even a person with 8 as her middle name.

Here in Sydney there are also some restaurants (and also a convenience store, and probably some other types of shops too) with the name "88", these are probably all owned by Chinese people.

(Well, 88 is also used by some Neo-Nazis to stand for "Heil Hitler". I told a friend (who was interested learning about these things) about the name of those shops, and she commented that hopefully those are actually Chinese people and not Neo-Nazis.)

i dont get the chance to see them that much, but i love Korean dramas, i've seen some of Hotelier, Rooftop Room Cat/Attic Cat heart , Secret, and Prince's First Love or something like that. its been a while since ive seen them.

haha, yes, the Japanese are very concerned with anything sounding or representing death.

http://www.style-arena.jp/daikanyama/2006/05/e_w5.htm

Hey, Black Flag! biggrin

The Japanese youth sure have fine taste in clothing and music.

I was taught Korean in the Army, and had about 5 teachers from Korea instructing us. We normally had our uniform sleeves buttoned at the wrist, but on really hot days we were allowed to roll them up. Well, we did that one day, and I was scolded by my teachers for my tattoo. I have a Celtic Braid wrapped around my right forearm. They wanted to know if I had any more. I do. I have two more on each shoulder. Well, I got in trouble, because evidently in Korea, as well as in Japan, the only people who have tattoos are gangsters.

I was wondering if any other Asian cultures have this taboo.

Thanks!