I was just listening to a report about how the number 39 is unlucky in Afghanistan. In the West, the numbers 13 and 666 are unlucky. In the US, many buildings even skip having a floor numbered 13 and will number them 12 and then 14 consecutively.
Ayako wrote from Japan about unlucky numbers there: "In Japan, 4 and 9 are unhappiness numbers. They sound the same as "death" or "suffering"… so people hate the room number 49 in hotels! I don’t like it, either. It sounds not so good!"
You’ll find more about lucky and unlucky numbers around the world in the comments below.
What numbers do you think are lucky or unlucky in your country? Let us know by commenting below…
This article was posted on Saturday, May 21st, 2011 at 11:33 am and is filed under Bad Luck, Bad Luck Numbers, Countries & Cultures, Customs and Traditions, Folk Lore, Good Luck, Good Luck Numbers, Japan, Superstitions, USA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
7 Responses to “Lucky and Unlucky Numbers Around the World”
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May 21st, 2011 at 6:43 pm
Lisa, it’s okay, but cut out I hate 49… I was just joking?!
And if the person who’s 49 years old looks, it isn’t good for him. So tell on ur blog,, 4 sounds like death in Japanese, 9 sounds like suffer in japanese, also some people hate 13 ? I don’t mind 13 at all personally, depends on the people.
Anyway it is a kind of superstition, so please write never mind it’s okay when u see it in a date! In other words, Japanese feel that 4 and 9 sounds unlucky, but not so many believe it is a bad number, maybe your 13 sounds worse to the people in your place!
May 21st, 2011 at 6:48 pm
Hi Ayako – 13 is a superstition too… not everyone has a problem with it, but some people really don’t like it! Thanks for commenting… -Lisa
May 22nd, 2011 at 10:33 am
Purabi Khisa Tandra wrote from Bangladesh:
“Lisa u always write about interesting topic! I like it so much! Here in Bangladesh many people believe 07 as lucky n 13 as unlucky numbers respectively. # 420 refers to fraud people.”
Thanks for sharing Purabi! -Mama Lisa
May 22nd, 2011 at 6:21 pm
Ernestine Shargool Montgomerie wrote:
“In Italy 13 is considered ‘the’ LUCKY number (perhaps because if you get 13 right answers in the football pools you’ll win a fortune). The UNlucky number is 17. In the Neapolitan ‘Smorfia’ (the ancient, traditional book on the interpretation of dreams, which also tells you what number to play in the Lotto based on your dreams) ‘disgrazia’ (i.e. adversity, misfortune, trouble, accident, etc.) = 17.”
Thanks for sharing that Ernestine… very interesting!
May 23rd, 2011 at 12:52 am
Purabi Khisa Tandra wrote again from Bangladesh:
“Lisa, i forgot to write about one thing. In our Chakma culture specially, when donating money to Buddhist rituals, many people avoid the # 0 as the last digit in the amount to be donated. They believe that the # 0 is valueless, so it brings nothing. One example, instead of Taka (the name of the currency of Bangladesh) 100, people prefer to give Taka 102, 105, 115 etc.”
That’s interesting Purabi! Thanks for sharing that. -Mama Lisa
May 27th, 2011 at 2:21 am
LUCKY and UNLUCKY NUMBERS
I am presently an Assitant architect / project manager in KLIF CONSULTANTS on a construction project (The Milan International Hotel VI Lagos).We recieved a directive yesterday on the room numberings and we observed an omission of 13 and 23 on every floor.
The question I have is ”why is there FLOOR 13 and 23,if they feel it is absolutely unlucky?”
Anyway, I think since floor isnt d final destination,u could get unlucky on the and finally get lucky in ur run, I guess…lol…
December 3rd, 2012 at 12:20 am
Hello dear lisa
I’ve just found your weblog and I’m really intrested in it. It’s great!
bye the way, according to the question you asked about lucky and unlucky numbers, I can say ” number 13 is called unlucky in my country” That we go out on that day. Maybe you heard about it.It’s called “sizda bedar”
“sizdah” is the number 13 , and “bedar” means to get rid of s.th.
Of course I’m from Iran