Unlucky Number 4

It is funny how things that I used to find unusual here is Malaysia now seem so normal. An example of this is the ordering of numbers on the elevator in my aparment complex.

Where is #4?


Why are there 2 #13s and no 14 or 24?


It turns out that in some Chinese dialects, the word for the number 4 sounds similar to the word "death". Thus, to some Chinese the number 4 is considered to be unlucky. In Malaysia some people of Chinese decent, mostly Canontese I think, will try to avoid having the number 4 in their phone number, their liscence plate, or even their house address. As you can see this problem is solved in some elevators by completly eliminating the number 4. I wonder what happens in elevators in buildings that are more than 40 stories tall.?

I am glad that I live on the 16th floor rather than the 13thA (really the 14th) floor because that floor has to be doubly unlucky!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numbers_in_Chinese_culture