08/08/08

"If you're Chinese, and more than a billion people are..." - NBCs Meredith Vieira. Great quote.

The Olympics start today, apparently on the most auspicious and lucky day of the year, maybe even ever, in Chinese eyes. Except maybe the future date of 8/8/8888. I guess that would be luckier, but I'm pretty sure that humanity won't be around by then if we keep living the way we currently live. Thanks China.

Anyway, 8 is lucky because the word for 8 (ba) sounds like the word for wealth and prosperity (fa) (at least in Mandarin - but what about Cantonese?). People scramble to get license plates and phone numbers with as many 8s in it as possible. Thousands of people are getting their marriage certificates today (or already have, due to the time difference) because of the auspicious date.

On the flip side, the number 4 is BAD BAD BAD. This is because the word for 4 sounds like the word for death. Baaaaaaad. Nobody likes 4. Although I did find this section about Chinese numbers on Wikipedia (which means it is true):

Four
Although the number 4 is considered unlucky by most Chinese (see Unlucky section for details), it is considered lucky in some local Chinese dialects where it is a homophone with the word "事(job, business, or task)". When the number 4 is encountered during a celebration, people would often remark "四四如意", which would also refer to "事事如意" (Everything done as wished).
4 also sounds like the word "思 (thinking)". 4 in solfège sounds like "fa (发)", meaning "get fortune"; 14 in solfège sounds like "dou fa (都发)", meaning "everyone gets fortunes".

What I like is that Wikipedia just puts those Chinese symbols in there like we know what they say or sound like. 4 is unlucky because it sounds like vertical-line-with-horizontal-line-at-top-and-small-box-below-with-many-other....I give up. What does 4 sound like???

Author's note: I love China's obsession with numbers. I can sympathize. I hate numbers that end in 9...19, 29, 39, etc. Except 9. And 99. But this Olympics is the 29th Olympics. I hate it.