Friday the 13th? That's so old school. It's all about the 4's!

So today is Friday the 13th. Apparently 2009 will have 3 of these unlucky days, but I don't understand why this belief still exists in our modern culture. This superstition is so powerful, that many buildings do not have a 13th floor. Well, they DO have a 13th floor, but it is referred to as the 14th floor, or perhaps 14a. Let's not kid ourselves, people. If you live on 14a... you're on the 13th floor! Perhaps one reason why this superstition exists is because of the popular movie franchise of the same name, which is being "rebooted" today. Ah, Crystal Lake... sounds so peaceful. Another reason why people still believe in Friday the 13th is because bloggers on a slow news day will do a whole article about it. :)

Fear of the number 13 is ridiculous, because it's not an unlucky number... It's the number 4 you should fear. Holy smokes, that is one unlucky number! It's particularly more dangerous because there is about a 1 in 10 chance of any digit being the number 4! If you've been into any new building, you'll notice that your concerned architects have painstakingly erased the 4th floor, the 14th floor, and most other floors that contain the number 4 in it.

Okay, I'm just kidding... Fear of the number 4 is just as ridiculous as fear of Friday the 13th, especially since there is no popular movie franchise based on the number 4. (There is one, but it's not popular.) Chinese superstition says 4 is unlucky because the number 4 sounds like the Chinese word for death. ?!? Can we not just swap-out the number 4 for some other character or pronunciation that is more friendly? Maybe instead of writing "四" and saying "si4", we can write "~" and say "happy". I'm sure it sounds ridiculous, but no more ridiculous than fearing one of the basic digits. Honestly, there is a lot of legitimate things in the world to be fearful of... Let's not worry about 13 or 4!