the number 4 Tetraphobia

[Anonymous]

This is an interesting fact on how superstitions are part of every culture. I did not know about this phobia for the number 4, but if the pronunciation has any similarity to the word death, then it only makes sense to be a little fearful of it. Also I wonder if there is any phobia related to writing one's name with red ink because back at college an Asian kid refused to sign his name with red ink. Cheers!

[Anonymous]

@chernandez

I know for Cambodian people they don't like the color red because it is associated with blood and the blood shed in the Pol Pot regime (genocide in Cambodia by Cambodian communists). It is quite traumatizing for Cambodians as my parents lived through the genocide and lost a lot of family members. It is especially apparent in Long Beach where there is a large Cambodian community.

[Anonymous]

Thanks so much for the information. I am sorry for all the lives lost during the cambodian genocide and it is very sad to realize that the fear of certain items such as the red color had to do with such sad and unnecessary events. I am glad that I am taking this class because I am becoming more aware of the east asian culture. Cheers!

[Anonymous]

Your information on the number four, or lack thereof in Asian culture makes me think of the many other superstitions we have in our culture. When I teach Huck Finn, we discuss how many of the characters are superstitious, and how Twain equates Religious practices with superstitions. In doing so, he characterizes and, I think, questions the beliefs of American traditions. I wonder if this is true in other cultures. Do superstitions reflect the belief systems of a people? Were they once taken as seriously as religion? If so, what changed them into superstitions?
edited by mwatt on 12/9/2012

[Anonymous]

This superstition was very interesting to me. Many different cultures have their superstitions. For example, when I was pregnant there was a lunar eclipse and I was supposed to wear red underwear or my child would come out with some type of deformity. I never understood why but I still did it anyway, just in case! It is interesting that East Asia associated the number four with death. They are stay away from homophones for words "death" and "suffering". In some of these regions they even leave out any room number containing the number four.

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

How it is pronounced in various east asian countries

Mandarin Chinese sì sǐ Wu Chinese (Shanghainese) sy2 sy2,shi2 Cantonese sei3 sei2 Hakka si si Min Nan (Taiwanese Hokkien) sì,sù sí,sú Japanese shi shi Korean sa sa Vietnamese tứ tử
Its funny that in the US our elevators don't have a 13th floor (also known as Triskaidekaphobia) but in Asia their elevators dont have a 4th floor.

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

[Author]

Posts