Scary Number 4

Nic — Sun, 24 Jun 2012 09:50:28 +0000

Like many other Asian countries, Tetraphobia (the fear of the number four) is common in Korea. This is because the Chinese word for ‘four’ is quite similar to the word for ‘death’. In Korea there are two numbering systems: Pure Korean numbers and Sino Korean numbers. Sino Korean numbers are taken from Chinese numbers so the aversion or fear of the number four is found in Korea too. Many buildings in Korea skip level four and simply go from three to five because of this superstition.

My mother, quickly remembering what I’d told her about this, realised why my husband’s face was so shocked that the ground entrance was actually level four. The hospital is on sloped ground which is why it’s like this. My husband had not realised this when he had entered the hospital, and was alarmed for a second while in the lift my mother pointed this out and pressed the 4 button. So probably not a good idea for Koreans to go to this particular hospital if they are sick…

Thankfully my father is out of hospital and fine now.

tetraphobia – My Korean Husband

Scary Number 4