Unlucky Numbers?

[swood]

A member on my forum raised a good question. Do you believe in unlucky numbers?

He said

Have you ever heard people saying that 13 is an unlucky number??? I have heard it so many times. People do say that 8 is also unlucky. What is the reason behind it??? Do you people actually believe in that?

There is a film named 1408. I actually didn't understand the film. But they also say that 13 is not lucky. 1 4 0 8=13.
Is that true? Do you believe that?

Personally i don't believe in unlucky numbers. There is no feasible evidence to back up such theory's. No matter what, one number must be seen to be less lucky than others and its unfortunate that 13 has gained this superstition.

I did a bit of searching and found

Technically, 13 is not an unlucky number. It only became associated with bad, when on the 13th, then Knights Templar were unjustly accused, and condemned for witchcraft and heresy. Only after the deaths of them, did the Pope at the time pardon them, and apologize on behalf of the church. 13 was only considered unlucky because of a mistake made by the inquisitors, the church, and several kings of Europe, who killed off primarily innocent people.

Different cultures have different unlucky numbers for different reasons:

The number 4 is considered unlucky by the Japanese - apparently the same word is used for '4' and 'death'. Therefore the building that I lived in (Toronto - lots of different cultures) didn't have a floor number 4, 14, 24 etc.

In Italy, the number 17 is considered unlucky (but they are not at all superstitious about 13). In Latin, 17 is written XVII, which is an anagram of VIXI (vissi in Italian), which means "I lived". You can only say that if you're dead! That is why 17 is unlucky for Italians.

EDIT: I have hit my 666th post. Looks like i've going to have a lot of bad luck :lol:

 

[cityStatic]

First off, the true Number of the Beast was 616. 😛

Anyways, I don't believe in unlucky numbers. 13 won me $1,000, 4 was my number in hockey when I went undefeated, and 17... well, haven't heard of that one yet.

 

[Bossanova]

Numbers do not have luck, or unlucky 'powers'. As always, it's just people believing stupid things.

 

[Joe 2]

To be honest I'd say 13 is my lucky number. 😛