Post by thread:*Very* off topic (culture) Was: Re: [OT] joke ...

>Version 4 is not good omen for our Asian friends and 4.04 is even more so. > >Walter Banks :) > Maybe I was sleeping too much in school... May I ask why our Asian friends don«t like 4 ? So I don«t misbehave or something on holiday. /Morgan Morgan Olsson, MORGANS REGLERTEKNIK, Sweden spam_OUTmrtTakeThisOuTiname.com, ph: +46 (0)414 70741; fax 70331 -

Morgan Olsson wrote: > > >Version 4 is not good omen for our Asian friends and 4.04 is even more so. > > > Maybe I was sleeping too much in school... > May I ask why our Asian friends don«t like 4 ? > So I don«t misbehave or something on holiday. 4 is some ways like 13 to western society. The sound of one of the words for word 4 is very much like the word for death. As westerner who travels to Japan and Taiwan quite a bit I almost always get assigned a room on the 4th floor if there is a 4th floor. Walter Banks

4 (sounds like she in english)in chinese culture means death death in bussines,death in step ,death in lucky that's all i know and the lucky number is 8 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- ---------- From: Morgan Olsson <.....mrtKILLspam@spam@INAME.COM> To: PICLISTKILLspamMITVMA.MIT.EDU Subject: *Very* off topic (culture) Was: Re: [OT] joke ... Date: Wednesday, February 04, 1998 6:42 AM >Version 4 is not good omen for our Asian friends and 4.04 is even more so. > >Walter Banks :) > Maybe I was sleeping too much in school... May I ask why our Asian friends don4t like 4 ? So I don4t misbehave or something on holiday. /Morgan Morgan Olsson, MORGANS REGLERTEKNIK, Sweden .....mrtKILLspam.....iname.com, ph: +46 (0)414 70741; fax 70331 - ----------

At 07:10 AM 2/5/98 +0700, you wrote: >4 (sounds like she in english)in chinese culture means death >death in bussines,death in step ,death in lucky that's all i know >and the lucky number is 8 I guess the Chi Chi's restaurant chain doesn't intend to open in China anytime soon, then. "Sure, honey, let's go get take-out from Death Death." Maybe, though, it would be popular with the black-and-white-makeup-and-dyed-hair teen subculture... Andy ================================================================== Andy Kunz - Montana Design - 409 S 6th St - Phillipsburg, NJ 08865 Hardware & Software for Industry & R/C Hobbies "Go fast, turn right, and keep the wet side down!" ==================================================================

One evening, I listened to a discussion over amateur radio in which a person who spoke Japanese was telling a group of fellow amateur radio operators how to say digits in Japanese. If I recall, the number 4 had two different sounds, one being shi and the other being yong. If there were two 4's, one was always to say "yong yong," and never the double version of the other sound. Martin McCormick

> > One evening, I listened to a discussion over amateur radio in which > a person who spoke Japanese was telling a group of fellow amateur radio > operators how to say digits in Japanese. If I recall, the number 4 > had two different sounds, one being shi and the other being yong. If > there were two 4's, one was always to say "yong yong," and never the double > version of the other sound. > > Martin McCormick > In Japanese the two pronounciations for 4 are shee (sometimes written as shi and pronounced like the English word she) and yohn (sometimes written as yon--in both cases the 'o' is long, yohn rhymes with bone although the 'h' in yohn does slightly affect the sound). I spent the summer in Japan so I got a lot of practice speaking Japanese. In Japanese speech there are times when shee is used exclusively, times when yohn is used exclusively and times when either is appropriate. For example if you enter a restaurant the waiter/waitress will ask you how many people there are in your party. To say "four people" you would say "yo-neen" where the "four" is represented by "yo" (a shortened version of yohn) and "people" is represented by "neen." Keith

At 08:46 PM 2/4/98 -0500, you wrote: >At 07:10 AM 2/5/98 +0700, you wrote: >>4 (sounds like she in english)in chinese culture means death >>death in bussines,death in step ,death in lucky that's all i know >>and the lucky number is 8 > >I guess the Chi Chi's restaurant chain doesn't intend to open in China >anytime soon, then. > >"Sure, honey, let's go get take-out from Death Death." Maybe, though, it >would be popular with the black-and-white-makeup-and-dyed-hair teen >subculture... > >Andy Andy I have 2 offspring who subscribe to that culture, if we can elevate it to that level. Here in Australia they are called "Goths". When I visited Taipei last year I entered a lift on the ground floor at the same time as 3 Arabs one of whom laughed and said "Marfi arba". Having lived in Saudi Arabia for 4.5 years, my ears picked up, my brain spun into action and translated it as "There is no 4." It was only then that I realised I was one level closer to the street <g>. "Isn't this a fascinating world we live in?" Regards, Ross McKenzie Melbourne Australia

At 05:02 PM 2/12/98 +1100, you wrote: >When I visited Taipei last year I entered a lift on the ground floor at the >same time as 3 Arabs one of whom laughed and said "Marfi arba". Having lived >in Saudi Arabia for 4.5 years, my ears picked up, my brain spun into action >and translated it as "There is no 4." It was only then that I realised I was >one level closer to the street <g>. "Isn't this a fascinating world we live in?" > >Regards, > >Ross McKenzie >Melbourne Australia I probably shouldn't ask because of the utter OTness of it, but I've got to know: I just don't under stand what the signifigance of "There is no 4" in relation to "I was one level closer to the street" is! You walked in on the ground floor, or is this expression "closer to the street" not supposed to be taken literally? Sean +--------------------------------+ | Sean Breheny | | Amateur Radio Callsign: KA3YXM | | Electrical Engineering Student | +--------------------------------+ Fight injustice, please look at http://homepages.enterprise.net/toolan/joanandrews/ Personal page: http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/shb7 EraseMEshb7spam_OUTTakeThisOuTcornell.edu Phone(USA): (607) 253-0315

> When I visited Taipei last year I entered a lift on the ground floor at the > same time as 3 Arabs one of whom laughed and said "Marfi arba". Having lived > in Saudi Arabia for 4.5 years, my ears picked up, my brain spun into action > and translated it as "There is no 4." It was only then that I realised I was > one level closer to the street <g>. "Isn't this a fascinating world we live in?" Ross, here in Sydney (Australia) there is a very large apartment building in the CBD (supposedly the largest? or tallest? residential apartment building in the southern hemisphere). Obviously (until recently that is :) ) the building was targetted heavily towards foreign (asian, that is Chinese) investors. There are no fours in the building. No 4th, 14th, 24th, 34th, 44th, 54th floors! On a slightly different note, I remember in Japan finding many buildings that lacked a 13th floor (a distinction also shared by some Australian hotels that cater to Japanese tourists). ___Bob

At 05:03 PM 2/12/98 -0500, you wrote: {Quote hidden}>At 05:02 PM 2/12/98 +1100, you wrote: >>When I visited Taipei last year I entered a lift on the ground floor at the >>same time as 3 Arabs one of whom laughed and said "Marfi arba". Having lived >>in Saudi Arabia for 4.5 years, my ears picked up, my brain spun into action >>and translated it as "There is no 4." It was only then that I realised I was >>one level closer to the street <g>. "Isn't this a fascinating world we >live in?" >> >>Regards, >> >>Ross McKenzie >>Melbourne Australia > > >I probably shouldn't ask because of the utter OTness of it, but I've got to >know: I just don't under stand what the signifigance of "There is no 4" in >relation to "I was one level closer to the street" is! You walked in on the >ground floor, or is this expression "closer to the street" not supposed to >be taken literally? > >Sean Sean, Too obtuse? The lift had the floor selection buttons labelled. None was labelled 4. My room was on the floor named "6". With no floor 4, my floor was actually one level closer to the street (level). HTH Ross

I still don't get it Ross. Do you mean that they took out floor 4 when you were on floor 6? > > Too obtuse? The lift had the floor selection buttons labelled. None was > labelled 4. My room was on the floor named "6". With no floor 4, my floor > was actually one level closer to the street (level). HTH > > Ross >

We have a skyscraper here in my town (Louisville, KY, USA) which actually does not have a 13th floor. It kind of exists, but it has no windows, no elevator stops, no public access. Basically an unused empty floor where no one is allowed to go. Considering it's in a very high priced office district, it's a very high priced bit if superstition! -Frank {Quote hidden}> ---------- > From: Geoff Wootton[SMTP:woottongspam_OUTisdugp.bham.ac.uk] > Reply To: pic microcontroller discussion list > Sent: Friday, February 13, 1998 9:25AM > To: @spam@PICLISTKILLspamMITVMA.MIT.EDU > Subject: Re: *Very* off topic (culture) Was: Re: [OT] joke ... > > I still don't get it Ross. Do you mean that they took out floor 4 when > you were on floor 6? > > > > > > Too obtuse? The lift had the floor selection buttons labelled. None > was > > labelled 4. My room was on the floor named "6". With no floor 4, my > floor > > was actually one level closer to the street (level). HTH > > > > Ross > > >

Geoff: It's a joke. -----Original Message----- From: Geoff Wootton <KILLspamwoottongKILLspamisdugp.bham.ac.uk> To: RemoveMEPICLISTTakeThisOuTMITVMA.MIT.EDU <spamBeGonePICLISTspamBeGoneMITVMA.MIT.EDU> Date: Friday, February 13, 1998 9:36 AM Subject: Re: *Very* off topic (culture) Was: Re: [OT] joke ... {Quote hidden}>I still don't get it Ross. Do you mean that they took out floor 4 when >you were on floor 6? > > >> >> Too obtuse? The lift had the floor selection buttons labelled. None was >> labelled 4. My room was on the floor named "6". With no floor 4, my floor >> was actually one level closer to the street (level). HTH >> >> Ross >>

Geoff Wootton wrote: > > I still don't get it Ross. Do you mean that they took out floor 4 when > you were on floor 6? > I think that Ross should consider himself lucky that he wasn't on floor 4 at the time it was removed. I think that this is a case for Mulder and Scully. > > > > Too obtuse? The lift had the floor selection buttons labelled. None was > > labelled 4. My room was on the floor named "6". With no floor 4, my floor > > was actually one level closer to the street (level). HTH > > > > Ross > >

At 14:25 13/02/98 +0000, you wrote: >I still don't get it Ross. Do you mean that they took out floor 4 when >you were on floor 6? > > >> >> Too obtuse? The lift had the floor selection buttons labelled. None was >> labelled 4. My room was on the floor named "6". With no floor 4, my floor >> was actually one level closer to the street (level). HTH >> >> Ross >> > OK, as they say in the (Jazz) classics "One more time". My room key said floor 6, so I imagined flr 6 flr 5 flr 4 flr 3 flr 2 flr 1 (ground level) But, because the Taiwanese do not use the number 4 in their labelling, it was actually flr 6 flr 5 flr 3 flr 2 flr 1 Consequently, I was actually one floor closer to the street level. SIMI, Ross

>OK, as they say in the (Jazz) classics "One more time". "WWWWWWWon mo tahm." That's how they say it. Andy ================================================================== Andy Kunz - Montana Design ==================================================================