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B1 · Finding your flow 129 words · 2 min

No Fourth Floor Anywhere

In much of East Asia, elevators skip the number four entirely, because it sounds exactly like the word for death.

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This building has no fourth floor. Tag the friend who would definitely ask why. You step into an elevator in a tall building in East Asia and press the button for a high floor. The numbers go three, then five. Four is simply missing.

It is not a mistake. In Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, the word for four sounds almost exactly like the word for deat...

It is not a mistake. In Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, the word for four sounds almost exactly like the word for death. Many people avoid the number the same way some buildings in the West skip a thirteenth floor. So builders leave it out completely, or write three A instead.

Look at enough elevators in Beijing, Tokyo, or Seoul and you will notice the same gap again and again: no floor four,...

Look at enough elevators in Beijing, Tokyo, or Seoul and you will notice the same gap again and again: no floor four, no floor fourteen, no floor twenty-four. A whole number, removed from daily life.

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