No Fourth Floor Anywhere

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.

Jengo hili halina ghorofa ya nne. Mtaje rafiki yako ambaye hakika angeuliza kwa nini. Unaingia kwenye lifti ya jengo refu Asia ya Mashariki na kubonyeza kitufe cha ghorofa ya juu. Namba zinaenda tatu, kisha tano. Nne haipo tu.

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.

Si kosa. Katika Kichina, Kijapani na Kikorea, neno la nne linasikika karibu sawa kabisa na neno la kifo. Watu wengi huiepuka namba hiyo kama vile majengo mengine ya Magharibi yanavyoruka ghorofa ya kumi na tatu. Kwa hiyo wajenzi huiacha kabisa, au huandika tatu A badala yake.

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.

Tazama lifti za kutosha Beijing, Tokyo au Seoul nawe utaona pengo lile lile tena na tena: hakuna ghorofa ya nne, hakuna ya kumi na nne, hakuna ya ishirini na nne. Namba nzima, imeondolewa katika maisha ya kila siku.