哪儿都没有四层

这栋楼没有四层。把这条甩给那个肯定会追着问为什么的朋友。你在东亚的一栋高楼里走进电梯,按下一个高楼层的按钮。数字从三直接跳到五。四就这么不见了。

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.

这不是印错了。在中文、日文和韩文里,“四”的读音都和“死”几乎一样。很多人躲着这个数字,就像西方有些楼不设十三层。所以盖楼的人干脆把它整个去掉,或者写成三A。

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.

在北京、东京或者首尔多看几部电梯,你会一次又一次发现同样的空缺:没有四层,没有十四层,没有二十四层。一个数字,就这样从日常生活里被拿走了。

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.