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Some fact-based numerology.
- 1 is alone, and thus a good place to start!
- 2 is a pair. There is a Chinese saying, "good things come in pairs" (好事成双).
- 3 is a trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, or Heaven, Earth and Man in Chinese philosophy. There is a Western saying, "good things come in threes," or "third time's a charm".
- 4 is extremely unlucky in China, and also unlucky in Korea and Japan.
- 5 is golden! Five golden rings, five stars, five golden manbabies, root 5 plus 1 over 2. As the number of fingers on one hand, it is an nice, whole number. It is also linked to the Law of Fives in Discordianism, ergo the Golden Chao.
- 6 is considered mystical, but somehow more pagan than 7--666 is devilish. It is lucky in China.
- 7 is considered magical, but this means lucky in the West and unlucky in the East. In China, 7 is linked to ghosts and spirits; for example, a funeral meal has 7 courses. However, 777 is somehow the number of Jesus.
- 8 is extremely lucky in China and Singapore. It sounds similar to "wealth" and is thus especially fortunate for capitalists.
- 10 is the number of fingers we have (duh?)
- 11 is lucky in the West, especially when combined with 7.
- 12 is the number of Jesus' disciples.
- 13 is considered unlucky. The origin of this belief is unknown.
- 14 is extremely unlucky in China: it sounds like "going to die" in Mandarin (要死 yào sǐ) and "certainly die" in Cantonese (實死).
- 17 is a commonly chosen "random" number over the range of all small numbers. There is a detailed linguistic proof of this: [1]
- 23 is an enigma, commonly seen among geekish/conspiracy types. It is linked to Discordianism.[2]
- 27 is 3*3*3 and Weird Al's favourite number.
- 42, of course, is the Answer.
- 47 is an in-joke at Pomona College.
- 72 and 73 are commonly chosen "random" numbers over the range of 1-100.
- 88 is a euphemism for "HH", that is, "Heil Hitler."
- 167 and 169 sound lewd in Cantonese.
- 168 is "yi lieu ba" which sounds like "road of prosperity" ("yi lu fa") in Mandarin.
- 666 is considered lucky in China but, of course, is extremely evil to Western ears.
- 888 is lucky in China.