Published on 12, July, 2020
This number 13 malarkey has always intrigued me.
I've researched in the past, but drawn to no solid opinion or conclusion of its
a) origins (yea, I know, what else would come after 12 and before 14)
b) why it has such significance in my culture and within other cultures that I know something about.
Why do you think No. 13 is a known “issue” ?
Thank you for taking the time.
Number.
People like quirky stuff and it's something that doesn't really matter.
Like I follow professional cycling and it's traditional in that for riders who are given the number 13 to pin it upside down on their jersey to ward off bad mojo. The number of riders who actually believe it's meaningful is probably tiny, but they do it anyway because it's a funny dumb tradition to take part in.
Yes, I agree with all your points........ and thank you for the info about upside down cycling numbers - I didn't know that.
But WHY has No13 endured as a "thing" that people (and officialdom) still actively act upon when the plethora of other similar superstitions and "beliefs" from bygone times have been consigned to the "nonsense" bin?
There's a lot that haven't though. Black cats, walking under ladders, broken mirrors, touching wood after saying something potentially bad out loud etc.
I guess 13 is kind of the perfect number for it too, since it's high enough to be slightly uncommon (if you saw it every hour it would be hard to keep seeing it as bad) but low enough that it still pops up. Outside of cricket 87 is so rare that it would wash out of our memory through lack of use if it was unlucky. Although IIRC some Asian cultures consider 4 to be bad luck because it sounds like death so the first half of my random whatever gets torpedoed.