Friday the 13th Trivia (or, What is Triskaidekaphobia?)
Today is Friday the 13th day of November 2009. For the record, February 13, 2009, was also a Friday the 13th.
Did you know?
Did you know?
- Triskaidekaphobia (say it: tris-kie- (like pie) deck-ah-fo-bee-ah) means fear of the number 13.
- The specific fear of the date "Friday the 13th" is called paraskavedekatriaphobia.
- The Code of Hammurabi, one of the oldest sets of laws, written almost 4000 years ago, contains over 200 laws but doesn't have a law #13.
- Japanese car-makers don't use 13 millimeter nuts and bolts in their cars, but German auto-makers use 13mm bolts a lot.
- Many tall buildings all over the world don't have a floor numbered 13, the elevator buttons skip from 12 to 14.
- In Formula 1 automobile racing there are no cars numbered 13.
- Many cities rename 13th Street or 13th Avenue to avoid using the number 13 (for example, the streets might be labeled: 12th Street, Marigold Street, 14th Street).
- In Japan, China, and Korea many people are tetraphobic, afraid of the number 4, but in most Asian cultures people are not triskaidekaphobic.
- In Italy, the number 17, or the Roman numeral XVII, is considered unlucky not the number 13.
- In some Spanish-speaking countries, Tuesday the 13th, not Friday the 13th is considered unlucky.
- Every year has at least one, and some years may have as many as three Fridays the 13th.
- The cycle of Fridays the 13th always repeats itself every 28 years.
- If a month begins on a Sunday, it will always have a Friday the 13th.
- In any 400 year cycle there will be 688 Fridays the 13th, more than any other day of the week.
