Yesterday I learned a strange Korean custom about the number 4!
Here, in Korean the number 4 brings bad luck and even more …  

Yes, unfortunately if you are born on the 4^th April, is quiet a bad start for you here in Korea !

But why is 4 a bad number? The reason is simple, in Korean the word 4 (사  :“sa” in Korean) have the same pronunciation than DEATH (also “sa”) and quiet the same writing! 

In order to avoid number 4, Korean developed certain stratagems:

 First avoid do important things on the 4^th, 14^th or 24^th, this is the main precaution and the most simple.

 Then, in Korean it’s possible that in some places like schools, library, shops, street, or even in privates homes that you won’t find a 4^th, 14^th, 24^th (and so on) floor, room etc... Is these cases, two possibilities are possible the numbers with a 4 you will be replaced by 3A, 13A… or even more simple, it’s not replaced and you will simply don’t find anything, so you will passed  to floor 3, to floor 5 directly !  This is the case in hospitals and similar public buildings where the floor number 4 is almost always skipped.

   
No room number 4, or 4th floor (here, in a Korean hospital)

 Finally, the elevator cases: in the first case where you don’t have a 4^th floor, there will be no number (logical) as it is in the first picture. In the second case, you will find a “F” instead the 4 (for Four in English), as a substitution, you can see this on the second picture.

But I learn after some search on internet, that this superstition is not only in Korea, but also in China, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam and Malaysia

I just hope not be cursed because of this article … 

Photos : Wikipedia, curiositiesfromtheworld.blogspot.com, gopkorea.blogs.com, www.aonghascrowe.com