No Fourth Floor Anywhere

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.

Ta stavba nima četrtega nadstropja. Označi prijatelja, ki bi zagotovo vprašal, zakaj. Stopiš v dvigalo v visoki stavbi v vzhodni Aziji in pritisneš gumb za visoko nadstropje. Številke gredo tri, potem pet. Štiri preprosto ni.

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.

To ni napaka. V kitajščini, japonščini in korejščini beseda za štiri zveni skoraj natanko tako kot beseda za smrt. Veliko ljudi se številki izogiba enako, kot nekatere stavbe na Zahodu preskočijo trinajsto nadstropje. Zato jo graditelji povsem izpustijo ali pa napišejo tri A.

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.

Poglej dovolj dvigal v Pekingu, Tokiu ali Seulu in vedno znova boš opazil isto vrzel: ni nadstropja štiri, ni nadstropja štirinajst, ni nadstropja štiriindvajset. Cela številka, izbrisana iz vsakdanjega življenja.