Are people in Asia are way too psychotic toward number 13?

Yes unfortunately the general populace either does not want or can’t get access to education.

This is a very common superstition and the same is here in the US.

Thirteenth floors are commonly omitted in the US, and lots of countries where thirteen is considered an unlucky number. I’m pretty sure everyplace has some strong superstitions attached to numbers. In Italy it’s seventeen, and I don’t know where you got your information, but four is the unlucky number in China.

Superstitions are rather silly, but I think psychotic is a bit harsh.

In the US, I believe most floors simply aren’t labelled as thirteen. I.e., the fourteenth floor is literally the thirteenth floor. I guess that saves you from whatever terror might lie in a floor labelled 13?

I’ve heard in some parts of Asia, the floor (or room) actually exists, it’s just completely unused. Pretty hardcore.

They waste all those economic value for useless superstition!.

It seems like people can’t see the reality anymore.

@La_Perm “Anymore”? It’s a very old superstition, and the number is omitted less often now than it used to be.

I vote “yes.”
In and outside Asia.

It’s not so much the local management of the hotels that are overly superstitious but the fact that they are concerned about other people, (tourists) that hold such superstitions and rejecting assignments to those rooms upon arrival.

Personally, 13 is my favorite number…. I don’t know if it’s been lucky, but certainly hasn’t proved anything unlucky.

I stayed in a hotel in Nalpes that didn’t have a 13th floor, and a guide told me it was for Americans staying there, that Italians have more trouble with the number 17. The Asian population were never mentioned.

I thought that the most superstitious number in many asian countries, especially china and japan was the number 4, because the word for four is either the same or similar to the word for death in at least chinese and japanese. I have heard of hotels without fourth and fourteenth floors in those places, but I have never heard of that happening with the thirteenth floor. I had thought that that was a strictly western phenomenon. I had thought that the theories of origin for triskaidekaphobia were generally western, ranging from Judeo-Christian to Norse to Persian, but I am yet to find any reasoning behind this superstition in asian cultures.

I think you need to look up the word psychotic

Research suggests that Asian triskadecaphobes are, indeed, prone to psychoses. In particular, they think that the US is about to invade their country. No amount of therapy can dislodge this view. Not even CBT.

This is really interesting, because triskadecaphobes from other nations don’t have the same problem. Researchers currently believe there’s something in the water.

I think people in every country, including the US have superstitions.

@RareDenver: I thought so, too, and then I looked it up.

”Psychosis An illness that prevents people from being able to distinguish between the real world and the imaginary world. Symptoms include hallucinations (seeing or hearing things that aren’t really there, or delusions), irrational thoughts and fears.”

So it is basically what the OP means, I think. But it does have connotations that still make me say it’s a little harsh for the situation.

4 is the unlucky number in much of Asia because the words for “four” and “dead person” sound similar. In U.S. 13 is the number and in Italy its 17. It’s just superstition, what’s wrong with it? To each his own.

The Asians are more psychic because they believe in Chinese Astrology, as opposed to Linda Goodman’s Astrology.

Yes, it’s definitely the number four. I have encountered no superstitions about 13, but my mother (a relatively superstitious woman, I suppose) will not let me put four oranges on a plate. It has to be three or five (the lucky numbers). It’s a bit of a pity that I really like the number 13 and the number 4…they’ve both worked out pretty well for me.

As some one who lives in Hong Kong, I have to say, I’m a little appalled by the ignorance and generalizations behind this question and some of the answers I’m hearing here. e.g., “Asian triskadecaphobes are, indeed, prone to psychoses..”; “Are people in Asia are way too psychotic toward number 13?”

1. If anything, we’re more likely to be decaphobes than triskadecaphobes. That in itself makes me highly dubious about your intentions behind this question. (It’s not 13 that is a problem, it’s 14 – because, as PacificToast says, it sounds similar to “must die”. Thirteen, ironically, sounds like “must live” in Cantonese.)

2. Asia’s a continent and it’s a really large generalisation to include all of Asia. You’re only looking at the Chinese-sourced language countries, such as China, Japan, Vietnam, Korean. There’s a huge diaspora of countries and ethnicities that have nothing to do with this belief.

3. Even if it is true that some people are decaphobes and psychotically so (and believe that the Americans are going to invade despite CBT), it doesn’t mean all Asians are like that. To lump all of us, the psychotic, the non-psychotic, the superstitious, the non-superstitious, the religious (take your pick which one), the atheists, the spiritual, the scientific, the artistic, the socialists, the capitalists, the protectionists; whatever. That’s a lot of people.

And shame on people who tagged this a “good question.”

If you’re genuinely curious about the superstitions here, great. But the tone of some of the responses here make me feel that there is a lot of “otherness”, rather than a sincere attempt to understand a different culture.

@lifeflame You don’t have to agree with a question to call it a good question. If the question leads to a lot of interesting comments, that’s a good question.

its a fairly common phobia though I suppose some nations do take it to an extreme

With regards to number 13, I don’t think it’s only Asians who are psychotic about it. As a matter of fact, Westerners seem more superstitious with that number than Asians are, and a lot of buildings in the West skip number 13. The number 4 is actually more of a “curse” for Asians, particularly Chinese and Japanese, as “4” sounds the same as the word for “death” or “dying” in Chinese and Japanese. I know for a fact that many Asians, traditional ones, are psychotic when it comes to choosing license plate numbers or home addresses. The avoid the number 4!! Lol. The lucky numbers for Asians are 8 and 9.