
In Hong Kong, flats really are cheaper when they contain the number 4 - slygent
https://blog.dataguru.hk/2018/07/10/hong-kong-higher-floors-are-more-expensive-and-4-is-avoided/
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alex_duf
In the states it's quite common to number the floors of a building by avoiding
the number 13. I think this is pure madness. 10, 11, 12, 14, 15...

All of that because of a fantasy book where people had supper and they happen
to be 13 at the table.

Edit: Here's an example:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/13_(number)#/media/File:Many_b...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/13_\(number\)#/media/File:Many_buttons_\(4187599550\).jpg)

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smokeyBread
The same on planes. There is never (I've never seen it anyway) row #13. It
goes straight from row #12 to #14.

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jen729w
Qantas to the rescue of all that is rational.

[https://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Qantas_Airways/Qantas_Airw...](https://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Qantas_Airways/Qantas_Airways_Boeing_737-800.php?flightno=833&date=2018-07-10)

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jazoom
And they have a great safety record. Maybe 13 is a lucky number after all?

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wcoenen
If the number N is considered unlucky to the point that it is skipped, then
shouldn't people be worried that they are living someplace that _should_ have
the number N, even if it was labeled N+1?

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lolc
In this case it seems the bad luck is attributed to how the number four is
spoken. So if you avoid saying it you avoid the bad luck. Looks like this
superstition works differently from how 13 works where the count itself is
unlucky.

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andyonthewings
Another funny old news about superstition is that a public research institute
located in Hong Kong Science Park used HK$180,000 (~USD $23,000) on fung shui
consultation[1].

[1]: [https://www.scmp.com/article/595459/value-
money](https://www.scmp.com/article/595459/value-money)

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AmericanChopper
You’d love the HSBC building in Hong Kong. HSBC own a large open space
immediately in front of the building purely because its good feng shui to have
an open view of the water [1]. It’s a completely open space in the most
premium area of down town Hong Kong island, right next to the ferry terminal.
It must be worth so much money.

[1]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HSBC_Building_(Hong_Kong)#Feng...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HSBC_Building_\(Hong_Kong\)#Feng_shui)

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akvadrako
This seems like a good example of how "feng shui" can be just "good
atmosphere". A open view over the water is worth a lot.

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jellicle
It's becoming common to build condo towers without fours in markets intended
to appeal to buyers from Asia.

Floors:...11,12,15,16....33,35,36,37,38,39,50,51,52,53,55...

Units: 1,2,3,5,6,7...

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robjan
A lot of the less upmarket (older) buildings don't omit the number four which
could factor in. Older buildings, although bigger, tend to have high
maintenance fees and are less desirable.

~~~
slygent
Yes, I didn't normalise for age/grottiness of building. But isn't it
interesting that it's the older/grottier buildings that didn't skip the number
4?

But this doesn't really explain the difference in prices even for floor 44...

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ekianjo
In Japan also frequently parking spaces skip the number 4. House numbers too.
And probably assigned phone numbers limit the number of 4s you get at once.
Its a little silly.

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lordnacho
So the number 4 in Cantonese sounds like the word for death. Though a
different tone is used.

Thing is the number 9 sounds just like the word for dog, why doesn't that
cause a problem?

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tanilama
4 is being actively avoided. And combines with other numbers, like 14(to die),
174(going to die) make it a very ominous number indeed.

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bilbyx
174 sounds more like "dying together". How about 54 "not dying"?

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tanilama
1 can pronounce as 一(yi1), but sometimes can be also pronounce as 幺(yao1). The
latter sounds similar to another character 要(yao4, meaning command to do
something), and together represents as 要去死(something like you are going to
die).

As to 54, maybe you are referring to 勿死(wu4 si3)? Its meaning is closer to,
please don't die, than not dying, and though I am not sure, but 勿 uses to
negating another word seems kinda ancient and outdated.

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slygent
You're explaining with Mandarin, but Hong Kong is mostly Cantonese-speaking.
[http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/characters/468/](http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/characters/468/)

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akhatri_aus
Its a bit surprising to see this. I thought they go for using '3B' instead of
an outright '4'

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slygent
I only include integer floors in this analysis, but there very few flats with
regex \d\w. Or you're surprised there are 4s at all?

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lokopodium
As seen in Sydney:
[https://antontsau.livejournal.com/291486.html](https://antontsau.livejournal.com/291486.html)

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lokopodium
4-containing houses and apartments sell for a discount even in Australia. Been
to quite a few auctions, 0 Asian punters for 4s vs at least 5 for non-4s. Some
apartment buildings are already built without level 4 altogether.

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slygent
I'm the author of this post and the founder of dataguru.hk, AMA

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JorgeGT
Very interesting work! Just a quick note, for this kind of evenly spaced,
discrete X data, stairs plots are usually better. For instance this highlights
better the 13th floor issue, which in the line plot was obscured:
[https://i.imgur.com/cSjT5xx.png](https://i.imgur.com/cSjT5xx.png)

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neic
I agree that a stepped line graph is better that a line graph, but since the
data is discrete and not continuous a lollipop chart or maybe a bar chart
would convey it better.

Monty from xiph.org learned me that:
[https://xiph.org/video/vid2.shtml](https://xiph.org/video/vid2.shtml) @ 5:57

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JorgeGT
Also a good option, although they seem a bit "busy" for my taste when Y values
are very close:
[https://i.imgur.com/4ePNXbp.png](https://i.imgur.com/4ePNXbp.png)

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FartyMcFarter
Stupidity tax.

~~~
sctb
Please don't post snarky one-liners.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

