3585
3680
4094
5725
Do you recognise the numbers above? If you find them to be quite familiar, you must have been diligently following our nation's number of Covid-19 infections in the past 4 days ... for various reasons. I say 'various reasons' because I know of some who genuinely study the numbers to analyze the pattern of infection or to speculate whether the nation will have to undergo the highly-rumoured lockdown come February 4. Even so, there are others who look at the numbers and are only able to see potential 4-digits (4D) winning lotteries (think Toto, Magnum, da ma cai etc.). Among this final batch of observers, one can bet that many are actually Chinese...
We Chinese have always been known to be obsessed with numbers. Every number (as well as every combination of numbers) has its own interpretation, and this cannot be more true than for Cantonese (and Hakka) speakers. Perhaps, to get a better grasp of this entry, it helps to first take a look at the picture below courtesy of the Viking Barca website and to study how each number is pronounced in the Cantonese dialect:
If you have just failed your mathematic paper, or hate numbers in general, you may find this entry very disturbing and tortuous as it is ALL about numbers and nothing else. If that be the case, please feel free to stop reading here. But if you are a Cantonese speaker, you may be able to relate and laugh at some of these puns with numbers...
(You may need to pardon my lack of knowledge in Chinese characters and inaccurate pinyin, though. I am just trying to capture the right sound.)
For this reason, many apartments, condominiums, and high-rise buildings DO NOT have a unit no. 4 or a Level 4 in its premise. This comes as a surprise, especially to foreigners. Instead of a Level 4, you will most likely see Levels 1, 2, 3, 3A, 5 etc. This also stretches on to Levels 11, 12, 13, 13A, 15... because the number "10" sap sounds even more similar to saat which means "definitely". To have Level 14 is, therefore, equivalent to saat say, which in typical Chinese translation means ... "sure die wan!"
If you think it ends here, you are wrong because Level 24 is not going to be any better. The digit "2" in Cantonese is pronounced as yee, which also means "easy". Of course, by itself, the number promises ease in all sorts of situation. Case in point, if one's unit is at no. 23, it would be yee sam or yee sang which is good for couples who are trying to start a family. As for unit no. 28, it would be yee fatt i.e. "easy/smooth prosperity". Nonetheless, when paired with an inauspicious digit, namely "4", it can only mean "disaster". Yee say is to "die easily". While optimists look at 24 as a blessing (hmm... it certainly beats struggling in death), the Chinese also avoid this like a pandemic!
If a building has many floors, I suspect that the units on the 88th floor would most likely be the priciest of all. You see, to have double '8' is akin to "double prosperity". Actually, anything ending with an "8" is almost certain to be auspicious. I use the term "almost" because there is an exception to the rule. While it is considered positive to work at Level 48 (say fatt, which denotes "endless prosperity"), superstitious business men and women may avoid setting up their office at Level 58 (mm fatt)! The digit "5", mm, reverses everything because it simply means "no/not". To have one's office at Level 58 suggests that business is NOT going to prosper. Isn't that wonderfully ironic?
Oh, have you also come across Chinese restaurants with weird numbers (not based on their actual unit number, mind you) on their signboards? I have seen Restoran 168 (yat lou fatt = "prosperity all the way", and Restoran 118 (yat yat fatt = "daily prosperity"), but I am quite sure there are Restoran 128 and 188 somewhere as well.
It is possible, however, for the same digits to mean absolutely different things when arranged in different sequence. For instance, while it is flattering to have 4848 (say fatt say fatt = a repetition of "continuous prosperity", the number has a less impressive interpretation when it is arranged in the reverse, 8484 (fatt say fatt say = "prosper to death")!
Yet another set of numbers which I find particularly interesting is 5354 (mm sam mm say). My late uncle and aunty used that phrase very often to describe dodgy characters. Likewise, 9394 (gow sam gow say) is to dabble in questionable activities. Needless to say, both combinations have negative connotations!
Image taken from diamondpaintings.com
This Chinese obsession with numbers is an endless affair. In addition to the pun on numbers, they have also come up with clever and creative phrases/idioms by personifying numbers. When a total stranger demands for our assistance, we tend to justify our reluctance to help by explaining that after all, sam mm sik chaat, which is a direct translation for "no. 3 knoweth not no. 7". Because 3 is far from 7 (and not immediately next to each other), it implies that there is no obligation between these two persons. They are strangers, after all.
How often have we been guilty of expressing irrelevant ideas or said things that are out of sequence? In Cantonese, there is also an interesting phrase to describe this context: gow mm tup baat (simply said, 9 does not follow after 8). Isn't that an intelligent roundabout way of insulting someone who has just said something irrelevant? Under normal circumstances, no. 9 should follow after no. 8, but in this case, it doesn't. That is so much easier to say (and to understand) than the Latin version i.e. non sequitur.
I suppose one can go on and on playing with numbers and coming up with various interpretations. I know I would have to if I were a car sales executive who is trying to justify the number plate for clients or a property agent who is trying to sell a unit.
Do you know of any other combination that sounds enlightening or entertaining? Do let me know. Till then, continue to have fun with numbers!
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