Number taboos in a Chinese elevator
Language Log 2024-11-29
Summary:
This elevator panel image was sent to me by Nick Kaldis: It's immediately obvious that floors 4, 14, and 24 are missing because: sì 4 || sǐ 死 ("death") The absence of 18 is not so easy. It's because: 18 || shíbā céng dìyù 十八层地狱 ("eighteen levels of hell") Note that the word for "level [of hell]", viz., céng 层, is the same […]