Oct 13, 2006

Today, the day I found other people have idiosincrasis..

And guess what, all have a name apart from mine.... Still found some justification for it.



Triskaidekaphobia is the abnormal fear of the number 13.

But today, is especially hard on those who suffer
from paraskevidekatriaphobia, the fear of Friday the 13th.

The five most common phobias are:

1. Fear of snakes (ophidiophobia);

2. Fear of giving a speech (glossophobia);

3. Fear of heights (acrophobia);

4. Fear of rodents (musophobia);

5. Fear of flying (aviophobi)

Following closely are phobias about confined spaces, thunder, nighttime
and dogs.


Thirteen may be considered a "bad" number simply because it is one more than 12, which is a popularly used number in many cultures (due to it being a highly composite number). When a group of 13 objects is divided into two, three, four or six equal groups, there is always one leftover object.

The number 13 also retains biblical meanings. At the Last Supper, Judas, the disciple who betrayed Jesus, was the 13th to sit at the table (also spilling the salt).
It has also been linked to that fact that a lunisolar calendar must have 13 months in some years, while the solar Gregorian calendar and lunar Islamic calendar always have 12 months in a year.

Triskaidekaphobia may have also affected the Vikings — it is believed that Loki in the Norse pantheon was the 13th god. This was later Christianised into saying that Satan was the 13th angel.

The Mesopotamian Code of Hammurabi (ca. 1686 BC) omits 13 in its numbered list. This seems to indicate a superstition existed long before the Christian era.


Some buildings number their floors so as to skip the thirteenth floor entirely, jumping from floor 12 to floor 14 in order to avoid distressing triskaidekaphobics, or using 12 and 12b instead. One Canada Square in Canary Wharf, the tallest building in the UK, lacks a 13th floor. Most hotel/casino megaresorts in Las Vegas also lack a 13th floor. This is sometimes applied to house or room numbers as well. The same is also true of rows in airplanes.

The composer Arnold Schoenberg suffered from triskaidekaphobia. The Nazi fighter plane developed from the He-112 was designated He-100 in order to avoid the designation Heinkel He 113, which was considered unlucky. In the United States, there has never been a F-13 fighter aircraft due to many pilots being superstitious. The Grumman F-14 Tomcat directly followed the Lockheed YF-12 Blackbird (a fighter prototype which was a close relative of the famed SR-71 Blackbird).

In Formula 1, there is no car with the number 13. The number has been removed after 2 drivers were killed in crashes — both driving cars numbered 13, however cars without the number 13 regularly crash as well.
The arrest and murder of the Knights Templar occurred on Friday October 13, 1307
Memphis International Airport in Memphis, TN does not have Gate A13, B13, or C13. Long Island MacArthur Airport in Islip, New York does not have a gate 13, instead having doors labeled 12, 12A, and 14. Also, the Birmingham International Airport in Birmingham, AL does not contain a gate C13.


On Friday 13 May 1992, several tornadoes occurred in small hill country towns of Texas. Those towns include Marble Falls, TX, Kingsland, TX, Jarrel, TX and other outlining areas.
Infamous serial killers Jack the Ripper, Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer and Theodore Bundy all have 13 letters in their names.

In Italian culture, the number 17 is considered unlucky. When viewed as the Roman numeral, XVII, it can be re-arranged as VIXI, which in Latin means "I have lived", the perfect tense, implying "My life is over." (c.f. "Vixerunt", Cicero's famous announcement of an execution.) In Italy, it is not uncommon to notice that buildings do not have a 17th floor, or hotels do not have a room 17. The Italian airline carrier Alitalia does not have a row 17 on its aircraft, and neither does German carrier Germanwings, which flies to many Italian destinations. Renault sold its "R17" model in Italy as "R177."


See.. it's documented ... it's not me.. but strangely enough is not recognised as a phobia. Why???? fear of number 13 has a name and wildly recognised and fear of 17 is not allowed..

The world sometimes is strange....

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