Today I got a new phone number.
I've never done that in China before.
When I came here three years ago (man I feel old), I was handed a phone from a previous teacher full of contacts. But, when my buddy Milton (a wonderful Chinese brother with a smile the width of Arkansas) gifted me his used smartphone, I thought it might be time to get a little less Amish.
So today Mike, Carol, Ben and I went to get new phone plans. We discovered that if you choose a number with multiple 4s, you could save roughly $23. We asked why and the lady told us because the number 4 四 si, has the same pronunciation as the word for death 死 si.
A lot of apartment buildings will skip the fourth floor and have 3a and 3b instead of using 4.
Different characters.
Different meanings.
Chinese superstition.
Money saved by foreigners who don't care if their number has more 4s than Brett Favre's Steakhouse.
Mijia 米佳
No comments:
Post a Comment