The Hong Kong government has proposed new guidelines for floor numberings of new buildings. Apart from the omission of 4, 13 and numbers ending with a 4, other forms of omissions or aliasing will not be allowed. 香港對樓宇層樓編號有新 規管 ,不容許不合理的大幅跳層,但刪去4、13和尾數是4字的樓層還是可以的。 These guidelines may not make sense to most of non-Chinese readers, unless you happen to know that 4 is a homophone with death in Chinese, and 13 is supposed to be an unlucky number for Christians even though most Westerners don’t really care about it. Skipping certain floor numbers may make people feel better but doesn’t change the reality. Those living on the so-called 5th floor of a building which has omitted the 4th floor numbering are still living on the actual 4th storey of the building, although the residents can probably take comfort that they are not living on the death floor. 4字是中國人的忌諱,13雖說是對西人(或信耶穌的)不吉,但平常西人都甚少理會。跳樓層這個做法其實自欺欺人,沒有4樓的大廈,住在所謂的5樓其實即是第4樓,祇是聽覺上和心理上好過一點,但根本沒改變過住在樓宇本身的第4樓這個現實。 Superstitions such as the abov...