Friday the 13th part XII

[Rick \'71]

John T. Whelan '91 wrote:
And specifically that Judas was the 13th.

And, come to think of it, Judas didn't turn out to be a terribly lucky guy...

[Pete]

Found this at a very credibale source www.urbanlegands.com ;-) :

"The rise of the compound Three-Ten for Thirteen is so very general all over the world, that it seems clear that to the primitive mind of early Man it had no real meaning--he stopped at Twelve. So persistent are these old instincts that, even today, we stop at "Twelve Times Twelve "in our school multiplication triplication tables, though there is absolutely no reason whatever why we should do so, except for our inherited instinct that it was, and therefore still must be, the utmost limit of mathematical thought.

Thirteen, therefore was not used as number, but as a vague word meaning anything beyond Twelve. To the untutored savage, as to the animal mind of today, anything unknown conveyed an immediate sense of danger. Thirteen was not really an unlucky number, but a fateful one--a number full of vague and unimaginable possibilities and therefore a number to be avoided by any peace-loving man"

[Ack]

13th month...isn't that lousy Smarch?

[LynahFaithfulS]

anagram:
eleven plus two=twelve plus one :-)

[jtwcornell91]

http://www.snopes.com/luck/friday13.asp

[...]

[Q]My favorite hockey players (no order): Abbotts (Cam, Chris), Bitz, Carefoot, Chabot, Cook, Downs, Gleed, Glover, Hornby, Hynes, Iggulden, Knoepfli, Marr, McCutcheon, McKee, McLeod, Moulson, O'Byrne, Pajerski, Pegoraro, Salmela, Stachurski, Varterissian [/Q]

Wow, what happened to Vesce and Wallace?  :-P

[Section A]

[Q]My favorite hockey players:...Stachurski[/Q]


Always a fan favorite :-P

[jeh25]

Pete Godenschwager wrote:



Thirteen, therefore was not used as number, but as a vague word meaning anything beyond Twelve. To the untutored savage, as to the animal mind of today, anything unknown conveyed an immediate sense of danger. Thirteen was not really an unlucky number, but a fateful one--a number full of vague and unimaginable possibilities and therefore a number to be avoided by any peace-loving man"

Personally, I'm rather skeptical, but this fits nicely with the explanation I was once given; 10 fingers + 2 feet = 12, thus 13 represents the unknown. Of course, by this logic, man should fear 21 or 22, depending on the appendages available for counting. (Hrmm. 13 is 21 in base-6, no? =p )

Interesting.  Ask Dr. Math, when asked why we don't count ten eleventeen twelveteen thirteen, says:
[q]
In _Mathematics: From the Birth of Numbers_, Gullberg says this:

  Eleven is a derivative of Old English _endleofan_, where the
  terminal -fan is believed to carry the meaning of "to leave"
  or "left", that is, _one left_ after counting ten (fingers).

  Twelve has developed in a similar manner from Old English _twelfe_
  meaning _two left over_ after counting ten; it may be more clearly
  seen from the Gothic _twailif_.

[/q]

Anywho, I wonder if this linguistic quirk might potentially explain why 13 appears to be unlucky among Anglophones but not among some of the other groups previously mentioned in this thread. Thus, 13 would be seen as "different." Of course, this just popped into my head right now, so I could be full of it.

Also, while I think of it, if you bought the last supper/ Judas argument, wouldn't the same stigma be found in the predominantly Catholic spanish speaking countries in Latin America?

Finally, while I'm thinking about this stuff instead of attending to my epidemiology homework, does anybody know if George Miller, the 7 plus or minus 2 guy, ever wrote about the number 13? Is it an information processing thing?

This procrastination was brought to you by the number e and the letter ß

[Bio \'04]

[Q]John E Hayes '98 '00 wrote:

(Hrmm. 13 is 21 in base-6, no? =p )
[/Q]

i think 13 is 9 in base-6 :-P
(i am a math nerd :-) )

[Bio \'04]

oops!
i misread that post... you are right about the 21.  it's saturday, my brain's not working :-}

[jeh25]

John T. Whelan '91 wrote:

http://www.snopes.com/luck/friday13.asp

Personally, I sorta like the idea that it relates to the execution of the leadership of the Knights Templar on Oct 13th 1307 by King Philip IV. (Yes, I received 3 copies of the Da Vinci Code for Xmas. )

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_the_13th

[Jim Hyla]

For another, and longer discussion, http://urbanlegends.about.com/cs/historical/a/friday_the_13th.htm . It's interesting that something as common as this does not have a known explanation.

On the other hand Bill Fenwick has too much time on his hands.:-}

[David Harding \'72]

[q](Yes, I received 3 copies of the Da Vinci Code for Xmas. )[/q]  I feel deprived.  I only received two copies.

[LynahFaithfulS]

ahhh i didn't realize they got cut off!?! that's terrible
i fixed it now :-) and as for stachurski,  i didn't want to leave anyone out, just cause they don't play, hehe
(and i don't know why it didn't put my name before...)

[Section A]

No problem......but you see, there's a reason Stachurski doesn't play. He quit the team.