Toronto Mike

Things I Don't Understand: The 13th Floor is Missing

Things I Don't Understand: The 13th Floor is Missing

For the past two years, I've been living in an apartment building.  This building has no 13th floor.

Actually, it does have a 13th floor, but it's listed as the 14th floor.  Like many buildings in North America, the 13th floor is completely skipped.  I've never understood this practice.

How powerful is this triskaidekaphobia that it continues to permeate our society in 2013?  Haven't we progressed to a point where we can actually label the 13th floor the 13th floor?

There are several equally ridiculous phobias out there, but we don't let them influence our day-to-day lives.  I'm told tetraphobia, the fear of the number 4, is so powerful in many Asian cultures that some new buildings don't have floors ending in 4, either.

It's all so silly, isn't it?

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