# Does the number thirteen bother you? How much? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 10, 2012, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-number-thirteen-bother-you-how-much/631095 "2012-08-10T15:58:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-number-thirteen-bother-you-how-much/631095/21 "2012-08-10T19:23:29Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > It’s a number. Just like 666, etc. The little girl across the street from me was born on 6/6/2006. She’s 6 now and has done nothing as of yet to convince me that she is the anitchrist. The 10 year-old boy that lives next to us on the other hand… ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-number-thirteen-bother-you-how-much/631095/22 "2012-08-10T19:28:59Z")
I don’t care and I really really don’t understand why anyone still subscribes to these old primitive superstitions. But then, I am so non-supersititous I must be whatever the opposite is. I will do anything on the 13th and barely notice when it is. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-number-thirteen-bother-you-how-much/631095/23 "2012-08-10T19:34:08Z")
I blame Jesus. After all, it’s his fault that he chose 12 guys to hang out with, making 13 total. You’d think it would be a ‘lucky’ number based on that, but nooooo… ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-number-thirteen-bother-you-how-much/631095/24 "2012-08-10T20:48:11Z")
I first learned about Friday the 13th when I was about 10 years old. I was having a very good day (I can’t remember why, but I think there was cake involved), and someone explained the superstition to me. I thought, “Well I’m having a _great_ day, so Friday the 13th must be lucky for me,” and that’s what I’ve believed ever since. I don’t think too much about 13 as a number (my lucky number is 11), but when it comes up, I tend to associate it with good luck because of Friday the 13th. ---
**Author:** ![Lucky\_13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucky_13/32/13209_2.png) [@Lucky\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky_13)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-number-thirteen-bother-you-how-much/631095/25 "2012-08-10T22:43:09Z")
Look at my username to see how much it concerns me.🆒😃 ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-number-thirteen-bother-you-how-much/631095/26 "2012-08-10T22:44:05Z")
3 is one of my favorite numbers, so I _like_ 13. ---
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-number-thirteen-bother-you-how-much/631095/27 "2012-08-10T22:46:23Z")
Why would a number by itself mean anything? Numbers are just a concept invented by humans to count and are otherwise meaningless. Same goes for other numbers, “good” or “bad”. They only mean anything when referring to some physical measure and only in that context, such as if I bought a dozen eggs and there were 13 eggs instead of 12, then all the better since I got a free egg (yes, I know that egg cartons can’t possibly hold another egg). And sure, some bad event could happen (and has happened) on a calendar day that happened to be the 13th. That doesn’t make the number 13 magical though. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-number-thirteen-bother-you-how-much/631095/28 "2012-08-10T22:48:52Z")
It does bug me a bit, but not for the standard triskaidekaphobic reasons. It’s just that…it’s not a multiple of 2, 3 or 5, thus is a WRONG number. (Yes, I have strange hangups.) ---
**Author:** ![rat\_avatar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rat_avatar/32/255_2.png) [@rat\_avatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rat_avatar)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-number-thirteen-bother-you-how-much/631095/29 "2012-08-10T22:53:16Z")
Yes..but also for non standard reasons also..some times causes me to acquire an ear worm of the Pixie’s song Number 13. > [@](#): > > Got hair in a girl > that flows to her bones… ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-number-thirteen-bother-you-how-much/631095/30 "2012-08-10T23:26:35Z")
> [@](#): > > In many a twelvemonth, to use an old term, there are 13 full moons, and a woman on a 28-day menstrual cycle will be “unclean,” as Leviticus has it, 13 times a year. The moon has long been a female symbol, and the full moon, (male) chroniclers tell us, is when (female) witches fly. I hesitate on that evidence alone to ascribe triskaidekaphobia to the fell hand of the patriarchy. But 13’s bad reputation may have more to do with fear of women, witchcraft, and disorder than is commonly supposed. > > — Cecil Adams This is precisely why I like 13. Mathematics first began to be developed in the Paleolithic by women tracking their periods by making notches in bones. Women invented the calendar this way which was probably the earliest beginnings of math. Compare the Proto-Indo-European roots \*_men-_ ‘mind’ and ‘measure’ \*_me-_ with the root for ‘moon’: \*\*me-\*. Coincidence? Really? :dubious: > [@kayaker](#): > > It’s a number. Just like 666, etc. I do like me some 420 though. 668 The Neighbor of the Beast! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-number-thirteen-bother-you-how-much/631095/31 "2012-08-10T23:34:55Z")
I love all numbers that are sums of four or fewer perfect squares. 13 = 2^2 + 3^2. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-number-thirteen-bother-you-how-much/631095/32 "2012-08-11T01:53:01Z")
I have no issue at all with 13. I wish there had been 13 months of 28 days (4 weeks of 7 days), with an extra day (called New Year’s Day) making up the 365 days in a year. It would be so much tidier. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-number-thirteen-bother-you-how-much/631095/33 "2012-08-11T01:55:01Z")
I have positive feelings about 13, actually. It’s five and ten that annoy me; not that they’re unlucky, they just seem like they’re snobs or something. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-number-thirteen-bother-you-how-much/631095/34 "2012-08-11T02:04:51Z")
I was born on the 13th, so I’m good with it. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-number-thirteen-bother-you-how-much/631095/35 "2012-08-11T02:24:12Z")
Nope, it’s just another number to me. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-number-thirteen-bother-you-how-much/631095/36 "2012-08-11T07:01:06Z")
I was born on March (the month of Mars) 13th (the number of Mars), but by the time I was done it wasn’t a Tuesday any more (which is the day of Mars, and here is also the one which in Spain is traditionally associated with bad luck when it’s a 13th), it was a Wednesday. Time of birth, 12:47 (apparently the obstetrician was as sick of me as I was of him, and the only reason I wasn’t calling him a bloody butcher is that I still didn’t have the vocabulary for it). This Martian picks 13 when it’s available. ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-number-thirteen-bother-you-how-much/631095/37 "2012-08-11T13:26:42Z")
My parents had their first date on a Friday the thirteenth, and as a result have always treated those days as “lucky.” Considering they have been married almost 47 years and the first date was almost 48 years ago, I see no need to be triskadecaphobic. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-number-thirteen-bother-you-how-much/631095/38 "2012-08-11T23:36:34Z")
A lot, as every May 13th I get a year older. ---
**Author:** ![ducati](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cc9497/32.png) [@ducati](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ducati)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-number-thirteen-bother-you-how-much/631095/39 "2012-08-12T03:00:37Z")
Born on Friday the 13th. 1300 hours. Weighed 13 pounds. Adopted at 13 months old, final papers signed April Fool’s Day. I’m the unluckiest bastard I’ve ever known. Probably won’t even win the lottery tonight. Again.☹ ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-number-thirteen-bother-you-how-much/631095/40 "2012-08-12T03:57:47Z")
I used to kind of like 13. Then my father died on the 13th, so I no longer like this number, or at least as it applies to days of the month, because every time the 13th rolls around, I remember. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-number-thirteen-bother-you-how-much/631095.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-number-thirteen-bother-you-how-much/631095.md?page=3)