Scary, no?Getty Images/iStockphoto
In most buildings, there is no 13th floor, because 13 is considered an unlucky number in many cultures. Why the lingering prejudice against such a noble number? It's time to end the superstition, and the year 2013 is the perfect time to do it.
Perhaps the most bizarre current case of triskaidekaphobia, as the fear of 13 is known to people who like their phobias to have names, is Ireland's decision to change the way it numbers its licence plates in 2013. Where in the normal course of events the first two digits on an Irish licence plate represent the last two digits of the year a car was registered, this year the plates will begin with 131 if they are registered in the first six months of the year, and 132 for all the rest. This decision was made by the government with the collaboration of the auto industry, which feared Irish people might be less likely to buy new cars in 2013 if it meant their plates would begin with the number 13.
The fear of 13 goes back to less sophisticated times, and is mostly due, it seems, to the world's love of the number 12. There are 12 months in a year, 12 Zodiac signs, 12 apostles, 12 days of Christmas, 12 inches in a foot, 12 cookies in a dozen, and so on. Hence, 13 seemed unlucky, and it didn't help that Judas was considered to be the 13th guest at the Last Supper. Many people in many countries still think it bad luck to set the table for more than 12 and less than 14.
But we're past that, aren't we? The 2012 doomsday prophecy was based on the Mayan date 13.0.0.0.0, and we all saw how that worked out. In fact, in many ways 13 deserves to be celebrated. In math, it's the first "emirp" – a prime number that gives a different prime when its digits are reversed. It's also a "happy number" and a "Fibonacci number" (we don't pretend to know what all this means, but it's important). None of these things can be said of 12. In sports, 13 was sewn onto the jerseys of Wilt Chamberlain, Mats Sundin, Steve Nash, Alex Rodriguez and numerous other greats. And you can't benefit from the generosity of a baker's dozen without the number 13, can you?
And now 2013 is here. If years were an elevator, we might have gone straight past it to 2014, but we didn't. It's time to embrace lucky, happy 13 once and for all.