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FRASIER’S FRIDAY FACT

Volume XXXIII

10/13/2017

Happy Friday, Everyone!

Welcome back to your weekly dose of all things fun and factual, Frasier's Friday Fact. We all know why we come here each week, of course: to cherish knowledge and to continually build our readily available mental database of useless information to use at parties.

I would say everyone enjoys Fridays, right? Well, there may be a significant portion of our readers who may not enjoy this particular Friday, since it falls on the 13th. Yes, that's right - I am referring to good ol' paraskevidekatriaphobia, the fear of Friday the 13th. The fear of the number 13 is well documented, and the superstition goes as far as some buildings not having a 13th floor. Or, in my favorite example, the hobbit Bilbo Baggins was selected to join Thorin and Company in order to be the "lucky number" - becoming the 14th member of the group.

So, here in the English-speaking world we have our fears about Friday the 13th. What about other places? The Greeks consider Tuesday (and especially Tuesday the 13th) to be unlucky, since it is the third day of the week and bad luck is said to come in threes. (Today is Fact #33 - oh no!) In Italy, it is not Friday the 13th but rather Friday the 17th which is considered unlucky. The thought is that the Roman numerals for 17 - XVII - can be rearranged to "VIXI," Latin for "I have lived," implying impending death.

Wishing you all the best of luck on this Friday the 13th!

Stay spooky, my friends.

Fraish