The fear of Friday the 13th has been called friggatriskaidekaphobia (Frigga being the name of the Norse goddess for whom "Friday" is named in English and triskaidekaphobia meaning fear of the number thirteen), or paraskevidekatriaphobia a concatenation of the Greek words Paraskeví (Παρασκευή, meaning "Friday"), and dekatreís (δεκατρείς, meaning "thirteen") attached to phobía (φοβία, from phóbos, φόβος, meaning "fear").
Since my November novel dealt with superstitions, I found out that in Spanish-speaking countries, it is Tuesday the 13th that is considered unlucky. Greeks consider Tuesday unlucky in general, and Tuesday the 13th is particularly bad. Italians traditionally considered 13 a lucky number, and they dreaded Friday the 17th. Now it seems that, due to Americanization, young Italians fear Friday the 13th. Or maybe they just dread those movies!
All I can say is, let's all be careful out there!
1 comment:
LOL- I think someday we're going to just be a world of phobias.
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