fourth floor

[gougou]

I don't understand why this went though into Mandarin, where both initials are different, where one is s and the other is sh

Which would the sh one be?

but Fear of Friday the 13th is due to the horror movie series of the same name.

Hmm, Wikipedia seems to have different sources.

[adrianlondon]

I have no fear of "死" being similar to "四": .... where both initials are different, where one is s and the other is sh.

So you get around your superstitions by pronouncing one of the words wrong ;)

[renzhe]

I have no fear of "死" being similar to "四": This originated from Cantonese, where the initials are s in both words. I don't understand why this went though into Mandarin, where both initials are different, where one is s and the other is sh.

They are both have the same initial in Mandarin.

死 is si3

四 is si4

[roddy]

I have no fear of "死" being similar to "四": This originated from Cantonese, where the initials are s in both words. I don't understand why this went though into Mandarin, where both initials are different, where one is s and the other is sh.

Did you get that from Wikipedia?

[sukitc]

In Thai, the number six "hok" is considered slightly unlucky, as hok could mean six or spill. My old car has a licence plate 66, but actually my mum told me that these are lucky numbers in Hakka.