08/08/08

Technorati tags: Humor, 080808, Beijing Olympics, Eight, 8, Sodomy

Updated: See full post (after the break) for the updated portion of this post (if you've read it before).

Unless you've been living under a rock, stashed in a sealed cave someplace (which would make Walski wonder how you're even reading this), you'd know that the number 8 is auspicious to the Chinese.

Which is why they picked today to kick off the 2008 Olympics. With the opening ceremony at 8:08pm, to boot.

Google pays tribute, in their own special way, to the significance of this day, if you've noticed (hat-tip to Howsy).

The Malaysian MSM, on the other hand, pays tribute to sodomy (that's MainStream Media, not Men having Sex with Men).

In Malaysia, August 8, 2008 is MSM Sodomy Day!

Which just goes to show how ass-backwards we can be sometimes...
(multiplicity of eight, and more, in the full post)

Updated portion (@ 9:09am August 9th):
The reason 8 is synonymous with prosperity to the Chinese (in Mandarin and just about any dialect Walski knows of) is phonetics - the pronunciation for 8 is similar to that for prosperity. The more 8's you have in a string of numbers the better.

Which is why the Chinese opted for August 8th 2008 for the beginning of the Beijing Olympic games, with the proceedings beginning at 8:08pm (more 8's). And for those of you who watched the opening (or the latter part of it, in Walski's case), wasn't that just something spectacular? Especially the lighting of the torch...

Another feather in the cap for the people of China. Okay, they have their fair share of faults, too, particularly in the area of human rights, but hey.. which country doesn't?

But back to the number 8...

August 8th 2008 is also the wedding day of choice for a lot of people - and not necesserily of the Chinese persuasion either. Walski's cousin got married yesterday, a union he had to miss because of the day trip thingy (see footnote). In Malaysia, at least, the prosperity associated with the number 8 is somewhat becoming universal.

In Indian numerology, however, the number 8 does have certain characteristics, but is not classified as a good or bad number, per se. More of what characteristics the number has, and what other numbers are friendly/unfriendly towards it.

Eight also looks like the symbol for infitinity (∞) turned 90 degrees on its side, perhaps a portend for the infinite possibilities of what one could write about the number.. or the infinite prosperity some folks believe the number represents. 9 tries to come close, but ends up looking like the trajectory of an object being slingshot around the orbit of a planet instead. Infinity gone tangential, so to speak...

But 8 is not the most feared digit, however. That honor, apparently, goes to the number 7. Why? Well, rumor has it that six fears seven, because seven ate (eight) nine...

Fatigue eight Walski's creative juices apologetic footnote: Yes, it's true, Walski was on a day trip up to Lumut yesterday, starting his journey at 7am, did his meeting at 10am then eventually getting back to town around 6pm, then back to the office for a bit. Which is why he had to miss his cousin's wedding. And the first hour or so of the Beijing Olympics spectacular opening... Incidentally, the lame-ish joke about "seven ate nine" comes from a film, whose title escapes Walski for the moment.

Speaking of lame-ish, the trip also accounts for the fact that this post is a little on the lame side (or so Walski thinks). And for that, please accept his apologies, to the power of infinity turned 90 degrees on its side...