9-9-9
Image by DerrickT via Flickr
It’s not quite 7-7-7 (I missed getting married on that luckiest of days by one day: 7/8/07 — which is pretty much the only way I manage to remember my anniversary). But 9-9-9 sure sounds like a pretty lucky day, doesn’t it?
What can we expect?
Of course, in theory, a day being “lucky” is entirely meaningless. In our cold, indifferent universe, 9-9-9 is the same as 4-8-3 or 7-2-4 or 9-11-1. But… That doesn’t mean we can’t, in practice, pin down some major ways in which lucky days are unique. After all, whether they’re “real” or not, humans will behave differently on days they perceive as lucky or cursed or special.
Not too long ago, we looked at what happens to the stock market on eclipse days. People in Western and Asian societies consider eclipses unlucky, and so we see slight price declines and lower trading volumes on eclipse days. What’s more, we see that this effect is magnified during times of economic uncertainty, because that’s when people rely most heavily on superstition to regain a sense of control over their lives and a sense of order in the universe.
Lucky numbers are particularly influential in Asian societies. A couple of years ago, the Wall Street Journal looked at the effects of lucky numbers on Chinese stocks:
In Chinese society, the homonyms of numbers hold deep meaning. In particular, the pronunciation of number eight — ba in both Mandarin and Cantonese — sounds similar to words for “wealth” or “fortune.” Consider the kickoff time for next year’s Beijing Olympic Games: 8 p.m. on 8-8-2008.
The appearance of an “8″ is considered auspicious, whether it is a digit in the share price or a part of the six-number identity code exchanges assign to each stock. “I don’t care about a few dimes up or down, compared with a lucky number,” one investor bragged in an Internet chat room after paying 8.08 yuan for a share.
In contrast, investors get nervous when they see the numeral “4″ since its pronunciation “si” can mean “death.” As proof of its destabilizing force, many point out that Chinese stocks began to wobble in early May when the Shanghai Composite Index traded around the 4,000-level for the first time.
Prices of shares on the Shanghai stock exchange have even been found to be twice as likely to end in an 8 as to end in a 4. Even crazier? Asian children born in the Year of the Dragon are more successful, likely because of a self-fulfilling-prophecy effect.
The fact is, we think magically all the time:
* We believe “lucky” lottery stores are more likely to sell a winning ticket
* We have superstitious sports rituals, which help athletes manage uncertainty and stress
* We time births, conceptions, and even deaths based on superstitious or otherwise significant dates [PDF]
And those are just a few effects. Who’s looking to cash in on this particular date, 9-9-9?
* Apple
So, while there may be nothing mystical about it, 9-9-9 will likely be special. The stock market could see a little bounce, spurred by traders feeling lucky. There will probably be a good number of extra births. Even though it’s a Wednesday, there will probably be a good number of weddings. There could be a spike in closed real-estate deals. Anything that people feel requires luck — they’ll use 9-9-9 to bring patterns out of the noise.
Is there anything special you’ve got scheduled for 9-9-9? Leave it in the comments.
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i got my birthday scheduled for today
but it’s not as much fun as 09:09:09 09/09/1999 was!
Forget Chinese numerology… 999 has got to be lucky cuz it’s 666 upside down!
Joy to you, oh Earth and Sea,
For we are sent puppies with the softest fur,
For God knows the day is long.
Let him who hath understanding reckon the number of the puppies,
For it is a human number.
Its number, is Nine Hundred Ninety-Nine
We HAD a house closing date scheduled for tomorrow; but the other party changed the date to 9/11 …
By “tomorrow”, I meant “today” 9/9/09
(What day is it again?)
You know what happens if you turn 999 upside down, right? I’m thinking of sacrificing a ram in celebration.
[...] the 9-9-9 will save [...]
[...] brains, we’ve long known, aren’t that great with numbers. We’re superstitious about them. We have trouble comparing them. We struggle to remember even relatively short strings of them. [...]