ABSTRACT
Our last unit, Unit 28, falls appropriately enough on a lucky number: two (yih 二) sounds like ‘easy’ and eight (baat 八) rhymes with faat 發 meaning ‘make money, prosper’ as in the Chinese New Year greeting Gūnghéi faat chòih 恭喜發財, literally ‘congratulations (and may you) prosper’. By contrast, four (sei 四) is an unlucky number as it rhymes with séi 死 ‘die’ and is consequently subject to taboo: the Alfa Romeo 164 (yāt luhk sei 一六四) was perceived to be uncomfortably close to yāt louh séi 一路死 (‘one – road – die’) so that it was renumbered for the Hong Kong market as the 168 (yāt luhk baat 一六八/yāt louh faat 一路發 ‘one – road – prosper’).
