Numbers in the lift

Because I always I went with Pr.WS to visit people, I got to go to many condominiums and apartments around Klang Valley.

A strange phenomenon I noticed...

Vandalizing of number buttons, especially those that contain number 4! In the above picture even the other numbers were painted on!

In some lifts there are no buttons for 4, 14, or 24; they are replaced with 3A, 13A, 23A.

Why?

In Chinese the pronunciation of 4 is very similar to death. Many Chinese don't like number 4 so in many condominiums and apartments, either the buttons with 4 were vandalized, or they were replaced by 3A.

If you walked around landed housing areas, if a #4 house were owned by a Chinese, the number will be changed to 3A, or the word "发"[Fa - Prosperous] will be added beside it.

Similar to Westerners' aversion of the number 13?

Of course I don't believe that 4 will bring death. It's just similar pronunciation and nothing more. Why let numbers control our mind? Why let numbers bring fear to our heart?

Just because I read a book doesn't mean I'm a loser! (book & lose have the same pronunciation in Chinese)

Are you afraid of 4? Is there any number that you don't like or avoid?