AUG 17 WHAT IS THE LUCKIEST NUMBER?

AUG 17  WHAT IS THE LUCKIEST NUMBER?

Last Saturday was August Eighth, or numerically, 8/8. Since this magical date only falls on a Saturday once in a decade, many couples jumped at the chance to get married on such an auspicious day. "With an extra '8' thrown in for 2018," explained James Wu, a superstitious fiancé, "This Saturday is the luckiest day of the year!" This got us at the DUNER BLOG wondering: What is the luckiest number for people worldwide? Fortunately, British mathematician Alex Bellos surveyed 30,000 people across the globe. Here's the results:

BRONZE: #8. In third place is number eight. This is a direct result of the Chinese being culturally superstitious about numbers. Four is horribly unlucky and eight is magical. Example: The Opening Ceremonies for the Beijing Olympics were also intentionally held on August Eighth, (8/8) at 8:08pm. Why is 8 so lucky? In Cantonese, the word for eight ('Fa) sounds a lot like the word for wealth. Also, the number 88 looks like the symbol for 'double happiness.' Furthermore, it's a balanced shape that can be inverted into the infinity sign.

SILVER: #11. Bellos' study found that many people worldwide are also obsessed with the number eleven. In Tarot, card #11 is the symbol of strength and justice. Eleven comes one after ten. Ten is a balanced end of a set...but eleven is one extravagant number more. Therefore, eleven symbolizes the future and what's to come. Veteran's Day is on November Eleventh (11/11) and Apollo 11 was the first manner lunar landing. It's also lucky in South Africa, which has eleven official languages and Nelson Mandela was their eleventh president.

GOLD: #7. Far and away, the most popular lucky number is SEVEN. When polled, nearly half of the participants in the survey instantly replied: "SEVEN!" For some reason, when humans count things, they like to stop at seven. Seven days in a week. Seven colors on the rainbow. Seven notes on a musical scale. Seven continents. Seven seas. You get the picture! It also figures into literature, with Seven Dwarfs and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Perhaps TV star George Constanza took it to the extreme when he wanted to name his own son 'Seven.'

So there you go. If you're a gambler, event planner or just like to play it safe...remember to chose your numbers wisely!