One for sorrow: Pica Pica Serica in numbers

One for sorrow,
Two for joy,
Three for a girl,
Four for a boy,
Five for silver,
Six for gold,
Seven for a secret,
Never to be told.
Eight for a wish,
Nine for a kiss,
Ten for a bird,
You must not miss.

This is the nursery rhyme we use when we are in the UK and we see a magpie. One of the UK’s superstitions is about the amount of magpies we see at one given time. Usually, in the UK, magpies can be seen in very small groups or alone. In Korea, however, Asian magpies tend to flock together in collective droves. This makes it impossible for those who follow the superstition of this song to know what kind of curse or blessing we will receive by this omen. Firstly, most people can only remember the first 4 lines to the song, and those who do know all the lyrics know that any more than ten, and there is no way to know what these amounts of Asian magpies will mean to us. At present I have no idea why magpies in Korea tend to come together in great numbers. Perhaps they are emulating the people of their adoptive nation. Koreans notoriously act collectively. And if they reflect the culture of the people of their nation, then the magpies of the UK also seem to emulate the British, in their independence and individualism.

If anyone doubts me about the behavior of the Asian magpie or pica pica serica, then venture to Namsan in central Seoul, or go to Asan city in Chungcheonnamdo. 

Four sticks of 윷놀이 (Yut-Nori)

Yut, probability and constant width
Yut-nori is very much the Royal Game of Ur (see youtube video by British Museum) or the more modern version, Ludo, where you have to get your pieces to the end before the other team, and you start from the beginning if someone lands on you. One of the main differences is Yut-nori has shortcuts that can be made if you land on the right place during your go. Another difference is the type of dice used in the game of yut-nori. In fact, yut-nori doesn’t have a dice. It has 4 sticks with a rounded side and a flat side, so they don’t have constant width and roll around. Depending on how the sticks land, that is how many moves you get. The rounded side of the sticks have crosses on them, and the smooth sides are blank. The table below shows moves you get according to how the sticks land (I have added the statistical likelihood as well):

How they land	1 flat side up; 3 curved/marked sides up	2 flat sides up; 2 curved/marked sides up	3 flat sides up; 1 curved/marked side up	4 flat sides up; no curved /marked sides up	No flat sides up; 4 curved/marked sides up
How many moves	1 move	2 moves	3 moves	4 moves	5 moves
Korean term	도 (dor)	개(Cair)	걸(Gul)	윷(Yut)	모(Mor)
Animal	Pig	Dog	Sheep	Cow	Horse
The statistics	4*1/16= 4/16	6*1/16=6/16	4*1/16= 4/16	½^4=1/16	½^4=1/16

It seems like the statistically likeliest moves to make would be 2 moves. This can be seen below in the table that outlines the most likely results from throwing sticks in the air:

Flat side (F); Curved/marked side (C)
5 Moves	4 Moves	3 Moves	2 Moves	1 Move
CCCC	FFFF	CFFF	CCFF	FCCC
		FCFF	CFCF	CFCC
		FFCF	CFFC	CCFC
		FFFC	FCCF	CCCF
			FCFC
			FFCC

Since 2 moves are more likely statistically, it would be worth bearing that in mind next time you play your Korean grandparents during Chuseok.

Number 4

Did you know that the number 4 is an unlucky number is South Korea? It’s true. Go to any elevator in any tall building and you will find that the 4th floor is written as the F floor. You may be asking what might be going on on a floor called the F floor. Probably nothing exciting. Korea is pretty conservative!

1 million and why Korea doesn’t have it.

We can compare numbers in South Korea with the UK (not Europe which has a different way to address 1 million as seen in the Numberphile youtube video called “How big is a billion?”) and we can see that numbers are done in a different way.

Arabic number	English interpretation	Roman alphabet of Korean	Hangeul	Direct interpretation from Korean
10	Ten	Shib	십	ten
100	One hundred	Bek	백	One hundred
1000	One thousand	Cheon	천	One thousand
10,000	Ten thousand	Man	만	Ten thousand
100,000	One hundred thousand	Shib Man	십만	Ten ten thousand
1,000,000	One million	Bek Man	백만	One hundred ten thousand
10,000,000	Ten million	Cheon Man	천만	One thousand ten thousand
100,000,000	One hundred thousand	Eok	억	One hundred million
1,000,000,000	One billion	Shib Eok	십억	Ten One hundred million
10,000,000,000	Ten billion	Bek Eok	백억	One hundred One hundred million
100,000,000,000	One hundred billion	Cheon Eok	천억	One thousand one hundred million
1,000,000,000,000	One Trillion	Jo (cho)	조	One trillion

If you analyse the table above, Korean numbers do not use a word for 1 million. The next number with a new word after 1000 (천) is 10,000 which is Man (만) or 10^4. Then, after that, the next change is 100,000,000  which is Eok (억). So there is no 1 million if you use direct translation from the Korean. In addition, there is no 1 billion either. However, there is a 1 trillion. We could also add another column to see what powers of 10 they are. I will add this below.

Arabic number	English interpretation	Roman alphabet of Korean	Hangeul	Direct interpretation from Korean
10	Ten	Shib	십	ten	10^1
100	One hundred	Bek	백	One hundred	10^2
1000	One thousand	Cheon	천	One thousand	10^3
10,000	Ten thousand	Man	만	Ten thousand	10^4
100,000	One hundred thousand	Shib Man	십만	Ten ten thousand	10^5
1,000,000	One million	Bek Man	백만	One hundred ten thousand	10^6
10,000,000	Ten million	Cheon Man	천만	One thousand ten thousand	10^7
100,000,000	One hundred thousand	Eok	억	One hundred million	10^8
1,000,000,000	One billion	Shib Eok	십억	Ten One hundred million	10^9
10,000,000,000	Ten billion	Bek Eok	백억	One hundred One hundred million	10^10
100,000,000,000	One hundred billion	Cheon Eok	천억	One thousand one hundred million	10^11
1,000,000,000,000	One Trillion	Jo (cho)	조	One trillion	10^12

We can see from this table that new words for numbers are 10^1, 10^2, 10^3, and 10^4. After that, each power is added by 4. So 10^8 and 10^12 are both new words for numbers as they increase. This is as far as it goes for me. Perhaps someone knows of the number for 10^16. It looks like after using one thousand of something, they have to have a new word for a number (e.g. after one thousand one hundred million is the new word Jo (조)).

 

 

The number 38

Two countries, two similar but diverging cultures, two similar but diverging languages, one blood line. On this peninsula, the line that circles the northern part of the globe cuts through Korea, making a line that almost sits on the border of North and South Korea. South Korea is a wealthy country where students can afford to study abroad in Europe and the US. North Korea is not. If you ask the average student whether there should be this demarcation between North and South on the 38th parallel North, most students will say that there shouldn’t be one. Whether all this talk of war will ever to come to anything doesn’t matter. All I know is that the children of the South perceive the North as a dangerous place, and somewhere they would choose not to go to. The human rights abuses there are as atrocious as Romania’s were during the Cold War era. It would be good to see an end to the regime and to end the significance of the 38th parallel North.

The number four

 

Those who have visited South Korea, have you ever been in an elevator and wanted to go to the 4th floor and instead of there being a number four, there is the letter F. This is because the sound of the number 4 in Korea, sounds like the Sino-Korean word for death. So, in a lot of buildings, and especially hospitals, the elevators have the letter F. Imagine an elevator in a hospital and you need to go to the 4th floor. You press the number 4 and as the door opens, a ghost appears. These are the ghost stories that are going about in South Korea with regards to this number. I think I will need to test this hypothesis. I will venture around a few hospitals and see if any have the number 4 rather than F. Let’s see if there are any ghosts lurking about on the 4th floor. I guess another way to look at it is the letter F has powers of protection. Interesting how they use the Latin alphabet rather than the Korean letter or word for number 4, 넷 (net). I think I will go around hospitals next time wearing a T-Shirt with the letter F blazoned across the front of it, like a super hero. F-Man.