I came across this word while reading a Wikipedia entry about Friday the 13th or the fear thereof. Thirteen is supposedly an unlucky number and many skyscrapers have been known to name their 13th floor 12b. Friday, apparently, is another of such unlucky days. Even in the Yoruba culture, the fifth day of the week is Ojo Eti, supposedly a day on which one is not supposed to do anything worthwhile. So when Friday and 13 decide to fall on the same day, like will happen this month, it is believed to be catastrophic. What led me to this search was a curious discovery that the cost of purchasing a ticket for a flight due for 13th August is costlier than any other surrounding days, costlier even than the 12th, 14th or 19th.

The logic is that since majority of the people are afraid of Friday the 13th, there will be less delays for said flight, more room on the airplane and thus more comfort. The economics of it is that the airline will have to make up for the sparse patronage on that day by levying all other passengers. But in the end, for me, the fear of flying on Friday the 13th will be not out of fear of anything but the flight rates. And that sucks. It would have been nice to put fate to the test, or would it? 😉

And secondly, just how do you pronounce the word?