How many people "own" a particular number?

[Snowygerry]

There was one called The Bomber though, Gerd Muller.

Edit,

Gerd Müller: the 'bomber of the nation' – DW – 08/15/2021

Legendary footballer Gerd Müller has died aged 75 after a long illness. The 'bomber of the nation' provided fond memories for Bayern Munich and Germany fans. Here are some of the highlights of his great career.

www.dw.com

 

[Kyriakos]

I never liked football. Although basketball is also pretty (imho) dumb.

 

[Samson]

Everyone who has a cryptocurrency wallet "owns" a number in a very special way. A wallet is defined by 2 big prime numbers (the private key) and their product (the public key). The unspent transaction output controlled by these numbers is owned by the person who bought the crypto in a very real and legally binding sense. I cannot think of any way of owning a number more real than that.

 

[Gori the Grey]

It's more common in US basketball iirc.

I think every team in the NBA retired Kobe Bryant's number when he retired--or as a tribute to him when he passed away, I can't remember which.

 

[Bamspeedy]

I think every team in the NBA retired Kobe Bryant's number when he retired--or as a tribute to him when he passed away, I can't remember which.

Nope. Lakers retired both his numbers, mavericks retired one of his numbers. Many players did switch numbers as a tribute, but both numbers can and has been used by other teams. (21 players currently using one of those numbers, and 16 using the other number, IIRC).

Bill Russell's number 6 in NBA, Jackie Robinson 42 in MLB, and Gretsky 99 in NHL are only league-wide retired numbers in US major sports.

Are there/have there been any german sportsmen with the number 88?

In US it isn't a big deal. Dallas cowboys have an '88 club' where it is an honor to wear the number (since they dont/went away from retiring numbers). NFL more cautious about retiring numbers, greater risk of running out of numbers.

NFL banned number 00, so only 4 ever wore that number (many, many years ago before ban). 0 was banned for 50 years, but will be allowed again this year. NBA has banned number 69.

 

[Samson]

NBA has banned number 69.

Of all the things that could get a number banned

 

[Kyriakos]

Though it's not to happen, eclectically 1185 can be tied to a broken cane.

 

[CaffeineJunkie]

Glen Seaborg owned the patents on Elements 95 and 96, which is a lot like owning those numbers.

 

[warpus]

Isn't 88 considered a very lucky number in east Asia? We have a sushi restaurant here named 888 something.

 

[Caesar of Bread]

909 - John and Paul

 

[Birdjaguar]

Isn't 88 considered a very lucky number in east Asia? We have a sushi restaurant here named 888 something.

8 - the Luckiest Number in China​

The number 8 is regarded as the luckiest in Chinese culture, as it is associated with prosperity since its pronunciation closely resembles the phrase for 发(fā)"making money."

Chinese people tend to prefer the number 8 when buying a house, license plate, or telephone number, as they believe the number 8 can bring them good fortune and prosperity.

In China, license plates featuring the number 8 are highly sought after, and plates containing multiple 8s can be extremely expensive. For instance, in 2016, a license plate with five number 8s was sold for over 18 million Hong Kong dollars.

Chinese Lucky Number 9​

The number 9 is considered especially propitious. 9 means long-lasting.

So Chinese couples would be glad to get wedding gifts containing the number 9, like a bouquet of 99 roses, which has an auspicious meaning of “have a long-lasting happy life together”.

In feng shui, 9 is the highest on the number scale and represents the “ultimate masculinity”. It is used to symbolize the supreme sovereignty of the emperor.

So 9 or some multiple of 9 was often used in imperial house designs, like the 9,999 rooms in the Forbidden City.

Chinese Lucky Numbers 8, 9, Meanings, Unlucky Number 4

8 is the luckiest number in Chinese culture, as It is associated with prosperity. 4 and 7 are the two unlucky numbers.

www.chinatravel.com

 

[Hygro]

909 - John and Paul

909 - Roland

 

[RobAnybody]

I think we're stretching the premise at this point. The general public has to know what you're talking about.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I now own the number 13. LiveJournal sent me one:

This is apparently in honor of my having an account there for 13 years.

 

[Arwon]

99.94 obviously belongs to one man

 

[Hygro]

Heisenberg

 

[warpus]

@Birdjaguar Interesting that in the Indo-European languages I know we don't really associate lucky things with other lucky things that sound like it. But I suppose that's likely a consequence of the nature of Mandrin and other east Asian languages, I assume?

Does anybody know if there are things in Mandarin and/or other east Asian cultures that are considered bad because they sound like other bad things? For example, one that I made up and that (probably) isn't true, imagine if the number 13 sounded like "death" in Mandarin and so they consider 13 to be bad luck. Or is this exclusive to lucky things?

If there are words that sound like "love?", are there examples of Chinese culture associating them with romantic over/undertones just because it sounds very similar to "love", having nothing to do with romance?

Just throwing out these hypothetical examples to try to understand how far this sort of thing goes.

 

[Birdjaguar]

@Birdjaguar Interesting that in the Indo-European languages I know we don't really associate lucky things with other lucky things that sound like it. But I suppose that's likely a consequence of the nature of Mandrin and other east Asian languages, I assume?

Does anybody know if there are things in Mandarin and/or other east Asian cultures that are considered bad because they sound like other bad things? For example, one that I made up and that (probably) isn't true, imagine if the number 13 sounded like "death" in Mandarin and so they consider 13 to be bad luck. Or is this exclusive to lucky things?

If there are words that sound like "love?", are there examples of Chinese culture associating them with romantic over/undertones just because it sounds very similar to "love", having nothing to do with romance?

Just throwing out these hypothetical examples to try to understand how far this sort of thing goes.

I will ask a Chinese friend.

 

[Birdjaguar]

From my link above:

Unlucky Number 4​

4 in China (and in Korea, Japan, and Vietnam) is considered terribly unlucky because it sounds like the word for “death”.

It is really a bad idea to assign the number 4 to anything. Generally, door numbers and car registration numbers do not contain any 4s, especially not in the last digit place.

The Unlucky Number 7​

7 pronounces in Chinese similar to the pronunciation of the word meaning gone. 7 also relates to ceremonies that release dead souls from purgatory. In some parts of China, the 14th or 15th of the 7th month in the Chinese lunar calendar is the Ghost Festival, the date for holding sacrificial ceremonies.

Neutral Numbers: Safe Numbers​

Chinese number 1

It is often associated with the meanings united, beginning, independent, complete, and infinite.

Chinese Number 3

In feng shui, 3 has a natural resonance in terms of beginning, middle, and end; introduction, development, and conclusion.

You can see this number widely used in Chinese culture: the Three Gorges, the Three Kingdoms in Chinese history, and the three halls of the Forbidden City in Beijing.

Chinese Number 5​

5 has been used to classify many things in Chinese, such as the five elements in astrology, the senses, and the basic colors. It is a neutral number. In feng shui, the 5th level of life sometimes means the best.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

From my link above:

Unlucky Number 4​

4 in China (and in Korea, Japan, and Vietnam) is considered terribly unlucky because it sounds like the word for “death”.

It is really a bad idea to assign the number 4 to anything. Generally, door numbers and car registration numbers do not contain any 4s, especially not in the last digit place.

The Unlucky Number 7​

7 pronounces in Chinese similar to the pronunciation of the word meaning gone. 7 also relates to ceremonies that release dead souls from purgatory. In some parts of China, the 14th or 15th of the 7th month in the Chinese lunar calendar is the Ghost Festival, the date for holding sacrificial ceremonies.

Neutral Numbers: Safe Numbers​

Chinese number 1

It is often associated with the meanings united, beginning, independent, complete, and infinite.

Chinese Number 3

In feng shui, 3 has a natural resonance in terms of beginning, middle, and end; introduction, development, and conclusion.

You can see this number widely used in Chinese culture: the Three Gorges, the Three Kingdoms in Chinese history, and the three halls of the Forbidden City in Beijing.

Chinese Number 5​

5 has been used to classify many things in Chinese, such as the five elements in astrology, the senses, and the basic colors. It is a neutral number. In feng shui, the 5th level of life sometimes means the best.

What is their take on the 4 cardinal directions (north, south, east, west)? That's one reason why 4 is used so much in other cultures.