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Some Calculate That 08 + 08 + 08 Adds Up To Good Fortune
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Published: August 8, 2008
TAMPA - To most, this is just another day. But take a closer look.
It's the eighth day of the eighth month of the eighth year of the new millennium, and that must mean something.
Well, it does. After all, the same numerical quirk that involves the number eight won't happen again for 100 years.
In Asian cultures, the number eight is more than just a whole number. It's a lucky number that is thought to bring affluence, according to horoscopes published today.
Is it coincidence that today is the day of the opening ceremony for the Olympics in Beijing?
In some Chinese dialects, the word for the number eight sounds similar to words such as wealth and fortune, and -- numerologically speaking -- the number eight stands for the evolution of life.
If you stack two perfect circles together, you have an eight, and if you place them on their sides, you have the symbol for infinity or eternity. Many Asians are hoping their pregnant wives or significant others give birth today, and lots of people are getting married today.
In Beijing, Chinese officials expected more weddings than usual today.
In Malaysia, 238 couples gathered for a mass wedding ceremony today.
Even in Hillsborough County, the numbers are aligning today.
"We're having more than usual. It's probably like the Feb. 14 date," said Andrea Parker, a deputy clerk who is busy performing marriage ceremonies at the Hillsborough County Clerk of Circuit Court Office in downtown Tampa.
"We're definitely having more marriage ceremonies than people filling out applications," she said.
Getting 08-08-08 stamped on your marriage papers seems to have appeal across the cultural board, she said.
"I would say we are getting maybe 50 marriages more than a usual Friday," she said. Normally there are 20 to 30, she said.
Her estimate: 60 to 70 by day's end.
Reporter Keith Morelli can be reached at (813) 259-7760 or kmorelli@tampatrib.com.
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