Friday is a big day, and not just because it’s the opening day of the Beijing Olympics. It’s 08/08/08. In Mandarin and Cantonese, the word for the number eight sounds like the word for “good fortune,” so eight is considered a lucky number. Because of this year’s triple eight, a lot of couples are hoping that if they get married on Friday, they’re marriage will work out well. Jennifer 8. Lee reports in the New York Times that China expects more weddings than usual on Friday, and in the U.S., there are 22,000 weddings registered on TheKnot.com and WeddingChannel.com, which is four times as many as any other Friday in August. Still, nothing can beat the numbers for last year’s lucky number seven — 07/07/07, which had 70,000 online-registered weddings on those websites. However, you can’t exactly compare the two directly, as Saturday as always a way bigger day for weddings than Friday. [NY Times]
