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Don't Like Friday The 13th? Then This Isn't A Good Year For You

We've got bad news if you have paraskevidekatriaphobia.

Not only is today a Friday the 13th, but we've got two more coming this year.

And three, according to the many online discussions of this issue that we've read this morning and this story in Delaware's News Journal, is the most there can be in one year.

But wait, there's more: This year's Friday the 13ths fall 13 weeks apart. The next will be on April 13. Then there's one on July 13. That doesn't sound good to those who don't like the number.

However, as Korva told us last May, if you learn how to pronounce paraskevidekatriaphobia then you can supposedly be cured of that fear of Friday the 13th.

She put together an audio lesson.

Korva teaches us how to say paraskevidekatriaphobia

Update at 10:55 a.m. ET. What If There Were Four? Earlier this month, we posted about the Hanke-Henry Calendar — a change suggested by some researchers which would mean the dates would fall on the same day of the week "year after year." There would be a "leap week" every five or six years.

And would that mean for Friday the 13ths?

There would be four! In January, April, July and October.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.
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