「555」はタイでは「ハハハ」、中国のネットでは泣き声だった

Thai and Chinese people both use numbers as words online. In Thai, the number five sounds like "ha," so "555" means "hahaha." But a study from 2012 says that in Chinese, "555" meant crying. In Chinese, five sounds like "wu," a crying sound.

So the same three numbers can mean a laugh or tears. Words for laughing are also very old. English "ha ha" was used before the year 1150.

If a Thai friend sends you "555," you can smile. In Thai, the number five is pronounced "ha," so the message reads "hahaha." In 2012, Jirameth Rungruang, a lecturer at a university in southern Thailand, compared internet language in Thailand and China. The study found that "55" was the most common number trick in Thai.

In Chinese, however, "555" stood for the sound of crying, and "88" meant "bye-bye." Both languages share the same idea of reading numbers as sounds. With "555," what changes is how people say "five." When Chinese users want to laugh online, they write a Chinese character that sounds like "ha" three or more times.

People have been writing laughter down for a very long time. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the interjection "ha ha" to the Old English period, before 1150, and Merriam-Webster notes that it can express mockery as well as fun. In Japanese, the oldest example that a major historical dictionary gives for "hoho," a light laugh, comes from a tenth-century tale, while its first example of "wahaha" is from 1660.

Online, numbers have joined in. In Thai, five is pronounced "ha," so "555" is a laugh. A 2012 comparison of Thai and Chinese internet language found that Chinese users wrote "555" for crying, because five sounds like a sobbing noise, and that Chinese used number tricks more than Thai did.

The author linked this to a long Chinese habit of matching numbers with words, such as avoiding four, which sounds like "death." The study listed examples instead of counting how often each form appeared, and it is now more than ten years old, so "555" may not mean the same thing to Chinese users today. The dictionary dates, too, are only the earliest examples found so far.