<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 18px; font-family: 'ＭＳ Ｐゴシック', 'MS PGothic', sans-serif; "><div><div><div><br></div><div><div><div></div></div></div></div></div><div><br></div><span id="OLK_SRC_BODY_SECTION"><div style="font-family:ÇlÇr ÇoÉSÉVÉbÉN; font-size:10pt; text-align:left; color:black; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: #b5c4df 1pt solid; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-TOP: 3pt"><span style="font-weight:bold">From: </span> ISHIZUKA Masayuki <<a href="mailto:noitartsinimda@gmail.com">noitartsinimda@gmail.com</a>><br><span style="font-weight:bold">Reply-To: </span> <<a href="mailto:altjapan@googlegroups.com">altjapan@googlegroups.com</a>><br><span style="font-weight:bold">Date: </span> Thu, 23 Feb 2012 22:37:43 +0900<br><span style="font-weight:bold">To: </span> <<a href="mailto:altjapan@googlegroups.com">altjapan@googlegroups.com</a>><br><span style="font-weight:bold">Subject: </span> Re: [ALT Japan: 1165] RE?: SV: query: taboo against 3 people in picture<br></div><div><br></div><div><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Dear David<div><br></div><div>I'm from Japan and I've heard of the taboo from elderly people. </div><div>They said the middle person between the other two should die before long.</div><div><br></div><div>One can explain the taboo as follows:</div><div>At least in my country, when more than two people are to be taken a picture, </div><div>it is a person of the highest rank that will occupy the middle position. </div><div>And then s/he tend to be much older than the others, so to die soonest.</div><div><br></div><div>Masayuki</div><div><br><div><div>On 2012/02/23, at 9:22, tasaku tsunoda wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 18px; font-family: 'ＭＳ Ｐゴシック', 'MS PGothic', sans-serif; "><div><div><div><br></div><div><div><div></div></div></div></div></div><div><br></div><span id="OLK_SRC_BODY_SECTION"><div style="font-family:ÇlÇr ÇoÉSÉVÉbÉN; font-size:10pt; text-align:left; color:black; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: #b5c4df 1pt solid; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-TOP: 3pt"><span style="font-weight:bold">From: </span> "Hewitt, Stephen" <<a href="mailto:s.hewitt@UNESCO.ORG">s.hewitt@UNESCO.ORG</a>><br><span style="font-weight:bold">Reply-To: </span> "Hewitt, Stephen" <<a href="mailto:s.hewitt@UNESCO.ORG">s.hewitt@UNESCO.ORG</a>><br><span style="font-weight:bold">Date: </span> Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:51:52 +0100<br><span style="font-weight:bold">To: </span> <<a href="mailto:LINGTYP@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG">LINGTYP@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG</a>><br><span style="font-weight:bold">Subject: </span> RE : SV: query: taboo against 3 people in picture<br></div><div><br></div><div><div><!-- Converted from text/plain format --><div><font size="2">It's the same as the English saying "one's lonely, two's company, three's a crowd"<br><br>
Steve Hewitt<br><br><br>
-------- Message d'origine--------<br>
De: Discussion List for ALT de la part de Pedro Martins<br>
Date: mer. 22/02/2012 15:26<br>
À: <a href="mailto:LINGTYP@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG">LINGTYP@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG</a><br>
Objet : Re: SV: query: taboo against 3 people in picture<br><br>
In Portuguese (at least, in European Portuguese), there's the expression:<br>
"um é pouco, dois é bom, três é demais", which means "one is too few, two<br>
is good, three is too much". It is regularly used when a situation arises<br>
in which the norm is exactly two persons (being in a couple, for example)<br>
and a third person wants to -- or finds himself in a position that make<br>others think he might -- be part of it.<br><br>
Pedro<br><br>
On Wed, Feb 22, 2012 at 13:36, <<a href="mailto:vfriedm@uchicago.edu">vfriedm@uchicago.edu</a>> wrote:<br><br>
> Consider also the taboo against three on a match (for lighting cigarettes).<br>
> I have heard that the belief dates from WWI trench warfare. The<br>
> explanation was that by the time the third person had lit up, the enemy had<br>
> time to aim and fire.<br>
> But the taboo itself was well known when i was in college.<br>
> Victor<br>
><br>
> ---- Original message ----<br>
> >Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2012 21:37:25 +0900<br>
> >From: Discussion List for ALT <<a href="mailto:LINGTYP@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG">LINGTYP@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG</a>> (on<br>
> behalf of David Gil <<a href="mailto:gil@EVA.MPG.DE">gil@EVA.MPG.DE</a>>)<br>
> >Subject: Re: SV: query: taboo against 3 people in picture<br>
> >To: <a href="mailto:LINGTYP@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG">LINGTYP@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG</a><br>
> ><br>
> >Jan,<br>
> ><br>
> >Yes, even Indonesian has similar expressions. However, in the case of<br>
> >'three is a crowd' and such, I think the implicature is clearly that<br>
> >four (and above) would be even worse, whereas in the case of the<br>
> >3-people-in-picture taboo, a common way of solving the problem is to<br>
> >invite an additional person into the picture -- the taboo is<br>
> >specifically for three.<br>
> ><br>
> >David<br>
> ><br>
> ><br>
> ><br>
> >> Dear David,<br>
> >><br>
> >> Hailing from a different part of the world, your query made me think of<br>
> such phrases as 'Three is a crowd' and 'Ménage á trois', which suggest that<br>
> three is one too many.<br>
> >><br>
> >> Best,<br>
> >><br>
> >> Jan<br>
> >><br>
> >> -----Ursprungligt meddelande-----<br>
> >> Från: Discussion List for ALT [<a href="mailto:LINGTYP@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG">mailto:LINGTYP@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG</a>]<br>
> För David Gil<br>
> >> Skickat: den 22 februari 2012 13:14<br>
> >> Till: <a href="mailto:LINGTYP@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG">LINGTYP@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG</a><br>
> >> Ämne: query: taboo against 3 people in picture<br>
> >><br>
> >> Dear all,<br>
> >><br>
> >> Apologies for posting a non-linguistic query, but I'm interested in<br>
> checking whether the non-linguistic feature in question correlates with a<br>
> particular linguistic area, so perhaps all you field linguists out there<br>
> can contribute some of your experiences.<br>
> >><br>
> >><br>
> >> In many parts of mainland and insular Southeast Asia stretching into<br>
> New Guinea, there is a taboo against three people posing for a photo. One<br>
> or two is fine, four, five and up is fine, but three is a no no. In some<br>
> places the taboo is strong, while in others it's just something people joke<br>
> about. Sometimes it is said that the person in the middle will meet<br>
> misfortune or die.<br>
> >><br>
> >> I have encountered this taboo in Cambodia, Sumatra, Borneo, Palawan,<br>
> Luzon, Sulawesi, Maluku, and on a recent trip to the Baliem Valley in the<br>
> Papuan highlands. (Though not in Java or the lesser Sunda isles.) The<br>
> areal distribution suggests that the taboo must be older than the advent of<br>
> photography, perhaps extending back to drawings and paintings; the<br>> antiquity of the taboo is further supported by its presence amongst the<br>
> Papuan highland Dani, whose first contact with the outside world was only<br>
> in the 1940s (and it seems implausible that they would have picked up the<br>
> taboo since then).<br>
> >><br>
> >> My question is: where else is such a taboo present? Are you familiar<br>
> >> with it from any other parts of the world? I would greatly appreciate<br>
> >> both positive and negative data (the latter always being harder to<br>
> obtain reliably). I am particularly interested in delimiting the extent of<br>
> the area listed above: does the taboo exist further east in New Guinea and<br>
> into the Pacific? What about north into China, or west into South Asia?<br>
> >><br>
> >> Thanks,<br>
> >><br>
> >> David<br>
> >><br>
> >> --<br>
> >> David Gil<br>
> >><br>
> >> Department of Linguistics<br>
> >> Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology Deutscher Platz 6,<br>
> D-04103 Leipzig, Germany<br>
> >><br>
> >> Telephone: 49-341-3550321 Fax: 49-341-3550119<br>
> >> Email: <a href="mailto:gil@eva.mpg.de">gil@eva.mpg.de</a><br>> >> Webpage: <a href="http://www.eva.mpg.de/~gil/">http://www.eva.mpg.de/~gil/</a><br>
> >><br>
> >><br>
> >><br>
> >><br>
> >><br>
> ><br>
> ><br>
> >--<br>
> >David Gil<br>
> ><br>
> >Department of Linguistics<br>
> >Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology<br>
> >Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany<br>
> ><br>
> >Telephone: 49-341-3550321 Fax: 49-341-3550119<br>
> >Email: <a href="mailto:gil@eva.mpg.de">gil@eva.mpg.de</a><br>
> >Webpage: <a href="http://www.eva.mpg.de/~gil/">http://www.eva.mpg.de/~gil/</a><br>
><br><br></font></div></div></div></span></div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>
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