query: taboo against 3 people in picture

Mon Feb 27 08:58:42 UTC 2012

From:  ISHIZUKA Masayuki <noitartsinimda at gmail.com>
Reply-To:  <altjapan at googlegroups.com>
Date:  Thu, 23 Feb 2012 22:37:43 +0900
To:  <altjapan at googlegroups.com>
Subject:  Re: [ALT Japan: 1165] RE?: SV: query: taboo against 3 people in
picture

Dear David

I'm from Japan and I've heard of the taboo from elderly people.
They said the middle person between the other two should die before long.

One can explain the taboo as follows:
At least in my country, when more than two people are to be taken a picture,
it is a person of the highest rank that will occupy the middle position.
And then s/he tend to be much older than the others, so to die soonest.

Masayuki

On 2012/02/23, at 9:22, tasaku tsunoda wrote:

> 
> 
> From:  "Hewitt, Stephen" <s.hewitt at UNESCO.ORG>
> Reply-To:  "Hewitt, Stephen" <s.hewitt at UNESCO.ORG>
> Date:  Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:51:52 +0100
> To:  <LINGTYP at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG>
> Subject:  RE : SV: query: taboo against 3 people in picture
> 
> It's the same as the English saying "one's lonely, two's company, three's a
> crowd"
> 
> Steve Hewitt
> 
> 
> -------- Message d'origine--------
> De: Discussion List for ALT de la part de Pedro Martins
> Date: mer. 22/02/2012 15:26
> À: LINGTYP at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG
> Objet : Re: SV: query: taboo against 3 people in picture
> 
> In Portuguese (at least, in European Portuguese), there's the expression:
> "um é pouco, dois é bom, três é demais", which means "one is too few, two
> is good, three is too much". It is regularly used when a situation arises
> in which the norm is exactly two persons (being in a couple, for example)
> and a third person wants to -- or finds himself in a position that make
> others think he might -- be part of it.
> 
> Pedro
> 
> On Wed, Feb 22, 2012 at 13:36, <vfriedm at uchicago.edu> wrote:
> 
>> > Consider also the taboo against three on a match (for lighting cigarettes).
>> > I have heard that the belief dates from WWI trench warfare.  The
>> > explanation was that by the time the third person had lit up, the enemy had
>> > time to aim and fire.
>> > But the taboo itself was well known when i was in college.
>> > Victor
>> >
>> > ---- Original message ----
>>> > >Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2012 21:37:25 +0900
>>> > >From: Discussion List for ALT <LINGTYP at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG> (on
>> > behalf of David Gil <gil at EVA.MPG.DE>)
>>> > >Subject: Re: SV: query: taboo against 3 people in picture
>>> > >To: LINGTYP at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG
>>> > >
>>> > >Jan,
>>> > >
>>> > >Yes, even Indonesian has similar expressions.  However, in the case of
>>> > >'three is a crowd' and such, I think the implicature is clearly that
>>> > >four (and above) would be even worse, whereas in the case of the
>>> > >3-people-in-picture taboo, a common way of solving the problem is to
>>> > >invite an additional person into the picture -- the taboo is
>>> > >specifically for three.
>>> > >
>>> > >David
>>> > >
>>> > >
>>> > >
>>>> > >> Dear David,
>>>> > >>
>>>> > >> Hailing from a different part of the world, your query made me think
of
>> > such phrases as 'Three is a crowd' and 'Ménage á trois', which suggest that
>> > three is one too many.
>>>> > >>
>>>> > >> Best,
>>>> > >>
>>>> > >> Jan
>>>> > >>
>>>> > >> -----Ursprungligt meddelande-----
>>>> > >> Från: Discussion List for ALT
>>>> [mailto:LINGTYP at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG]
>> > För David Gil
>>>> > >> Skickat: den 22 februari 2012 13:14
>>>> > >> Till: LINGTYP at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG
>>>> > >> Ämne: query: taboo against 3 people in picture
>>>> > >>
>>>> > >> Dear all,
>>>> > >>
>>>> > >> Apologies for posting a non-linguistic query, but I'm interested in
>> > checking whether the non-linguistic feature in question correlates with a
>> > particular linguistic area, so perhaps all you field linguists out there
>> > can contribute some of your experiences.
>>>> > >>
>>>> > >>
>>>> > >> In many parts of mainland and insular Southeast Asia stretching into
>> > New Guinea, there is a taboo against three people posing for a photo.  One
>> > or two is fine, four, five and up is fine, but three is a no no.  In some
>> > places the taboo is strong, while in others it's just something people joke
>> > about.  Sometimes it is said that the person in the middle will meet
>> > misfortune or die.
>>>> > >>
>>>> > >> I have encountered this taboo in Cambodia, Sumatra, Borneo, Palawan,
>> > Luzon, Sulawesi, Maluku, and on a recent trip to the Baliem Valley in the
>> > Papuan highlands.  (Though not in Java or the lesser Sunda isles.) The
>> > areal distribution suggests that the taboo must be older than the advent of
>> > photography, perhaps extending back to drawings and paintings; the
>> > antiquity of the taboo is further supported by its presence amongst the
>> > Papuan highland Dani, whose first contact with the outside world was only
>> > in the 1940s (and it seems implausible that they would have picked up the
>> > taboo since then).
>>>> > >>
>>>> > >> My question is: where else is such a taboo present?  Are you familiar
>>>> > >> with it from any other parts of the world?   I would greatly
>>>> appreciate
>>>> > >> both positive and negative data (the latter always being harder to
>> > obtain reliably).  I am particularly interested in delimiting the extent of
>> > the area listed above:  does the taboo exist further east in New Guinea and
>> > into the Pacific?  What about north into China, or west into South Asia?
>>>> > >>
>>>> > >> Thanks,
>>>> > >>
>>>> > >> David
>>>> > >>
>>>> > >> --
>>>> > >> David Gil
>>>> > >>
>>>> > >> Department of Linguistics
>>>> > >> Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology Deutscher Platz 6,
>> > D-04103 Leipzig, Germany
>>>> > >>
>>>> > >> Telephone: 49-341-3550321 Fax: 49-341-3550119
>>>> > >> Email: gil at eva.mpg.de
>>>> > >> Webpage:  http://www.eva.mpg.de/~gil/
>>>> > >>
>>>> > >>
>>>> > >>
>>>> > >>
>>>> > >>
>>> > >
>>> > >
>>> > >--
>>> > >David Gil
>>> > >
>>> > >Department of Linguistics
>>> > >Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
>>> > >Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany
>>> > >
>>> > >Telephone: 49-341-3550321 Fax: 49-341-3550119
>>> > >Email: gil at eva.mpg.de
>>> > >Webpage:  http://www.eva.mpg.de/~gil/
>> >
> 
> 
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