Urban Myths Strike Again

There are urban legends that take generations to develop, and then there are flash myths .... our new digital lifestyles mean that word of mouth is faster than ever and this is what struck the car salesman of Afghanistan (talking of tuff jobs) ...... an urban legend has sprung up that caused the local car buyers to develop a curious aversion for registration plates containing the number 39.

For some unexplained reason the number 39 is suddenly held as a mark of great shame by Afghan's, but no one knows why anymore, or what the cause of this dislike is. One explanation given is that the taboo started because a pimp had '39' on his number plate, but in which case what about the other numbers on the pimp plate? Another explanation is that it stems from an old way of calculating numbers from letters and numbers into letters called "Abjad" ... but why 39 would be an issue isn't covered by that explanation either.

But despite the illogicality the legend has grown from nowhere leaving owners of new cars with the plates unhappy .... and in Afghanistan that's unhappy.

"I am gutted that my car has a 39 number plate. I have had enough of people's taunts," said Ahmad Ghafor, a taxi driver in Kabul. "It gets worse when I have women customers in the car. Other drivers signal to me or blow their horn saying 'shall we pay you to drop these ladies to my place?'" ... he can't sell the car for love nor money.

Nuruddin Hamdard, head of the Kabul traffic department, told the BBC: "According to law, we have to distribute plate number 39. It is people's ignorance that they go after superstition". Of course this is Afghanistan, so corruption is rampant, and the traffic department officials are charging more than $300 (£185) as a bribe to issue plates with a different number. Other motorists have paid to have their plates professionally altered and the 39 erased despite the fact that this is illegal.

Pimp My Ride Big Boy

Car prices have been hugely affected. Cars worth $12,000 but with plates on number 39 have sold new for only $7,000 .... and the contagion has spread to the non car population.  People also avoid mobile phone numbers with those two numbers as the leading digits because they get crank calls asking for prostitutes. There are even reports of house numbers being changed from 39 to stop people calling to ask for prostitutes ...  (prostitutes are apparently an endless topic of fascination amongst the saddo's of these countries ... it appears to stem from the religion).

There have been attempts to halt the spread of this problem ... Nuruddin Hamdard of Kabul's traffic department says people should get real. "In every Islamic country you can see car plates number 39. We have verses of the Koran starting with 39. I have spoken to mullahs about this - they have no idea and call it absurd and superstition. People are just making a mountain out of a molehill."

But still it grips the men of this country ....... you would think that they would have more urgent things to worry about.

Update: Months later this story hasn't gone away ... the BBC have reported that in November 2011, officials at a meeting of elders in Kabul changed a committee's number after delegates rejected '39', because of an Afghan belief that the number is associated with pimps. Strange that it all started from an urban myth.