lute@abnjh.UUCP (J. Collymore) (10/31/83)
If you have ANY clocks, watches or sun-dials, made in either Europe or the US using Roman numerals, you will notice something unusual on the face. On these clocks you will see that the number 4 is different, being represented as: IIII, rather than the correct IV. The reason for this goes back to times B.C. You see, Jupiter (or Jove) was the cheif of the Roman gods. The short-hand representation for Jove was IV. Sometime long ago it was believed that to use this short-hand was blasphemy, and would bring a curse upon the person inscribing it. To avoid this curse, sun-dial (and later watch and clock) makers avoided using IV to represent the number 4, and instead used IIII. So the next time you see a clock, watch or sun-dial, look at the 4 on the face. Jim Collymore p.s. I can't fully verify the truth of this superstition, but it makes interesting party conversation (especially on Halloween).