Armenian Obsession With "COOL NUMBERS"

I don’t know what is the matter with Armenians and numbers, but if you have a mobile phone or a car, it just has to have a “cool number“, otherwise you’re not a real “APE” (bro), which is like really scarry 😉
It is hard to classify all the modes of this obsession, but here are some basics.

1. Repeated digits – repetition is the “mother of learning”!
2. A lot of zero’s – and not only on the car, but also in the bank account…
3. Ascending or Descending orders – easy to remember!
4. 02-s: used to mean that the owner of the car has connections with the police, so police were not supposed to stop your car.
5. 444 / 777 / 666 – you belong to one of the oligarch clans, I still haven’t figures out which one is which.

So anyway, the picture with this post is the result of 3 minute stroll down the street across my office: its harder to find a car without the cool number then vice versa these days, so I guess I’m gonna change mine to a simple number (right now it is 45LS654).

Artur Papyan

Journalist, blogger, digital security and media consultant

8 Comments

  1. 🙂 I don’t think I’ve ever known what the number plates on my car have been except for my first car. But I can understand why people would try to stand out – it’s a way to customize your car.
    But standing out can be a dangerous situation as well. The more anonymous I am, the better.

  2. and some people pay $200 and more bribe to get a “cool number”, needless to speak about the fact, that “gold” and “platinum” mobile phone numbers cost up to 5-10 times more then their regular price!

  3. Just stole your picture, with due credit! 😀

  4. welcome – with due credit! 🙂

  5. The former license plate number on my Niva was 07 UO 009, which was viewed as being prestigious yet it didn’t do anything for me except get me pulled over frequently by the traffic police. I registered my car under my own name a couple of weeks ago and was rewarded with a “09” number by the officer who was filing my paperwork–I guess he liked me. 😉

  6. I guess the people who are so much fixed on the idea of having such cool number plates are just compensating for something! Bad childhood, etc… 😉

  7. 64 233 <- the cool in this one escapes me 😉

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