Number 33
The number 33 is used very often as a spook marker for fake events, particularly fake deaths where spooks “die” at age 33. This may be because the number 33 puns with “fakery” & “death” in a variety of ways:
Latin trigunta tribus for “33” puns with “tricking the tribes”, which meant “lower classes”. Another Latin pun may be with tragoedia trica “trick tragedy”. Hebrew שלשים ושלש šlšym-wšlš for “33”
puns loosely with Š-L-M words for “government agent”, and “enacted death”. And in Hebrew numerology, 33 spells out the word “mockery”.
In a nutshell
The number 33 has several possible puns, and I think the spooks love it because they’re all valid. They love the 33, because it is a hoax marker in several languages, in several ways.
- In Latin, 33 is trigunta tribus, which puns with tricando tribus “tricking the tribes” & “tricking the lower classes”. The word tribus means “three” and “tribes”, but also “the mob” & “the lower classes”. It’s the same word, so 33 is a very good Latin pun. 🡻
- Latin 33rd is triginta tercia, which puns with tragoedia trica “trick tragedy”, which would be another way to say “fake death”. That may be one reason why the spooks often use the 33 for faked deaths specifically. 🡻
- In Hebrew, 33 is שלשים ושלש šlšym-wšlš, which puns loosely with Š-L-M words. The spooks don’t seem to mind if a few letters have to be omitted or shuffled.
- One Hebrew 33 pun is שלם משל šlm mšl for “played death” & “resembling a death”. The root √šlm means “peace” (shalom), but is also a euphemism for “dying”. And mšl means “resembling”, “playing”, “likeness”. 🡻
- Another Hebrew 33 pun may be שליש משל šlyš-mšl for “government agent”. The root √šlš means “three”, but also “agent”, because in contracts such an agent was often termed “3rd party”. 🡻
- If written with Hebrew numerals, 33 spells out the word לג lg, which is similar to לעג lˁg “mockery”. 🡻
- Finally, English thirty-three is somewhat similar to the phrase “dirty-trick”. That’d be a very cheap pun though.
- Regardless of the pun, the meaning of 33 as a hoax marker is confirmed simply by the vast number of spooky celebs who allegedly “died” at age 33.
Latin tricando tribus for “tricking the tribes”
In Latin, 33 is triginta tribus. This is close to Latin tricando tribus for “tricking the tribes” & “tricking the lower classes”. This is because Latin tribus apparently not only meant “three” and “tribes”, but also “the mob” & “the lower classes”. It was the same word!
The pun even works somewhat in English: “trickin’ da tribes”. Maybe that’s how the spooklings who don’t speak Latin can memorize it, and that’s why it’s become so popular in modern times.
My Latin is too poor to pick the correct grammar, but the spooks would almost certainly also use garbled grammar for their puns. This Latin pun works in 2 variants:
33 = triginta tribus ≈ tricando tribus = trick the lower classes
33 = triginta tribus ≈ intricanto turbis = entrick the crowd
Latin triginta = thirty; tricando = play tricks; intricanto = entrick
Latin tribus = three, tribe, lower classes; turba = crowd, multitude
Latin tragoedia trica for “trick tragedy”
Since the number 33 is often (but not always) used for faked deaths, a secondary pun may be of triginta tercia “33rd” with tragoedia trica “trick tragedy”. Varous forms of the Latin words for “three” and “trick” are possible here to make it work. The standard spelling is tertia.
Latin triginta = 30; terci = 3; tragoedia = tragedy; trico = trick
Semitic šlm-mšl for “fake death”
The most straightforward Hebrew fake death pun would be with שלם משל šlm mšl for “played death”, or “death only in likeness”. (2 Šin are dropped, but that probably doesn’t bother the spooks.) The root √šlm means “peace” & “health” (as in the greeting shalom), but it’s also a euphemism for “death”. All these meanings are derived from “completeness” & “going full-circle”.
The Semitic word root √mšl means “likeness”, “play” & “fable” (and also “government”, both perhaps derived from “representation”). In the Aramaic form ܡܬܠ mtl and the Arabic form مثل mṯl, it’s even used in modern language for “theater acting” & “movie acting”, so the spooks could certainly use mšl to mean “enacted”.
Hebrew šlm = death, passing away; mšl = resemble, be like, fable, play
שלם šlm : to be ended, be finished, be complete; die, pass away; completed, finished — Hebrew (Klein)
משל mšl : to be like, resemble, to speak in parables; become like; likened, compared — Hebrew (Klein)
משל mšl : allegory, fable, morality play; example — Hebrew (Wikt)
משול mšwl : resemblance, comparison — Hebrew (Klein)
Semitic šlyš-mšl for “government agent”
In Hebrew, the word root √šlš for “three” has also the meaning of “agent” & “trustee”, because a such a person was referred to as the “third party” in many contracts & stipulations. It was also an abbreviation for “third-rank officer”. One 3 in the spook number 33 can therefore also stand for “agent” or “officer”. Because it was actually the same word root √šlš, the pun is perfect here: Threes are agents in Hebrew.
The whole pun-word may then be שליש משל šlyš mšl for “government agent” or “government officer”. The Semitic word root √mšl means “government” (and also “likeness”, both perhaps derived from “representation”).
Hebrew šlš = three, third party, trustee, agent
שליש šlyš : a third; a lieutenant; an agent; a third party. — Hebrew (Wikt)
שליש šlyš : captain, officer; the third finger, middle-finger; [the third person,] trustee, depositary; one third — Hebrew (Jastrow)
שליש šlyš : trustee, depositary; arbitrator, referee; Derived from שלש and properly denoting the third man, with whom the two parties deposited something. — Hebrew (Klein)
Hebrew mšl = rule, govern
Semitic 33 = lg as pun with lˁg for “mockery”
If 33 is written with Hebrew letters for numerals, the spelling is לג lg. That’s very close to לעג lˁg for “mockery”. (It’s also close to Yiddish ליגן lign, German lügen, for “lying”.)
As usual with Hebrew numerals, the exact spelling cannot be used as it doesn’t produce a valid number.
| Number | Hebrew numeral |
|---|---|
| 30 | ל Lamed |
| 3 | ג Gimel |
| 33 = 30 + 3 | לג lg ≈ לעג lˁg = mockery |