Borrowed Numbers looks at the numbers people live by: forty days of mourning, seven days in a week, the answer 42. Each episode follows one number back to the people who chose it and shows how it was borrowed from one culture to the next. It is made by an independent creator, as a YouTube channel and this website.
Our rules
- Trace, don't debunk. Many of these numbers belong to faiths and family customs. We explain how a number arose; we never say that a belief or a custom is wrong.
- No numerology. We don't suggest that numbers have meanings or powers of their own. We look for the human reasons behind them.
- A real answer. Every episode tries to answer "why this number?", not just list where it appears. Where the sources disagree or say nothing, we say so.
Carefully researched, checked and sourced
- Each episode starts as a script for our YouTube channel. Every date, name and number comes from published sources, and a separate fact-check checks the script against them before anything is recorded. Claims we cannot confirm are cut, not softened into vague hints.
- The page for each video is the written version of the same script. Its sources are listed at the end and numbered in the text, so you can check every claim yourself.
- The pictures are illustrations, or public-domain images from archives and museums. They are not photographs of the events.
- The videos are narrated in the creator's own voice, from our own scripts. The German and Spanish versions use that same voice.
Corrections
If you find a mistake, please tell us through the contact page. We will correct the page and say what changed.
Advertising
In future the site may show a small number of ads to pay for the work. Ads never decide what we write about. How we handle data is explained in our privacy policy.