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Culture and psychology
Avoiding the number
The number 666 retains a peculiar significance in the culture and psychology of Western societies. Just as many people try to avoid the "unlucky" number 13 (a fear of which is called "triskaidekaphobia"), so people find ways to avoid the "Devil's number", even in contexts that would seem on first sight to be far removed from superstition. The fear of the number 666 is known as "Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia".
For example, when the giant CPU manufacturer Intel introduced the 666 MHz Pentium III in 1999, they chose to market it as the Pentium III 667 on the pretext that, since the actual clock speed was 666.666 MHz, 667 was the more accurate approximationhahaha8212;conveniently ignoring their own usual rounding practice: as examples, consider the earlier 66.666 MHz 486-66, the 466.666 MHz Celeron 466, or the later 866.666 MHz Pentium III 866.
In another instance, U.S. Highway 666, "the Highway of the Beast," was renumbered in 2003 after controversy over the supposed reference to the Biblical beast. See [2].
There is an urban leged that an order was made at an In-N-Out Burger restaurant for a 666 by 666 (a hamburger with 666 patties and an equal number of cheese slices) but the customer instead received a 667 by 667 (that is, with an extra patty and cheese slice.)
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