# Counting seconds in other countries. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 27, 2006, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counting-seconds-in-other-countries/366293 "2006-07-27T17:20:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counting-seconds-in-other-countries/366293/1 "2006-07-27T17:20:47Z")
When I was in school, I was taught to count using “Mississppi” so as to not rush and I still do this today. It occurred to me, how do people in other countries count seconds? Do most countries have a standard phrase or does it vary? For that matter, what do the Yankees do? Do y’all use Mississippi as well? Or do you count “one New Hampshire, two New Hampshire…”? ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counting-seconds-in-other-countries/366293/2 "2006-07-27T17:31:02Z")
My Pittsburgher mother says Mississippi, so I guess the Yankees are like us in some respects. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counting-seconds-in-other-countries/366293/3 "2006-07-27T17:33:20Z")
Born and raised in the South, live in New England now. It is still Mississippi’s claim to fame here. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counting-seconds-in-other-countries/366293/4 "2006-07-27T17:34:59Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > My Pittsburgher mother says Mississippi, so I guess the Yankees are like us in some respects. Chimpanzees are “like us” in some ways as well.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counting-seconds-in-other-countries/366293/5 "2006-07-27T17:38:55Z")
I learned it as “one thousand one,” and I never heard “one Mississippi” until adulthood. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counting-seconds-in-other-countries/366293/6 "2006-07-27T17:40:43Z")
We used “one one-thousand; two-one-thousand; three-one-thousand”… ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counting-seconds-in-other-countries/366293/7 "2006-07-27T18:01:39Z")
In England the preferred methods were “one-Picadilly, two-Picadilly…” and “one-one thousand, two-one thousand…”, at least when I was growing up. The smarter ones among us used a watch. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counting-seconds-in-other-countries/366293/8 "2006-07-27T18:29:28Z")
> [@BwanaBob](#): > > We used “one one-thousand; two-one-thousand; three-one-thousand”… That’s what we said too. (Grew up in VT, BTW.) ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counting-seconds-in-other-countries/366293/9 "2006-07-27T18:42:31Z")
Growing up in Pennsylvania, everyone I knew counted with “Mississippi.” The most frequent place you’d hear it would be during playground football games, where the defensive players would have to count to five Mississippi before they could rush the quarterback. Once, as a kid, I timed myself saying “Mississippi” and realized that it actually took slightly over a second. Stickler for accuracy that I was, I dropped the middle “iss” from the word, bringing it down to three syllables. That worked out to exactly a second, and I still do it that way to this day. ---
**Author:** ![LionelHutz405](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lionelhutz405/32/536_2.png) [@LionelHutz405](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LionelHutz405)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counting-seconds-in-other-countries/366293/10 "2006-07-27T18:45:13Z")
I heard some (Canadian) football commentators mention the other day that kids in the states count Mississipi’s and Canadian kids count ‘steamboats’, before they can rush the quarterback. It’s true, I remember counting steamboats when playing touch football as a kid. No idea why steamboats though. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counting-seconds-in-other-countries/366293/11 "2006-07-27T18:51:21Z")
It seems as if the “one one-thousand ; two one-thousand ; three one-thousand” method is a Northeast USA “tradition”. That’s what I’ve always used and I’ve been in the Boston area all my life. ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counting-seconds-in-other-countries/366293/12 "2006-07-27T18:57:58Z")
One-Kodak, Two-Kodak… May have been George Eastman who originated that one. ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counting-seconds-in-other-countries/366293/13 "2006-07-27T18:58:43Z")
> [@](#): > > Do most countries have a standard phrase or does it vary? In Germany it’s almost invariably _einundzwanzig_, _zweiundzwanzig_, _dreiundzwanzig_, _vierundzwanzig_, … - i.e. twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four, … ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counting-seconds-in-other-countries/366293/14 "2006-07-27T19:02:16Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Chimpanzees are “like us” in some ways as well.🙂 Well, I actually typed something about how even though they eat puppy sandwiches for breakfast, we still have something in common, but I was the better man and deleted it. ---
**Author:** ![elfbabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b782af/32.png) [@elfbabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfbabe)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counting-seconds-in-other-countries/366293/15 "2006-07-27T21:52:54Z")
I (Milwaukee, WI) always counted with one thousands, while my boyfriend (Ottawa, ON) counted with Mississippis, though he’s heard of steamboats. How odd… ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2006, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counting-seconds-in-other-countries/366293/16 "2006-07-28T01:12:56Z")
> [@tremorviolet](#): > > When I was in school, I was taught to count using “Mississppi” so as to not rush and I still do this today. It occurred to me, how do people in other countries count seconds? For that matter, what do the Yankees do? This one uses "one steam engine, two steam engines, three steam engines … ! ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2006, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counting-seconds-in-other-countries/366293/17 "2006-07-28T02:17:32Z")
Steamboats in Canada, for as long as I can remember… ---
**Author:** ![aerodave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f08c70/32.png) [@aerodave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aerodave)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2006, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counting-seconds-in-other-countries/366293/18 "2006-07-28T02:21:31Z")
> [@tschild](#): > > In Germany it’s almost invariably _einundzwanzig_, _zweiundzwanzig_, _dreiundzwanzig_, _vierundzwanzig_, … - i.e. twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four, … In Germany, the trick is finding a word that takes _only_ a second to say. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2006, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counting-seconds-in-other-countries/366293/19 "2006-07-28T02:42:20Z")
Growing up on just east of Cleveland, I heard “Mississippi”, “Steam boat” and “one thousand” as the timing words. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2006, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counting-seconds-in-other-countries/366293/20 "2006-07-28T02:45:06Z")
I’ve normally used the “one-thousand” method. (Montreal, Canada) However, I’ve also counted “One hippopotamus… two hippopotamus…” when in the presence of kiddies, because it gets giggles. I wonder how many young adults are walking around counting like that as a result of my babysitting? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/counting-seconds-in-other-countries/366293.md?page=2)