# I count syllables. Does anyone else do that? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 18, 2010, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-count-syllables-does-anyone-else-do-that/539891 "2010-05-18T15:30:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![prettydorky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f04885/32.png) [@prettydorky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/prettydorky)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-count-syllables-does-anyone-else-do-that/539891/1 "2010-05-18T15:30:51Z")
I’ve done it for I don’t know how long and it’s constantly on in the background of my brain. Then I organize them into sets of smaller numbers. There are lots of little rules. I tried to expound on the details but it sounds so completely crazy and it’s REALLY hard to explain and probably boring to others. So I gave up on that. A few years ago, I found out a close friend does it too. It was a big day. Thought we were the only ones, and all that. Anyone here do it? ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-count-syllables-does-anyone-else-do-that/539891/2 "2010-05-18T17:48:59Z")
Of everything you read? Write? OCD? Asperger’s? ---
**Author:** ![tallcoldone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9a140/32.png) [@tallcoldone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tallcoldone)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-count-syllables-does-anyone-else-do-that/539891/3 "2010-05-18T18:01:37Z")
A sister-in-law says she does that. It sounds like a minor OCD-type of habit, but it doesn’t bother anyone unless you do it out loud or otherwise dispupts your life. ---
**Author:** ![RalfCoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@RalfCoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RalfCoder)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-count-syllables-does-anyone-else-do-that/539891/4 "2010-05-18T18:17:33Z")
I don’t count syllables, but I do count stairsteps. Usually by twos, though - one and, two and, three and… Even on stairways that I’ve walked hundreds of times.😕 And I walk up and down escalators if there aren’t people blocking the way. ---
**Author:** ![prettydorky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f04885/32.png) [@prettydorky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/prettydorky)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-count-syllables-does-anyone-else-do-that/539891/5 "2010-05-18T18:47:57Z")
It’s mild OCD, yes. And yes, I count the syllables of sentences that come from all sorts of sources. TV, radio, conversations. I don’t know how my brain chooses the sentences it then counts and sorts, but I’ll be driving down the road and realize that I am repeating in my head a line from a song that was on 20 minutes ago… but I break up the sentence into sets. And I only use sentences with a certain amount of syllables. My friend that does it only uses road signs, and she physically ticks off the syllables by moving her feet. It’s very similar but also markedly different from my own, er, habit. It gets thicker and weirder from here but that’s the gist of it. ---
**Author:** ![Pitter\_Patter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/90db22/32.png) [@Pitter\_Patter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pitter_Patter)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-count-syllables-does-anyone-else-do-that/539891/6 "2010-05-18T19:18:16Z")
I feel better now. I do this on my fingers. Not just syllables, but entire sentences, and try to start with the first digit in order to end up at my thumb or pinky. I really need a hobby;). ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-count-syllables-does-anyone-else-do-that/539891/7 "2010-05-18T19:20:00Z")
Only when playing [Haiku Madness!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=553188) ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-count-syllables-does-anyone-else-do-that/539891/8 "2010-05-18T19:22:42Z")
My sister does it as well, and certain multiples of syllables are better than others. She also has OCD, but is very functional, has a great job, is married, etc. I doubt most people would notice anything about her except that she tends to have certain conversational phrases that she’ll repeat fairly frequently, maybe every few sentences or so. It’s like how some people may get hung up on the interjection “um” except she’ll say something more like “and things like that”. I assume it may be a phrase that helps her fill out a good syllable count, or maybe just a “good” phrase in general for how she perceives conversation. ---
**Author:** ![prettydorky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f04885/32.png) [@prettydorky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/prettydorky)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-count-syllables-does-anyone-else-do-that/539891/9 "2010-05-18T19:54:27Z")
yes, yes, exactly. **Pittter Patter** , I used to do it with my feet when I was a kid. Somewhere along the way it went all up into my head. The cool thing was when Nintendo DS came out with Brain Age 2… one of the games is counting syllables. Everyone else was at a 5-7 minute time and I was like at 25 seconds 😃 ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-count-syllables-does-anyone-else-do-that/539891/10 "2010-05-18T21:15:46Z")
No … But I’m currently working as a subtitler and, for everything I hear or read, I divide it into 37 characters and a maximum of two lines per subtitle. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-count-syllables-does-anyone-else-do-that/539891/11 "2010-05-20T08:31:26Z")
Mild OCD? It sounds like full-blown OCD to me, but IANAD and if it doesn’t interfere with your life, then more power to you. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-count-syllables-does-anyone-else-do-that/539891/12 "2010-05-21T21:31:43Z")
For many years from childhood into early adulthood, whenever I read a book I always noticed the page number when I got to 99 or 100. I have no idea why that was unless it was the long-forgotten childhood milestone of reading a book of 100 pages or longer. Or maybe it has something to do with counting to 100. It’s often another early milestone when a kid learns to count that high. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-count-syllables-does-anyone-else-do-that/539891/13 "2010-05-21T23:04:51Z")
Nope. My brain doesn’t understand the concept of syllables very well. I have difficulty determining how many are in a word, and when people ask “which syllable do you stress in the word [insert word]?” I have **no** idea. I don’t know if it’s me, or that New Englanders don’t put much stress on most syllables, but I seldom notice stress on any parts of words. ---
**Author:** ![ENugent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2010, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-count-syllables-does-anyone-else-do-that/539891/14 "2010-05-22T00:04:43Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > For many years from childhood into early adulthood, whenever I read a book I always noticed the page number when I got to 99 or 100. I have no idea why that was unless it was the long-forgotten childhood milestone of reading a book of 100 pages or longer. Or maybe it has something to do with counting to 100. It’s often another early milestone when a kid learns to count that high. I do prime factorizations of each page number as I read, and look forward to the ones that can be made out of only 2s and 3s. I also sometimes figure out the average number of pages per chapter as I finish each chapter, and feel a vague sense of rightness when it comes out to a round number or a fraction with a small denominator. I only do the average number of pages thing on books where the text starts on page 1, though - having to subtract the number of pages of the forematter makes it seem not worthwhile. ---
**Author:** ![Oregon\_sunshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/50afbb/32.png) [@Oregon\_sunshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oregon_sunshine)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2010, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-count-syllables-does-anyone-else-do-that/539891/15 "2010-05-22T00:08:27Z")
Me. Of course, I thought I was the only one who did it :smack:. ---
**Author:** ![smmcgeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@smmcgeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smmcgeek)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-count-syllables-does-anyone-else-do-that/539891/16 "2010-07-16T13:55:14Z")
I thought I was the only one who did that. I just told my mom last night. She pointed out that I do other thigs too. Like I have to fill my glass to the exact same level before I put it on the table. Too much, I drink. Too little, I fill. And I count steps, even the fifteen in my house that I have lived for eight years. Every time. and I HAVE to start on my right foot (or I’ll fall). I make things add up to ten when I count. In my mind, if I can make it ten, then whatever it is will stick in my character. I rearrange popular quotes so that they fit and I can “remember” them. help?