Anyone know the origin of this becoming the universally accepted way to count off seconds? What about “one Mississippi; two Mississippi?”
Going out on a limb I think it might be because it takes about one second to say “one thousand xxxx”. So you can count seconds.
This is why
“Antidisestablishment one, Antidisestablishment two”
doesnt work as well. ha ha.
Understood, samboy. But any four- or five-syllable phrase, spoken in the proper timing, would do the trick.
How did it come to be that everyone seems to use the two that I mention in my OP? And can their origins be traced?
When I was a kid, we used to count “alligators”. One alligator, two alligator, etc.
I’ve heard people count: “One hippopotamus, two hippopotamus…”
-b
We used to count one (EDITED) one, one (EDITED) two, ect.
Actually we used to say “One one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand…” or “one mississippi…”
Eventually somebody’d say “one Mrs. Pissy” and we’d all start laughing and so much for that.
Not that I am helping out any here, but so far every way that someone has mentioned they counted I have heard used. So it seems that what Milossarian said about words that are 4-5 syllables is probably right.