# Thrice **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 31, 2013, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrice/659780 "2013-05-31T10:17:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrice/659780/21 "2013-05-31T18:30:59Z")
The Golden Girls argued about this when writing their Miami song. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/MA-BYgduGzY/hqdefault.jpg "Golden Girls - Miami Song") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA-BYgduGzY) ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrice/659780/22 "2013-06-01T02:46:48Z")
moriah writes: \> Once, twice, thrice, quatrice, quintice, sextice, septice, octice, nince, tince, \> elevince, twilce. The problem is that you’re using Latin roots for most of those terms. The words “once, twice, thrice” are from Anglo-Saxon roots. Usually it’s expected that just Anglo-Saxon or just Latin roots will be used. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrice/659780/23 "2013-06-01T20:20:31Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > moriah writes: > > \> Once, twice, thrice, quatrice, quintice, sextice, septice, octice, nince, tince, > \> elevince, twilce. > > The problem is that you’re using Latin roots for most of those terms. The words “once, twice, thrice” are from Anglo-Saxon roots. Usually it’s expected that just Anglo-Saxon or just Latin roots will be used. So fource, fice, sice, sevence, eighce, nince, tence? ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrice/659780/24 "2013-06-01T20:54:02Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Forsooth! One knows not why “thrice” hath fallen off the radar. > > language usage changes. There are a heckuva lot more times when “two times” is called for in conversation than “3 times”. Even less for “4 times” or “24-7 times”. > > There’s a rule somewhere of language analysis that says how common a word is (and possibly how old) by how simplistic it is. Thus we have “twice”, and occasionally “thrice”, but no “quice”. We have “half”, “third” and “quarter” but not “Quinter”. (IIRC Quintile might suffice). It was easy to divide stuff evenly into 2 or 4 pieces, and maybe even 3, but 5 even pieces was not as easy to do by eyeball, and much less comonly called for. But rarity of usage doesn’t stop us from having a form for 93,348,640,973rd, which is rarely called for, and is quite simplistic, and might well be a perfectly legitimate English word that has never ever been used by anybody, spoken nor written, and after now, never will be, unless this post gains a great deal more exposure than it properly deserves. ---
**Author:** ![Capt\_Kirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@Capt\_Kirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt_Kirk)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrice/659780/25 "2013-06-01T21:14:23Z")
Thrice is also the name of a well known band, I would be hesitant to call them famous Sorry no linkey, I can’t figure out how to do it on the tablet **Capt** ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrice/659780/26 "2013-06-01T21:37:27Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I also had a classmate who was named Firstname Lastname III, and went by “Trey”. Me too! I remember it being an “Aha!” moment when I realized where “Trey” came from when I knew that his real name was John D. the Third. ---
**Author:** ![j\_sum1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8baadc/32.png) [@j\_sum1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j_sum1)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2013, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrice/659780/27 "2013-06-02T13:16:01Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > I wrote out some instructions for someone last week, and used the word _thrice_ twice. > > Now I think about it, I really missed an opportunity there, didn’t I? I read this force before I fully appreciated it. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2013, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrice/659780/28 "2013-06-02T15:04:14Z")
Thrice the brinded cat hath mewed. Thrice and once the hedge-pig whined. Harpier cries, “'Tis time, 'tis time.” ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2013, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrice/659780/29 "2013-06-02T15:05:14Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > Thrice is the only proper count to be used in timing for the holy hand grenade. > > With which thee might blow thine enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy? Where the count shall be three, **thrice shall be the count**. One, two, and three. Thou shalt not count to four; Nor shalt thou count to two except that thou shalt then proceed to three. Five is right out. Citation needed to the Book of Armaments. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2013, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrice/659780/30 "2013-06-02T15:13:31Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > moriah writes: > > \> Once, twice, thrice, quatrice, quintice, sextice, septice, octice, nince, tince, > \> elevince, twilce. > > The problem is that you’re using Latin roots for most of those terms. The words “once, twice, thrice” are from Anglo-Saxon roots. Usually it’s expected that just Anglo-Saxon or just Latin roots will be used. We also have the sequence that goes “primary, secondary, tertiary, quaternary”, but most people only use the first two. The other two are used in some scientific contexts such as geologic periods. Also, sometimes universities are considered to constitute “tertiary” education, in analogy with “primary school” (i.e. elementary), and “secondary school” (i.e. high school). One source indicates that grad school constitutes “quaternary” education ([quaternary education - German missing: English ⇔ German Forums - leo.org](http://dict.leo.org/forum/viewUnsolvedquery.php?idThread=718687)) Apparently this sequence goes higher but those terms are rarely used. ---
**Author:** ![Full\_Metal\_Lotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df705f/32.png) [@Full\_Metal\_Lotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Full_Metal_Lotus)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrice/659780/31 "2013-06-03T00:43:49Z")
Addressing the question of why its not seen in advertising is that words like “thrice” are considered old school, obsolete and non current. Ad designers/ Copywriters are loathe to use a word that may not be familiar instantly to 100% of their target market, as it will alienate them not only from the ad, but from the product or brand itself. So, just guessing at demographics here, mind you, cross trainers would be “three times as good as a competing brand”. while a fountain pen would “offer thrice the quality of similar models manufactured by other companies”… just my two bits worth… ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrice/659780/32 "2013-06-03T01:37:36Z")
Heh, it is a rarely used word. Years ago, at work, we had this technical manual that was in Japanese. We had to hire a guy to rewrite it into English. The thing was, the guy we hired did a piss poor job. So much so, that my coworkers and I were making fun of his crappy work. One line read something like: _Turn the gear thrice times_ So I naively yelled to one of my coworkers “Hey check this out, _thrice_ times? What the hell is that? That’s not even a word.” It was at that point my coworkers said to me “Actually, it is a word Shakes.” Me: Oh :o So yeah, I haven’t even heard of that word until I was like 23. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrice/659780/33 "2013-06-03T01:51:06Z")
I was working on fixes and enhancements for a software application that was used in-house by an organization for certain internal purposes. One thing I was told was that a lot of the people who used the system on a day to day basis were older, old-fashioned blue collar types who weren’t as spry as they once were and whose careers were winding down and who had been transferred to a desk job to finish the short amount of time they had remaining to take full retirement benefits with glory. One problem was that the application would hammer the user with programmer-speak such as instructions to “please do not close this modal”. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrice/659780/34 "2013-06-03T03:04:49Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > So I naively yelled to one of my coworkers “Hey check this out, _thrice_ times? What the hell is that? That’s not even a word.” Thrice is a word, but thrice times isn’t a phrase. It’s like ATM machine or SDMB Message Board. ‘Thrice’ means ‘three times.’ ---
**Author:** ![Dervorin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrice/659780/35 "2013-06-03T09:49:28Z")
I get roundly mocked every so often by my colleagues for daring to use the word thrice - in contemporary English in the UK, it’s about as antiquated as using “issue” for “child”, apparently. In India, however, “thrice” is alive and well (Wikipedia agrees with me here: [Indian English - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_English)), and I’ve used it all my life without feeling it was out of place. I do feel that enough things happen thrice that it’s useful to have a word for it, rather than having to resort to “three times”. For any greater number, I’m happy to switch over to that construction, but how would we capture the wonder and majesty of “Kubla Khan” by Coleridge? > [@](#): > > Weave a circle round him thrice, > And close your eyes with holy dread, > For he on honey-dew hath fed, > And drunk the milk of Paradise. I realise that I’m not doing a huge amount to strengthen my case that it’s not an obsolete phrase by quoting a romantic poet who died in 1834, but dammit, it’s such a useful one! ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrice/659780/36 "2013-06-03T17:00:07Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Some people still use it: > \ ***Philia:** That’s the brute who raped my country, Thrace! > **Pseudolus:** He raped Thrace? > **Philia:** And then he came and did it again! And then again! > \*\*Pseudolus: \*\*He raped Thrace thrice? \* > > -A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum In the throes of passion, no doubt! 🙂 > [@Chronos](#): > > I also had a classmate who was named Firstname Lastname III, and went by “Trey”. If my given name were “Firstname” and my surname “Lastname,” I believe I would go by “Trey” as well. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrice/659780/37 "2013-06-03T17:24:27Z")
I remember that way back in the 70s, when unions were powerful, it was their avowed intention to get pay for their members into the “upper quartile”. I also remember inflation at 25%. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrice/659780.md?page=1)