# Mississippi-counting



## RaLo18

I wonder if counting 'Mississippily' exists in other languages too.
Does it exist in your country? which word is used instead of 'Mississippi'?

edit: sorry for using the wrong forum... could someone please move my topic to "Cultural Discussions" forum?

*Moderator note:*
*I've moved this thread from the All Languages forum. *


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## sokol

You shouldn't expect that everyone knows what "counting mississipily" is. I didn't  - but now I do, thanks to the help of some friends: you count "one mississippi, two mississipi" because that way you count approximately seconds, you would count way too fast with "one, two, three".

In *German *(or anyway, in Austrian German but I suppose in Germany and Switzerland that's the same) we use "einundzwanzig" which just means the number "21"; so you count "21, 21, 21, ..." - repeating the same word (and remembering how often you did count). Alternatively you can count "einundzwanzig, zweiundzwanzig, dreiundzwanzig, ..." = "21, 22, 23" which makes it easier to remember how many seconds you've counted, but most just use "21" - as for that flash counting usually you don't need more than a few seconds to count.

And this is used to count after a flash till the sound of thunder arrives, which tells us how close a thunderstorm is.
I've never used this in any other context.


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## Frank06

Hi,


sokol said:


> In *German *(or anyway, in Austrian German but I suppose in Germany and Switzerland that's the same) we use "einundzwanzig" which just means the number "21"


Same in Dutch, or better, in Flanders (I don't know if people in the Netherlands use it too).

Groetjes,

Frank


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## belén

My father taught me this _mississiping_ system when I was little (not very PC...):

Un maldito segundo
Dos malditos segundos
Tres malditos segundos

(one damned second, two damned seconds)


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## effeundici

In Italy

_Mille e uno (1001)_
_Mille e due (1002)_
_Mille e tre (1003)_

and so on


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## lablady

Another way to count seconds in English, and incidently the way I learned to count seconds long before I learned the "Mississippi method", is to add "one thousand" to the number. You count "one thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three," and so forth.

Edit: I see it's similar to the way it's done in Italy.


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## Grop

I wouldn't count such things in a serious context. Now, when playing LARPs...

_When your character dies, count (for*) 30 crocodiles before rising up as a zombie..._

* I have no idea if a preposition belongs here.

I don't garantee everyone in France would do like this, but I would count crocodiles. In a fancy context, I would seek for a more relevant word (in a pulp prehistoric LARP for instance, I would consider counting velocyraptors or triceratopses).


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## Loob

lablady said:


> Another way to count seconds in English, and coincidently the way I learned to count seconds long before I learned the "Mississippi method", is to add "one thousand" to the number. You count "one thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three," and so forth.


I've heard a variant on that: _one thousand, two thousand, three thousand_. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I've never come across the Mississippi version....

Personally, I just say "one - tock", "two - tock" etc. But I always was lazy.


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## tomzenith

Seconds seem to last different amounts of time in different places.. Interesting.

For me it was 'one elephant, two elephants' etc., though I've heard the mississippily version and the one thousamd, two thousand version too. I was never that sure of its accuracy though.

My brother had never heard of the 'one thousand, two thousand etc.' thing, so got very confused once when learning to drive. The instructor told him to keep a 'three thousand' gap between his car and the one in front (a three second gap is standard in the Uk, don't know if it's universal). My brother gave him a blank look and asked him what he meant. He explained that he had to pick a mini-landmark,  a lamp-post or something, and he should be able to count to three thousand before he reached it. My brother, somewhat doubtfully, waited for the car to pass a lamp-post, and then starting counting as fast as he could: _onetwothreefourfivesixseveneight_...


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## pyan

I've heard of both "one thousand, two thousand..." and "one elephant, two elephants...". Since childhood I've used the "one little second, two little seconds...", spoken quite quickly, that my father taught me.


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## Wilma_Sweden

I had heard about Mississippi counting, but also seem to remember hearing "one-one thousand, two-one thousand" when a girl counted the seconds from flash to thunder in a movie, although unfortunately, I cant remember where it was from, i.e. whether British, American or Australian.

In Swedish, we count 1001, 1002, 1003 etc: ettusen ett, ettusen två, ettusen tre, and the three-second rule applies in Swedish traffic as well, althought strictly speaking it is only a recommendation - there is no law against driving too close to the car in front, but if you do and there is an accident, you will usually be held responsible legally and financially.

/Wilma


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## ewie

I _think_ it's thousands for me too ~ I'm not sure because I hardly ever count like that ~ but the other way round:
_one one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand ...

_Forgot to say: I'd never heard of _mississippily_ till I saw this thread.


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## Grop

(Mr. ewie, I can relate to counting amnesias, but this is probably my own bad taste).

Mississipi counters, do you actually count mississipilies? This strikes me as an odd word, so I would like to see some information on the greatest question about life and everything: is it mississipi or mississipily?

Edit: Thank you Lablady.


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## lablady

Grop said:
			
		

> Mississipi counters, do you actually count mississipilies? This strikes me as an odd word, so I would like to see some information on the greatest question about life and everything: is it mississipi or mississipily?


Mississippi happens to be both a state and a river in the US, and also happens to have enough syllables that it takes approximately one second to say it. So when we count seconds using "Mississippi", we count "one Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi, etc."

Mississippi is pronounced Mis-sis-sip-pee.


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## Wilma_Sweden

ewie said:


> Forgot to say: I'd never heard of _mississippily_ till I saw this thread.


Most of us probably hadn't, it was enclosed in quote signs, so I assumed the OP made it up. I'm sure the river won't mind being used as an adverb... 

/Wilma


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## ewie

Oops, I should have said _I'd never heard of counting *with Mississippi* until ...  _Apologies for confusion caused.


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## cycloneviv

I grew up with "one cat and dog, two cat and dog..." but haven't come across anyone else who does that outside of my family - not that I've actually _asked_ many people; I think I've asked two people in my entire life how they do "second counting".

I'm also familiar with "one one thousand, two one thousand..." and have just asked my housemate what method he uses (he's 50-ish and spent the first 8 years of his life in the UK and the rest here): he said "one elephant, two elephant..."


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## ewie

Yes, I'm fairly sure I've heard the _elephant_ version too, Vivi


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## kirsitn

In Norwegian we normally use 1001-1002 (tusen og en - tusen og to), but counting elephants is also an option.


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## sokol

Wilma_Sweden said:


> Most of us probably hadn't, it was enclosed in quote signs, so I assumed the OP made it up. I'm sure the river won't mind being used as an adverb...


Well, even though I am one of the guys who never heard of mississipily counting before the adverb seems to be well-established; if you search for the exact quote of "did you count mississipily" in Google you get 262 hits - not many, true, but some. 
The first hits all seem to refer to the "Friends" series - so in this case, American English it seems.

("Mississipily" alone by the way gets 406 Google hits; not plenty either, so those "Friends" characters might have invented the adverb.)


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## MarcB

lablady said:


> Another way to count seconds in English, and incidently the way I learned to count seconds long before I learned the "Mississippi method", is to add "one thousand" to the number. You count "one thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three," and so forth.
> 
> Edit: I see it's similar to the way it's done in Italy.





ewie said:


> I think it's thousands for me too ~ I'm not sure because I hardly ever count like that ~ but the other way round:
> one one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand ...
> 
> Forgot to say: I'd never heard of mississippily till I saw this thread.


I learned Mississippi and one one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand ... So although I speak AE I learned the same method as Ewie and not Lablady. As an adult I never use either of these anymore.


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## Lopes

Frank06 said:


> Hi,
> 
> Same in Dutch, or better, in Flanders (I don't know if people in the Netherlands use it too).
> 
> Groetjes,
> 
> Frank


 
Yes, we do


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## brian

As a kid I used mostly _one Mississippi_ (they are my neighbors, after all ), but occasionally _one one-thousand_ as well.

This counting method was most common in games of hide-and-seek, so that the seeker didn't start seeking too soon.

However, by the age of 10 or 11, we (boys) started playing American football together, and _Mississippi counting_ is a *very* important part of (touch) football since there are usually no linemen, or maybe one lineman at most. So counting prevents the defensive person from attacking the quarterback too soon.

In this context, before the game starts, a conversation like this occurs:

A: *How many Mississippi?* <-- "How high does the defense count before he can rush the quarterback?"
B: *Let's do three-Mississippi.* <-- "The defense must count up to 3, Mississippi-style."

I still use this today when I play football with my college-age friends.


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## fenixpollo

My friends and I used to count "*one banana, two banana*" and "one one-thousand, two one-thousand" as well as "one Mississippi, two Mississippi".

I agree that "Mississippily" is a strange, strange invention of an adverb. I would say, "count 'one-banana, two-banana'..." as an example of how one should count.


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