Monday, January 18, 2010
On Three... One.Two.
Four!
...Four?
Yes. Four.
Why four?
Three's kinda overused. I mean, look at all the places where there are 3 of everything. Triangles. 3 points, 3 sides, and one of the strongest shapes. 3 points to define the line of best fit. 3 readings for a suitable titration result. The Three Little Pigs, the Three Billy Goats Gruff. Goldilocks and the Three Bears, with the 3 porridge bowls, 3 chairs, and 3 beds. The usual count to three to get everyone to do something in unison. Why is this little number so prevalent?
I think I know. Perhaps 3 is used because it is the minimum number required before someone can recognize a pattern.
Is that so?
Think of these events like, say, points on a graph. You can't define a line with just a point. Similarly, you can't see a pattern just because something occurred once.
True...
And when you have 2 points, you can't exactly draw the line of best fit yet. These points may not correlate with the actual result. Similarly, just because something happened twice doesn't mean that there's actually a pattern yet, but you would get suspicious.
Then that's where the third count comes into play, to confirm this pattern.
So... One to get people's attention, two to have everyone prepare in anticipation, three for the synchronized effort?
Exactly.
And in a similar vein... One to laugh at a gag, two to laugh again when the joke is repeated, three to expect that the joke gets repeated, but laugh even harder when there's the twist.
One for a match, two for the other person to buck up an win, three for the high-tension deciding match between both players who're fully aware of what their opponent can do now...
"...then thou shalt count to three, no more, no less. Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out."
Labels: thoughts
END POST
Posted on 9:16 PM.
