How do you count the seconds?

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JBEqualizer@reddit

Ippississim. Sorry, Mississippi.

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SnoopyLupus@reddit

Higgledy Piggeldy one, Higgledy Piggeldy two. I don’t know, it’s just the first one I absorbed!

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TapWaterDev@reddit

1... 2... 3... I'm an adult, I've got a pretty decent sense of how long a second is by this point

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Canflash25@reddit

Lots of situations affect your perception of time, so having a tried and tested way to count seconds is always better

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bluesam3@reddit

This is my one random superpower: decades of competitive sailing has lead to me being able to time a minute very accurately in my head in pretty well any circumstances.

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TapWaterDev@reddit

Show me some research that says counting Mississippis is any more accurate under those conditions, I'd be astounded if there is any

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There's a 2019 MIT paper that suggests using words has a clear impact, though they recommend avocado (or maybe elephant for women) would be better than Mississippi. There are some limitations to the research - they don't compare to counting without words and, as they acknowledge, they "consider no five syllable words, ignore non-English options and sometimes we started the timer a little too late". Clearly an area that needs more research. [https://sigtbd.csail.mit.edu/pubs/2019/divya-mississippi.pdf](https://sigtbd.csail.mit.edu/pubs/2019/divya-mississippi.pdf)

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ActionBirbie@reddit

>paper uses reddit as a reference oh my

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ActionBirbie@reddit

Just using my normal in built ability to discern time, which all humans have.

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Neither_Process_7847@reddit

One,And.Two.And...

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MrMontgomery@reddit

One one thousand, two one thousand, though I learnt that from when I saw the first Poltergeist film in the cinema as a kid

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Azuras-Becky@reddit

I learnt it from my dad during thunderstorms!

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MrMontgomery@reddit

Thunderstorms is what they were counting in Poltergeist

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Azuras-Becky@reddit

I never saw it, maybe that's where he got it from.

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ChemicalGuide82@reddit

Same!!

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Dutch_Slim@reddit

I learned this way doing water lifesaving in the 90s.

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SiriusBlack99999@reddit

You just know someone is going to mention Ross from Friends. Lol.

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agentrossi176@reddit

I scrolled the whole thread and nobody has used the (wonderful) word mississipily, so I'm claiming the honour. Fwiw when I need to count seconds I just play the countdown tune in my head, really gets me on the beat

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rictay44@reddit

One banana, two banana, three banana...

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toady89@reddit

I just count at a pace I know to be about 1 second, I test it every now and then when I have an actual timer running for something eg. my watch during a run. Using long words is a good way to get kids to slow down when they're counting but it doesn't help beyond that.

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srm79@reddit

One elephant, two elephant, three...

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Notaturtleitsabug@reddit

This is the only correct answer.

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AcrobaticHedgehog599@reddit

I'd say it's out by a factor of a thousand One thousand elephants. Two thousand elephants...

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sunofdork@reddit

If you want to adapt it to be more British I supposed you could say “One Bognor Regis, Two Bognor Regis”

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WordWizardx@reddit (OP)

I wouldn’t even know how to pronounce that :-D Bawg-nore reg-is? Bone-yore ray-hees?

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atomicsiren@reddit

Bog nor ree jiss

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catjellycat@reddit

Bog-nah ree-jes (like jest without the t) There’s a false story that George V’s last words were “bugger Bognor” as he’d been sent there previously to recuperate from sickness. Once he was better, it got the ‘Regis’ as a sort-of thanks. When he got sick again, the story is doctors suggested going back and he said “bugger Bognor” before dying.

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Aspect-Unusual@reddit

One One thousand, Two One thousand etc etc

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theNikolai@reddit

I'll be honest, I don't. I do wear a watch that ticks off seconds but I never find myself in need to count seconds. Last time I thought to check how far a lightning fell was when I was 8 probably.

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Mother_Ad7869@reddit

To the tune in my head of BBC Breakfast theme song...the meeps are at 60bpm ⏰️🤗🤗 https://youtu.be/hMo0f6Cj7_w?si=MC1j6hKtnQODl3zR

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jimbobsqrpants@reddit

Hippopotamus Singular hippopotamie though, hippopotamuses is too many syllables

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Yikes44@reddit

I think it depends how fast you do it. Counting in hippos is quite upbeat. I think that's why I like it.

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Darkgreenbirdofprey@reddit

Just know what a second is

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srj672@reddit

One sheep...zzzzz

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Yikes44@reddit

I've always done 1 Hippopotamus, 2 hippopotamus. It might have come from Sesame Street a loooong time ago.

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IntrepidMaybe8579@reddit

1 borris johnsons, 2 borris jonhsons

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PootMcGroot@reddit

One, one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand etc is common in the UK and Australia... but all of them are based on being familiar with the rhythm, not the actual syllables.

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Critical_Studio_2327@reddit

“One, myprettypony, two…”. Courtesy of a Stephen King short story.

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Brave_Opportunity_67@reddit

I just count the numbers. My mum says one crocodile, two crocodile...

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Warm_Bug_1434@reddit

I was taught "One Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, two Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch..." I find lightning is closer than it looks.

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mdmnl@reddit

In the context of lightning... https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/s/fsEGJHVXhA

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WordWizardx@reddit (OP)

Okay, the Welsh one made me crack up :-D

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Skatiemayonnaise@reddit

for some reason i learned mississippi but im scottish

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RainbowWarrior73@reddit

Back in the day, I remember using “One elephant, two elephants, three elephants” for this purpose.

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dismaldunc@reddit

i'm a "one banana, two banana" type of guy

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TwentythreeFirework@reddit

I go with the potato

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Kamila95@reddit

I imagine a ticking old school clock, and count the 'ticks' in my head. I am pretty accurate.

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CrazyMike419@reddit

Always been a "one thousand" type. One one thousand, two one thousand. Works fine.

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Soggywallet94@reddit

I just count at the speed of seconds, not sure how else to explain it 🤷‍♂️

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Subject_Feature_9833@reddit

One Transylvania ah ah ah

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CicadaSlight7603@reddit

Elephant

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Frantastic79@reddit

Where I live we always said: "One, one thousand, two, one thousand ..."

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RanaBufo@reddit

1 caterpillar 2 caterpillar etc

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Canflash25@reddit

One thousand, two thousand, three thousand..

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DaysyFields@reddit

One hippopotamus, two hippopotamus..

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aeroash@reddit

One thousand, two thousand…

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turquoisefox90@reddit

I thought the same thing the other day when teaching my kids how to count seconds properly. I ended up using 1 potato 2 potato 3 potato...(until it morphed into the rhyme)

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tropicsandcaffeine@reddit

"One thousand and one, one thousand and two"

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oscarx-ray@reddit

1... 2... 3... 4... 5... 10... 11, 12... 13, 14, 15, and so forth.

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Namaste_Life@reddit

One AND two AND three...

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Thread-Hunter@reddit

One elephant, two elephant

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Odd-Paramedic-3826@reddit

since I started working out I got so used to counting the time between sets that sometimes even when im not in the gym i catch myself counting to 90 under my breath. no secret to it, i'm just good at keeping time. always have been

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Mental_Body_5496@reddit

Misses S Misses I Misses PPI 🤣🤣🤣

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intergalacticscooter@reddit

We've been trying to get hold of you. You could be owed...

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Mental_Body_5496@reddit

🤩🤩🤩

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WordWizardx@reddit (OP)

Upvote for the surprise Matilda reference!

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fezzuk@reddit

I just count and have a basic sense of time. Surely anyone ovee the age of about 9 can do that within a decent degree of accuracy. Or we would have all been called out at hide and seek.

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Dotheysellpizza@reddit

One elephant, two elephant, three elephant 🐘

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finallygaveintor@reddit

One elephant, two elephant

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rybnickifull@reddit

I have a phone with a stopwatch on it

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setokaiba22@reddit

One.. Two..

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