Appendix:Words used as placeholders to count seconds

Certain words or phrases are commonly used as placeholders to count out a time of about one second, especially in games. This practice is formally documented from at least as early as 1960:

"Since it is difficult to see a watch in a photographic darkroom, some photographers have learned to measure time in seconds by counting at their normal conversational rate but interspersing a long word between numbers, as 'Mississippi one, Mississippi two, Mississippi three...' - Physical Science Study Committee, Physics (1960), p. 20."

Commonly used words

 * alligator
 * 2008, Brandon Mull, Rise of the Evening Star:
 * Spencer McCain hiked the football to himself and dropped back. Four boys went out, while four others covered. One defender stayed at the line counting alligators.


 * battleship
 * 2007, Walt Crawford, Cites & Insights, ISSN 1534-0937, page 16:
 * Inhale deeply and slowly through your nose into your diaphragm; that should take five to seven seconds (battleship one, battleship two, battleship three…).


 * chimpanzee
 * 1908, Mary Mapes Dodge, St. Nicholas, p. 219:
 * "One chimpanzee, two chimpanzee, three chimpanzee, four chimpanzee." I counted right along, just as I always did, and pretty soon I almost forgot about everybody all around me, and just counted and counted and bent one finger under at the end of every minute, and it wasn't nearly so bad as I was afraid it would be.


 * elephant
 * 2005, Steven Gould, Reflex, p. 348:
 * She waited, as the instructions said, counting, "One elephant, two elephant, three elephant," giving the spring time to drive the dose into his body.


 * hippopotamus
 * 1988, Dennis Flanagan, Flanagan's Version, p. 56:
 * You can measure how far away a lightning bolt is by counting aloud "One hippopotamus, two hippopotamus, three hippopotamus ..." until you hear the thunder.


 * Mississippi
 * 1996, “Cheers & Jeers”, in Field and Stream, v 101, September, p 12:
 * Any reader who uses the old “One Mississippi, Two Mississippi, etc.” method to estimate distance to a storm, and doesn't get any further than a count of five to eight had better be in a safe shelter.


 * one hundred
 * 2008, Jeannette Graf, Alisa Bowman, Stop Aging, Start Living, p. 102:
 * Mentally count how long it takes you to inhale (one one hundred, two one hundred. . .) and how long it takes you to exhale.


 * one thousand
 * 2004, Laura Lippman, Every Secret Thing, p. 397:
 * One one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand. This was how they had been taught to count seconds back in third grade, and Miss Timothy, a lay teacher, had told them to put their heads on the desk and raise their hands when they thought a minute had passed.


 * potato
 * 2009, Ruth White, John D. Preston, Bipolar 101: A Practical Guide to Identifying Triggers, Managing Medications, Coping with Symptoms, and More, page 125:
 * Mentally count as you breathe in for five seconds: one-potato, two-potato, and so on until you get to five-potato, then blow out for five seconds, counting the same way (saying “potato” approximates a second).


 * thousand
 * 1961, New Mexico Magazine, Volume 39, p. 5:
 * How does he know when three seconds have gone by? Try counting, "One-thousand, two-thousand, three-thousand." That does it.
 * 2001, Keith Johnson, Physics for you: revised national curriculum edition for GCSE, p. 7:
 * You can count seconds very roughly, without a watch, by saying at a steady rate: ONE (thousand), TWO (thousand), THREE (thousand), FOUR ....